Uli's Post: Paris (Day 9)

Oh how time flies when you are having fun! It seems it is my turn again to write a blog post... And I thought I just wrote one. Now it is Paris. Hot and muggy Paris. We did hot and muggy Paris 2 years ago. We only know Paris to be hot and muggy. We live in the Hobbit Hole- a lovely and quaint apartment on the top floor of a building in the Marais district- close to the Centre Georges Pompidou-a museum of modern art- modern meaning all things that would NEVER have been considered art in the past now have a place to be collected and in a way revered. It is art turned inside-out as is the building Georges Pompidou. The apartment in which we live is on two levels- the main apartment floor of the uppermost level in the building, and its attic. All rooms in the attic have sloped ceilings and rafters. At the closest to the outer wall one can barely sit up. This is not a space meant for those 6'-0" or taller. Being 5'-10" I can stand in the bathroom but everywhere else in the attic I hit my head...over and over and over.....you'd think I would learn. The place is decorated with books...lots and lots of books in every nook and cranny. And CDs and cool knick-knacks and instruments...even a cello missing its front in order to serve a new purpose as a CD holder. There is a great little balcony overlooking the rooftops and chimneys of Marais. We keep the skylight windows open to keep a nice breeze flowing through the apartment. This place is an experience and you get more of a local flavour than staying in the more touristy quarters. We are a short walk to the Metro (Rambuteau on line 11 is the nearest station only 2 blocks away) and numerous cafes, brasseries, and restaurants punctuate the streets and corners nearby. Even along our street there are 3 bars and nightclubs that remain busy until 2 am every night. The sounds of conversation fragments and carousing fuelled by beer, wine and liquor waft through our windows on the breeze. I would not, however, be able to go down to one of these bars with Anne Marie because the signs clearly state "men only". To think..despite all of the cutting edge culture in this city, that women would still be restricted from some bars. It just seems rather old fashioned and strange to think that women should still endure such discrimination. This 'Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden' restriction may be fine for GOLF, but it just seems just so archaic...this is the 21st century after all...even the 4th arrondissement needs to acknowledge that. I rant, but I am woozy from thwacking my head against a robust piece of oak rafter and laying on the floor until the bleeding stopped. Today we were up at 07:30 under a clouded sky which diffused the glow of the sun and warned of more to come. Last trip to Paris, we had wanted to see the catacombs. I had toyed with booking one of the limited and specific time slots to visit, but our schedule a month ago was too unpredictable and the Wednesday bookings were taken. Last visit we arrived and quickly aborted our attempt to visit the catacombs because the line was 2 hours long (snaking about the park near its entrance) and in 37 degree heat and blistering sun...no thanks. This time we got there at before it opened, which was 10 am. They only allow 100 people in the catacombs at a time, and I counted at least 600 in line (excluding those who were off site waiting to rejoin their 'placeholder' friend or family member. The lady at the entrance estimated a 4 hour wait...or longer....and it was supposed to get to over 30 degrees again with the sun burning through the clouds. It took less than a second to vote down staying in line for interminable hours in the scorching sun until 2 or 3 pm (it being now before 10 am) to see skulls and bones that won't go anywhere before next time I visit. Although cool, it was not worth that kind of wait in Paris with so much else to see. So...back to the metro and Solférino to get to the Musée d'Orsey and the Impressionist treasures therein. Van Gogh's 'Starry Night on the Rhône' was on tour....luckily we saw that on our last visit. ( you'd think they could get a good replica from China) After the Musée d'Orsey it was imperative for the ladies to make another LaDuree stop for more and more macarons. Kitty corner from this den of macaron addiction was the Café Le Pré Aux Clercs, which was a convenient place for lunch. The food was excellent. An older couple at the table next to ours were like paparazzi. Overtly and covertly they proceeded to take photos of mostly Astrid (and Britta and Signa as well) who was trying to shield her face from their camera or cell phone lenses...only a true star would go to such pains to shun the paparazzi...and that just encourages them more!! They must have figured they had truly discovered a bona fide star was lunching beside them.... After lunch I deposited the ladies back at the Hobbit Hole, thwacked my head again for good measure, and went off to Gare St Lazare to arrange for the SNCF tickets to Rouen and back (solo, as per Article 7 sec 1-5 of my marital vows), as well as the Metro tickets to get to Charles de Gualle airport in a few days time. Some long lines, but friendly service. I'm glad the ladies did not join me for this endeavour as they would have been bored to tears, and the crankiness levels would have been dialled up to '11'. I returned to the apartment via stops at Nation (the park in the middle of a traffic circle and monument erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, and the monument in fact faces the Bastille) and Bastille (the location of the despised tower that became the symbol of the Revolution; there is no Bastille tower- the revolutionaries took care of that- but there is a monument topped with the gleaming golden statue figure that represents the spirit of revolution). I paused briefly in the metro station to listen to a 9 piece string orchestra busking with virtuoso performance of classical music- now that is a fine use of a BFA. In front of the Hôtel de Ville there was a beach volleyball tournament... Nothing surprises anymore in this city..,. We went to dinner in the theatre district, where Astrid amused us with her lung capacity by blowing bubbles slowly and continuously through a straw into her drink. It took several tries to crack 1 minute because her sisters kept making her laugh...Astrid did not wish me to tell this story as she was embarrassed at not breaking a minute until her 4th try- synchro pride. Off to bed after packing, thwacked my head again, and off to sleep in the Hobbit Hole to dream of Rouen, Monet and Joan of Arc.

Anne Marie's Post: Rouen/ Caen (Day 11)

