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Justin Mooney
Justin Mooney

Justin Mooney

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  • New York 2024

    New York Day 6 - A little of everything

    13 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Day 6. Last full day in New York. What do we do??

    First thing, there was this little shop a block from our hotel that was tempting us every day. A place called "Shakes and Crepes". It looked like a fun place with some seating that looked out into the street. And it had a little something for everyone. So that was our breakfast. I guess when you have people sitting, facing the street so people can walk by and see what you are eating... you will want your food to look amazing. And IT DID!!!. All of it was like presented like it was up for an award. The food was delicious too so we were really happy with the choice.

    Now, on to what we wanted to do. There were 2 main things we wanted. THe first is to take the JP Morgan Library and Museum. It was supposed to have some of the most amazing stuff in it. And the second was the New York Public Library.

    So our first stop was over to see what JP can put together. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. There are far too many things to mention here. We just took picture after picture. He had a Gutenburg Bible, and original hand written scores from people like Bach (and hundreds of other composers that weren't on display), and they had hand written notes for operas and ballets, it was just one wonderous thing after another. We spent way longer in there than we thought we would and we have a lot of pictures. It was super cool. We even spent waaaay to long in the store... that is how much we liked it.

    After the JP Morgan Library, we walked down to the Flat Iron building. We had tried to get there before but we got stopped at the Macy store and by the time we got out of that store it was dark and we didn't want to continue to walk around New York in the dark. But this time we were committed.

    But when we finally got to the flat iron building, it too was covered in scaffolding so we really couldn't take it fully in. We stopped and got drinks at a nearby 7-11, and then Dylan had something he wanted to get from the Lego store nearby. But on the way to the Lego store we stumbled across the "Portal to Dublin". We knew it was hear but we just kept forgetting about it. New York and Dublin have set up a live feed between their 2 cities. So you look into the portal and you can see people in Dublin looking back. You can hold up signs and wave and they wave back. It was really cool. If only we knew anyone in Dublin we could have made arrangements to show up at the same time. That would have been the cherry on top of the cake that is on top of the new york cheesecake.

    After the flat iron building it was back on the subway to the New York Public Library. Another building that has SOOOO much cool stuff in it. They have a treasures room that also has a Guttenburg bible and some original Shakespear stuff, and George Washingtons hand written speach... just amazing thing after amazing thing. We also spent way to much time looking at and reading everything in the treasure room. And then we spent way to much time again in the shop.

    Then we tried to make our way up to the Rose room which is the long room with the wooden desks that you see in all the movies. But that room is only available to view when on a tour or if you are there doing research. And we had just missed the final tour of the day so we didn't end up getting to see the room which was a bit of a disappointment. But hey... we had seen so much there were no regrets here.

    On my bucket list was to eat a Pastrami sandwich at Katz Delicatessen. It is the same Delicatessen that is in "When Harry Met Sally" (yes... that scene) but they are just as well known for their amazing sandwiches. And they did not disappoint. We took the subway down to the area and walked another 15 minutes to get there. It was packed and just like you see in the movies. It was such a unique experience just ording the food and even how you pay for it. So neat. And the food was to die for. So good. I ended up with w Rueben with Pastrami on Rye. I could barely fit it in my mouth. Caden had his own sandwich but the other kids split a sandwich. So afterwards they were still a bit hungry.

    So after we left the delicatessen, Jenny wanted to go see Greenich Village one last time. So we headed over there and we stopped at Bleeker Street Pizza for a slice of pizza for those that were still a bit hungry.

    Then we spent some time just walking around. We walked through Washington Square Park again. We went to Caffe Reggio which is a cafe that got the first every capuccino machine in the country. Plus they also have abench that actually belonged to the Medici family from Florence.
    We walked past Cafe Wha? which is a place where many artists got their start (including Bob Dylan. I think Cafe Wha? is even featured in the new Bob Dylan moving coming out right away), and finally we walked down a street called "Commerce Street" which is just a really neat, quant street in the heart of Greenich Village. This is Jenny's favourite part of the city so it was great just to walk around it a bit more before we call it a day.

    And that was it. Nothing left that we wanted to see or do. So we caught the subway back to our area, stopped at one last Souvenier Store to pick up the last couple of gifts for people, and then we got back to our hotel. Now we are packed up and almost ready to get going tomorrow. What an amazing time. We are all exhausted, a little bit sick, but happy with the trip. We have no idea where we are going tomorrow. We will play it by ear and see how far we feel like driving. But as of now, New York is done. Thanks for the great time. We will remember it forever.

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  • New York 2024

    New York Day 5

    12 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Today was a hotly debated day. What do we do? The children were divided. I will spare you most of the details of the heated discussions, but in the end we decided that we wanted to do a bit more of the park and we wanted to do the Natural History Museum (from Night At the Museum).

    So we took the subway up to the edge of the park and meandered a bit through the park until we got up to around the level of the Museum. We tried to take in the Carousel but it was all closed up. We did Bathesda Fountain again as today it was sunny and bright and when we were there it was cloudy and Rainy. We also stopped at the "Triplets" bridge and took a picture. It has some kind of lore with Magic the Gathering I think... who knows. I am not that nerdy. But the bridge was named Triplets.... and I have triplets.... so... WE HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE!!!

    We got to the museum before it opened so we walked south a couple of blocks to a Bagel place called Bagel Popups. Now... if you have never had New York Bagels... YOU HAVE TO!!! They are nothing like Regina Bagels. They were awesome. And you get this cream cheese with it (we got Lemon Butter and some Blueberry thing) and it was TO DIE FOR!! All the kids are already asking to go for Bagels again. And... you don't cut your bagel in half and spread the cream cheese on it. You just rip it and dip it. We watched others do it... and... there was even a sign about it in the bagel place.. so we know that is the right way to do it.

    We were enjoying our bagel so much we almost missed our scheduled start time to get into the Museum. But they let us in anyway and we began our 3 hour adventure!! ;)

    The museum is amazing. I will give it that. But you really can't see everything. But you kind of want to. So I would say we were there longer then we wanted but there was just so much to see. We did manage to find Dum Dum from the movie. That was cool. And their Dinosaur area is really cool. The whole place is cool. So if you get a chance.. check it out.

    After we left we wanted to have another New York experience by eating from a hot dog vendor. We picked one that looked "reputable" and gave it a try (by reputable, I mean they had posted prices. A lot of the carts don't post their prices so in the end the guy will charge you whatever he wants. So you never know. You have to ask in advance before they make your food or you could get into trouble )

    The food was... OK. The hotdogs were supposed to be Nathan's Hot Dogs which are good. But for the price, they really aren't worth it. But we grabbed our dogs (and some of us had New York Cheese Steaks which were no where as good as Phili Cheese Steaks) and we walking into the park a little ways and ate the food. It was pretty underwhelming.. but hey.. another bucket list item done.

    Then we jumped on the subway over to Rockefeller center where we had our first Celebrity sighting. Getting out of a porchse outside of the Jimmy Fallon theatre was none other than Tariq. If I wasn't show chicken I would have called out and gotten a picture. He did stop and pose with someone else which is where we got our photo (which of course I didn't include because of the stupid 10 picture limit) but trust me... we have one.

    So after the sighting we continued on because we were needing to go to the Lego store. This Lego store was something else. There was even a lineup to get in!!! Crazy. I got us some hot pretzels as we waited in line but the lined move pretty quick so we didn't really get a chance to eat them until after the store... and by then they were pretty hard. So I think everyone tried a bit but nobody ate much. Again... pretty underwhelming but another New York experience off the check it list.

    Then we went back to the hotel for our daily break. One of the things Evan really wanted to do was to go to the Stardust diner for supper. It is a place where the wait staff sings songs while they wait on you. The reviews weren't great and we were tired.. but once again, we rallied and decided... "you only live once and we are in New York... so... let's do it". We were once again preparing ourselves for a long wait to get in. StarDust is only a few blocks from Times Square so there is normally a lot of people around. And when we did finally get there, there was a few people in line, but when the lady came down the line to see how many were in our group...we told her 6 and they just so happened to have a 6 person table open up so we were plucked out of line and we were sat pretty much right away.

    My first impression of the StarDust was that it was pretty loud and it seemed a bit chaotic. Some guy was singing when we walked in. And he sounded amazing. And when we sat down, they just had staff after staff take their turns on the mic. Our own waitress was delivering drinks while she did her song. EVERY SINGLE SINGER WAS AMAZING!!! It was like getting real broadway music stars to sing to you while you eat. We were so impressed. They did such a good job. And the food was amazing. We all loved our meals. None of the things said on the reviews were accurate to our experience. We didn't want to go. It was so much fun and we were so glad we ended up going. You see... it pays to say yes.

