Trip Plans

Pearl and I enjoyed an afternoon at the Prancing Pig.  She is such a careful, delicate painter. I find the hardest part is choosing a piece to paint.

People are interested in Ruby's language acquisition, and it is coming along. Three weeks ago she developed a habit of taking a very demanding "NOW!" on the end of her sentences, sort of the way I do when I've asked the kids to do something once and it doesn't seem to be happening. The result? A toddler who insists "Grapes NOW!" in that very tone. "Cereal NOW!" "Socks NOW!" It was cute, but we saw the need to put a stop to it *immediately*.

In June I'll be making a trip to Northern Europe. This week Pearl and I are studying Europe. We have found many neat chart and map-making sites online.  Here I've created a map of the cities and countries I'll be visiting (in pink). The ones I saw during a semester abroad trip in 1999 and my trips with Jasper are in green.  I'm very excited, especially now that the grueling decision making is over.  I enjoyed researching hotels and means of transport, but now I've booked what needed to be booked (thank you Rick Steves) and I'm just reading for fun.

My traveling buddy and I have decided to try a night train--and while I know it won't be anything like the huge train compartment I remember from the Cary Grant movie North by Northwest, I am still a little excited about it! We're also taking an overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, and then an amazing scenic railway tour across the Norwegian peninsula to the medieval capital of the country, Bergen.  I didn't even know Bergen existed four months ago!  to be honest, I wasn't really sure which Scandinavian country was which four months ago.  Finland isn't technically Scandinavian, but Denmark is.  And since we'll have day trip to Malmo, Sweden, we'll be in all three Scandinavian nations on this two week trip.  Plus, with my few days on my own, I'll be seeing Reykjavik Iceland (which I can now spell without thinking), Salzburg, Austria, and then Munich, Hamburg, and Lubeck, Germany with my friend.


Finally, here is the video I came home from class to find waiting for me when everyone else was asleep one night.  Note the pile of tissues--such trauma!

 

And here's a photo of Sapphire and one of Ruby so Uncle Cary can't say I left anyone out.