A few more Italy highlights

The Cinque Terra is one of the most beautiful places we've visited yet. I just hope that someday we get to return.

We have had an amazing year of life changing travel - all at a fraction of the cost it would have been if we never made the move.

Living as an expat is not easy.  It's not all glory and wonderfully beautiful pictures.  We haven't posted all the challenges, difficulties, and frustrations which equal the number of incredible experiences.  Some of the simple daily activities require so much extra work.  For example, it is hard to transfer money internationally between banks, mailing a package cost 4x, getting your drivers license takes two tries if you are male, and learning the workplace legal requirements requires reprogramming on all levels.

Although, it is probably not different than living anywhere in many regards: life is what you make of it.  It depends on your outlook, your lens, the perspective of which you appreciate the gifts you have been given.

We didn't plan to move to England, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity.  Our eyes have been opened to appreciate experiences and differences that we didn't know before.  We are continually thankful for the learning opportunity, but miss our family incredibly.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Italian Oddities

This week's visit to Italy helped us reflect on some of the cultural differences between living in the US and abroad.

We found many interesting things in Italy:

1. When you receive change back after paying, it is always placed on the counter (not in your hand).

2. Italians smoke a lot.  We got pummeled with second hand smoke:

3. In Rome it appears that you can park just about anywhere...check out a few of the worst parking offenders that we saw:

4. In addition, Italian drivers are crazy.  There is not much use of signals or traffic laws, but extensive use of the horn.  Despite that, there are more fatalities/100,000 cars in the US than in Italy:

Here are a few other interesting comparisons that may be surprising from a few countries that we have visited:

Beer is expensive in Norway!

Gas is way cheap in the US:

Actually, everything is expensive in Norway:

Trip 25: Rome

Day 1 = 3 miles walking

Day 2 = 6 miles walking

Day 3 = 12 miles walking?  I hope the girls are up for this?!

We were so lucky to have a tour guide of Ancient Rome today.  Despite crazy crowds, we saw the best of Ancient Rome and piled on a few steps along the way.

Here are a two picture highlights:

When in Rome...

Go explore and walk until your feet hurt!

Daddy/Daughter Exploring in Chester

Q: What do you do when Mom and Mara go to a birthday party without you?
A: Go explore Chester with an extra camera:)

We explored the Roman Gardens, Grosvenor Park, the church ruins, and the River Dee...

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Trip 24: Lake District (England's "Best View")

To celebrate Mara's 4th birthday, we hit the road to meet up with some American friends in the Lake Distri ct.  We were blessed with incredible weather, great company, and the opportunity to explore some fantastic landscapes.

We found the English equivalent of Yosemite, only it seems like most Brits must not know about it because there were only about 20 other people around.  Maybe it is because you need to drive for 65 minutes down crazy roads fighting sheep, cows, and a few other vehicles on one-way roads like this:

Lake District Drive

The view of Wastwater Lake was unreal.  Check this out...We had no idea that England was so beautiful!

Trip 23: Llandudno

This weekend took us to northern Wales for some new exploration.  We found The Great Orme and explored the top with some sheep and goats.

The views along the northern coast look a lot like the PCH in California...

Mara is becoming a fan of apples (or at least 1/2 of them)...

Mara was a little scared on the cable car when we first got on...

The girls chased some sheep at the top too...

Trip 22: Scotland

Last weekend was a bank holiday - I guess the UK version of Labor Day.  We were fortunate enough to see Grandma and Grandpa in Edinburgh, explore a whisky distillery, and a National Park.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city, and wonderful to visit in August when The Fringe is happening.  We been there twice in August (both last year and this year), and it has easily become our favorite city in the UK.

Trip 21: Peak District National Park

Saturday exploring in our new country...we drove to the Peak District National Park today and braved some majorly windy roads.  We only had to stop once as Jeryn became car sick.  She was a great trooper, and hopefully this was a one-time occurrence.

Mara was a brilliant explorer for her first official hike on her own:)  We also had lunch with the most tame ducks we have ever seen.  We made a great day of it.

Trip 20: Home

Wow, what a wonderful week at home.  Everything is easy, comfortable, and familiar.  We are so fortunate to have a loving family and amazing friends who came to visit us.  We also won the weather lottery with 9  days of picture perfect MN cabin weather.

A special thanks to Benjamin and Janessa, Grandma Pam, and Grandpa and Grandma Anderson.  Here are a few picture highlights: