The Launder's big adventure

Thursday 22nd February
Mount Vesuvius

Jon’s birthday, with a lack of planning and forethought I organised the boys in the morning to draw cards and then we commenced a quick walk to the supermarket to buy Jon a continental breakfast and a birthday cake. On the way Max was knocked over by two large dogs and his legs were scratched in the process. There are a lot of strays in Pompeii and although most of them seem quite docile, however these took umbridge to Max putting something in the bin and jumped on him. They were quickly scared off by my clapping and shouting and no real harm was done.

We walked across the road to the bus stop to Mount Vesuvius, it was 5 minutes before the bus was due to arrive and we were informed we needed to buy the tickets from the railway station 10 minutes walk away. Jon ran and got the tickets and we then proceeded to wait for an hour before the bus arrived!!

We walked up and looked into the crater, pleased we could point out sulphurous gas escaping into the atmosphere. I think the boys were disappointed that there was not lava flowing out but were quite happy when allowed to buy postcards showing this occurrence instead.

Pompeii
Wednesday 21st February

After an expected 7 hour journey we arrived in Pompeii and Camping Spartacus! We are 5 minutes walk from the Pompeii ruins and took them in on the first day. The site of the ruins is a lot larger than we imagined and really gives you a feel for how a typical Roman city looked and felt. It has all been wonderfully preserved, even if most of the artefacts have been removed to a nearby museum. You can walk along the original streets and see the ruts made by carts. You can marvel at the interior decorations of some of the larger houses, with some intricate paintings as part of the wall decorations, there are also some glorious mosaic floors and altars in mosaic as well as some fabulous murals. You can wonder into some of the shops and see the counters still in evidence where spices or perfumes were sold. The amphitheatre, forum and small theatre are well restored. You can hear the acoustics in the small theatre and marvel at the simple and effective technology. Luckily we avoided the murals on the walls of the brothel, as I’m not sure how we would have answered the inevitable questions!

From the moment we told the boys of the ruins they were desperate to see “dead people”, and luckily we were not able to disappoint them and saw half a dozen casts of people who had died during the eruption. They have, however, decided that it is much too dangerous to go up to the volcano and have stated they will refuse to go! We shall see!

Tuscany

Monday 5th February

What should have been a quick 3 hours trip to our next destination in the Tuscan hills turned out to be 8 hours of hell. There was again thick freezing fog, which no doubt contributed to the accident that shut a huge section of the motorway we needed to go on. Not realising to start with that about 100 KM of motorway had been closed, we made a couple more attempts to get onto it at different junctions, this of course was done through very slow moving traffic and we were invariably turned away. We spent about 5 hours driving along minor roads with a billion trucks and other cars and nothing was happening quickly! When we did finally arrive at the campsite, reception had closed and the “guardians” were nowhere to be found. Thoroughly exhausted and fed up we ignored all the signs saying, “You must not site your caravan without permission” and promptly sited our caravan without permission.

Tuscany is very green, the main reason being it rains a lot here! On one of the dry days we took a trip to Pisa, it has a tower there and it leans. Filling the boys with information about the tower, we were greatly disappointed to find that children under 8 cannot go into it. Due to this our visit to Pisa was short and sweet.

On a cold damp day we visited Pinocchio Park located in a small village where Collodi spent most of his childhood. The park was an interesting find, full of sculptures depicting different parts of the book. It was laid out well and the boys had fun running up the different paths to find the next character. At the end we decided to purchase the direct English translation of the book by C.Collodi and read it to the boys. We are all really enjoying the book and glad we have got the true version.

We went to Lucca where the walls of the town have been turned into a Park and many people walk, cycle and run around them. We walked the 4.2 km with the boys and spent a pleasant few hours there, luckily there were several play parks along the way that took their mind off the whole walking thing.

On the way back we stumbled across a carnival and decided to join in. Here the spectators as well as the people taking part in the carnival dress-up, especially the children. They also believe in throwing handfuls of confetti bought in huge bags and spraying silly string. The result was very colourful and messy; there is no way this would be allowed in the UK. It was a lot of fun and although the boys were not too enamoured with having confetti and silly string thrown over them, they really got into the spirit when we bought some for them to throw on other people!

