Today is our first full day at home after 15 days of travelling by car to Italy and back. Close to 32 hours were spent in the car covering 2654 km at an average speed of 86.6 km/h with a fuel consumption of 7.3 L/100km. (That's 1649 mi., 53.8 mph and 32.2 mpg - thanks to the trip computer). Not bad considering our BMW 525d is a big car. It was bad that the boys had to be strapped in for long stretches at a time. However, we did get a chance to visit many new places along the way and the boys really seemed to appreciate it. The constant rain yesterday in Strasbourg did put a damper on our walking tour of the city but the boys didn't complain that much. Besides, the rain was needed to really see the medieval gargoyles, perched along the edges of the 13th century cathedral, spew water from their gaping jaws. Our hotel was good too - with a play corner with Kapla wood toys and connected to a shopping mall for a welcome break from the showers. On the way home, we made good time and managed to stop for 1.5 hours at the Buffalo Grill in Luxembourg for an American wild west dinner experience. We've taken it easy all day just cleaning up, doing laundry and getting organised for the start of school tomorrow.

Daddy and I are sitting side-by-side in Max's apartment in Torino. We are enjoying Max and Emmy's beautiful new apartment in Torino and took Elena to school this morning as she stayed home due to a cold in order to avoid her swim class. The kids are playing quietly together with their Gormitis, some given by Christopher in Pieve Ligure, some having been sold!
We had a really nice dinner last night with N and girls...gluten-free pizzas, thanks to Nonna for bringing so many over so we would be able to enjoy our time here. Tonight we will all go to a gluten-free pizzeria that N found as well but it sure is nice to eat at home too. We picked the girls up, anyway, from school and had a nice hello with Loanna. We played at home/opened Christmas/birthday gifts and then took all four kids to play soccer/touche-touche in Piazza Barcellona. We met a funny, little kid who wanted to play Touche Touche but couldn't stop eating his chips. He took off for a bit to bug some other girl and left his chips on the pavement in our way.
We are now off to the shops and later out for dinner, as I mentioned. It is nice to have a day at home. But other than that, we are taking it easy here and daddy is working. Tomorrow we will Turin and head towards to Strasbourg. Going to visit Valeria's new shop now. Ciao!

We're ready to set off from the mythic Perletto, town of adventures,feasts, family gatherings, and more feasts. Easter Sunday had a small group of 24 consuming parts of a roast kid (baby goat) on an overcast day, but the weather never cast a grey cloud over the party. Easter Monday was even grander with 35 people, huge ham and brilliant sunshine. The boys had lots of fun playing with their little cousins and I noticed Frunty's Italian improved even in just 2 short days. We played football and volleyball and went biking and hiking and even went up to the top of the 13th century tower. This is the literally the stuff of literature.

We're now in the little town of Loco, part of the Rovegno municipality, nestled in a valley with a river that the boys have already enjoyed by throwing rocks and building rocky sand castles. We arrived late last night after eating dinner at the rustic "Due Ponti" restaurant 2km away. The road from Camogli to Loco had lots of hairpin turns but luckyly, Pit was asleep and never got car sick. Frunty commented that it was good I was driving so that we could get there quicker because The Mommy is a "Fiat Driver".

Now relaxing in Portofino. Very elegant and beautiful. We arrived here on foot, after a 4 hour hike over the hills and valleys along the coast. The boys did very well and still have lots of energy. We took the 11am boat from Camogli to the 11th centuary abbey of San Fruttuoso nestled in a small bay. Earlier this morning we packed and vacated our apartment requiring me to climb the 6 stories of steep stairs almost a dozen times to get our luggage down. We need to find a way back to Camogli to get our car to drive to Rovegno to our next apartment.

I think the boys have finally settled down. They must be tired from their hiking this afternoon. Earlier today, the main street of Camogli was transformed into an open-air market selling everything from household goods to good food for the household. We walked up and down the market collecting lunch fixings and by 2pm everyone except me had set off for a hike towards San Rocco. I stayed behind to get some work done but I heard the adventure was a good one under the sunshine of the Ligurian riviera. By 6pm, the local butcher provided us a good dinner of lamb-on-the-spit and then we packed since we leave tomorrow. Now for some R+R at the Mexican Taberna where we are always welcomed by our (now) friends Ingrid and Fabbio, the owners(?) and bar/wait servers. Later we'll go to the Pirate Pub with my dad for one last rhum and a ho ho ho!

Today I was at a conference in Milano and The Mommy, who tagged along last night, toured the city managing to schmooze her way to see Da Vinci's Last Supper and later, climbing the 200+ steps to the roof of the Duomo. She also had a fantastic lunch and finally met up with me at the train station to catch the 6 o'clock back to Camogli. Now that we're back, we got the full report on the boys time with the nonni. They had a wonderful time and the boys were good sports. They hiked up and down the town hills and ate the supper without any complaints. We got home to find them fast asleep and snuggly in their bed together.