Bonjour, from Nice!  After a long day of travel that I do not wish to discuss, relive, or ever experience again, we have arrived!  Our apartment here is, to use an overused word, A-mazing.  Here are some photos:

The view is so perfect and I am sitting on that white lounge chair on the balcony as I write.  Temperature is in the low seventies and the sun is setting.  Ahh...I can almost forget about the six hour train ride from hell.  Oh, that's right, I'm not talking about that.

Onto brighter things...

Our trip to Lake Como.  Alas, no George sightings, but not to worry...I received a marriage proposal from an elevator operator in Rome.  I'm hoping it was my less than stellar grasp of the language, but I'm pretty sure he said that American women are cheaper than Italian women so would I marry him?  Those Italians really know how to turn on the charm. But I digress...In Como, we took the funicular train up the mountain which was fun, but not much to see from the train.  We did have a delicious meal at the top, sitting outside looking over the lake.  A very proud Italian man (is there any other type?) was working his grill and served us "all things from my land.  My wine, my beer, my vegetables, my fish."  So we ate trout and polenta, potatoes and homemade bread.  Of course we tasted his wine and beer, and finished off with his wife's homemade lemon cake.  We needed Grappa after that.

Then we took a ferry to Bellagio where we shopped and put our toes in the water, and enjoyed just walking around.  No words to describe the beauty.  I'll let the photos tell the story. 

Funicular train

The girls

 

In our last week in Milan, Matt travelled to Germany and Monaco for work, and the girls and I took day trips to Rome and Verona.  Pictures on that to follow--haven't downloaded them yet.  We had fun in both but not in either place long enough to do more than cruise the main sights ("Look kids, Big Ben, Parliment!").  Made a wish in Trevi Fountain, wrote letters to Giulietta at Casa Di Giulietta (Juliet's house), all the girly fun things Daddy wouldn't be too sad about missing.  We loved Verona and hope to have a chance to return for a longer stay some day.

So we left Milan today and it was bitter sweet.  Milan won me over in the end.  It was new and old, reverent and whimsical, fashion and food.  There is a sense of resilience there, a quality I can't quite put my finger on, and yet I feel it just the same.  We will miss Navigli and the cool art scene (I am kicking myself for not buying this painting I fell in love with by a local artist...wonder if he has a website???), the guys in the street playing "Hotel California" on their guitars, the pizza, the pasta, the caffe, the gelato, our oasis in the desert, the Indiana Post, where we could eat a cheeseburger and have eggs and bacon for breakfast on the weekends.  But we are thrilled to be at the beach, out of the sweltering heat, and reunited with Matt.  The Mediterranean is crystal blue and inviting, even to this aquaphobe (my word, thank you).  Rocks and no sand...I am down with that.

Our prayers are in Colorado today.  Horrible news to wake up to.  It's all anyone can talk about here.  They cancelled the Batman premiere in Paris.

Love to all.
Leah