We all awoke excited to be heading to Caen and be beginning our tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches. We stayed at a lovely hotel in Rouen that offered the most amazing continental breakfast we have ever had! Bread, croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, cheese, meat preserves, fruit, cereals, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, tea, coffee --and my favourite--hot milk for chocolat chaud! We were visited throughout the meal by the resident cat who the girls were convinced was possessed, but was simply looking for love in all the wrong places with our crew! Uli headed back to the train station to pick up our vehicle, while the girls and I paid the bill and brought the bags downstairs. We were in the lobby, bill paid and bags at the ready and I was expecting Uli to walk through the door at any second. I walked out to the parking site a couple of times but he was not in view. I was waiting on the street when my phone rang--it was Uli. You may not be aware--as we now are--that on some standard vehicles in Europe, one must pull up on the collar of the gear shifter to put the vehicle in reverse. This hidden tidbit off European driving information was causing Uli some consternation. I headed towards the car to help with this conundrum and could smell a terrible burning odour as I got closer to the car. I stepped inside and we tried to resolve the issue of "reversing" and to find the source of the toxic odour. Of course there was no manual in the vehicle. Why would you need to put an instruction manual in a rental car? Using my "roam like home" (I had better get some sponsorship money for this product placement), I pulled up the manual on my phone. Unfortunately, between my screen size and my "fabulous" vision, I wasn't very successful. I walked back to fill in the girls about the goings on and called Karin (woke her up. Sorry B'gup) and she was able to find that lovely kernel of knowledge for us!!! I walked back to Uli, who had also decided to call the rental company and they explained the process of putting the car in reverse We loaded the girls and the bags into the vehicle and the group decision was to return the vehicle for a different one. The odour proved unbearable and only got worse with the a/c on. We suffered our way through the drive, windows rolled down. Upon arrival we unloaded our bags, put on our backpacks and trucked through the train station. The Hertz fellow was very accommodating and found us another vehicle--but we would have to drive 2 km to get it. Once again we hoisted on our backpacks and loaded up the car. We got in and rolled down the window, but not before putting Blistex (menthol scented) lip balm under our noses (thank goodness for kids who watch medical shows!) and Astrid and Signa donned nose clips! We made it to the rental company alive, but a bit worse for the wear. We were all a bit dizzy and a couple of us were feeling nauseated. Not our proudest moment as parents I will tell you. We were on our way at 1130, which was 3.5 hours behind schedule!! We made a stop at Étretat to see the beautiful cliffs. These are the famous cliffs that were painted by Monet and Sissely. It was breathtaking and well worth the stop. Driving on the narrow roads in a European version of a mini van was a challenge, but Uli did well. It is amazing the size of road they will have two way traffic on! Finally, we arrived at Juno Beach, just in time for the final guided tour of the day. The site is manned and the tours are guided solely by young Canadians who are bilingual. The girl selling the tickets was from Bon Accord, AB, the fellow letting us into the auditorium was from Montreal but living in Edmonton and our tour guide was from Burlington (on a side note--an ex-synchronized swimmer who claimed "Man that sport is hard!). The weather had been off and on for most of the day and as we headed out for the tour it started to rain, then thunder, and then rain some more. Our tour group was made up entirely of Canadians, so we were a hardy bunch up for the challenge of some bad weather. The tour started down in the German command post bunker. This bunker would have held perhaps 3 or 4 German soldiers on June 6, 1944 and was won by the men of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles via hand to hand combat as evidenced by the bullet holes in the walls. While inside the bunker the storm picked up and you could hear the rain through the window and hear as well as feel the thunder. It put us all in mind of what it must have been like on that morning with the bad weather and the bombs, shells and mines. Walking out onto the beach my mind kept creating images of the doors to the amphibious vehicles opening and the men being mowed down. The waves must have been red as they lost 50% of the men in the first wave of the landing. It is impossible to hold back tears when you are in a place of such loss, terror, bravery and sacrifice--nor should you. As a mother with an 18 year old, I put myself in the minds of thousands of Canadian mothers at that time--what a terrifying and helpless place to be. My paternal grandfather was not in Normandy on D-Day, but did fight with the Hasting and Prince Edwards throughout WWII. He came home. Far, far too many did not. It was a lovely drive to Caen and we checked into Hotel Astrid! That's right folks, Hotel Astrid! We were welcomed by the most amazing and charming woman at the reception desk. If you ever need palace to stay in Caen, I highly recommend this hotel! We made our way to the restaurant centre of town and had a lovely meal before literally falling into bed. A fabulous and emotional day to be sure!

Signa's Post: Paris/ Rouen (Day 10)

This will be my first entry where I am actually on my vacation. So yeah. Today we had to get up at six (ughhh). We had to catch a train to Rouen in Normandy. I was ready pretty fast but some of the fam (read: one person) was taking a little longer which made us leave a little later than we would have liked to but whatever. We had to take the metro to get to the other train station where we would take a nicer train from Paris directly to Rouen. We literally took up an entire area on the metro because we had our huge bags on our backs plus our carry-on backpacks on our front. When we got to the train station we headed over to our train. Dad told us that we were in first class (#swaggin). The train ride we really relaxing. The view was above average so that's cool. And Astrid and I had these really good macarons from some fancy French dessert shop called Ladurée. When we got to Rouen it was raining (so I guess having my parka was pretty helpful). Astrid had been wearing a dress and decided that she was going to change because it was quite a bit colder than it had been in Paris when we left earlier in the morning. So instead of grabbing the clothes she wanted to put on and go somewhere private and change, she did a "deck change" in the middle of the train station platform. We had to walk to our hotel but on the way we passed the Hotel Astrid so of course Astrid had to get a photo. We aren't staying there in Rouen but we are staying at one of their locations in Caen tomorrow. Our hotel is super nice. Our room has 2 beds so Astrid and I decided to share one and Britta got her own. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to explore the town. We went to this church were we had a tour about Joan of Arc. It was actually really interesting. After that we went to a crêperie for lunch. It was really good and Astrid could actually eat the crêpes which I think she was pretty excited about. We headed back to the hotel to rest for a while before going back out. It was only for about 15 minutes but it was a nice break. Afterwards we went to another church (it was really pretty and HUGE). Mom and Dad were walking around while we sat down because we didn't want to stand anymore. After we left, Dad said he would wait outside as we went into H&M to check out their European inventory. Mom said that he did that because "he would rather poke his eyes out than come into the store with us." But that was fine. Astrid got a shirt and then we went out to find Dad. He then led us to yet ANOTHER church. This is the church where Joan of Arc had her judgement done and then was burned at the stake super close by. We just strolled around to try and find some possible places to eat, but since it was too early to eat dinner (any time before 7 is too early), we went back to the hotel and just chilled there for like an hour and then went to find dinner. We ate at this place just by a church, and on the side of the church there was a fountain spouting fresh drinking water. When I took a closer look at the fountain, I realized the cherubs that were on it were holding their "tic-tacs" and peeing out of them (actually the water was coming out of them but whatever). The place we ate at was satisfactory. Astrid and I had decided that when we went back to the hotel after we would do our nightly workout. When we got there we watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother before working out. We were just about to start our workout when Britta came into the room and said that we had to leave because the light show that we were going to see was about to start (the light show was on the side of the first church I was talking about and it was supposed to be really cool). It was going to start at 10:30pm but they said that a whole bunch of people were already in front of it waiting so we headed out and were there at 10pm. Turns out that people were just there super early and it did actually start at 10:30 but we did not realize that until we had been waiting for 30 minutes. The show was really cool. It was better than I thought it was going to be. They were doing 2 shows (they were different) but we didn't get through the second one because the ocean decided to fall from the sky on top of us. It was insane. One second it was just windy and the next we were running towards our hotel soaking wet. When we were inside we watched people running down the street trying to find cover from our window (people watching is very common here and very fun). After that I took a shower and went to bed.

