Katherine's 26.2 miles at the Belfast Marathon!

At the start of the Belfast Marathon.  Great signs, Aunt Mary Ellen!

I spent this past Bank Holiday Monday in Belfast, cheering on Katherine as she ran her first ever marathon.  We stayed with the parents of her friend Olivia and were so thankful for their gracious hosting.   Mr. and Mrs. Reilly live in Belfast and not only let us stay at theirs, but also drive us around and fed us homemade cake!  Katherine, Olivia, and (surprise!) Caroline arrived early and spent a few days at the Giant’s Causeway before heading back into Belfast the day before the marathon to get me from the airport.  We spent a relaxing evening eating dinner, planning the next day’s route, and watching the great film Made in Dagenham before getting to bed. 

Katherine woke before her alarm Monday morning, ready to run.  She stuffed her race belt full of goos and gels and dealt with her surprisingly mellow pre-race jitters while I silently praised the Lord that all I had to do was watch and cheer.  We had some breakfast and Mr. Reilly dropped us into the city center with a big “good luck!” to Katherine.  

Pre-race prep.

It's too early for this! Caroline, Katherine, and Olivia by the start.

It’s fun to watch everyone on race morning… the stretches and nervous laughs and last minute freak outs.  We chatted about how colorful running shoes and running clothes in general have become.  I love Caroline’s idea that instead of setting the race start up in corrals by estimated finishing time, it should be done by predominant color of outfit so the race start would look like a rainbow that slowly spread out from the start. 

 The course was set up in an irregular cloverleaf pattern so Caroline, Olivia and I were able to see Katherine before the start and then four times through the course of the race.  That said, thank goodness for Olivia and Caroline’s sharp eyes!  They were the first to point Katherine out of the crowd so we could yell and cheer.  We tried to set up early at most of our viewing spots but inevitable worried that we had arrived too late and missed her.  Then someone familiar would run by “Oh! It’s the fake mustache and wig man.  Katherine was behind him!” “Yep, that’s tutu guy without tattoos, she was really close to him before!”  I thought her gray t-shirt would be a hard shirt to spot but she actually stood out well from all the hot pink and bright blue.

Surrounded by men!

 

Looking great!

Waving hello from the pack!

The runners as they went past.

The first two times she ran by, Katherine was smiling and looked strong.   The third time we saw, around mile 22, was different.  The runners had thinned significantly by that point so we could see her coming for a while.   She saw us, too, and her lip started quivering.  As is the case 20+ miles into running, I think she just needed a hug and reassurance that we were still rooting for her and that yes, she was doing amazingly well!  We saw her one last time with less than a mile to go and not only had her smile returned but she instantly processed the bag in Caroline’s hand and exclaimed “you went shopping!”

You went shopping!  Smiling at mile 25.

Marathons seem long when you’re running them but WOW they’re just as long when you watch.  We saw Katherine, snuck in a coffee, saw Katherine, snuck in two+ hours of shopping and lunch, saw Katherine, and then worked our way to the finish.  When we found her amongst the crowd she was looking quite pleased and energetic! 

VICTORY!

That said, we did have to make a wee trip to the medical tent to take care of some major blisters on both feet, but Katherine finished in good spirits and without any major injury. 

Blister care at the med tent.

Mummy toes!

At this point, she isn't committing to running another marathon but also didn’t rule it out in the future.  We’re so proud of you, Katherine!

Hitching a ride back to the car.



Venice with the Robisons

Gorgeous view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

 

Last year’s Europe vacation must have been fun for Cara and Brian because they came back for more! The Robisons planned a dream vacation to Italy and invited us to meet them in Venice for a weekend at the very beginning of their trip. We readily agreed and a few months after making the plans, Chris’ parents booked an early spring trip to see us and also wanted to go to Italy, so after a great visit with them here we took them along to Venice with us! I went to Venice many years ago while on an Italy trip with some friends during optometry school but really felt like I enjoyed the city more this time around; due in part to now having the money to buy that bottle or wine or (3^rdcone of) gelato.

Rialto Bridge is much less crowded by night!

The Grand Canal by night as viewed from our water bus.

Cara really did some great planning for their trip, so Chris and I just went along for the ride. I can’t even express how awesome it was to catch up with them and be led from place to place, utilizing well-researched tricks on how to skip long lines, and being handed Cara’s extra phone with a previously downloaded Rick Steve’s audio guide on whatever we happened to be seeing that moment. I used to put that much effort in to trip planning, but the contrast made me realize how lackadaisical I’ve become over the past year and a half!

We weren’t sure we’d see Chris’ parents much in Venice, so said a big goodbye Friday. Saturday morning our first stop was the absolutely gorgeous St. Mark’s Basilica where we promptly ran into his parents… proving Venice really is quite small, no matter how often you seem to get lost! There was a long line to get into the Basilica, but Cara read to drop our bags off at a nearby church where we were given bag tags that allowed us to walk to the front of the line. Nice! The basilica was built in 1071 and held the body of the Apostle Mark for centuries until the 1960’s (when it was returned to Egypt?). The interior was covered by mosaics and marble, and the roof was lined with little bits of overlying gold foil that “would be equivalent to covering a football field with contact lenses.” We spent a few hours wandering around the beautifully decorated space with Rick Steve and from there took a water bus to get a birds-eye view of Venice from atop the bell tower at the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore on a small island across the lagoon.

