The Allbees visit The Bryants in Italy

30 September - 12 October 2007

Sandy & Brian Allbee were our first non-relative guests and we were so happy to have them! While they were here, we visited Milan, Lago d'Orta, Bellinzona, and Florence. After Florence, Sandy and Brian went on a four day tour of Tuscany before coming back to Varese for their departure from the Milan/Malpensa airport. Wren was so happy to have her godparents for a visit and especially liked when Brian would read DEAR ZOO to her!

2 October
Milano
In Milan we visited all of the big sites - the Galleria, the Duomo, La Scala, The Last Supper (not pictured), Castello Sforzeco, and the famous shopping district called Quadrilatero della moda made up of four streets - Via della Spiga, Via Manzoni, Via Sant'Andrea and Via Montenapoleone. All the major Italian designers have their flagship stores here. Among other names, you can find Giorgio Armani, Dolce&Gabbana, Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Valentino, Versace and Vuitton.


Sandy and Brian at then entrance to the Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery. Some of the businesses inside are Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and....a McCafe!


Milan's Duomo is the third largest church in the world.


A picutre of Sandy from the top of the Duomo.


La Scala, the world famous opera house.


Castello Sforzeco was built in the 15th century


I'm not sure what the purple alligators are all about.


Back at home, Brian fits in a little reading to Wreny Roo


3 October 2007
Orta San Giulio, a town on Lago d'Orta

Isola San Giulio


a view of the town of Orta.


Sandy and Lee Anne walking down the main street of Orta San Giulio.


Having lunch in Orta.


Brian and Sanday on the little taxi boat to Isola San Giulio


Lee Anne and Wren on the water taxi.


The view of Orta San Giulio from the boat.


Sandy, Wren and Lee Anne on Isola San Giulio.


Sandy, Lee Anne and Wren on a dock in Orta San Giulio.


A view of the mountains


4 October 2007
Bellinzona, Switzerland

Brian, Wren, Jason and Wren at Castelgrande looking towards Montebello

Bellinzona is a town in Switzerland about an hour from Varese. The city is the site of three medieval castles which were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001. The three castles - Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro – along with the fortifications of the market town, are the only example of well preserved late medieval military architecture in the Alpine area and are just one of four World Heritage sites in Switzerland.


The town centre of Bellinzona from Castelgrande


Castle Montebello, the middle castle


Wren and Lee Anne at Montebello

Jason at Montebello


Wren, Jason, Sandy and Brian at Montebello


The whole gang outside the walls of Montebello.


Castello di Sasso Corbaro, the top castle


A pretty view from Montebello


Another nice view from Montebello.


A view of Montebello from Sasso Corbaro



Wren at Brian at Casso Corbana

5-7 October 2007
Florence

Riding the train to Florence is a 4 hour journey.


The Duomo and the Campanile



In Piazza del Duomo between the Duomo and the Baptistry


A view of Florence with the dome of the Duomo from the Campanile.


Another view of Florence from the Campanile.



Jason, LA and Wren in front of the Baptistry with bronze doors by Ghiberti.


The magnificent mosaic ceiling of the Baptistry


Detail fo Jesus from the ceiling.


The Ponte Vecchio at night.


Wren having her own gelato at Vivoli.


Wren having some pizza in Florence.


Jason and Brian in the tasty restaurant that Sandy found for us.


The exterior of the Uffizi gallery.


Waiting to enter the Uffizi.

Colors

Today, Wren identified colors for the first time! She way playing with the clothespins (which are colored) and she brought me a blue one and told me it was blue and then she brought me two more blue ones. Then she brought me a red one and told me it was red and finally she brought me a yellow one when I asked her. Just little firsts but we are proud of her!

Driving through Germany & Switzerland

21 - 23 September, 2007

Over the weekend we needed to go to Munich to complete Wren's final homestudy. Since we were going to have to drive the 5.5 hours up there anyway, we decided to make a weekend trip out of it. Jason's had been wanting to go to Friedrichshafen, Germany for quite awhile. Friedrichshafen is best known for being where Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin built his Zeppelin airships. It is also located on Lake Constance so we spent some time driving through the pretty towns that are on the lake. The whole area is surrounded by apple orchards and this was a pretty time to be there as all the orchards were harvesting and it gave a nice autumn feel to everything.

We spent a night in St. Gallen, Switzerland because we wanted to go to the Abbey Library. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world.

On or way home, we stopped at a few churches and castles, a plant nursery where a multitude of beautiful dahlias were blooming, and some cow pastures to hear the clanging of some Swiss cow bells.















The shoreline of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.


The Zeppelin Musem in Friedrichshafen


a Zeppelin


a Zeppelin cruising over Lake Constance


The Zeppelin hanger at the airfield


a cool Zeppelin playground in a piazza outside the museum


Wren in front of the Baroque style cathedral of the Convent of St. Gall


The interior of the cathedral which is decorated in Baroque style


The protestant Church of St.Laurenzen in St. Gallen


One of the 111 oriels which were built to demonstrate the wealth of the many merchants of the city.


An intersting window idecorated with books in the St. Gallen Library


The interior of the Roccoco style library of St. Gallen


Wren in front of some flowers in St. Gallen


The "city lounge" in St. Gallen. The "red carpet" is spread out between the downtown buildings.


Wren wants to know why we are humiliating her with a picture like this.




A defensive tower in Switzerland along the autostrada.


A little Swiss village among the corn fields.


a Swiss gorge in the mountains


An alpine meadow and Swiss cows


Church on top of a hill in Switzerland


Dahlias at a Swiss nursery


Jason and Wren among the dahlias























Lee Anne and Wren among the dahlias


Dahlia closeup


Happy Autumn!

A Visit from the Grandparents

7-19 September 2007


Grammy and Grampy Bryant came for a visit this month and boy were we happy to have them. Of course, I think Wren might have been the happiest of all. She really liked spending time with her grandparents!


Laveno - a town near where we live


Wren and Grammy on a taxi boat


Wren on some steps in Orta


Wren, Grammy and Grampy on another taxi boat.


view of Isola di San Guilio


another view of the island


and still another view of the island


and a view of the island from the Sacro Monte


Jason and Wren on the road coming down from the Sacro Monte

Around the house

I feel like I don't get the camera out enough when we are just hanging out around the house and I'm trying to better. I hope you enjoy these few photos and videos from the past week.

Wren wasn't too sure about the bubbles in the bathtub.





Wren, Clover and Kipper


Wren and Clover


Kisses for Kipper


Yes, this is a bucket on her head...she's a silly girl.


Lookin' cute!




Wren always thinks she's "coo" when she's wearing mom's sunglasses.


Future gymnast. Look how she gets up on those toes!

Miscellaneous Videos

Gettin' down to the They Might Be Giants CD, "Here Come the ABC's" in early August.


Eating delicious perogi in Krakow on Aug. 10, 2007


Having some down time in Krakow on Aug. 10, 2007


Wrenny Roo, Aug. 11, 2007