Astrid's Post: Paris/ Versailles Day 8

This morning we woke up relatively early to take a train out to the Palace of Versailles. Upon arriving, we walked through the town to the public gardens which is almost entirely shaded by the canopies of massive trees that are planted all over the place. Not only was this area wonderfully cool, but it was aesthetically pleasing as well due to the fact that the branches of many of the trees are meticulously groomed so that they look rectangular. While I was standing to the side appreciating the much-needed shade, Dad had his nose about an inch from a map of the grounds in an attempt to determine where exactly we could enter the part of the gardens that Versailles is famous for. After approximately 5 minutes of examining the map, he suddenly looked up and we followed him over to a "guard" standing in front of one of the gates leading to the palace gardens. Although this was in fact a legitimate entrance (and we had these fancy museum passes), the dude refused to let us into the gardens and sent us all the way around the perimeter of the property to the main entrance to the palace. Now, I learned a lot of crap in high school social studies, including the fact that the land that Versailles sits on is freaking huge. At the time I learned this I kind of filed that information away in the "random shit I don't need to know for a test" category of my brain and subsequently forgot about it. However, as we made our way all the way around Louis XIV's land, that tidbit of information came back to me and I realized that I never actually thought about how large this piece of land actually is. Honestly, with the size of this place I am not at all surprised that the royalty that lived there travelled around the gardens in carriages. After walking all the way around the perimeter of the grounds (and, later in the day, through the gardens), I would like to personally apologize to King Louis for calling him "super freaking lazy" in reference to his decision to avoid physical activity at all costs. After seeing how large the place is firsthand, I can say that if I ever return I am bringing a horse with me. Or a private jet. Depends how rich I am. Anyways, we eventually arrived at the front of the palace gates and I almost died when I saw how many people were standing in line to get in. I mentioned earlier that we have Paris Museum Passes, and for a lot of venues (ex. the Louvre), they allow the holder to skip the line and enter the attraction in no time flat. Dad went up to someone working near the front of the line and asked if our passes would allow us to skip the line. He was pretty pissed off when he found out that we spent extra cash on these passes and they would only let us skip the ticket line which was only half an hour long. Disgruntled, he led us to the back of the line where we commenced our 2 hour and 10 minute wait to get into Versailles. At this time it was about 11:30am and the sun was already blazing. It definitely didn't help that we had to stand on dark cobblestones the entire time with no shade anywhere to be seen. So, out came our umbrellas and we prepared to stand there for a million years. Side note: if you are planning on visiting Europe in the summer, make sure to bring an umbrella, especially if you are going somewhere hot... Mine has saved my pale ginger ass countless times this trip as well as on our last trip 2 years ago. About 45 minutes into our wait, Britta said that she had to pee really bad so she and dad ventured into the town to find a bathroom and something for all of us to eat and drink. While they were gone, Signa and I thought, what better to do in Europe than people-watch? I decided to watch the people directly in front of us first. It was a family of three, and the mom was holding her arm up by her face to block the sun. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that she had probably never shaved her armpits in her entire life. Long, wispy black hairs were gently moving back and forth in the slight breeze. I gagged a little bit and, naturally, plunged my hand into my purse to grab the camera. I took advantage of the zoom feature to get a beautiful shot of her underarm hair. I have attached the image at the bottom of this post for your viewing pleasure. Finally Britta and Dad returned from their expedition with Orangina and pain au chocolat/ muffins in hand. Obviously I couldn't eat the pastries, but I always come prepared so I ate a Nutella sandwich and a granola bar that I brought along. Honestly, part of the reason I'm not a huge fan of travelling is because my allergy is like the biggest inconvenience in the world. We waited in line for a while longer and FINALLY entered the courtyard in front of the palace after clearing security. One of the first things I noticed about both the interior and exterior of the building was the insane amount of gold that is literally EVERYWHERE. There is gold on the gates, picture frames, furniture, baseboards and on pretty much anything else you think you might find in a palace. I wouldn't even be surprised if Louis XIV wiped his ass with sheets of gold leaf. If I had even a fraction of that amount of gold I could go to any university I wanted to, no matter how unreasonably expensive. 40 grand a year? Not a problem! One of the weirdest things I learned from the audio tour we did was that nobility and other "curious spectators" would frequently sit in the same room as the Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette while they were eating dinner in order to observe. This is essentially the original version of Us Weekly's 'Stars-- They're Just Like Us!' Except instead of hiding in bushes to snap pictures of them getting their groceries, they were nosy in a far more obvious fashion. After completing the audio tour of the palace, we headed outside to tour the gardens. As we were walking down towards the main body of water (not sure what it's called), Britta says to me, "Look at those 2 people banging each other!" This statement caught my attention and I began frantically looking around in an attempt to catch a glimpse of this spectacle. She then pointed out that she was simply referencing a statue and exclaimed, "This is not the Calgary Stampede, Astrid!" We continued walking towards the water and rented 2 canoes for 45 minutes. Britta, Signa and I went in one canoe and Mom and Dad took the other so they could drink champagne the whole time without us interrupting. The other 2 voted that I be the one to row because of my upper body strength... I don't know where they got that idea because my arms really aren't that strong. Regardless, I grabbed the oars and prepared to pretend to know what I was doing. This plan would've gone flawlessly if it hadn't been for the fact that when the employee pushed us away from the dock he directed us towards other canoes that were moored rather than out towards the middle of the lake. I started to panic a little bit because I was unable to use the oars without hitting other boats. I struggled for a little while, and on shore there was a couple eating ice cream and laughing at me, which just made me freak out even more. In the end, I switched places with Signa (the one who has actually been training all summer) and managed to push us away from the other canoes a little bit so Signa could actually utilize the oars. While this struggle was happening, Mom and Dad simply glanced at us and rowed away to the other end of the lake to enjoy their alcohol instead of trying to help us out. Thanks for that. We finally managed to get away from the other boats (and the couple who were hardcore judging me), and I must say that I quite enjoyed watching Signa slave away rowing while I laid back and relaxed. Once our 45 minutes was up, we left Versailles and decided to head back to Paris to eat dinner because all of the restaurants in Versailles that didn't cost a fortune were closed until 7pm. We ate by the Sacre Coeur church and then went to walk around the artist's square. Britta spent forever looking at the artwork and when we finally left I was more than ready for bed. PEACE.

