Venice, Italy – The long-dreaded but inevitable event has arrived: Italian haircuts. I tried to convince S&V that getting a haircut in a foreign country is a fun adventure, but they weren’t buying it. Still, everybody is pretty happy with…
The Commute’s a Brute
Venice, Italy – On the vaporetto to Italian class. It could be worse.
Soccer the Universal Language
Venice, Italy – One of the (very few) complaints we have about life in Venice, is that it’s not easy for the twins to make friends. The main challenge is that they are shy about the language barrier. Fortunately, soccer…
World Schooling in Verona
Verona, Italy – Verona is my favorite day trip from Venice. And as it turn out, it’s also a great learning destination. World schooling in Verona includes lessons on Ancient Rome, Shakespeare and oenophilia (the latter reserved for the adults,…
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Venice, Italy – If I were independently wealthy, I would buy a palazzo on the Grand Canal and use it to house my fabulous collection of modern art and to entertain my artist friends. There is so much to love…
Venice Museum of Natural History
Venice, Italy – The Venice Museum of Natural History is creepy. So of course my kids loved it. This place is filled with specimens that explorers brought back from around the world — featuring everything from stuffed animals to mummies…
Campo Santa Maria Formosa
Venice, Italy – This is actually the second time we have spent a semester in Venice. The first time was a lifetime ago, before twins, in 2008. It was so long ago that I had a different blog back then.…
Hiking the Dolomites
Soprabolzano, South Tyrol – After a cloudy day yesterday, on our second day, the sun came out and we trekked all over these mountains. Bolzano is an excellent base for hiking the Dolomites. From the center of town, a cable…
Runkelstein Castle
Bolzano, South Tyrol – After spending the morning with Otzi the Iceman, there was a break in the clouds. So we walked about 3km north along the Torrente Talvera river to reach Runkelstein Castle. This 14th-century castle has walls covered…
Ötzi the Iceman
Bolzano, South Tyrol – It’s a cloudy day in the Dolomites, so we decided to spend the morning with Ötzi the Iceman. Hikers in the nearby mountains found this 5000-year-old mummy frozen in the ice. He now resides at the…