    Every wait staff person there has dreams of being on Broadway (that is pretty much the requirement to work there) so they did pass a bucket around to raise a little extra money for these people to do what they need to do to make it. And.. they announced that our own waitress was in a pilot episode of a new show that just got picked up so we may even see her on TV sometime in the future.

    So it was a perfect supper and the kids were geeking out the entire night.

    After supper we took a stroll over to Bryant Park. They were doing "Free Movie Night in the Park" so we wanted to see how many people were showing up. And the park was absolutely packed. So I guess free movie night is a hit.

    So since we couldn't stay for the movie, we wandered a bit more. Made a stop at Macy's to do some shopping. Dylan and Evan got some hats. Then we headed over to Madison Square Gardens, got ourselves some Gelato, and then we headed back to our hotel to end off the day.

    Only one more full day left before we start heading home. Still need to figure out what we want to try and fit in tomorrow. What would you make sure you do on your last day.

    We shall see. Talk to you tomorrow.

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  • New York 2024

    New York Day 4

    11 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The first thing on the agenda for today is to take in the one observation deck. The one we choose to do was "The Summit". It had more things to do then the other ones and it was supposed to offer up some really good views of both the Empire States building and the Chrysler building. And it did not dissapoint.

    We arrived at 1 Vanderbilt a little bit early so we decided to take a walk through Grand Central Station. It is literally next door. So we took in the building and the main terminal with the ceiling of astrological signs and the famous clock in the middle. It is really cool to be in there and think about all the times you saw that exact scene in movies or flash mobs.

    When it was time we headed over to the Summit. It is a really cool experience. You get a band on your wrist that everything is tied to. When you first arrive they show you a short 1 -2 minute video of the "making of the building" type information. Then you go over and put on these slippers that cover your shoes. You need those for later. Then you go over to these weird camera type things, you scan your wristband and then it takes a picture of your face. It uses that picture to put your face into the clouds. It was pretty cool seeing all the faces in the clouds until you come to your kids and EVERY ONE IS MAKING A FACE!!! I guess I can't say much because I was making a face to. But COME ON!!! SOMEONE HAS TO HAVE SOME CLASS HERE.

    Then you jump on the elevator up to the 91st floor.

    The first floor is all mirrors. Mirrors on the roof and floor and walls. It gives you a pretty crazy effect. They warn you well ahead of time don't wear anything that could be too "revealing" and you can see why. I am just glad I wasn't wearing the skirt I had planned to wear this day (this is Justin by the way. WHAT?!?! I LIKE IT BREEZY!!)

    The views are everything they tell you they are. Amazing. We got lots of photos. Jenny waas very happy with the view of the Chrysler Building.

    The observation deck is actually 3 floors. Besides the room of mirrors and lights, there was another room full of silver balls that you can bat around. The kids had a lot of fun in there. Then there was a section that had a glass floor. They take your picture for you and then time you so you don't spend too much time on there. A group our size got 45 seconds where most other smaller groups only got 30. HA!!! SUCKERS!! Having tonnes of kids has finally paid off.

    So in our 45 seconds we could take a couple more shots and then it is off to the next room.

    As you enter the next room, you scan your wrist bands and it tells the AI overlords you are entering the room. In that room it is like you are flying through the clouds and since it knows you are in the room, it queues up your faces in the clouds. Again... it isn't hard to tell which ones are our family.

    The final floor is the roof top terrace where you get to be outside. After a few more photos, our deck time came to an end so we went back down the elevator and hit the streets looking for food.

    I was craving some sushi and some of the other kids said they would love to get some noodles so we ended up at Sushi Co. It had a little of everything for everyone and everyone seemed happy with their meal.

    Then we jumped on the subway and headed all the way up to Times Square so we could try and get some matinee tickets for a broadway show. We were expecting there to be a long line and we were stealing ourselves to just wait it out but there was like nobody in line. So we just walked up and picked our show. We had heard some really good things about Water For Elephants and that show also stars a Regina boy so we went with it. This was just after 2pm with the Matinee starting at 3. So we just ended up going straight over to the theatre and getting settled in our seats.

    It was a much older theatre than the one the Great Gatsby was in. It had some old charm to it but the seats were a bit squishy and it was FREEZING cold. We were at the back of the Orchestra which was alright. We looked later on and they were $180 tickets that we got for $89. So that isn't too bad. There was nobody for 2 rows in front of us so we were even able to move forward a couple of rows at intermission.

    The show was amazing even if our Regina boy wasn't in this show and the main guy (Grant Gustin) also wasn't performing. But the girl was the main lead and all the rest of the crew seemed like the main cast. They almost needed to be though as there was so much acrobatic stunts and crazy things that I would think you would need the main people to do them. Anywho, it was a great show. The replacement actors did amazing too. We loved it.

    Then we headed back to the hotel for a little bit of a siesta. We didn't want our day to end though so we rustled ourselves back up and caught the subway up to the upper west side to take a walk around Lincoln Center. Since we have so many performers in the family, we figured it would be inspiring.

    And Lincoln Centre is right next to Julliard so it was cool to see the school, even if it was only from the outside. We relaxed for a bit on the roof of a building that sloped down to the ground and it had grass growing on it. It made the kids feel a little like they were back in Regina just laying on the ground and looking up at the sky. I think it might have made them just a little homesick.

    Afterwards we decided to try and do one more thing. We walked back down to just south of the park to take a look at Carnagie Hall. But when we got there, the entire exterior was covered in a wrap and scaffolding as they do some renovations on the place. So that was a bit dissapointed. But Caden was looking at the upcoming acts and got really excited about some guy who was directing some orchestra as they play some song. Oh... and there was some Piano player playing with them. I guess it was a big deal. Who knows. But that wasn't until October anyway so he then got sad he couldn't go. Fickle emotions on that kid.

    By then it was dark so we jumped on the subway and headed back to the hotel for the night. I wish I could share more pictures as the 10 picture limit is just not enough but you will just have to take our word that the views were amazing. And come over some time and see the rest of them. That is all for now.

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  • New York 2024

    New York Day 3 - Brooklyn Bridge

    10 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    On Day 3 we decided to take our new fangled metro passess for a test drive. The first order of the day is to hop on the subway and head out to Brooklyn. We were going to walk the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhatten but first we needed to get some food.

    So we stopped at a lovely little cafe for some cinnamon buns. Then we headed down into Brooklyn park for some great views of the Manhatten skylines. Then we headed off to try and find the entrance to the bridge for walkers. It is not that easy to find and it took us a little while. But we managed. By then the bridge was busier than we would have liked but that didn't take away from the amazing views.

    After we got off the end of the bridge we walked south to the South Street Sea Port. We stopped at yet another book store so the kids could do even more book shopping, then we went along the waters edge, picked up a smoothy, and then walked over to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. It is free to ride the Ferry out to Staten Island and back and the path takes you right past the Statue of Liberty so it was worth it.

    We just wanted to get to Staten Island and then hop on the ferry to come back, but we were feeling a bit rushed to catch the next ferry so we decided to wait it out, and take the next one which was set to run in 30 minutes anyway, and then we would have better luck getting a better position on the boat to get the best view of both the Statue and the Skyline as we rode the boat back to Manhatten.

    While we waited we were treated to some nice singing by some girl who also posts things on youtube. Then we were on the boat in the spot we wanted as we made our way back to Manhatten. The views were spectacular. And did I mention it is free?

    After we got back to Manhatten we took the subway uptown to get some lunch from a lovely little place called Crif Dogs that Jen found on the internet. They offered really unique hot dogs at a very unique setting at a very reasonable price. Along the way, Caden started following some other woman who he thought was his Mom. We were wondering how long it would take him to figure it out. He eventually did and we had a pretty good laugh about it.

    After lunch we did some more walking. We stopped at another bookshop called Strand which is famous for being large and cheap. Then we decided to head back to the hotel to refresh a bit before our evening activities.

    On the way we stopped at a games store that Dylan had been begging us to go to called "Complete Strategist". He didn't end up getting anything but he wants to go back. We shall see.

    Then we were back in the hotel to relax. We had picked up some sandwich making stuff from a target nearby so we just ate some buns and potatoe salad and then got refuelled for the evening.

    Next, we got dressed up because it was "Lindsay Stirling at Radio City Music Hall" night. We made the walk to Radio City, took our pictures of the Marquee, and stepped inside that iconic building for the first time. It was amazing. It had a real "old school, golden years" charm to it. It was the way going to the show should be. Beautiful.

    The opening act was Walk Off The Earth who is a Canadian band that is known for using all kinds of different instruments. They were amazing. I thought they did an excellent job. They sounded great. The show was fast paced. Lots of fun stuff going on. But the best was when their kids came on for a couple of songs to perform with the band. The lead singer was some 7 year old boy with really long hair and he loved to rock out. It was AWESOME!!! They sure did Canada Proud.