Britta's Post: Paris Day 7

As a general rule, any time prior to 6am does not exist to me. By this I mean that even 5:59:59am is dedicated to sleep. Pretty much the entire reason I opted out of synchro is because of their morning practices, as I simply do not do mornings. As Signa mentioned in the last post, we didn't get to bed until 1:30 in the morning. We had to wake up at four in the morning. Astrid set her alarm to Beyoncé's Partition, but I didn't even hear it and Astrid had to shake me awake. Whatever. It is kind of her fault that I was so tired, because I got zero sleep the night before. In the middle of the night, she placed her foot in the small of my back, and I decided not to try to move it because she would've been so annoyed if I woke her up. Then she pulled it away, and then kicked me full force in my back and I almost fell off the bed. About fifty seconds later, after I finished swearing quietly at her, she started cackling so loudly, seemingly at me. Wrong move on her part because I smacked her on the back causing her to wake up and get mad at me for hitting her. She was completely on my side of the bed and I shoved her over. The parental unit woke up briefly and scolded me, which was so ridiculous. Anyways, the next morning Astrid told me that she had been laughing at something that happened in her dream, and doesn't even remember kicking me. So, back to 4am. We caught a taxi to the airport in Rome at 5am. Once we got inside the building, we got in the long line that eventually ended at the desk where we would deposit our luggage and have our passports checked. So, naturally, we had to ensure that we had our passports. Mom had told me the day before that she had my passport, and when we were eating breakfast at the hotel, she had placed some passports on the desk. At the airport, everyone grabbed theirs out, but I was still digging around in my carry- on bag for mine. I asked mom for it because I remembered that I gave it to her. Mom disagreed and said she gave it back. This, of course, lead to us pulling out of the line to unpack and check my carry-on and then my big pack. It wasn't in either place, so now I was kind of shitting a brick. Astrid and Signa stood there rolling their eyes at each other the whole time about how disorganized I am. Finally, mom decided to check her bag just to be sure. She pulled out her raincoat from her suitcase, and guess what folks? AM had my passport. I was about ready to cry at this point, or vomit, or pass out. I re-packed and we got back into line, when mom muttered "well, she won't be talking to me for a while" because I was obviously stressed and maybe a tiny bit pissed off. When we were waiting for the flight, we stopped at the bathrooms, and the toilets were so annoying. You had to put literally your entire weight onto the toilet seat in order to keep it down. If you even so much as shifted to, like, grab some toilet paper or something, the seat started to pop up and hit you in the butt. When we were in line to get into the plane, a group of old nuns decked out in their habits that obviously aided in their vow of celibacy tried to cut to the front of the line. There was a lady behind us that was having none of it and marched straight up to the nuns and sassed them to get to the back of the line. The lady that Astrid and I sat beside on the plane was a super friendly makeup artist from Rome, and she and her sister were flying to Paris. Her English was really impressive, but she told us how she was a super nervous flyer. This became obvious when she tried to leave her seat or maybe even the plane while we were taxiing down the runway, and we both had to stand up so that she could get through. At least until the hot flight attendant came over and made her take her seat again. She also thought that the flight attendant was hot, because when he first walked by, she told us that she had "heart eyes" for him, and then mimed hearts in front of her eyes towards him. Obviously "he's smokin' hot"', "10/10", "I'd tap that" and other such expressions were gaps in her knowledge of the English language. It was sort of bizarre because during parts of the flight, they played American music through the intercom system. We arrived in Paris at 10am, took the train from the airport and then walked the rest of the way to our apartment through some really nice areas with a lot of men-only bars. Suddenly, all of the well dressed guys milling around made more sense. The place we are currently staying at is an apartment on the very top floor of the building, and there are (Astrid counted) 8 billion steps up to our door. It is beautiful, despite my first exclamation upon seeing the upper floor being, "is this a hobbit-hole?" and then proceeding to hit my head so hard I had to lie down for a minute. I wasn't the only one to get injured in our first ten minutes of being there, because Signa managed to miss the last two steps down the super narrow staircase and fell down, now Dad says she probably has a broken toe. At the very least it is definitely bruised and inflamed. We went for lunch at a café in the neighbourhood and it was so good! We all decided to head to the Louvre which happens to be the childhood home of King Louis the Fourteenth, until his ego became too big for his palace and he decided to build Versailles. It was super crowded, but the weather was far more bearable than Italy, with some cloud cover and a cool breeze. Once we got inside we discovered that it was sweltering and there didn't seem to be any AC. Since the museum is inside a giant glass pyramid, it was like he world's most populated greenhouse. We shoved through the crowds and saw the Mona Lisa, Venus Di Milo and the Raft of the Medusa. I found out the hard way that they did indeed have air conditioning, and it was coming out in concentrated jet streams from these secret vents in the floor that I didn't notice because the artwork is not on the ground. I walked over one of them in my dress and it flew up and I'm pretty sure I flashed some people. Oops. On the walk back to the house, I walked over another vent, but this time a super large one on the sidewalk outside, and I pulled a bit of a Marilyn Monroe, except not cute or elegant. It was actually kind of tragic because I spazzed and tried to bunch up my dress but there was too much of it to hold on to at once and mom had to help me pull myself together. I swear I have more wardrobe malfunctions than anyone else that I've ever met. We took a break at home and I had a nap then did some people watching from our gorgeous balcony. Then we walked into a nice square and ate outside at an Italian food restaurant. Then we walked home, got ready and went to bed.

Signa's Post: Ostia Day 6

So far you have heard stories from everyone in the family. But now you get to see it from the athlete/reason why we were in Ostia's point of view. Today was the last day of the competition. It was both solo and team finals. Since only Cassie has a solo the rest of the team got to sleep in till 8:45 (THANK GOD!). We had a really laid back morning in which we got to take our time eating a semi-decent breakfast, but since we came to the food late it was mostly gone except for some warm milk and yogurt. Our fab coach Jen told us to have some Nutella because it was at least some kind of food, so I just grabbed a spoon and started eating. After our SUPER healthy breakfast we had to back to the rooms so we could get ready to go to the pool. As most of you know, the pool is literally 5 steps outside of our dorms so it doesn't take us very long to get there. While Cassie was getting ready for solo we had to do some really hard team stuff in which I felt like I was going to drown (but I didn't so I guess that's cool). After all that we had to get out and start gelling our hair, which is obviously my favourite part of synchro. We only had a little while to do our hair because we had to make sure that we were out there to cheer Cassie on for her runthrough. The people at the competition all know how INCREDIBLY hot it is there, which made gelling sort of interesting. This time I made really nice gel and I was super excited that it wasn't going to drip down my face like before.... At least that's what I thought. But since it is so hot it actually started to melt my perfect gel and make my face all sticky (thank you but I'd rather not have gel in my eyebrows). The coaches let us go back to the dorms so that our gel wouldn't melt and so we could cool down to a temperature that isn't fire. After all of that exciting stuff we had to head back to the pool once again. This time we went back to do our official warm up, where they played the music and we did the parts of the routine that the coaches told us to do. And even though it was only warm up the moms in the stands were cheering a ridiculous amount (of course). We were all really excited to be finishing the competition/the routine (mostly the people that have done the routine for 2 years). We did our swim and the crowd was very loud. Even France was cheering. And then we were done!! We almost came 3rd but fourth in the world is pretty awesome and we were all happy with the swim. Afterwards we had to get ready for the banquet at 9pm and start packing for the next day (or that night in my case). The banquet was mostly people running around trying to trade with the different countries. We got some pretty cool stuff. For example, I got suits from both the Italian and Swiss teams. Emily snaked her way into getting a RUSSIAN SUIT by trading a "Canada" suit. This was not an authentic national team suit, rather she ironed on a maple leaf that she got from the dollar store in Calgary and pretended it was the real thing. When Dad was there to get me, most of my teammates walked me downstairs to say goodbye. I said goodbye to all of the coaches and to my teammates, and then headed to my family's apartment where they were staying so I could go to bed right away. Sadly that's not what happened. When we got to the apartment I had to pack all of my things that I had just shoved into my swim bag, and I had to make sure that my suitcase was still under the weight limit (this was around 11:45pm). When I was packing I started to feel kinda hungry. That's when I realized that I hadn't had a meal since lunch at 12. We were going to have the "Hulk" for dinner (the lobster that the coaches bought at the restaurant... It was HUGE) but I was leaving when they were coming back, and all of the food at the banquet had been eaten and I was too busy trading competition gear and packing to eat. So I had to wait for Mom to come home so I could head out and get something to eat. I ended up getting gelato and some pizza (in that order) at 12:30am. So I guess it was a midnight snack, but it was DELICIOUS. By the time we got home and got ready for bed it was 1:30am, which was followed by a 4am wake up. But the day was finally over and I could finally sleep which was pretty swaggin'.