On a glorious sunny day we visited Florence, after the usual car parking nightmare we ambled to the Duomo. We climbed the 463 steps to the top of the dome to admire the panoramic view. All 3 boys walked all the way with no complaints. About 2/3rds of the way up you come out onto a balcony in the interior of the dome where you are greeted by a huge fresco, covering the entire dome, depicting the last judgement. How the boys didn’t suffer from nightmares I am not entirely sure. Not much was left to the imagination about what it is like in hell and damnation.

As Gelato (Ice-cream) is meant to be a Florentine invention we could not spend the day there without indulging. So with tummies full of ice-cream we meandered to the Piazza Della Signoria where there are many inspiring sculptures, including a copy of the famous Michelangelo’s David. We did not attempt to see any of the famous art galleries; the last attempt was too fresh in our minds for us to try again.

On then to the Ponte Vecchio the oldest bridge in the city, it is lined with Jewellery shops that literally sparkle. Although there is a lot more to see in Florence with three young children you have to be realistic about what can be achieved.

Since coming on the trip Max has developed quite a few warts and they were starting to get itchy so we thought it was about time we braved going to a doctor. This done we were referred onto a dermatologist. Unfortunately the Dermatologist did not speak a word of English and obviously my Italian is non-existent, I can apologise for being English but that is about it. So without further ado he proceeded to apply treatment, first of all he started to freeze them, well this was to be expected. Meanwhile Max was shouting and crying and telling him to stop. Having had this treatment myself I did thing Max was somewhat overreacting but felt for him nonetheless. When the doctor then produced another instrument with a burning coil and proceeded to burn the warts off, Max was really screaming the place down and writhing around in pain begging me to make him stop. With the smell of burning flesh I couldn’t help but take his side in the matter and just about to tell the doctor that enough was enough, he decided for himself not to pursue this course of treatment any further. He then prescribed some cream. Couldn’t he have done this in the first place? I wonder. It then took about 10 minutes to try and ascertain where I should get this cream; in the end one of the staff members drove me to a pharmacy to get the cream and then brought me back. We also did not pay a penny, I’m not sure if we were supposed to or not but no one asked and we did not offer. Anyway the reason for telling you of this story of torture was simply because the next day we decided to walk up a mountain aptly named Mount Verruca!

We drove to a small village called Montemagno, parked up and proceeded to walk up Mount Verruca, 536m high. With the children this took 3 hours including a stop for lunch. There was much moaning and grumbling from the children especially along the lines of “I’m hungry, when can we eat?” As we got nearer the top the walking became a bit harder going, we had to navigate a much steeper, narrower and rock-strewn path. Jory, who had moaned the whole way up and cried if we did not hold his hand and literally drag him up, suddenly found lots of energy and speed and steadfastly refused to hold any hands and scrambled up the sheer rock face with deft speed and agility (OK slight exaggeration all round, but you get my point!).

At the top of the mountain there are the ruins of a stronghold dating from the 8th century. The views were fantastic but you had to be careful of the great gaping holes, uncovered and unmarked, just waiting for children to fall to their death. Hence, nervous parents and frustrated children.

When we had descended back to the easier path we briefly pretended to be bears and the two younger boys set off at a trot. We turned a corner and saw their little hats bobbing along the path, we turned the next corner and there was no sign of them, at the next again there was no sign. Not really worried we picked up our pace a bit to try and catch them up, we were practically power walking but they still eluded us, luckily we could still hear them laughing otherwise we would have started to run. About 2/3rds of the way down they became tired and started to fall over so stopped running, thankfully as I was starting to get a stitch! All in all this helped us descend the mountain in 1 hour – not bad! The boys slept well that night!

We took a trip to a castle in Chianti land where we were able to undertake some wine tasting as well as brief tour of the castle. Unbeknown to me I had elected to drive home so could only take a sip of each offering. The boys gorged themselves on traditional Tuscan delights and Jon thoroughly enjoyed the wines. The Grappa was a bit strong though!

