Our Shopping Mall

The mall is just behind the Royal Palace...unbelievable place to shop...you can't tell from the outside that it is a mall...took us a while to stumble upon it!

We wander the streets and explore this magnificent city all the time...this is about a 5-minute walk from our apartment. if you get tired of walking, there are always carriages for hire in the Dam Square in front of the Royal Palace.

On the Way to the our Favorite Market....

We have a very scenic walk to our favorite market....it is just under a mile and feels like it takes us forever to get there...it is quite literally on the other side of the town...which should take about 20 minutes...usually takes us about 3 or 4 hours...because there are so many shops along the way...It's our favorite walk.....

On the Way to the Market con't.....

We have such a magnificent walk to the market...a few times a week..almost there!




We see some interesting cars along the way.........

Piddle captured the crazy guy in the last picture...he is always hanging out at the market harrassing everyone with his mandolin-playing schizophrenic outbursts ..he is quite colorful and comical...while at the same time a bit unsettling...we try to steer clear....

Our Belgium Trip

Took a trip to Belgium to see what we could see....

Had a nice day...our first stop was in Antwerp.....where we were just in time to see St. Nickolas arrive on his boat from Spain. He got on his white horse and led the parade through town. The entire tradition is very similar to our Santa Claus and Christmas with just a few twists.....We sampled Belgium Chocolate here...nice place.

Our next stop was Brussels and this is us in front of the Atomium. They hosted the World Fair in the 50's and erected this structure. This thing is gigantic. Not sure if you can get the full affect of that......or not......

Went to Belgium Yesterday

Took a little trip to Belgium and wanted to show you some cools pictures....

Who knew Belgium was such a happening place.....great architecture!!! And really the center of much!

The square was spectacular and was probably one of the most ornate squares we have visited this year.

And the best part of the whole trip was my "entire reason for being there".....right there in the corner of the main square in Brussels was my very own store with my very own name....how cool is that?

Taking a train to Paris on Wednesday to do some sightseeing and Christmas shopping....will take lots of pictures and try to get to you in a timely manner..... LOL! I know you are laughing equally as hard!
We are only staying a few days then I think Gil is coming for a few days.....

We are taking a final European road trip in a couple of weeks....going to take a 9-day trip around Europe....We get to explore Budapest and Vienna...which is my 'roots'...so that will be nice...will get to visit the extraordinarily beautiful city of Prague...wow..can't wait for that...going to spend Christmas in the Swiss Alps...other stops like Salzburg, Germany; Lucerne and Zurich, Switzerland; going back through Innsbruck, Austria..which we loved last time...so that will be cool..oh, and we get to go through the Black Forest in Germany and visit the shop where the "Cuckoo-Clock" was invented...yes, you heard it here.....we will be visiting the home of the "Cuckoo-Clock"...actually we are very excited about the whole trip.....

Going to spend New Year's Eve in Europe, coming back home on January 5th.....

So, we are getting depressed. Our days are numbered here and I'm sure it will go by much too quickly...But, we are equally as excited to get back and see everyone...we miss the lake...can't wait to soak in the hot tub....with a big glass of something with ice in it...lots and lots of ice....ahhhhh...the little things in life that bring us so much pleasure...I'm telling you, this ranks right up there........

Todi in the Fall

Just some cool pictures we took while out driving a couple of weeks ago....

The first one is the Duomo in Todi....I was actually trying to get a picture of the cute little Fiat in front of me...we saw this lady in this slick little antique Fiat every time we went to Todi.....and I actually got this postcard perfect picture of the Duomo......

Look at the cool trees in our driveway...they were beautiful....almost all the leaves have fallen now...but they were spectacular!

Once again, I'm going to try to catch up on the blog...but I am up to the first of August when Fran and Roger arrived...and we have been to some really cool places...so I have lots to show you....but you may get some posts out of order....I'm feeling a little chatty right now and want to share some of recent posts with you as well...while catching up on the backlog.....

Happy Veteran's Day everyone!

Dirt Roading in Umbria

Well......we love going 'dirt-roadin''.....and it is just as much fun in Italy.....in our area of Umbria any way....

This is the area around Todi in the Fall.....the fields of the beautiful colors are actually Sangrantino grape vineyards near Montefalco....they have the best colors....just rolling hills of them....the other vineyards just kind of dry up and die.....so it was spectacular to see the rolling fields of these.....

We also happened upon a herd of lambs...had to have been hundreds of babies...everywhere..all the same size......so cute....this was in a little area called Lorgnano...Leyla told us later that there was a shepherd who lives here and sells fresh Ricotto and Pecorino cheese.....should have ventured a little further into the town there....The next day Sue, Fran and Susan took the same drive and actually got some really cool shots newborn lambs....newborn..... newborn....

The other picture is just a cool bridge....we found some really cool places while dirt roadin'......the colors are fantastic...