Uli: Friday AUGUST 07, 2015. NOT 'GRUMPY IN ROME'

The following is THE OFFICIAL BLOG for August 07, 2015. (All other postings for this date are imposters and are to be disregarded)(all apologies for the annoying fact that all italics and formatting are eliminated upon uploading the post) As this is my first official blog post, I've been given some rules to follow by the blogmaster. Apparently I'm not allowed to use the following words : << edited by Blogmaster >> or the following phrases : << edited by Blogmaster >> or mention the following topics : << some content removed by Blogmaster >> So here goes... It was a f-abulously hot day again in Ostia, and again not a cloud in the sky. We got to the pool for solo preliminaries by 10:00-ish. Our apartment room is pleasant and relatively quiet located in an unassuming building, which can masquerade as some others, in an unassuming neighbourhood in this resort-y kind of town. It is conveniently located between two train stations and is a 15 minute walk to the beachfront. The only major issue in this apartment is the plumbing, or more specifically the odours most foul that emanate from the shower drain. My intimate and detailed knowledge of the problem hardens back to the fact that in the fine print associated with my marital vows (rather like the gems discovered long after the passage of government Omnibus Bills) was a clause ascribing to me the title of "Manager of Gross Duties and Disgusting Tasks" ( Article 975 section 7 subsection cxxxvii : your mission, should you choose to accept it, and you will, (according to Articles 7 through 15, 19 and 37-5-vii, and subject to, but not limited to, the 'Regulations Governing Refusal' Article 2 and Appendix 1, as well as the 'List of Possible Gratitudes' Appendix 2 and standard 'Veto Clauses' Appendix 3) shall be defined by... << some content removed by Blogmaster >>.... etc etc etc. it's all the standard clauses as in your own vows...the original clauses actually date back to before ancient Roman times as it turns out....I'm sure I read that somewhere) My task was to 'fix this'... which meant cleaning the detritus/ hair catcher to see if this would remedy the issue. Degunking and de-sliming this ingenious little device was not the solution, owing to the small 1.5 inch drain pipe leaving the drain contraption laterally, and quite obviously in its retro-fitted-let's-just-convert-this-room-into-a-guest-suite-with-an-ensuite-bathroom kind of way without ANY room for a proper u-trap. Now, in general I do admire the European ingenuity at devising, designing and manufacturing efficient solutions to extract maximum utility out of the small real estate they have, or can afford to have ( making most of our homes in North America look downright opulent in comparison), but suffice it to say that this shower drain design is not worthy of the Pantheon of Brilliance. The smell indeed was from the bowels of the earth, and more specifically from the bowels of all Ostia upstream from this building's sewer connection. The odour production seemed to correlate to the outdoor temperature, and 30 degrees C seemed to be the "Equivalence Point" measured in the fan's limited cfm (cubic feet per minute). At this point of equilibrium the phrase "It doesn't seem to smell that bad" converts like litmus paper to "for the love of....<< edited by Blogmaster >> ... What in God's green earth is that?". The only solution was to keep the bathroom fan on ALL the time... And pray.... Also, in my sleuthing I discovered there to be to be an odd and curious fountain in the bathroom next to the toilet that is fairly low to the ground, but the water tastes like << edited by Blogmaster >>, but not the source of our conundrum. Where was I... Oh right! We made it to the pool for 10-ish and the Solo Preliminaries. We joined the exuberant Great Canadian Delegation in he stands, who were in full Canadian colours and prepared with flags, Pom poms and parasols to do battle in the stands. We cheered loudly for Cassie and her strong finish in a field of strong competitors. The sun, even at this time of day was scorching... After the solos were done, we were able to visit with Signa and deliver a bounty of fruits for the team. Other parents had also rallied to bring in a few bags of food supplies. A paucity of protein availability to our athletes was now identified as a problem. A plan was conceived and hatched to procure a dinner from an outside restaurant that day, and when the call for the protein to be steak was heard, Patricia vowed to hunt all over Ostia, all day if required. So we set off in the heat as we walked down "Beach Street", which actually grew longer and longer and longer with each passing moment and each successively more difficult step. Our bodies losing copious sweat in a vain effort to keep us cool, and we were near the point of COLLAPSE!!!! (It's my story and I get to embellish exaggerate and outright fabricate any details I wish- it's in my vows (Article 1058 Sec. 2-7 although subject to Appendix 3)) (Seriously, bending over to tie your shoe at 40+ degree heat is more than MAJOR hot yoga) We crawled to 'Centre Street' (in Toronto equivalent speak I am referring to the intersection in Ostia known as 'Bloor and Yonge') when like a mirage rising from the desert we found the 'Wild West Steak House'. If there was no steak here, then it would not be found anywhere... By a stroke of good fortune indeed, we found that steak WAS on the menu. This was no mirage of wishful thinking. Our search was complete. It took some time to cool off, aided by the consumption of plenty of ice cold water. We enjoyed an excellent lunch at this oasis of beef, and then Patricia arranged the 14 steak and 1 chicken dinner with salads to be picked up for 5 pm...by which I actually mean 7 pm, because this is Rome, and here the Romans have siesta from 3-7 pm. Now: 2 pm. A free afternoon. What to do? Should we go back to Rome? Should we see the ruins at Ostia Antica? Should we just park ourselves on the beach? Each option was carefully weighed against the oppressive heat that was 'officially' 36 degrees, but was more certainly closer to 40 degrees, or maybe even more, judging by the copious sweat we were generating. And still no sign of a cloud in the sky, and also no breeze to delude us into believing things might just be a little cooler. Ostia Antica was voted as a option for tomorrow. Central Rome would mean trains and subways all cooking in this heat to produce what can affectionately called the 'stench of humanity' - a sharp bite of armpit with a strong and lingering note of body odour. The odour might be related to either the popularity of the 'Mike Wozowski' collection of fine designer scents ( which now include such famous titles as 'Low Tide', 'Garbage Dumpster', and now...'Roma Capitale') OR just a critical shortage of (alternatively, a staunch philosophical opposition to the use of) soap, basic hygiene products and deodorant. Then again, at the end of the day.... we ALL smell like Rome. The girls decided to beach it so we set them up at a appealing private beach with large colourful sun umbrellas and the beach lounge chairs. Anne Marie and I decided ... 'When in Rome' .... And we decided to siesta. Air conditioned room. Fresh cool shower (with a valiant fan trying its best). Cold Proseco in the fridge. Siesta. La Dolce Vita. Reprieve from the heat. After collecting the girls from the beach (where they did splash in the algae filled sea made possible by the nutrients added to the Tiber in Rome) and procuring some peanut butter ( WAYYY less popular here than in North America, where we even just affectionately shorten it's name to 'PB') and Nutella (for morning protein) to be added to the care package today, we met with Patricia, Dan and Hollie and Eileen and Ian for the 7pm steak showdown. All the meals were ready to go as promised, and a bonus of real cutlery was provided ( real steak needs real cutlery). Eileen and Ian did the delivery to the team. We enjoyed a great dinner at the Aran Blu hotel restaurant with Patricia, Hollie and Dan. After dinner we discovered that an actual rain shower left some puddles for us to navigate on our way home. It was approaching midnight and the town was bustling. The beachfront bars and nightclubs were alive, the library tent at he beach was open and busy, and we finished the day with the only way it should be finished....with GELATO. And now that I'm finished my blog entry as well, I will celebrate with a drinking box size of tetra-packed 'Vino Blanco'... Conveniently packaged to put into any lunch and yet sufficient to decrease any measure of afternoon productivity. Finito "Dadam Levine"