 

St. Mark's Basilica.

 

Yeah, we skipped that long line.

Piazza San Marco.

Gondolas protected from the rain that, lucky for us, never came!  Across the water is the belltower of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

 

Although I wouldn’t have necessarily planned on spending time at the small church of San Giorgio Maggiore, we really enjoyed all of its paintings by Tintoretto. The paintings and sculptures were really good, and we laughed that there’s so much art in Venice that some amazing stuff gets either completely ignored by the info guides or given unceremoniously short descriptions.

Cara and Brian in front of the Church of St. Maggiore.

Tomb

Tintoretto

With a tiny church so full of big-time art, this meticulously carved wooden choir was lucky to get a one-word description in the guide (see below).

#8 (see above)

Pretty view of Venice from atop the church's belltower. 

Between seeing sights we spent time drinking coffee, eating gelato, and avoiding people.  I made the mistake of looking at something in my hands once and heard Chris say “boom” a millisecond before my right shoulder hit something so hard I spun.  Cara, Brian, and Chris were laughing so hard – apparently a waiter at one of the sidewalks cafes hadn’t been looking either and we clipped each other pretty hard.  Chris SAYS he had just enough time to verbalize the impact without being able to change our inevitable collision.  LOL.

We were rewarded for carrying umbrellas all day (80% chance of showers!) by NO rain! Lunch was at a tiny restaurant next to the fish market. We sat watching the grungy fisherman laughing, drinking white wine, and eating raw prawns. Minus the wine swirling and sushi, we could’ve been anywhere in working America watching a bunch of burly guys share a laugh and drink after a hard days’ labor. The waiter/bartender/owner took our order and strongly suggested we have the remaining delicacy (only on Saturday!) of the raw crustaceans. You’d be wrong to think a past nasty bout of salmonella poisoning would deterred me from such risky behavior… but no. They tasted like lobster covered in good olive oil and lemon. Yum.

Tasted great and the huge bonus of being fresh enough to not induce stomach rage. 

In front of Rialto Bridge.

 

Standing on the Rialto Bridge.

Chris and I tend to avoid churches, museums, and castles since (ah, the history buffs are going to cringe) they seem to run together in our memory now. That said, Venice was the perfect place to break that rule. We thoroughly enjoyed walking through the Venetian churches and admiring the works by (amongst many others): Titian, Tintoretto, Bellini, and Carpaccio, and Donatello.  Venice ruled the seas and was incredibly wealthy and powerful in the 1500’s, coinciding with the Reinessance. There’s literally so much great art from the this time that one of my favorite bits of Venice, the Frari Basilica, wasn’t even mentioned in my guidebook! 

Frari Church (with Titian's Assumption of the Virgin.)

Sunday morning we met Chris’ parents for coffee before they headed off to Rome. Then it was back to the hotel to pack up and then off to tour the Doge’s Palace next to St. Mark’s Basilica with the Robisons. The Doge’s Palace is historically where the ruler of the Republic of Venice lived and where most of Venice’s political activities were handled. The St. Mark’s Square we enjoyed to ourselves earlier that morning had become an absolute mob of people! We’re all tourists, so I’m obviously not complaining about tourism in general, but cruise ships really and truly make a huge impact on the cities in which they dock. Only smaller ships can get to Venice, and even these can let off 5000 people at once, turning the narrow streets into a solid mass of people looking to buy a gelato and snap a few photos of St. Mark’s Square before getting back to the boat.   It’s crazy that only 58,000 people live in Venice but up to 150,000 can visit in a day!  I have zero jealously for any Venetian who actually has to get to work or run errands, and read that the city is dying because so many residents are moving out.  The population has decreased by half in the last 30 years!

Early enough to be peaceful in St. Mark's Square.

Great visit with mom and dad Schmidt! 



Doge's Palace.

 

Inside Doge's Palace (downloaded from noodlesensevilla since we couldn't take photos inside!)  Check out that ceiling!

 

Looking out from the Bridge of Sighs... a criminal's last look at the city before being locked away!

 

Gorgeous view of the Venetian lagoon.

Hey Cara and Brian, let's keep up the trend... see you next year?!

We walked all day Sunday, meandering from one end of the city to the other, stopping to take photos, buy shoes (Chris, not me!) and a carnival mask, and enjoy the typical Italian delights of coffee and gelato.  We also spent an inordinate amount of time looking at seafood in the windows of restaurants since half of it was still alive and the crabs would wander out of place.   All in all, Venice was a perfect spot to spend a weekend with friends and a great way to launch both the Robisons and Schmidts into the next bit of their adventures!

PS: If you are a parent of little children I’d recommend you buy some sort of backpack for them – with its cobblestone and million bridges this city wasn’t built for strollers!

The Schmidts come to visit!