    Then it was Lindsay Stirlings time. And she was amazing as well. I would say her show is a bit more "girly" but there was so much stuff. She slowed things down and sped them up. She had 2 guys in here band that could really rock out. She had 5 other dancers that did a lot. It was an awesome show. But the cherry on top was when Gloria Gaynor came out and sang "I Will Survive" with Lindsay and the girls singer from Walk Off The Earth. I thought I was videoing the whole time but it wasn't until it was almost completely done when I realized it didn't turn on. But we all agreed it was so surreal to hear Gloria sing her iconic song live at Radio City. The concert could not have ended in a better way.

    Afterwards we were buzzing. So we went outside, took some more photos and then walked down through Times Square again to go home.

    I am confident in saying it won't be a night we will forget for a long long time. I am not sure where we go from here... we will just see what the day has in store for us tomorrow.

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  • New York 2024

    New York, Day 2 - Lower Manhattan

    9 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    For today, we were still battling the rain a little bit but we got really lucky. Hurricane Debbie was supposed to hit New York but it went more inland so we didn't get much here in New York. So while we had moments of rain, it never got bad. But it was still hot so it was pretty muggy which made walking around fun.

    We started the day off by walking over to the Vessel, New York's newest weird sculpture art thingy. It is still closed to the public but we got to check it out and take some pictures. Then we hopped on the start of the High Line, an old above ground railway line that has been converted into a walking path with plants and art. It takes you above the city which was nice to get out of the traffic a bit.

    We got off the High Line at the Chelsea Market to have some lunch at a place called Friedmans. Everyone loved their meals but then it was time to get going again.

    We wandered through Chesely and Greenwich Village. We stopped and took pictures outside the apartment building they used for Friends, we took some pictures outside the Firehouse they use for Ghostbusters, we stopped at a great little bookstore called "The Mysterious Bookshop", and eventually made our way down to the World Trade Center area. We visited the Oculus (a new mall/train station that looks like a bit white bug) and then we spent some time at the 911 memorial. Jen and I had a few moments as we remembered being there before the attacks and seeing it again up close was touching.

    Then it was off for more exploring. We went over to see St. Patricks Cathedral and found the grave of Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza. Then it was over to see the Charging Bull near wall street. The lineups to take a picture right with the bull was CRAZY long so we just snapped a picture from the side and then we were off again.

    We walked through Wall Street and checked out the NYSE, then on to a place called Joe's Pizza where tonnes of celebrities have gone for some pie. We each got a slice, packed it in a box and walked to the nearest park to chow down.

    Then we were off again to walk by a couple of courthouses that were used at the beginning of Law and Order, and some big murder scene from the God Father that the kids were excited about. That took us around to 5 points which is a famous intersection of 5 different streets/areas although it is mostly ChinaTown now.

    We walked through ChinaTown all the way to Little Italy where we stopped at Ferrara's for some Italian Desserts. They were famouse for their Canoli's so Jenny and I had to try that. The other kids all picked their favourite desserts and we again headed to the nearest park to sit, relax, and eat our yummies.

    Now we are looking to head back to our hotel... but again... every couple of streets there is something new. So we ended up walking up to Washington Square Park which is famouse for being the park at NYU. But by then it was starting to rain a bit harder so we finally bit the bullet and got ourselves some Metro Cards.

    For whatever reason, the kids' debit cards don't work in the States so we had to get each of them their own Metro Card for the week while Jen and I can just scan our Credit Cards. It works the same and is more convenient than getting a metro card.

    So we rode the subway back to our hotel and then we settled in for the night. Another big day of walking but hopefully we don't walk so much in the coming days as we have the metro cards now and we want to use them.

    But you know us.... we are always just one street away ;)

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  • New York 2024

    New York Day 1 - Park and Met

    8 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    When we looked at our plan for the day, we knew it was going to be a fair bit of walking. And boy.. was that an understatement.

    For our first full day in New York, the plan was to walk up to the park, do some of the sites there, then walk over and do the Met, and then... see where the day takes us. That was partly right.

    We started off with a stop at Dunkin's Donuts. None of us had been there, so we wanted to try it out. We got breakfast egg bagels and just ate them outside the store. That was the fuel we needed to get our day started. So we head up the street on our way to the park.

    But, when you are walking around New York, you are always "just 1 street" away from everything. So as we were walking up to the park, we saw the sign for Radio City Music Hall, so we diverted over a bit. But that took us by NBC Studios and Rockefeller Center, so we had to take pictures of where the skating rink goes, 30 Rock, etc.

    So after some wandering around there we were off again to the park. But then St. Patricks Cathedral. So we walked by to take a couple of pictures but the doors were opens. So... we HAD to go in. After that diversion we were off again to the Park but Jen saw a picture of Colin Farrel so she had to stop for a picture.

    And THEN... we were off to the park. We hit a lot of highlights. We saw where the rink is set up (which is used for Pickle Ball Courts in the summer), we went to Bathesda Fountain, saw the boathouse, the pond, until finally we ended up at the Met.

    For whatever reason I couldn't buy tickets online so we had to stand in line and get tickets. That normally is terrible buit it really worked out for us this time. When we told the ticket lady we wanted 2 adults and 4 students, she suggested we should instead become a member which would be cheaper and the kids could get in free as guests. And... that would also give us 30% off at the store (which would come in handy later on).

    So in the end it was cheaper for us so I guess we can put up with the inconvenience of standing in line... this time.

    We spent a couple of hours walking around and checking out their huge collection. Some of the hightlights were... Washington Crossing the Deleware and Vincent van Gogh's self portrait with a straw hat. And later on we made use of that discount in the store ;)

    After the Met we walked across to the other side of the park and ate lunch at the Shake Shack. Then we walked over to Strawberry Fields where the "Imagine" memorial was set up in honour of John Legend being shot outside the Dakota.

    Then we made our way back down Broadway and 8th Avenue all the way back to the hotel to get ready to go out to "The Great Gatsby" later on that night.

    We decided to keep the walking going, in the rain, all the way up to the theatre. The show was really really great and afterwards we walked through Time Square again at night in the lights, just to take it all in. It was a great first day. Tomorrow, we head in the opposite direction, to Lower Manhattan.

    See ya tomorrow.

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  • New York 2024

    Philly and New York.... finally

    7 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Today was the day we drive to New York. But first.... there was some Philli to do ;)

    We booked our Independence Hall tour for 1:20 pm so we had lots of time. So we managed a little bit of sleep in time before we headed down for breakfast. The breakfast at the hotel was a bit more advanced so that means there was a lot of people wanting breakfast. It was quite the line up but we did manage to get some breakfast before they shut it down.

    After breakfast and packing up, we checked out of the hotel, put all our stuff in the van, and then went on a walk down through Philly. We walked down to the park by Independence Hall and took in seeing the Liberty Bell up close. After that, we wandered around the old downtown and saw the sights. We visited Elfreth's Alley (the longest continually habituated street in the USA), we visited the gravesite of Benjamin Franklin (and a few others who had signed the declaration of independance), and we had lunch at the Market before jumping in the van and heading down to Independance Hall to make our tour. We weren't sure about parking but we had a strong belief in ourselves.

    It turns out we probably shouldn't have. There was no parking at all. We drove around in a desperation until we finally pulled into a parking garage near the hall that was "valet". We just accepted the risk and the cost and dropped the van off as we ran down the street to try and make our appointment. We ended up behind the building which wasn't the right place so we we then had to run all the way around the front... and we still made it on time.

    We had our tour of the court house and the room where they signed the declaration, and then we grabbed the van and hit the road to New York.

    It was slightly raining which was fun but it obscured the majesty of the city as we drove in. I got to check something off my bucket list as I got to drive my van from the south end of Manhattan all the way up through Hell's Kitchen to our hotel. And I never hit anyone.

    We checked in to the hotel and I parked the van in a parking garage across the street. It is going to cost us an arm and half a leg but it is really the only option we had.

    The first night we just headed out for a walk. We stopped for supper at Chic-Fil-A (we had never been), we caught glimpses of the empire state building, and then we walked all the way up 7th avenue right to Times Square and just walked around it a bit. The smell of Pot is overpowering and the crowds were crazy. Just what we wanted. After a short period of time we headed back to our hotel for our first night. Our hotel is right next to a police station so are a little nervous about sirens but the family rooms here are supposed to be pretty quiet.

    Our hotel has a room with 2 queen beds and then another room with a bunk bed and a sofa bed. So everyone gets their own bed for this week.

    Tomorrow will be a lot of walking as we head up to the park and take in the Met. It should be a great day.

    Final Stats:
    Step Counter For the Day : 21,092    Leer más

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  • New York 2024

    Philly

    6 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Today was another long driving day. Just over 7 hours so we weren't expecting to do much. But in the end, even with all the driving, we ended up with more than 16,540 steps and lots of fun memories.