One day we popped to the coast, walked through a small WWF reserve to a sandy beach where we enjoyed the afternoon not doing very much, whilst the boys argued, built sandcastles and things with sticks.

Friday 2nd February 2007

We had a short 2 hours hop to a campsite next to Venice. Sited easily in the sunshine and went in search of a supermarket. On the way back we were completely taken by surprise at the sheer speed of the dense freezing fog that rolled in obscuring all landmarks previously noted. The fog stayed with us all night and the following day. Unsure how long this fog would be with us we decided it was best not to delay a trip into Venice. After a hair-raising walk along a dual carriageway, in places devoid of pavement, we traversed a pedestrian walkway and arrived just in time to catch the bus into the heart of Venice.

We purchased an all day ticket to use the ferry service that travelled up and down the length of the main canal. These ferries are not particularly big, about 2/3rds of it is a covered seating area and the rest is pretty much open to the elements. We were dressed as warmly as we had been going to the top of the mountain and we were still feeling cold. I think we did pretty well admiring all the architecture, different boats, many traditional Gondolas, and the general ambience of the place through heavy fog before we retired to the warmer covered section in the back fifteen minutes later. The boys excitement about being on a boat wore off pretty quickly too.

We alighted at St Marco’s place which is a must see in Venice. The boys were in awe of the hundreds of pigeons that swarm about the place, they are fed and have become so tame that even when the boys ran through the centre of them shouting, they did little more than step contemptuously out of the way. We journeyed into the Basilica and were truly awed by the golden mosaics that filled the entire ceiling. The four life-size bronze horses were pretty awesome as well especially as they dated from 200BC even if they had been pinched from Constantinople. The boys liked the horses but were not really in the mood to walk reverently through a place of worship and admire the many artefacts on display. Intent on being loud and feeling the need to touch everything in sight, we hot tailed it out of there as quickly as possible.

We wandered the streets for a while and did a bit of window-shopping admiring all the masks, glass, art and fashion. The shops were interesting bright and colourful. After lunch we made our way to the Guggenheim Art Museum, we are not beyond a bit of culture now and then you know! So with much trepidation we bought tickets and made our way around the art gallery. It became apparent quite early on that the boys were not at all interested in behaving, instead they had to climb on the sofa’s, giggle loudly and exclaim hysterically, also very loudly, about the women showing their boobies. Determined to see the whole collection including a few Picasso’s and Dali’s and many others that I don’t know and can’t remember, we rapidly marched through all the rooms and gave each a cursory glance. By this time we were quite stressed out, tired and cold that without further ado we made our way home.

Venice a lovely place to visit and probably very romantic in the sunshine but don’t take your children!

And would you believe it, the following day we awoke to glorious sunshine!

Wednesday 31st January 2007

I really thought we could not come to Lake Garda and not go to the top of a mountain. So we took the cable car to the top of Monte Baldo. The boys were thoroughly excited! We were accompanied by half a dozen Para-gliders as we rode up two cable cars. When we reached the top we were greeted by snow and ice much to the boys delight, they couldn’t help dancing about. We watched a couple of Para-gliders jump off and then decided to walk along the edge of the mountain. This was OK to start with as there was a very visible track where the snow was soft and not icy but as we progressed the edge became narrower, colder and gustier and the snow became a wee bit more slippery. Jon and I looked to both sides and realised it wouldn’t actually take very much for us to slip off so we decided to head back to the restaurant we had passed earlier. The cold was also now starting to bite and the novelty of being at the top of a snowy mountain was definitely wearing off. With frozen fingers, toes and noses we fell into the restaurant eager to warm ourselves with some Italian hospitality. 5 pasta dishes and too much wine later we emerged back out into the snow. The restaurant had a couple of toboggans and we spent a while fooling around with these before we made our way back to the cable car. It was a thoroughly good day out.

