Quick trip around the lake with Marcella, Bella, Chris, Katy, and Elizabeth.
Category: Katy
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Chicago
While Margaret and Elizabeth toured the University of Chicago, Sam and I went downtown and saw the bean.
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Italy
When Elizabeth was sick, there was a picture of a church in one of the hallways in the hospital. She figured out it was in a small town in the Dolomites. I told her I would take her there when she got better. She got better, for her 50th birthday, her parents sent us to Italy. We went to the small town in the Dolomites, found a church. It was the wrong church. I guess we will have to go back.
We had a great time in Italy anyway. We started in Venice. Then made our way to Lake Como, where we climbed the Ghisallo pass. Went to the museum at the top of the climb. Turns out a grand fondo for Fabio Casartelli was going on at the same time. Then we went to Bormio. There we climbed the Stevlio and the Gavia.
Next up was the Dolomites, where we rode the Sella Ronde and climbed up through the lagazuoi tunnels.
We all went to Ann Arbor to see what Katy has been doing for the last couple of months. We were able to go to a frat party, wonder around campus a lot, go to the big house, and other things that make up Katy’s college life. The kids also got to see where Elizabeth grew up, her various schools etc. Margaret is ready to go to college now. And of course, we got to take Katy out shopping at the most expensive stores we could find in Ann Arbor.
Just a couple of pictures from ski week this year. Not much of a ski week. I was sick. It was warm. Katy and Elizabeth were off searching for a school for Katy. They visited Colgate, Bucknell, Kenyon, and Michigan.
Sam and I spent the weekend in Tahoe with the Bommaritos. We did the hike from Barker Pass to the house. The kids complained, but did well.
The end of our Europe tour was in London. Katy was only there for 1 night, then she was on to Spain for 4 weeks. The rest of us were there for a few days (Sam went to Oxford with his grandparents the day before we left). We did the quick tour. Tower of London, London Eye, Greenwich, Harrods, London Museum, etc.
We went to Budapest to learn about George’s history. The kids are old enough now to get something out of it an remember it. George showed up where he grew up, how he survived the holocaust, and the Russian occupation. We got to see where he actually lived after WW II. Where he was when the apartment building he was in exploded. We tried to reproduce some of the photos he had of his growing up. We didn’t do much touristy stuff because I figured that we could do that without George.
Stockholm was a let down after a week with the Wallins. It actually got dark in Stockholm. We just had the day there before heading to Budapest, so we figured we would look around a bit. We saw the Vasa. It was kind of creepy, a ship that didn’t make it more than about a mile before it sunk.
Five days in northern Sweden. It was great. We arrived at 11pm to bright sunlight. We were there for mid-summer. It never got dark, the sun did go down from about 1am until 2am. We ate moose and reindeer. Saw a reindeer. Stood around lots of fires (seems that everywhere we went there was a fire pit and supplied wood). It was great spending time with the Wallins. I think it would be neat to go back in the winter, but maybe for a very short time. We didn’t make it above the arctic circle, but we were close.