    We drove into Philly during rush hour which was a grand adventure on it's own. The first stop had to be the Rocky Stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We got all our photo ops (some at the top, some at the bottom with the Rocky statue, and some running up the stairs) so we can for sure say... we did it!!!

    Before we headed to our hotel, we decided to make a quick stop at the "Love" sign, another iconic Philly landmark. But... when you type in "Love SIgn in Phili", what they don't tell you is... there are 2. One is at the University and the other is in "Love Park". Not knowing this ourselves we asked google and then trustfully followed it's instructions which lead us to the Love sign at the university. It ended up being a happy/lucky accident. We got to take some pictures at the love sign and then we really enjoyed walking through the buildings that make up the university in the heart of downtown Phili. The buildings and ambiance were so cool. Very colonial looking feeling to the buildings. It was really great to see another university and how they really embraced that theme. We were so happy we were able to wander around there and get that experience.

    But then we had to find the real Love statue. We again asked Google to take us to the right Love statue so more driving around downtime Phili for me until we found the park. We managed to find a spot on the street to park and we walked over to the park and got our photo op. Then we wandered around a bit before we figured it was time to head back to the van and find our hotel.

    The hotel doesn't have parking but there is a parking garage near by. So we parked in what we figured was the closest to our hotel, gathered up our stuff and went to check in. Only... we couldn't find the entrance. After a little confusion, we did get it sorted but it did cause a few tense moments.

    The room was lovely but we really needed some supper. So... what do you get for supper on your first night in Phili?? Why, Phili Cheese steaks of course. We walked over to a nearby shop that ended up making the best cheesesteaks and pizza, but nowhere to sit. So we decided to wander over to a "nearby" park and eat. But when we got there, the park was closed down because of a Chinese festival. So we walked a bunch more blocks down to Washington Park (which was the park for Independance Hall).

    We sat on some benches and ate our cheese steaks, and then we walked the many many blocks through downtown Phili back to our hotel. We never felt scared, lots of people around.

    So Phili started off great and we hadn't even seen the liberty bell yet. That would have to come tomorrow.

    So to bed with thoughts of bells and of course New York floating through our heads. Wednesday was going to be a good day.

    More tomorrow.

    Final Stats:
    Step Counter For the Day : 16,540    Leer más

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  • New York 2024

    Cleveland Rocks!!!

    5 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    For those who may not remember the tv theme song for the Drew Carey show, it was called "Cleveland Rocks". Our kids know that now because we played it about 36 times today. We really wanted it to sink in ;)

    Today was around 4 hours of driving to make it here by 1:30 which was the entry time for our tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So.. in true Mooney fashion, we were up at 6:30, on the road by 7:30 and we got to the building 1.5 hours early.

    So we parked, walked around a bit, and then went to see if they would let us in early 😁

    They were kind enough to agree which saved us killing time for another hour.

    So we spent the next few hours geeking out about all the pictures, outfits, instruments, handwritten songs, and all the cool stories recorded in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was super cool. And to top it all off, there was a special exhibit on the 6th floor dedicated entirely to Jon Bon Jovi, Jen's favorite!!

    Everyone enjoyed the Hall and they each had their favorite moments. If you get a chance to go, do it.

    Afterward, we drove to a nearby beach so the kids could put their feet in Lake Erie. 4 Down.... 1 to go.

    Then we went on a bit of a driving tour. We drove by Severance Hall which is the Hall dedicated to the Orchestra (I bet you can't guess who wanted to see that). That drive took us through the most beautiful park. Then we cruised around some of the other cool buildings in the university circle until we finally drove the 15 or so minutes to our hotel.

    After a quick refresher we headed out to Red Robin for some supper, and then we drove around to a few magic/game stores so my kids could maintain their geek membership cards.

    Then it was back to the hotel to shower off the stinky lake water and relax a bit before bed. We don't need to head out as Ealy tomorrow so we will let them sleep in until 6:45 as a bit of a treat.

    Tomorrow it is off to Philadelphia. Got to stretch a bit before we run the Rocky Stairs.

    That is it for now. More tomorrow.    Leer más

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  • New York 2024

    South Bend - Day 2

    4 de agosto de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Where is Day 1??? That is not how numbering works, Mooney!!! Well, Day 1 was just a travel day. We had picked the triplets up from camp on Friday after teen week, and then we drove to Estevan for the night. After a pile of laundry and a good night's sleep, our first day consisted of a 7 hour (ish) drive from Estevan to Alexandria, MN followed by a supper of sandwich meat and veggies from Target.

    And that brings us to day 2 (SEE?? Forgive me for not creating a full footprint of that!!)

    Day 2 was another mainly driving day. The goal was to drive from Alexandria to South Bend , Indiana. It was an 11 hour driving day that would take us through both Minneapolis and Chicago. Our hotel was the Comfort Inn By The University.

    So we wired up the GPS and headed out on the interstates. Caden took his turn driving and did great. The plan was, long day of driving, get in late and crash so we can get up and get going on Monday.

    What we never asked ourselves was... "what does 'by the university' mean?".

    I am ashamed to admit that we had no idea that South Bend, Indiana is home to none other that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. NOTRE DAME!!!!

    We love Notre Dame. All those Irish, who also love to fight! WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE?!?!

    Unfortunately, it is summer so the university is pretty dead, but luckily, it is free to just walk around and take it in. So that is what we did. We raced to South Bend by hitting every toll road we could find and got in to South Bend Early enough that we could grab some supper from Trader Joe's, and then spend an hour or so driving and walking around the University. It is sooo beautiful there. What an amazing and unexpected bonus. The trip is starting off great!!! Tomorrow is a much shorter driving day to Cleveland followed by a few hours at the Rock and roll hall of fame. See ya tomorrow.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Caden playing the piano in the Rome Airport
    The pictures of us leaving ItalyGreenlandIcebergs off the coast of GreenlandMore GreenlandUpside down shot of Dylans mouth. Evan was using the camera. Lots of laughing

    And The Trip Ends

    6 de agosto de 2022, Canadá ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Well, we are home. The flight from Rome to Calgary was smooth and event free which is always nice when you are talking about flying. We didn't want to take any chances with the flight so we left pretty early to get to the airport. As is our custom and general theme of this trip, even after taking a bus to a train to get to the airport, traveling to our terminal, going through all the security and passport stuff, and getting to our gate, we sat down over 3 hours early. But hey... we were not going to miss our plane home.

    The Rome Airport has pianos like the other stations did but they were rockin' some black baby grand pianos. Caden couldn't resist although I was told I couldn't record the performance he gave to some restaurant patrons who rewarded him with a good clap when he was done.

    After our wait was over, we boarded the plane and began our 10.5 hour long flight to home.

    After many movies and games we arrived without incident. We were lucky on the flight that we had some clear skies. I managed to snag some photos of icebergs and Greenland , which isn't actually green I found out 😉.

    My lovely sister was there to meet us at the airport and drove us back to her place to spend the night. We got to have a lovely supper with her family and my mom. Then the kids stared fading and falling asleep all over their house so we called it a night early and headed off to bed.

    All of us woke up around 2am but most of us managed to go back to sleep until around 6 where we all ended up getting up and ready to go. My sister got up to send us off on the van ride back to Regina. We stopped and got some breakfast and a Starbucks for Jenny and hit the road.

    We ended up pulling up to the house around 3:30 to our good friend Todd mowing our yard which was a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. A big thanks to their daughter Jayelle who looked after our place while we were gone. The place looked great and it was good to see more friends when we got home. Now it is unpacking, laundry, thinking about what to eat, and settle in for the night. Well, most of us anyway. The kids were so excited to see their friends and take them the gifts they bought that they walked over to their house. Hey... it's the Mooney way now.

    Jen is jet lagging hard so hopefully she will get to bed early and have a great sleep in her own bed.

    So this is my last post on this trip. Thanks for reading along with us. It was fun to record some of our stories and share some of the funny moments. It will be great for us to look back on and remember the fun.

    Until the next trip. Chow....    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Piazza Del PopoloThe beginning of the parkWalking home sitesCaden tries the Mussles and Gnocchi

    The Last Day

    4 de agosto de 2022, Italia ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    For this day we had nothing planned. This was more of a buffer day. If there was something we just couldn't get to our if we just needed to rest, this was the day.

    We didn't have a lot left on our to do list. We decided to go out for breakfast for a change. We didn't do that really at all. We would either eat cereal and fruit in, or sometimes we would had pastries and eat in the go. Today we sat down for a right proper breakfast at a place called Gingers. Pancakes and omelets, it was heavenly.

    Afterwards, we decided to head to the Borghese Gallery and Gardens. It was a long walk... so... we decided to walk it. On the way we stopped by the Pantheon again. Every time we have gone by, both this trip and Jen and my trip years ago, we have not been able to go in. But this time it was open. So finally we got to enter and look around. What a cool, very ancient building.