Anne Marie's Post: Ostia/ Rome (Day 5)

Morning started with us being awakened to the tune of "Rack City" via Astrid's phone. This is the part where I'm thankful that I sleep with earplugs. If you haven't heard this song, please save yourself and DON'T check it up on iTunes! A quick breakfast interspersed with jockeying for space in our disgusting smelling bathroom, and we were out the door. Duet finals were not starting until 7 pm and we weren't allowed to watch figures (this changed later) so we had the day to do some sightseeing. We started the day in Ostia Antica which was the ancient port city of Rome. The ruins are quite spectacular and are quite accessible. After going through the ruins in Rome where everything is fenced off or viewable only from a distance, these ruins are quite interactive. We were able to climb stairs and walk in old buildings we were even able to climb the stairs of their amphitheatre and sit in the seats! Apparently this building is still use, as it was used to host a movie night the previous evening. Unfortunately there is limited shade and my two fair skinned redheads reached the limit of their heat tolerance rather quickly. It was time to catch the train to Rome. As is the case while travelling in Europe, it is hit and miss in terms of what attractions may be under construction. When we were in Rome two years ago the Tritan Fountain was under construction--but now it is open! We started our tour of Rome at this fountain, but realized it was just too hot to be moving around much. We popped into a couple of dress shops, but the layer of sweat covering everyone was enough of a deterrent that we didn't try anything on. We walked down a little side street in pursuit of shade and happened upon a fabulous restaurant called Accademia. They offered a number of gluten free options which is always a bonus for us. When they took our drink order they asked me if I would like a medium or large coke zero. I ordered a large pop and a glass of prosecco, When they brought the drinks out we all burst out laughing and Astrid asked,"Are we in the United States?" This is so unusual for Europe, where most pops are 130 ml! If you have seen my Facebook page you can check out the unflattering picture of me holding two huge glasses! The food was fabulous, but definitely on the pricey side! It was worth it for the couple of refuge it provided from the sun! The girls had their hearts set on doing some more shopping, so we walked through the area below the Spanish Steps with all the expensive shops. They had passed by a Jimmy Choo store a couple of days before and really wanted to check it out. We found the store and headed inside. So it has come to my attention recently, that some people consider our family to be "granola"' a thought that seemed to be shared by the sales clerk as we headed in wearing Birks and runners, speed shorts and I was wearing some MEC gear. She looked at me as if to say "there is no way this woman could walk in a pair of heels." This position was strengthened when Britta looked up at the saleswoman and asked, "Can we touch them?" I didn't know if I should laugh or cry! Travelling with Uli is always interesting as he has the most unbelievable sense of direction I have ever seen, as do I, but in the complete opposite sense. I can be walking down the mall (one I've been to a million in times), walk into a shop, come out and 99% of the time turn the wrong direction. That being said, you can understand that we like to let Uli lead the way. This occasionally proves problematic as he likes to stop--frequently--to take pictures. He will tell us to just go ahead and he will catch up--never a good plan. Thanks to cell phone technology we were able to find each other at the Trevi fountain, throw our coins in and make a wish to return one day. It was getting late and we had to head back to Ostia and the pool for duet final. A quick stop at the Spanish Steps and a few smelly metro rides brought us to the pool just in time for the competition to start. Being such a reserved individual (NOT) it was really out of my comfort zone to bellow and cheer Paige and Emily on to a third place finish and a bronze medal for Canada! Well done girls! We are so proud of you! Astrid and Britta had had their fill of heat so opted out of dinner. We stopped at a market and got them some meat and cheese and dropped them at the hotel. Uli and I headed into the heart of Ostia's restaurant area to meet up with Mary O'Brien and her husband Brendan as well as her sister Jo and her husband Dan. Unbeknownst to me, another group of our parents were at the table beside us. I was so hot and sweaty when we got there that it took me at least 5 minutes to realize they were there. My apologies to all, I felt like a heel! We had a wonder time with Mary and her family and it is only too bad that there won't be more opportunities to all get together. I knew the men were getting along famously, when a keg holding 3 litres of beer showed up at the table! Jo and Dan (along with Mary and Brendan) gave us some excellent suggestions regarding the upcoming Irish leg of the trip! We may have to make some adjustment to our itinerary! Thanks to Mary and Brendan for treating us to a lovely dinner! It was a beautiful walk back home and we were shocked to see that it was 2 am! We tiptoed in, so as not to wake the girls. I think we were moderately successful. I'm sure the roles will be reversed soon enough.