29th January
Jon has continued with his OU study and occasionally needs some time out to study and today was one of those times. So in the afternoon I took the kids for another walk along the lake and agreed to them taking one toy each, this was to be my downfall. First Cadan absent- minded, dropped his baby Pom (Fimbles) in the lake. Luckily for Cadan he had dropped it right next to a slab of concrete and I was able to jump onto it but even though it was out of reach, Cadan really does have his Dad’s luck, there happened to be a 2 metre long reed wedged in amongst the rocks that I was able to extract and use to return Pom to the loving care of my middle son.

Later, on the return journey we were all standing on some rocks gazing at the water when I decided it was time to return home, went to carry Jory of the rocks and so doing knocked Mr Incredible into the lake. One could think this was an accident, an alternative suggestion was that Mr Incredible had leaped from Jory’s hand in a bid for escape, fed up with being bashed against walls, thrown on rocks and scraped on stones. I stepped on the rock below and attempted to grab him but ended up in the water up to my knees. As I scrambled back onto dry land and turned to see the position of Mr Incredible, he was floating serenely on his back with his arms raised in the air in a fond farewell. He was too far in the water to be retrievable and I am sure he had a triumphant smile on his face. Once the truth was apparent that we would not see Mr Incredible again Cadan and Jory tried to console themselves with a tearful hug. Max then ended up dropping his thunderbird in the lake. Really this was too much! Luckily for Max his thunderbird sank and was easily retrieved by a long stick that could bring him up to the shore. Ok, so next time I go walking by the lake they will not be taking toys with them!

ITALY

23rd January – Lake Garda, Italy
We were given a thunderous welcome by Italy with lightning, hailstones and torrential rain for a good three hours driving. The many tunnels were a relief from the deafening noise. I’m sure the scenery would have been breathtaking and dramatic but frankly little could be seen beyond the rain. We arrived in Lake Garda in the freezing cold and fog, the campsite manager was most surprised that we wanted to stay 10 days and also spoke very little English, we only know Ciao and Gracie in Italian so the communication was very much as if we were playing charades.

So the day we arrived was very wet, the second day was extremely windy and we were all dressed up as if we were in the artic before we went out for a walk along the lake, the lake was just 50 m away. After ½ hour walking along the stony beach Max ran down a slip way and promptly fell in the lake. So it was with soggy wet trousers that we marched back to the campsite. The following day was misty and it seemed to be snowing on the mountains and spotting slightly down by the lake.

The subsequent days have been sunny, clear and cold. One of these lazy days we decided to visit a castle at the southern most tip of the lake, situated at the end of a 7km peninsula. It was a 13th century castle with a filled moat and the boys again enjoyed walking the ramparts not noticing the different architecture to the other castles visited, honestly what philistines we have bred! One of the best features of this place was the medieval boat that was little more than a hollowed out tree trunk, this was used to carry people and goods across the lake. We had a walk around the town and were suitably impressed by the outlet from the natural thermal spring that spilled boiling water, heavily scented with Sulphur, into the lake.

I have to say I have been thoroughly shown up for what I am, an unfashionable scruff! The Italian men and women were all enjoying the castle and town in their finery. All were dressed immaculately and with great style. Hair was perfect, the outfits were all coordinated, flawlessly complimenting the bearer and that was just the men! They all were the height of fashion and sophistication. Even the children were spotlessly clean and well turned out. Heaven knows what they thought of our little band as we trooped around.

Saturday 20th January 2007

After this we packed up and headed for Nice.

Nice

We never made it into Nice. There is something about going into cities that just does not appeal to us. It may not help that the Europe guide we have, courtesy of RIAS, is mainly concerned with buildings and museums and really there is a limit to how many buildings and museums you wish to see. Jon is slightly interested in architecture but even he has difficulty mustering enthusiasm for visiting cities to view different buildings all the time. Therefore at Nice we did little. The boys ended up with a splash in the pool, and a play in the park. They were also marched back to the caravan by two irate gardeners who told me in a mix of French and English that they had been bouncing on a tree and broken one of the branches and they were not allowed to go to the play park unsupervised again and did I understand? I didn’t need to be particularly intuitive to realise that it was really I that was being told off for being a negligent mother. So feeling suitably ashamed the boys were not able to play in the play park again.