    Then, as we continued on our way, we came across another church called Basilica Dei SS Ambrogio e Carlo. Fairly nondescript on the outside but amazing on the inside.

    Then we were off again to the Gardens with a quick stop at the Piazza Del Popolo, the place Jen and I walked through every day on our last trip and the start of the old downtown area.

    The gardens started just up the hill so we made the trek up, took some pictures and headed into the park. We were wanting to get tickets for their museum but the website wasn't working so we decided just to take our chances and head over there and try and buy tickets at the door. I the end they were sold out for the day so I guess that is something that has to go on a future list.

    Then, after walking around a bit more, we started to head home. It was 36 degrees again today and we were all fading fast. We did manage to get some shopping done on the way though.

    We made it home and just relaxed for much of the afternoon. We planned how we were going to get to the airport the next day, packed up our stuff, did a little napping, and just tried to stay cool. After a bit, we didn't want to end our vacation inside so we rallied ourselves and headed out for one last good supper. We kept it local and just found a place nearby. The food was good. The gelato afterwards was even better, and at the end of the night we all felt satisfied with the ending and the trip as a whole. We did a lot, saw a lot, and it will take some time to process but we all agree we are ready to come home.

    Tomorrow will be a long day but by the end we should be sleeping the night in Calgary, and then on the road back to Regina.

    So good night and we will be seeing some of you tomorrow.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    4Public water fountains were our saving grace

    The Vatican and Castel Sant'Angelo

    3 de agosto de 2022, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Today was our second tour in Rome, the Vatican. We had booked it for noon so we could sleep in a bit and still have time to walk there. This time I did turn my watch on to GPS track the day.

    The tour was good. The guide shared a lot of information and it was very informative so that was cool. We saw a lot of statues, did the Rafael rooms, and ended with the Sistine Chapel. Then we stopped for a late lunch and went to stand in line for St. Peter's Basilica. The line went really quick, it was really just a matter of going through security again. I kept beeping going through the detector, removing more and more items. I was worried I was going be be asked to go through in my underwear but luckily the guy just got tired and let me through.

    The Basilica is amazing and the kids were pretty taken aback. Dylan was geeking out a bit that he was feet away from the burial place of an apostle.

    We looked at all we could see and just spent some time in there until eventually it was time to go.

    We had to stop at a souvenir shop that we had passed on the way in earlier that morning so Liam could get a shirt, but then we were off to Castel Sant'Angelo. This was a building I always wanted to see but somehow missed when Jenny and I were here last time. So it was on my bucket list. We saw the fortress, walked the Ponte Sant'Angelo and then we made our way back home. Again, it was hot and our feet were hurting so we made a stop at a mini market, got some food and pop and headed up to our place where we have been ever since. We talked about going out again but we decided to just turn in early and try to get an early start tomorrow, before the relentless heat saps our strength. Our last say in Rome and the last day of our Epic Adventure. What do you do for your last day? We are open to suggestions. 😉    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    1

    Surviving Rome Heat

    2 de agosto de 2022, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Today was all about the Coliseum, the Forum, and surviving the heat.

    We had our tour for the Coliseum starting at 10 this morning because we anticipated it would be hot in Italy and we figured to get done our tour before the hottest part of the day hit us. What we didn't expect back then was the whole day would be blazing hot. Before our tour even started it was flirting with 30 degree weather. In Mooney fashion, we decided to walk to the Coliseum from our apartment. About a 2.2 km walk. We got to see the Mouth of Truth and the Circus Maximus on our way so that was a bonus. Then we got to the Coliseum, found our tour guide person, took some pictures of the Coliseum and waited for the tour to start.

    I won't bore you with the details. We walked through the first and second levels, got a great history lesson and the headed over to the Forum where we started up on Palatine Hill and finished in the ruins of the Imperial Forum. So much great information. But.... sooooo hot. Not a lot of relief from the heat. Luckily Rome has water filling stations all through the city so we could always refill our water bottles when we ran out. But by the end we had some kids who weren't feeling well from the heat. So we took some breaks, got everyone nice and cool with water and we made our way back to our apartment to wait out the hottest part of the day.

    After a few hours, when the sun was starting to go down a bit, we set out to explore Trastevere. For the next couple of hours we walked around, went up a hill for some great city views, and then we made our way back home stopping at a great restaurant for supper where Caden decided to try Octopus for supper. That went better than I thought. Then it was back home with a quick stop to enjoy some live music before we went up to our apartment to settle in for the night.

    All in all it was a good day but we all feel the heat and the length of the trip and the mild longing for home starting to creep in is wearing on us a bit. It kind of takes the shine off of what we are experiencing. Not too much... but just a little.

    Ok. Off to bed and tomorrow we go to the Vatican. Thanks for tagging along.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Our apartment
    The ParthenonThe crowds at the Trevi FountainKids on the Spanish stepsPiazza NarvonaThe walk homeView of our neighborhood outside our apartment windowOur waking path

    It's Off to Rome We Go

    1 de agosto de 2022, Italia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Today was the day we go to Rome. The final leg of our journey. The last stretch.

    To be honest, the day wasn't looking so good. We got up, finished packing, went to the train station, ate some breakfast, caught our train and headed to Rome. Pretty standard. We were worried our train was going to be late because another train coming out of Rome hit a "large animal " and it was causing major delays. But our train was coming from the Milan direction and so it was only a few minutes behind schedule.

    We had made arrangements with the apartment people that we would be at the place between 1:30 and 2 to check in. We were supposed to arrive in Rome at 12:30 so I thought I had factored in enough buffer time to account for any delays. In the end, we arrived just after 1 and with the time it took to figure out transport, then take the transport, and the walk the 10 minutes to our place, we got there just before 2.

    The apartment is huge. It is located in the Trastevere neighborhood which is a cool little neighborhood but not super accessible via public transport. And once again it was hot. After we got checked in and unpacked, everyone was already tired. We still had to run out to a grocery store to get some supplies so Jen, Caden and I made the trek in the heat to get the necessities.

    It was so hot I started to wonder.... is that it for today? What a waste.

    We stayed in the apartment for awhile and when the sun had started to go down, we decided to head into the heart of the city. Jen planned a route and we just stared walking. And can I say this turned out to be the most fun we have had. We would walk and then pop out at some super famous landmark. Then walk some more and poof, there is another one. We stopped at McDonald's to get drinks and use the bathroom and then more walking. The heat was fine when you are in the shade of all the buildings. In the end we saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain the Spanish steps, Piazza Navona, and lots more. Really good street musicians, saw cool street artists, had great Gelato, and it was wonderful just to take in the energy of the city at night.

    So in the end it was one of our best days. And just for fun, I turned on the GPS of my watch to see our path. I wish I would have done it more. It was cool to see.

    So now it's off to bed with our coliseum tour tomorrow. Chow for now.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    This is "The Annunciation "This was a StradivariThis is a Madonna with ChildWe are coming back

    And So Ends Florence

    31 de julio de 2022, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Boy that went by quickly. 2 full days in Florence and off for our final leg in Rome starting tomorrow.

    We only had a single thing booked... the Academia to see Michaelangelo's David. It wasn't until 11 and the Academia was literally around the corner so we let everyone have a good sleep in this morning. Then it was off to the museum.

    There is more than just the David in that museum. They have tonnes of panels on wood art that predates the Renaissance. Caden made up a game to see how many "Madonna with Child" labeled paintings were in there. He came up with 39. I tried counting the number of "The Annunciation" paintings there were but gave up when I hit 20. (The Annunciation is when the angel appeared to Mary to tell her she will give birth to Christ. It always has the angel on the left kneeling down and Mary on the right usually looking shocked. It seems like every painter and their dog have a version. Maybe it is like a final exam at art school. You can't call yourself an artist until you have painted the Annunciation.)

    Anywho... all that felt like we were just delaying the main event. So we all entered the corridor together to gaze upon the beauty that is David.

    David takes your breath away. So beautifully done. And huge. We spent a good amount of time just admiring him from every angle (😉) and finally we moved on to the rest of the museum. They had a section dedicated to instruments and music, and of course more Madonna with Child and then we were done and back into the city.

    We made out way over to the Piazzale De Michaelangelo. It is an elevated area that has amazing views of the city. If you have ever seen a picture of Florence that shows the Duomo far away, it was taken from there. We hung around the piazza for awhile, took some pictures and then wandered over to a couple of churches that were up on the hill. More pictures and then we were heading back down the hill to the city once more.

    We stopped for lunch at a burger joint just for something different, and then the heat was just too much so we headed back to our apartment for a rest.

    We rested a little, packed a little and then decided just to head back out for our final evening in Florence. We wandered around, got some candy, got some chocolate from Venchi, went and touched the Boar's nose to ensure we will be back, ate some Gelato, had some drinks, and walked around the Duomo until finally we were ready to call it a night and head back to our place. This one is tough to say goodbye to. Jen and I have already talked about coming back again one day. Hey... we rubbed the boar so it is only a matter of time right???

