We're Back!!!

We're doing our best today to recover from a long day of travel yesterday. Twenty one hours on the road with 16 of those in the air makes for 3 people who are so very glad to be back in Seattle. Our trip was fabulous. It was just so much fun to travel with both of my kids, who are now adult - we found that we all have pretty similar travel styles which made for a really great trip. London, Paris, Milan, Florence and Rome were our destinations and each one held it's own allure. In each city we spent many hours walking and exploring. All of the walking helped burn up all of the extra calories that we were eating. Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in London, lots of crepes, cheese, pate & bread in Paris, pasta & gelato in Italy - there's truly nothing like eating your way through Europe.

We took the Chunnel Train under the English Channel from London to Paris. From Paris to Milan we boarded a sleeper. Our tiny compartment had just enough room for each of our suitcases on the floor. There were 3 bunks, one on top of the other and a ladder to get up to the top 2. With the luggage on the floor and the ladder going up to the bunks, it was quite an adventure getting out the door of the compartment to head to the WC. Trying to change our train tickets from Milan to Florence was an adventure in itself, especially when none of us spoke Italian and most of the train agents didn't speak English but we made it without getting tossed of the train.

We did have one glitch on our last day in Italy. We had finished a wonderful lunch at one of the al fresco cafes that are everywhere in Rome and they brought us a plate of little cookies. Danielle took one bite of a cookie when we realized that it contained pine nuts. She's seriously allergic to pine nuts! Poor thing was pretty miserable for the rest of the day, but at least she didn't eat enough to have to go to the hospital. It was a bit of a challenge making the Italian pharmacist (who spoke no English) understand that I needed antihistamine pills - thank god for my mini dictionary.

I came back this morning to find a beautifully clean and organized store - thanks to Pamela & Heather for all their hard work while we were gone. Thanks also to the Captain who filled in last Friday. We are just so lucky to have such wonderful people in our Curtsy Corner!


Some wonderful new Madam & Monsieur Napkin Rings arrived while we were gone. Reminiscent of some of the many little out of the way cafes we visited while in Paris, these will add that special touch to any table.

XOXO
Curtsy Mama
Mary Jo