However, there happened to be a rather splendid park next to us boasting a lake with Cormorants, Herons and many ducks, there was also a splendid play park to keep the kids entertained for ages and a fabulous walk in the woods. We enjoyed this so much that we went there for two days running. Little was done in this beautiful corner of the world but hey ho such is our life. The only downside for Jon was regarding a twin axle that arrived with a motor mover that was attached to each wheel and therefore could rotate on the spot. Jon had motor mover envy!

Monday 17th January

We left the caravan to have the motor mover fitted and spent the night in a Formula 1. The boys were thoroughly excited about staying in a motel and I didn’t think they would ever go to sleep but with threats of no Pain au Chocolates in the morning they all settled down quite quickly. So we had a supermarket bought breakfast of croissants and Pain au Chocolates and the best shower we have had in a long time.

The caravan motor mover had been fitted and with Jon heroically conversing in broken French all information was gathered.

13th January

We took a visit to the Pont du Gard on a beautiful sunny day. At Pont du Gard there are remains of a Roman aqueduct, which at 49m is the highest they ever built. So we marvelled at their engineering and architecture, Jon took some excellent photos and then we traversed the woods surrounding it. The boys really enjoyed this and although we were walking for about 2 hours they only started moaning at the end.

The following day we did our own walking tour of Arles. We had a scant look at the ruined roman theatre and decided not to pay to go in and marvel at what was little more than a pile of stones. We went on to the Roman amphitheatre proclaiming to be one of the best preserved Roman sites.

The day after, thanks to our Satellite navigation system we drove through many small villages with impossibly narrow roads and sharp bends to visit the nuclear exhibition centre. It was not really suitable for small children as it did not have enough interactive elements and it was aimed at a higher intellectual level. It was all a bit too science based and far too much reading to keep me interested too (yes I suppose I am admitting that I am not intellectual!).

On the way to the exhibition the car was constantly beeping telling us to “Check the brake-pads”. We couldn’t believe it! So the next day Jon found a land rover dealer in Nimes and armed with a few phrases set off to get all four brake-pads replaced.

Wednesday 10th January

We left and drove north for a few hours to stay near Avignon. We had trouble parking the caravan and an hour later we unhitched and a few people helped us push it into place. This had made up Jon’s mind we needed to get a motor mover that would help us site the caravan in these tricky places. So the following day Jon took the two youngest, happy to sit in the car and watch DVD’s all day, to see if he could arrange the fitting of a motor mover. Max and I meanwhile gave the caravan a thorough spring clean. Jon did an excellent job of research, ordering and technical detail all of which transpired in French.

Jon had spent a tiring day conversing in French with the local dealers, talking to the manufacturers of the caravan and the manufacturers of the motor mover. When he had ordered the motor mover they wanted a hefty deposit, Jon presented our newly acquired European debit card to be told that their card machine was not working and they needed it in cash. Jon duly went to the bank to draw out some money only to have his card swallowed. He had put in my card and was using his pin number, although tempting to say “Doh!” one must remember the stress he was under. When he went into the bank he was told there was nothing they could do until 9am the next morning. He then withdrew lots of money from all the credit cards, ouch expensive!, only to be phoned by all of them enquiring about fraudulent transactions. All in all Jon returned from his day long trial, quite exhausted and fed up, especially as he knew we had to get up early the following day to arrive at the bank for 9am to get back my cash card.

Tuesday 9th January

We discovered there was a space museum in Toulouse boasting a full-scale model of an Ariane space rocket. This had to be a must. So we drove 1 and half hours to find that it was closed for the month of January for refurbishment – blooming typical, even more annoying was that if we had come a day earlier we would have been able to get in. However, I forgot we had a barefaced Johnny with us. The gates were conveniently left open, so instead of turning around and returning to the car glum faced we stole into the grounds to have a good old gawk at this huge space rocket. The boys were thrilled. We also got to see some satellites, a space station, a large-scale model of the universe and other exciting things. Despite expecting to be thrown out by some overbearing gun toting security guard, we were completely left alone. Obviously we could not go into any of the exhibitions or play on the interactive whats-its but it was enough for the boys and it was free!