    Tomorrow we are off for our final city of Rome. Tickets are booked and bags are packed. So we will take our time in the morning and be as relaxed as we can as we head to Rome. Because once we are there, it will seem pretty busy until we head home on Friday. So preserving energy is the name of the game until tomorrow afternoon. Whew. What a trip so far. Wish us luck.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Snacking on the terrace at the UffiziWe found the statue that inspired the Saturday night fever danceLunch by the DuomoIn the baptistryOut for supper togetherMmmmm....meatCreme Brule.

    Doing Florence Day 1

    30 de julio de 2022, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today was our first full day in Florence. We had 2 things booked for today. The first was the Uffizi Gallery. I have said this before but artists amaze me. It was cool to see how into the art most of the kids were. But the different levels of interests causes logistical issues. Some would linger in a room while others would be 2 rooms ahead. Jen and I ended up spending much of our time just trying to keep our group together and know where everyone was. In the end the kids saw some amazing art and we spent around 3 hours in there. Everyone had their favorites and it sparked s lot of good conversation afterward.

    Next we wandered Florence for a bit, found a great place to eat some pasta in the shade of the Duomo, and then we headed back to our place to refresh a bit and refill our water bottles because the next thing was the hike to the top of the Duomo.

    Now... some of us are faster than others and it didn't take long before our groups got separated. When you go up the Dome, there is a ledge just under the ceiling where you come out into the cathedral, make your way around the wall and then you re-enter the passageways up to the top. We ended up getting paused on this ledge for quite awhile. Maybe they were trying to get previous groups down so they paused us so we wouldn't run into them, I am not sure. But with our separate groups, 3 of our kids got to head on up to the roof unsupervised while Jenny, Evan and I remained stalled on the ledge. That didn't cause us any stress at all 😉.

    Eventually we all made it up and for the first little while we had the top almost to ourselves. It was cool. We took some pictures with the kids, walked around and saw all the sides, and "most" of us just enjoy being up there. Then it started to really get busy. There came a steady stream of people coming up to the roof and it became more and more congested and it took quite awhile for us to be able to go down. Again we got split into 2 groups and we slowly made our way back down to street level where we all met up again.

    After that we had nothing else planned. We ended up going into the Baptistry as our ticket covered entry into that and it wasn't that busy, and it was something that Jen and I didn't do last time we were here because it was closed. So that was neat.

    Then we headed back to our place for some showers and a bit of a siesta before we headed out once more for our supper reservation. Florence is famous for their Florentine steaks and I didn't have one last time we were here because Jenny doesn't enjoy rare meat. But this time I was not going to miss out. We had the meat eaters to take on the steak.

    The meal was amazing, and the steak was huge. I thought I may have overestimated the eating potential of my boys but they exceeded my expectations and we managed to finish the steak off. 2.4 kg of meat on a 4" thick t-bone steak.... mmmmmmm....

    Some of the kids even had enough room for dessert so we tried some creme brule and a lava cake. And then it was time to waddle back to our place for bed.

    A great way to end our day in Florence.

    Only one more full day here and then off to Rome. It is hard not to think about the trip coming to its end. The feelings of both sadness of this once in a lifetime trip that we have planned for years finally being done, and the feelings of looking forward to getting home. But we are all trying to stay in the now and just enjoy what we are doing. Tomorrow we see Michaelangelo's David. Then.... who knows where the day will take us.

    Chow...    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    The front doors of the ChurchMichaelangelo's graveThe Ponte VecchioCity hallThis is Jenny holding all our stuff so she can take a picture of us.Cool sky over the baptistryMe trying a selfieA time lapse of our time sitting on the steps of the Duomo

    On To Florence

    29 de julio de 2022, Italia ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Today is the day that we traveled to Florence. Jen and I were lucky enough to come to Italy for our 20th wedding anniversary so we knew that this time we would largely be doing the same things we did back then. That is fine because it gives us the opportunity to share what we loved about this city with our kids.

    To get here we needed to take a train from La Spezia to Pisa and then switch trains in Pisa to go to Florence. We had 8 minutes to change trains... but our train left La Spezia 10 minutes late so we were shot right off the bat to make our train. But the cool thing about train travel in Italy and a lot of Europe is that tickets are flexible. We checked when we arrived in Pisa to make sure but they just confirmed that our tickets are good for any train going to Florence in the next 4 hours. And there are lots of trains. So we just waited for the next train and we were on our way.

    Florence was just how we remembered it.... only much hotter. We were able to get into our apartment early so that was great. We got in, fought over beds, cranked up the air conditioning and then headed out to see the city.

    We had nothing scheduled for the day but we thought, if we could get a few things out of the way early it will make our other days less busy. So the first thing we did was to go see Santa Croce. It is the church down in Michaelangelo's neighborhood and there are tonnes of famous people buried there. Plus the church is really cool. There are carvings from Donatello in there, the graves of Michaelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and many more, and amazing stain glass windows. We wandered around for awhile until we had seen all we could see and then it was out to the courtyard. Again, it was really hot so we got some water and sat together to figure out what we should do. Liam was feeling pretty tired because of our big Cinque Terre day so he didn't feel like doing much. We decided to walk over to the Ponte Vecchio, see the bridge, get some food, and then head back to the apartment for a little siesta.

    The kids started a game of magic while we relaxed. Then we decided to head out for... what else... Gelato. We did some wandering first around the Duomo, then got our gelato, and sat on the steps, people watched and ate our gelato. What a great way to end our first day in Florence.

    Tomorrow we are off to do the Uffizi Gallery and the Duomo. We will see what else we can fit in. Now... off to bed in a cool room. Ahhhhh.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure

    Our Epic Day in the Cinque Terre

    28 de julio de 2022, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today was one of the days we have been really looking forward to. The Cinque Terre. 5 little villages built into the hills of the Italian Riviera of the Mediterranean. What is there not to love?

    We bought a Cinque Terre Train Card that gives us unlimited travel from La Spezia through all the towns as well as access to the trekking paths (the walk between the towns that we didn't do)

    We started out taking the train to the farthest village, Monterosso. Every village was so different. This one was more spread out so there was very little vertical climbing unless you wanted to get into where the houses were. We walked up and down the marina and then we got into the Mediterranean for a good long swim. It was awesome. It was already 25 C outside by 9 am so we knew it was going to be a hot one and we wanted to start off the day in the water before it got too busy.

    After our swim and a little shopping, we were back in the train to head to the neighbor village of Vernazza. This village was quite a bit smaller that lead down to this circular marina. Very picturesque. It was here we took a little detour up into the trekking trail to get some good shots of the city from up on high. After a little for exploring and relaxing we headed to the next town of Corniglia.

    By now the heat is starting to affect us. This village is unique as it doesn't have a marina and the town is at the top of a hill. You have 2 options, wait for a little bus to take you up...or... do it the Mooney way and take the stairs. So, we took the Mooney way. After the stairs we were hot and tired. The path takes you to a little square that doesn't have much and you have to take some side path to get to the centro or city centre. All the other towns so far just took you there easily so it took us a little bit of time to find the secret entrance.

    Once we found it, our next action was to find food. We stopped at a cute little pizzeria that specializes in pizza and sandwiches on foccaci bread. It was delicious and just what we needed. We kept walking through the town to their scenic terrace at the edge of the town with views of the Mediterranean and the neighboring town. Then it was back through the town and to take the stairs back down (it is the Mooney way) and back in the train. This time, we skipped the next town and got down to the first town of Riomaggiore.

    In this town, you get off the train and walk through a long tunnel to get the town. This town had a marina and the town extended far up the hill. We walked really far up, stopped for some Gelato, and got some great pictures. Then we walked back down and headed to the rocky Marina. Some of the kids wanted to get wet again and a couple wanted to work on their tans. I saw some kids cliff jumping nearby and thought my kids would like to do it. The tanners were not that keen as they didn't want to get wet. So I convinced the swimmers to come check it out with me. Once the tanners saw the swimmers go... then they decided to come to. I think they were nervous but if they all went together and the sacrificial first jumper survived, then maybe they would do it to. So we worked our way up to the top of the Rock, watched some little kids jumping off and I convinced all of them to do it to. So all my kids went cliff jumping in the Cinque Terre. That will be a cool memory for them.

    Afterwards, we made our way back to the town center, got some more Gelato (didn't I already say how hot it was... it was definitely a 2 Gelato day) and then we were off to the last village, Manarola.