Love this classic photo of the phone booth and Big Ben!

Chris’ parents Scott and Theresa broke away from their extraordinarily busy lives running their store and helping take care of our little nephew to come visit us. Being retired Army they had traveled pretty extensively in their younger years only to calm and get settled in Tennessee where they’ve now lived for 16 years. They must’ve gotten rid of their travel bug because we had to coax them to get their passports when we moved here! They’ve been threatening to come for a year so we were really excited when they booked tickets for this spring.  A 25 year traveling hiatus didn’t stop them from some incredibly ambitious trip planning. We tend to Go! See! Do! more than most and after seeing how both sets of our parents travel it makes total sense… it must be wired into our genes. We had initially planned to take it easy when they first arrived but weather problems made them a day and a half late. It was a terrible, stressful way to start the trip and Chris and I were incredibly impressed with their ability to dive right in when they did finally make it here. In the early stages of planning, their idea was just to come visit us here in the UK. Then it turned to “we’d like to go to Italy while we’re in Europe”, then to “well, we’re only a couple hours from Paris so maybe we can sneak in an overnight”, to “well, is there anything you two (meaning us) haven’t done in the UK that you want to do?” which led to plans for an overnight in Wales. Let the adventure begin!

They arrived in great spirits and we went straight to London for a day of sight-seeing. I swear, no one believes us that the weather has been AWFUL for months when the sun suddenly comes out for visitors. That said, I’m very thankful the weather made liars out of us again! There literally weren’t any clouds in the sky while we were in London.

Squinting in the sun... what pleasant discomfort!

London Town.

Parliament building and the London Eye.

We’ll never get bored of going into London because there’s always something to try or do. We went up in the London Eye for the first time, getting a unique view of the city. 

130m above London in the Eye.

We love visitors partly because they motivate us to go to new places. We’ve wanted to explore Wales for a while and used Chris’ parents as an excuse to plan a trip there. Since most people who come to visit want to see Stonehenge we took the long route to Wales, also stopping in Oxford on the way for wonderful Katherine to play tour-guide for her gorgeous University.

Tour guide Katherine showing off  her beloved Oxford.

Sheldonian Theater, Oxford.

From the weird rocks of Stonehenge we drove the few hours to the Gower Peninsula in Wales, stopping on the way for a quick visit (and a quick pint) at Tintern Abbey and Anchor Pub.

Just a bit more of a drive had us in the Gower Penninsula late that evening. We had found a pub on tripadvisor called the Greyhound with such great reviews that we drove out of our way to eat there and weren’t disappointed. The beer is brewed on site and the ingredients are locally sourced. From there we crashed at a brand new Travelodge (best $45 room you’ll ever get) to ready ourselves for the next day’s ramble. 

Theresa at Stonehenge.

In the Wye Valley to see Tintern Abbey and enjoy some cider and ale.

Tintern Abbey seems to pop out of nowhere!

 

The next morning we drove to Rhossili Bay right at the tip of the Gower Peninsula. The (30 foot!!) tide was out when we arrived, so we were able to see the impressive beach in its entirety. The clouds rolled in throughout the morning and it certainly wasn’t warm but we were thankful that the rain held out for our couple hours of walking. The walk itself was gorgeous – I’d highly recommend it.

Chris, Theresa, and Scott on a cliff overlooking Rhossili Bay.

Looking out into the ocean.

Eery emains of a shipwreck, now buried in the sand.

Rhossili Village

Welsh language isn't even close to English!

Baa baa ___ sheep.

Standing on the rocks at the tide line.

Chris' parents writing a little message to David and Wyatt.

 

Hi Wyatt and David from Wales!

 

Scott and Theresa left for Paris the morning after we returned from Wales.  “We’ll sleep on the train!”  They seemed to have a great time and returned full of stories and photos the next evening. 
 

We enjoyed a couple relaxing days at home before heading to Venice. I laughed when Chris' dad did the same exact thing Benson did when he first got here: sharpen my knives. I have to get better at that! The weather continued to surprise us, so after a walk around Brampton in the morning we went into Cambridge for a lazy afternoon. We arrived right around lunch time so headed straight to the Eagle Pub (of Watson and Crick fame) to finally get Scott an order of fish and chips! We meandered around, stopping on one of the little foot-bridges over the River Cam to watch some people punting (that is, propelling flat-bottomed wooden boats down the river with a pole.) Chris was willing to give it a try even after seeing one girl fall in so we rented a boat for the hour. Theresa had it right when she said the day was perfect except for a missing glass of bubbly as Chris (somewhat expertly) propelled us along. I took a short turn as well and consider it a huge victory I didn’t end up fully submerged!

Brampton!

 

The Eagle in Cambridge.

Chris and mom in front of Kings College.

What could possibly go wrong?

Enjoying a punt (bunt? pant?) down the River Cam.

Whoops!

 

The UK part of their trip was a whirlwind, wasn’t it?!  We caught our collective breath and then the four of us flew to Venice on Friday where we’d spend a couple nights before they headed off to Rome for the last bit of their adventure.