Fall break

Our kids had 2 weeks off in the month of October, so we decided to embark on a one week road trip through Italy. This is the longest trip we have taken so far. We covered 5 cities in 6 days and nights and after the 5th night the kids were begging to go home. Italy is a beautiful country (although not as clean in parts as Switzerland) and of course the food is delightful. There was no coercing the kids to eat and we definitely had our fill of pizza, pasta and gelato. It became clear to me why our friend James turns his nose up at a lot of Italian food in the US. It's just not that good compared to the real deal.

Our first stop was the city of Bologna which is about 6 hours from Geneva. Pete's sister Julie and her husband were living there during our first 6 weeks in Switzerland but between unpacking and getting settled it just wasn't possible to visit. Unfortunately they didn't move back and so we were left to explore this fun city on our own.

Henry, Ruby and Alex in front of the famous Neptune fountain

The US is a young child compared to Europe. This fountain is over 400 years old.

A family shot

Alex, Ruby, Henry, Pete and Caroline with Piazza Maggiore and San Petronio in the background

Ruby, Pete and Alex in front of the Palazzo d'Accursio, a palace that has been the town hall since 2008

San Petronio is huge.
Those little orange specs are Alex and Henry.
Ruby is the pink spec running toward the camera.

Ruby in front of San Petronio

Ruby loves to pose. Here she is in front of the town hall

Ruby, Caroline and Alex

Henry and Caroline with San Domenico in the background

Ruby, Alex, Caroline and Henry in front of Abbazia di Santo Stefano, which is actually four old churches under one roof.

Looking out onto the plaza from Abbazia di Santo Stefano

Ruby and Caroline in one of the courtyards inside Abbazia di Santo Stefano

Ruby with the Fontana di Pilato (Pilate's fountain) from the 8th century in the background

Caroline decided to get a closer look

Henry and Christina near the Piazza di Porta Ravegnana

Not a great picture I know, but in the background you can see one of...

...the Two Towers of Bologna. At one point there used to be 200 of these towers all over the city.

You can see that one is leaning quite a bit.
Alex was amazed that it hadn't fallen over.
Statue of Saint Petronius

Bologna was a fun little stop although driving in the city did not go over so well. We probably broke quite a few traffic laws and got stuck if a few tight places with our van. We are still crossing our fingers that we don't get any tickets in the mail.