    We kept this one till last because the hope was it was larger then a lot of the other one so we would spend some time there and then have a nice supper. But man..... was it hot. We started at the marina. It was packed with swimmers and sun bathers and there as a cliff side path that would take you to some scenic views of the town and the sea. So we hiked up there, got some great pictures and then made our way back to the city centre. Nobody was interested in swimming again so we walked up the hill into the city. We ended up not finding a suitable place to eat and by now we were all pretty tired and sweaty. So we intended to head back to our place in La Spezia, clean up, change clothes, and head back to the Cinque Terre for supper. In reality, we got all cleaned up and decided to stay in. We cooked some pasta, drank some coke, and spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the place and preparing for our trip to Florence.

    The Cinque Terre was everything we hoped it would be and the kids had fun. I am glad we came. Next is 3 days in Florence so there is still lots to look forward to. And in a week from now we will be heading home. So with that I will sign off. Thanks for being on this journey with us.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    View from the train
    Just walking around La SpeziaView from our balcony

    On to La Spezia and the Cinque Terre

    27 de julio de 2022, Italia ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Tonight, as I write this, I am sitting on my balcony, drinking coke and watching all the people in the piazza socializing the Italian way. Jen is crunching a sugar dough cookie in my ear, as we both watch kids kick a soccer ball and the edge of the modern looking fountain filling with people who are just sitting and enjoying the night.

    This was our third straight day of travel and we are really enjoying the slowness of the moment. We are settled in to La Spezia for 2 nights so we don't feel any pressure to do more.

    This morning started off slow with everyone sleeping in. Our train didn't leave until noon so we took advantage of the respite to catch up on some rest and just approach the day with no sense of urgency. After all... this is Italy....

    We once again got to the train station early enough to get some breakfast and prepare for the journey to La Spezia. The train was only 3 hours but by now the traveling was getting monotonous. We arrived without incident, except for the Italians and their weird mask rules. Nobody wore masks on the train, until we were just coming in to La Spezia. Then a guy came through the cabin and had every put on masks. We kept them on until the train stopped, we got off, and then everyone took their masks off. Very weird. And it wasn't that we took them off and we weren't supposed to. Hardly anyone in the whole station was wearing a mask. I guess they wanted to be extra careful for when people exit the train. I am not sure.

    Jen knocked it out of the park again with our accommodations. It is perfect for our needs and right near the action. After we got settled we went for a walk down by the Mediterranean. We wandered a bit, ate some Gelato, got groceries, and headed back to our place to cook our own food and just relax. Tomorrow we are wanting to have a really early start to see as much of the Cinque Terre as we can. It will be a long hot day but we are sooooo looking forward to it.

    So, with that I will bid you good night.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Food in Paris. Caden tried the duck
    The view of the tower from our hotel door. Saying goodbye to ParisThe view out our train windowMilan train station insideMilan train station outsideEven their store windows are coolThe Milan DuomoCaden's meal. He said about 37 times how awesome it wasMy first gnocchiJenny's risottoJenny loved the guy coming through trying to sell flowers

    Travel... and travel.... and Milan

    26 de julio de 2022, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    This update encompasses 2 days for us. Yesterday was mostly travel with an overnight stop in Paris. We had to first get our cars back to Rouen from Caen. Last time we were taking the backroads, but this time it was all highways and toll booths. The speed limit on these French highways is 130 so we were just buzzing down the road. I am not sure what I prefer. Scenic drive but narrow winding roads and slower speeds... or blinding speeds, multiple lanes but so much traffic. Anyway, it was nice to experience both. And we managed to get our cars back with no accidents so that is a win.

    We hadn't purchased our train tickets back to Paris yet as we were still trying to decide... do we go straight to Paris, or do we go to Giverny first. It was a tough decision but the stress of high speed highway driving and with the prospect of a long travel day the next day, we decided just to get to Paris. So we booked our tickets and we were off.

    All in all it was a pretty uneventful day. I don't think I even took any pictures. We got to Paris, bought some metro tickets for the trip to our hotel as well as our trip the next day to the train station, and then headed over to our hotel. The room was great and spacious which was nice. We wish we could have stayed there longer. We found a place around the corner to eat and enjoyed a very nice, long lasting, unhurried meal on their outside patio. After that is was off to bed because we had to get up around 6 am in order to make sure we got to our 7:26 train to Milan.

    The next day everything was going well. We arrived at the station really early, got some breakfast and some lunch for the ride, got on the train... and... sat there. A breakdown on the line had us delayed for well over an hour and a half. It wasn't bad though. We watched downloaded content on our phones and just waited it out. The train ride after that was beautiful but they put this wrap over the whole train to advertise stuff but it ruins some of the view. Oh well.

    We arrived in Milan and it was hot. 35 degrees I believe. We checked in to our Hotel. Here, we had to settle for 2 rooms which ended up fine. We could do with a little time away from each other 😉.

    Once settled we walked down from here to the Milan Duomo. It was about a 40 minute walk but hey.... it's Milan. After taking in the sights for a bit we were off to find food. In the end we walked all the way back to our hotel and found a place to eat across the street. Everyone enjoyed their Italian food and then we were off to our rooms to relax and have a great sleep.

    Tomorrow we are off to La Spezia as our launching point to the Cinque Terre. Another travel day so we are looking forward to being able to settle a bit there. And the sights should be amazing. So off to bed. Chow Bella.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Juno BeachThe kids in a small craterBunker at Pointe Du HocField of cratersEvan stops to read everything. We have only lost him twice because of it.

    Our Day In Normandy

    24 de julio de 2022, Francia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    The reason to come to Caen was really to get to Normandy. After all, the whole trip can't just be about where to find the best Macarons at a reasonable price.

    Again, Jenny wanted to follow me in my car, and once again, my GPS acted like a drunk local who just wanted to see how many crazy things this idiot tourist would do just because they said so. There were paths my GPS led us down that Google maps had never heard of. But... man was the drive scenic.

    We started off the day at the Canadian Cemetary. It was very pretty but a lot smaller than what I was expecting. I guess we have 2 cemeteries.... who knew?!?! We took our time, read a pile of names, looked for graves from the south saskatchewan regiment (Jen's grandpa served in that regiment) , and the Regina rifles, and then we left on our way to the Juno beach centre. Once there, we made our way through the museum part and then took part in a tour of a couple of bunkers. It was all very interesting. Apparently the Germans had a cataloge you could order bunkers from. They got really good at it and had like 900 different types of bunkers.

    After that we went to find Canada house which is famous for having been the first house liberated.... and having survived. You can see it in some of the earliest photos after D Day.

    Then it was the adventure to find food. It was a Sunday so a lot of the stores and restaurants were closed. We decided to head to Omaha beach because we figured it would be more open. And boy..... was it ever. After a relatively quiet experience at Juno, Omaha was insane!!! We drove up and down the beach looking for somewhere, literally anywhere to park. And we just couldn't. We lost each other at one point and spent 20 minutes trying to find each other, so we decided it wasn't worth it and we decided to leave. It didn't help that we were hot
    , tired, and running on empty stomachs. So we drove 25 minutes to Bayeux, finally found some food, and then regrouped. After settling down a bit, we decided to give it one last try. While Omaha beach would be cool, what I really wanted to see was Pointe Du Hoc. It was enough out of the way that we thought it wouldn't be as busy as there are no beaches because it is on a cliff. We wanted to see the bunkers and the really big craters left by the shelling of the bunkers during d-day.

    Again, my GPS led us on an adventure driving down farmers lanes and restricted areas with gates. I finally pulled over, had a little talk with it, and said "Forget you" and I let Google take us the last kilometer or so.

    And we are really glad we did. Pointe du Hoc was not busy and was really cool. It is surreal seeing craters bigger than my house littering a field right beside a large bunker. After taking it all in and reading every placard we could find we were back in the vehicles heading home. This time, my GPS took us down the highway and we were home in no time with no miscellaneous death defying adventures. I guess the GPS just needed a talking to.

    Then it was time to pack up again, clean things up in the apartment, and prep for our journey back to Paris tomorrow.

    All in all, we didn't get close to seeing all we wanted to but I am greatful for what we did see. We could have spent a week here trying to get to everything and really immerse ourselves in the history of this place and what it went through in ww2. I will definitely come back... but for sure in more of the off season 😉. And there is no way you could do it without a car or a tour company so I am glad we had the cars.

    Ok. Off to bed. Good night and we will talk to you more tomorrow.    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Some of France looks like Saskatchewan
    Just some small towns we passed throughA shot of Jenny in the car behindOur place we are staying at1The actual key to the apartment doorA church in CaenSome streets in Caen

    On To Caen

    23 de julio de 2022, Francia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Well, our Paris adventure is almost over (we do have one more night when come back to Paris to catch our train to Milan) so today we are off to Caen.

    In everything we read and watched, it talked about how hard it is to do Normandy without a car. You can do a tour but that is expensive. And there isn't really any public transport from Caen to the beaches, so that leaves renting a car. And this proves to be immensely hard when you have 6 people. I had managed to book 2 different 7 passenger cars out of Rouen knowing sometimes they let you book but cancel you. This happened to one of our vehicles a couple of weeks ago. But we still had one vehicle left and they were still sending us confirmations so we felt like that would work out.

