Måns and I spent our 22nd anniversary in Paris! We stayed in a lovely hotel in the Montmartre area. On our anniversary we also visited the Eiffel Tower in the evening and had champagne at the very top! (We also went to the catacombs and war museum/Napoleon’s tomb – but those aren’t quite as romantic.)
We took a quick trip to Madrid over New Year’s so we could see the sun and get some great food!
We spent almost a week in Gotland to celebrate Christer’s 70th birthday! We had wonderful weather, lots of good meals and hanging out with family, plus we got to ride on a very old train.
Christer's 70th birthday!
Christer's birthday brunch
Christer's birthday celebration at Café Maffen.
Christer's birthday dinner
Leo and Max picking mulberries
Battleship - the ultimate challenge
Birre
Max and Ritz
Måns, Max and Theo have lunch at Kalkladen
Cafe at Skulpturfabriken
Heather and Max
Switching the engine on the old train.
All aboard!
Leo and caboose
Skott never wants to get off the train.
Leo and Heather on the old train!
Max and Måns on the old train
Klass and Skott ride the train!
Christer performing with the Annika Fehling Trio
Jorun, Leo, Måns and Christer
Visby
Boys enjoying ice cream in Visby
In Visby
We spend our second week in Bagni di Lucca – about 30 minutes north of Lucca in Tuscany. There aren’t many tourists in this area and there are many beautiful rolling hills with villages on top. Also the food is insanely cheap.
We stayed in the same place as we did a few years ago – a little house with a small pool, lemon and olive trees. The hosts are excellent and live next door. There are turtles roaming all over the yard plus a super nice dog named Tessa. The host took us to one of the mountaintop villages for a tour and treated us to Prosecco and ice cream. It was a wondeful time as always!
Bagni di Lucca
Måns and his favorite coffee logo - Hausbrandt
Måns in the pool
Max in the pool
Our neighbor Tessa
Another neighbor who was eating tomatoes on our porch.
Beach at Viareggio
(mountains in background)
Beach at Viareggio
Lunch in Levigliani
Tour of old quicksilver mines (mercury)
The boys visit the Museum of Torture in Lucca
Lucca
Ice cream is needed after a hard day at the Torture Museum.
The hilltop village of Montefegatesi
Our host Giuseppe also makes amazing art from things he finds. Here are a few examples on display.
Whole family in Montefegatesi
Leo and Max
Montefegatesi
Dante wrote his Divine Comedy while in Tuscany. They say he stayed in Montefegatesi where he was inspired by levels marked on river canyons in the Orrido di Botri.
Just the appetizer
Måns
We traveled to Camogli, a small fishing village in Liguria on the Mediterranean Sea. We spent a week there in a two-floor apartment with an amazing terrace. We must have taken over 100 photos of the view.
The village had a stone beach that we went to twice. We also took a ferry boat to the abbey at San Fruttuoso to swim. We visited the aquarium in Genoa and went to our favorite ice cream place in Levanto on the train.
Camogli
Camogli from the sea
Heather and Måns in Camogli
Leo and Max in Camogli
Sunset view from our terrace
Dinner on the terrace
Måns in Camogli
We stayed in the green building in the middle - floors 1 & 2. Large terrace to the right with umbrella
Måns watching the Euro soccer match with the rest of the village.
Måns
Heather
Max at the old fort
The aquarium in Genoa
Leo on the boat
Måns and Max
San Fruttuoso
Heather and Måns
Beach in Camogli
Beach in Levanto
Camogli at night with lighthouse
Evening on the terrace.
For the second week of our trip, we stayed in the small village of Saorge in the Maritime Alps on the Roya river. We had an amazing terrace with a view over the valley and the constant sound of the rushing water. There were cute, little villages all along the river all the way to the coast. We visited a few coastal cities as well – Ventimiglia (Italy, but on the border), Menton (very cute French village, I recommend!) and then Nice.