Astrid's Blog Post- Ostia (August 6th)

The words that lie ahead depict the happenings of the third day of our time in Ostia and the beginnings of the highly exciting hours spent sitting in the stands at the pool... This morning we were awakened by the always classy sound of my Rack City alarm at 7:30am, an hour before we were supposed to depart for the pool to watch duet prelims. In theory this is plenty of time to get your ass out of bed and get out the door, but according to the rest of my family it is just enough time to lay in bed for 20 more minutes before being forced out of bed by yours truly. While they were panicking that "time is running out and we NEED to go soon", I was trying my best to keep my comments to myself about lack of organization (especially that of Britta, not gonna lie). To be fair, she hasn't had to experience the precise to-the-second punctuality expected by Jenn Tregale in the synchro world. When I was swimming I know I wasn't always a fan of what I would potentially have to encounter if I was late for practice (especially if we're talking about a 5:30am torture session :) ), but now I can safely say that I appreciate the organizational skills and the ability to drag myself out of bed at inhumane hours. So thank you Jenn!! Back on track... When we finally made it out the door at 8:50am (insert eye roll here), we caught the metro to the pool and settled into the stands where I proceeded to sweat off my deodorant after approximately 5 minutes of sitting in the sun. Throughout the event I became increasingly disgusting and literally had huge beads of sweat trailing down my legs and accumulating between my boobs. Wait a second... What boobs?!? I decided to remove my shirt for the sole purpose of flaunting my abs. Just kidding, I was trying not to drown in my own sweat, although the ab thing sounds far more glamorous so let's just stick with that story. My sweaty plight aside, duet prelims was quite exciting and to top it off Canada killed it and came second. Once duet was (FINALLY) over, we walked back to the metro station and while we were waiting for the train mom read us the "daily update" that was sent out from the national team coaches about their experiences at the competition. They had included the figure draw in the email, and the figures that the girls will be swimming on Saturday are called "side fish" and "albatross". Yeah, I know that synchro figures have stupid names. No wonder people make fun of us so much. Anyhow, Britta clearly wasn't listening to the context of the conversation when Mom read this part out to us, because upon hearing the words "side fish" and "albatross" she exclaimed, "Oh, that sounds delicious!" Let me tell you, I have done synchro for a grand total of 8 years and Britta has been subject to many conversations regarding synchro figures and the like. I can guarantee that she has heard those words tossed around more than a few times and yet she has proven that after all of this time she has learned nothing! To quote Nicki Minaj, what a "stupid ho." (Don't worry, she said I could write that). That aside, her comment was certainly the highlight of the day. :) Upon arriving at the apartment we all had some snacks that we were storing in our mini fridge, including blood orange juice. It's really too bad that this isn't carried in chain grocery stores in Calgary because this stuff is like drinking Beyoncé's tears. The only thing that would make it better would be having the honour of drinking it from between the ridges of each of David Beckham's 6 beautifully defined abs. But seriously people, this juice is incredible. I recommend checking out the Italian store in Calgary to see if you can find it because it is just that delicious. Once we were done eating, Mom and Dad left to go into Rome for a few hours to tour the inside of the Colosseum. Britta and I stayed behind to cool our internal body temperatures down to normal and to be lazy for a while. Mom and Dad returned in time for us to commute to the pool once again for team prelims where Signa was going to be competing in-pattern, not watching from the side. So that was exciting! However, it did mean that I was forced to come face-to-face with my arch-nemesis once again: the sun. The team swam pretty well and I avoided burning myself which was a noteworthy moment for me. Once team was over we ditched Signa with her team and went for dinner near our apartment. This was fairly uneventful except for the fact that when I was drinking my orange juice what seemed like an extra long piece of pulp was sucked up the straw. Upon further investigation I realized that what I thought was a harmless bit of orange was actually a skinny tentacle of some sort. As it turned out this was also harmless but was absolutely disgusting. Now it is off to bed so this queen can get her beauty sleep! ;)

Britta's Blog: Ostia/ Rome Day 2 (August 5th)

Today started out pretty good, because we got to sleep in a little bit. I mean, technically it wasn't really a sleep in because we went to bed at 2:30 am, but because Astrid and I had a nap yesterday we still felt rested. However, Mom and Dad could have used a nap yesterday too as they were a "little" (read: "a lot") irritable. We ate some delicious Italian meat and cheese and chocolate mousse for breakfast, and then met with Myrna and Harry to walk down to the pool to see Signa and Adora to give them snacks. Then we all went for gelato. Even though it was only like 11:00 in the morning, I was already sweating like a whore in church. We actually couldn't find any gelato and mostly ended up with ice cream bars and iced teas, but it was still nice to talk to Signa for a bit. She told us how hot all of the Italian lifeguards at the pool are, which will be an inspiration to sit through the heat during the competition. Anyway, we then left them to go do their figures and headed to the train station to go visit Rome. The first thing we decided to do was go see the Roman Bathhouse, because we didn't get to see it last time we were there. It was sweltering at this point and I was chugging water like a Victoria's Secret model after a show. Thank god they have freshwater taps all over the place to refill at. We all (except for Dad) had our umbrellas out to shade us from the sun, but the wind picked up and kept bending them inside out so we had to put them away. When we were walking into the Bathhouse initially, I was fiddling with my umbrella trying to pack it away when some dude goes "Eeeey baybeee how you dooeeeeng". I guess I was distracted and didn't totally register the major creep factor of this statement, so I said hello back. Terrible idea. Ladies, never follow my horrific example here. If that ever happens literally run away or ignore them or something because this guy then tried to, like, shake or hold my hand or something, and it suddenly hit me that he was a creep-ass stranger and I think I actually said "hah ya nope" in his face as I jerked my hand away fast and booked it to the parental unit. What an embarrassing situation. Anyway so that was creeper #1. The rest of the Bathhouse was totally cool (obviously not weather-wise though). It was massive, and one of the plaques said that when it was functional it was several floors, with a 50 meter swimming pool inside as well, and could hold 6000 people at any given time. Not sure how I feel about bathing with that many people but at least those Romans actually bathed. There were remnants of tiles and statues and engravings everywhere, and even a super well preserved painting of Jesus staring vacantly at Mary's boobs. At around this time, I started getting shaky partly because it was so hot and I was hungry. I then caught a minor case of bitch-fever, a common precursor to heat stroke. I got super impatient with Dad taking literally 10000 photos in 42 degree heat, and we finally started to leave when my fever rubbed off on Astrid too. We decided to get some food and headed to this ancient bridge that was built in something like 62 BC and is still standing and functional. We had been to the bridge our last time in Italy and we knew that there are some restaurants that are nice and quiet with some good gluten free options. We found a nice restaurant that had a fan that was blowing some mist around and it felt fantastic. The food was fabulous even though we didn't feel too hungry because of the heat. At the restaurant, there was this French couple and they were so fricking weird. I do not think that the guy said a single word the entire time we were there, but his girlfriend was totally annoying and wouldn't shut up. Not talkative per se, but I think someone made the mistake once of telling her that she has a nice singing voice and she must've believed them, because for the next forty minutes we were subject to the pitchy noises of a dying duck. Then she would giggle and speak rapid-fire French and then sing something else. Awful. Then she was talking about Justin Bieber, not realizing that Astrid and I know enough French to understand what she said, and we busted up laughing because at some point there is only so much you can be respectful of. Then she started a one man drumming circle at her table and I turned around and she started laughing. Then I started laughing because she was about 25 and acting a decade younger. We left and headed to the Colosseum. It was slowly cooling off, and we wanted to make it before it closed for the day, but we got there just 15 minutes too late. While we were walking around the outside though, we ran into Mary O'Brien (a synchro mom) and her husband and ended up chatting with them for a while. Eventually Astrid and I sat down on a railing because our feet were killing us. We people watched for a bit, and ended up focussing on some middle aged Italian military guys who were more concerned with checking out the asses of girls ten years their junior than they were with the security of their country. Next we headed out to meet Patricia in some square, got a little lost on the way, stopping for dad to take pictures and for band-aid changes. At one of our band-aid-swap-stops, we encountered creeper #2. I was wearing a skirt and I had to squat down to sit on this super low to the ground ledge, while also tucking my legs into myself so I didn't obstruct pedestrian traffic. Not to mention I was also trying to change bandages on my feet. So, I had to strategically place my purse, try to keep my skirt between my legs as much as possible and get on with things. As I was doing this though, some teenage boy who thought he was literally the look-up-the-skirt-ninja was trying to be discreet, but even with my head bent down I could see him turn his feet and body to face me. He slowed down, and in my peripheral vision I could see the loser crane his neck. Needless to say, boys, you are never as clever and as subtle as you think you are. Even mom noticed and started laughing at his epic failure. When we were waiting to be seated for dinner, they brought us all complimentary glasses of champagne. I was so thirsty that I chugged it, which burned a little so I almost coughed. Champagne is nasty. The drinking age in Italy is 16, but most places only have fancy and gross wines and beers and stuff. I shared melon and prosciutto with Astrid while she was double-fisting her champagne and a mojito. Turns out that the people at the table next to us were from Edmonton, which is so random. We did the most Canadian thing ever-- started talking about hockey. Then there was this guy who sat down and was either checking Astrid out, or, due to his long strawberry blonde hair, was trying to determine 'who wore it better'. On our way to the metro station after dinner, we had to climb all 136 (Astrid counted) of the Spanish Steps. Conveniently, the station was closed at 10pm for some stupid reason, and we had to catch a cab to the next station. Italian drivers are maniacs. Thankfully, this one was open, and the last train was going to arrive at 1120, and we just managed to catch the 1050 train back to Ostia. Once home, we all wanted to shower, but the drain smells like rotting broccoli and dead bodies. Dad cleaned the drain with his bare hands which is so gross, but at least he was willing to because I know I sure as hell wasn't. Then we went to bed. Mom was wearing her fitbit, and it turns out we did something like 22km of walking. More than a half marathon, which explains the blisters.