    So we rode the train from Paris to Rouen and figured out the metro that would take us from the train station to the car rental place. We arrived ahead of time, walked up to the counter to get our vehicle and...... they didn't have one.

    They say they were trying to get ahold of us to tell us, and they had one but it was in an accident.... and the dog ate our contact information.... and they called around to all the companies in the area... but.... no 7 passenger car.

    But.... they could give us 2 cars for actually less than what we were going to pay for the other one. But Jenny doesnt have an international drivers license as she had no intention of driving. But luckily, you don't need an international drivers license to drive in France so that was great. But... the cars you rent are all standard transmission. It is nearly impossible to get an automatic and Jenny don't drive no standard. But... as it turns out they did happen to have one more automatic car that was just getting cleaned up. So... 2 cars instead of 1 for cheaper than the 1 car we reserved and Jen could drive because it was an automatic. I would drive the other one that was a standard. But, that also means we would pay double the tolls so the car rental people further reduced our car fee to compensate.

    So we decided to just go for it. It meant we were split between 2 cars but it would be fine. And, as it turns out, both cars came equipped with GPS. So, we signed our life away and took the cars on the road to Caen.

    Now, I am not sure what the settings on my GPS were, but I am sure it was set to.... no tolls, middle of the country, and please seek out the narrowest and curvy roads possible. Because it didn't take long before my GPS had us off the main highway and we were going down every backroad and through every small town on a path that I guess kept us moving in the direction of Caen. Jenny was in the car behind and she had to listen to her GPS losing patience for her not following it's instructions. Jenny swears she could start to hear "tone".

    But, eventually the GPS did in fact get us here. In the end, the drive was great and exactly what we had hoped to be able to do when we thought about this trip many months ago. Get out of the city and into the country. It just took a creative GPS to get us there.

    I am not sure what I thought Caen was like but it is way bigger than I thought. We only got separated and I lost Jenny once but we eventually found our place, parked the cars, got into our place and sat on the couch to catch our breath. Jenny didn't enjoy the narrow back roads as much as I did so it was a relief to get here.

    After a little break we headed out to get some food, look around a bit and then back to our place to relax and plan our day tomorrow. The apartment is really great and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

    So, there isn't a lot to show for pictures. I had the kids in my vehicle take pictures as I drove so I will share some of those. And the step counter is under 10,000 so it felt like a pretty low key day.

    Look for more pictures and more walking tomorrow. Until then....    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    Our most Frenchie breakfast
    Winged Victory. Isn't she beautiful?Caden with his Eiffel Tower souvenir. Nerd!

    Paris, the City of Museums and Parks

    22 de julio de 2022, Francia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Well.... it turns out that walking for 34.7 km the day before will actually slow you down the next day. Who Knew???

    Today we had tickets to go to the Louvre. We booked them later in the morning thinking we could get there early, scout out the area, visit the Gardens and leisurely make our way in.

    As it turned out, we slept in, still managed to get on our train early, got almost there before we realized we had left the coffee pot on, went all the way back, turned it off, then back on the metro with a brisk walk to the Louvre and we ended up 5 minutes late. Whew...

    The Louvre is huge and confusing with 2153 different stair cases. We did the prototypical tourist thing and decided to head straight to the Mona Lisa. Get her out of the way early. We did the stand in line thing to get close, took our snap shots, and we were off to ping pong around that place trying to see as much as we could while hitting our personal highlights, such as the Venus De Milo and the Egyption mummies. Oh... and I was most excited to see, Winged Victory. For some reason, I find that statue of a headless winged angel so beautiful.

    We did a lot of walking.... again... and the kids were dragging so while we were there for like 4 hours, there was still lots we didn't see. I want to go back again sometime just to spend more time admiring all the lesser know pieces of art at a more leisurely pace.

    After that we ate some lunch and did a bit of souvenir shopping and then we got to relax in the Tuileries Garden which is just outside the Louvre. We finally got our outside pictures of the pyramid (the ones we didn't get because of our mad dash to get there in time) and then we decided to head for home.

    One of the things on Jen's bucket list was to sit in the lawn of the park just south of the Eiffel Tower. That is the iconic place where to see people picnicking and laying down kissing with the tower in the background. So we jumped off the subway a couple of blocks away, grabbed a 6 pack of overpriced Macarons, and went to the park. It was everything Jen hoped for. Nothing more French than eating Macarons in the park by the Eiffel Tower.

    We soaked in that moment, and then the rain came to gently nudge us into the direction of home. And so ends our time in Paris. We spent the rest of the night cleaning and packing so we could get up early to make our train to Rouen. All in all, Paris was great but we left a lot of things undone. So... I guess we will just have to come back.

    Oh... and even though we were dragging a bit and sore, we finished the day with 19,185 steps (for those of you who are only here for the daily step counter 😛😉)

    Ok. Off to bed to dream of baguettes... again. What is up with that???    Leer más

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  • Mooney's European Adventure
    The Queens HamletMore of the Queens HamletAnd more of the Queens HamletAnd still more of the Queens HamletAh.... the city of love

    Paris, the Day Not In Paris

    21 de julio de 2022, Francia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Ok.... even I think someone should call social services for what happened today.... BUT... in my defense, they were asking for it.....

    I guess I should go back a few hours to where the day began.

    Today was Versailles day. This is the day that made Jenny tear up in anticipation. After a long time trying to figure out the best way to get there and try to figure out if our Travel Cards would work or do we need to get special tickets (spoiler alert, our cards did work so the trip was already covered) we decided to go especially early in case we had to buy tickets. Everything went smooth and we got there well before they opened and over an hour and a half before our scheduled entry time.

    So we stopped at a pastry shop to get some croissants and pain de chocolate and made the walk to the Palace. Once there we decided to check out the gardens. We were almost the only ones in there and let me say, they are spectacular. You could send the kids out into the backyard to play and not see them for 3 weeks. The kids just kept talking about how you could have an epic paintball fight or play hide and seek where the person hiding would most likely die before they are found. It was amazing.... but... we came to see the inside too. So we wandered around for over an hour before we had to race back to make our entry time.

    What can you say about Versailles? Words don't do it justice. We spent many hours walking the halls and listening to commentaries, and staring at the art or the architecture. It is all amazing to think about the history of that place. So I am not going to even try. But, if you come here.... go to the Palace.

    After the inside we were back into the garden. We walked and walked and walked. Sure there were trains or golf carts you could rent to get around... but that isn't the Mooney way gosh darn it. One of the things we really wanted to see was the Queens Hamlet. It was a fake little village they created so the queen could see what regular people lived like. There is so much more to the story than that but the point is, there was a tiny village out there and we were going to find it. And find it we did. Charming buildings and a working farm. Very cool little place. Then we walked some more to take in some of the fountain shows. Not all the fountains are on all the time so you have to time it for when they are scheduled to go.

    Then, after a long day of walking (just wait, we aren't done yet) we walked back to the train, caught a congested train back to Paris and headed back to our flat.

    And that is where the day "should" have ended. But... it didn't.

    At this time we were sitting at just over 32,000 steps. It was already our longest walking day.... but.... the kids got it into their head they wanted to get to 40. So we decided to take the subway to the far end of the Champs elysees and walk up it towards the Arc de Triomphe at sunset. It certainly sounds nice... right??? Well... it was nice (geeze... not everything good to be so dramatic). The street was bustling, the Arc was beautiful in the setting sun but some of us were starting to fade. We got to the Arc, went under the busy round road to get right under it, took some pictures and rested, and then we looked at the watch. Only 37,000 steps. Now we are faced with a dilemma. Do we call it a day and catch the metro home... or... make one last march to the Eiffel Tower.

    This is the point in the story where the authorities should get involved. The kids all wanted to make the walk, get the 40,000 steps and see the tower at night. We decided to go for it. It was about a 2 km walk so we headed in that direction. Now, we are leaving heavily populated areas and walking in the dark down much quieter streets. We never felt unsafe and I think the areas are fine, but when you don't live in the city, you just never know. And... the length of the day is really starting to affect a couple of the kids. But they are committed so we march on. In the end we get to the tower but some of us were too exhausted and mentally drained to really enjoy it, and we still had to walk the remaining 15 minutes home. The kids pretty much got in and went straight to bed. And... we ended up overshooting a bit. Our final step counter clocked in at 43,332. It goes without saying none of us have any desire to see if we can break that one so I am sure it will stand as our longest walking day of our trip.

    Tomorrow is the Louvre though so this may have been a huge mistake.... we shall see.

    Thanks for tuning in.... and... don't really call social services on us. We won't do it again. I promise. 😉    Leer más

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