Boys looking out from our terrace
View from terrace to the left
Dinner on the terrace
View from the terrace
River Roya with our village of Saorge above
Måns
Leo
Heather
Max
Heather and Max swimming in the river
Max and Leo
Max, Måns and Leo - album cover - Songs of a Cold River
Måns at the little French cafe in our village
French Max
Our very French poses
The village of Sospel
When in France, you must eat crepes
The beach in Ventimiglia
Ventimiglia beach
Briel-sur-Roya
Getting hit by waves at the beach in Menton
Ulysses statue in Menton
Leo, Måns and Max in Menton
Heather in Menton
Walking around Nice
Neptune may not wear underwear, but he does wear a mask!
Max, Heather and Leo in Nice
Spent our first week of a 2-week vacation in the Piemonte region of Italy. We stayed in a huge apartment over a winery, surrounded by vineyards. The week was mostly filled with eating lunch in different little towns. All museums were closed and there wasn’t much to do, but our apartment had air conditioning, which was a treat for us!
Outside of the apartment above the winery
View from our apartment in Italy
Inside our apartment in Italy
The vineyards surrounding the apartment
Måns and Heather
Sunflowers everywhere!
Måns
Leo and Måns in Barolo
Is he drinking Barolo in Barolo?
Max tolerating the cold stream
An Italian stream I forced the family to visit.
Leo, Max and Måns before lunch
We had to swing off the highway to stop at the Venchi chocolate outlet!
View over the vinyards of Piemonte
We spent a week in Gotland visiting family. We were very lucky with beautiful weather.
Frisbee match with Theo, Julia and Max
Max - water temperature 18c
One of the MANY sheep on Gotland
Måns on Fårö
Limestone factory cafe
Quarry swimming
Heather and Max
Theo and Julia
Leo
Leo likes this chair
Christer playing with the Annika Fehlig Trio
Heather
Max
Måns and rauk
Interesting rock structures called Rauks
Leo
Leo, Heather and Max
Heading for the water
Skott, Klas and Jorun
Ritz and Skott
Lighthouse
Sandy beach on Fårö
Julia, Måns and Jorun
Birre, Måns Christer and Ritz
Creperi Tati in Fårö
More of the Creperie
Heather and Måns in Visby
Many houses in Visby are covered in roses
Heather and Måns in Visby
Visby
A strange time to be in Texas, but we went to celebrate the life of my grandmother, Polly, at a memorial with the rest of the family. Luckily, we also got to meet up with some of our friends.
Airplane travel during Corona-virus times
Leo and Max
Måns and Heather in Umbrella Alley
Max and Leo enjoying the pool
Heather and Anna
Max finally tries Easy Cheese
Leo and Parker ice cream
Social Distancing near NASA
Måns, Heather, Agustin, Dori, Drake and Jerry
Antonia, Pablo, Danny, Max, Diego, Leo
Erin and Heather
Leo, Mom, Måns and Max at Tookies
Mammaw's memorial
Memorial for Mammaw
Mammaw's memorial
Mammaw's memorial celebration of life
Darrell, Jimmy and Dad playing at the memorial
Monique, Parish, Heather, Tasha
Cousins - Blake, Seth, Isabelle, Ollie, Bailey, Max, Peyton and Leo
Dawn, Emma and Heather
Heather and Earl
Parker, Leo and Max with Willow (and Brent in background)
Dad and Heather
Pool and nice patio at friends of Dad's
Max, Leo, Heather, Aunt Darlyne and Uncle Len
Cousins - Bailey, Peyton, Leo and Max
Leo and Max crabbing
Crabbing
Dad and my cousin Tammy
Max petting a cow
Max, John Earl and Leo
Max, Mom and Leo on the boat
Date night with Måns at Hugo's!
Dinner at Hugo's
Leo, Heather, Måns and Max
Måns and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in Budapest! We had a wonderful time with a cruise on the Danube, great restaurants, super nice hotel, weird museums and especially just being together.