August 4 blog Calgary-Montreal-Rome What a whirlwind! After 6 weeks of synchro swimmers in the house (great girls)And working almost full-time since June 1,I Couldn't believe the day had finally arrived. I like to leave my house clean so that I have a clean house to return to. At 0200 hours I realized this WAS NOT going to happen. Not if I planned on actually packing for the trip. I broke down and asked Karin if she would clean my houe prior to my dad's arrival at 1130. i actually started crying Shen she said yes! We got the girls delivered safely into the capable hand of the coaches as I choked back tears at seeing Signa wearing her Canada gear and representing her country. We checked in and got through security--for me that is when the vacation actually starts. It was smooth flying to Montral and with a 40 minute connection, we still made our flight. After clearing what passes for customs at the airportin Rome, we strapped our backpacks to our backs and smaller packs on the front and hopped on the trains to Ostia. Check in was noon and we arrived over an hour early. We hung out for a while outside the apartment, but heard the call of gelato, so left for about 20 minutes. Of course it was during that time that the manager arrived and let in the other guest-Myrna--leaving us sitting outside for a good 40 minutes. After checking in, the girls decided to stay in the room and sleep--so Uli snd I hesded out with Patricia (another synchro mom). We headed into Rome and specifically to St Peter's Square. When we arrived the whole area outside the square was swarming with teenagers. We thought they were lining up to go into the Vatican--so Patricia and I linked hands and I pushed our way across the mass of people. We were getting dirty looks from them but continued to offer reassurances that we weren't cutting in line, in fact we didn't want to go into the Vatican, rather just into the square. as it turned out they were also trying to get into the square and were part of a youth delegation. We were told in no uncertain terms that we would not get in--but we did! We made our way up to the front of the seating area after having my most dangerous Contigo water bottle and kindergarten scissors confiscated. I must contact Contigo and give them the head's up regarding the dangers associated with their product. Did I mention it was 37 in the shade??? We weren't in the shade, but rather in the blazing sun admits a throng of humanity, with 4 hours go go until the pope would come out---and I had no wAter. I left Uli and Patricia and scouted out for a water supply. There were two fountains that people were using to fill their water bottles--FYI metal SIGG bottles are apparently Not Considered dangerous. After scouting the entire grounds, base survival kicked in and I reached into the refuse bin (sounds more sophisticated than garbage can) and grabbed out a discarded bottle(feel free to cringe in horror but this was survival we were talking sbout here!) i proceed to clean it as best I could and filled that puppy with water and had a big swig. After waiting about an hour, Uli and I decided that we needed some food. We left Patricia and headed to Piazza Navons. A bottle of prosecco and some wonderful food later, we felt like a million bucks. We managed go get back into the square and I got to keep my Contigo bottle--it had been declassified as a weapon of concern. We made it just in time to receive the Papal Blessing, which occurred with no spontaneous combustion on my part. We picked up the girls from their siesta and gathered up come more of the synchro troops snd headed out for dinner. We found a lovely restaurant where we quickly learned the importance of making sure the food was gluten free. Patricia had ordered a cab to pick her up from the restaurant. At the end of dinner she caught out of the corner of her eye a car with a light on top. She jumped up saying there's my cab and turned to go. We called her back because in fact that "cab" was a police car! We made our way down to the designated pick up spot and waited for almost an , hour!! No cab. A call go the company suggested we walk to the metro station 20 minutes away. With a few misturns we finally arrived at the station....no dispatcher in sight. At this point we figured we were going to have a new room mate for the night. Myrna saw a vehicle with lights and shouted out to Patricia that her cab had arrived. In fact it was 2 police cars! In a fashion and with skill I have never before seen, Patricia spoke with the officers and they offered her a ride to her hotel!!!! It was amazing! We picked up some groceries for the next day snd walked bsck to the hotel. We were finally settled into bed all clean and sparkly by 0230 and an alarm set for 0830! Overall, a great first day!