On our travels...

After a few very tiring, but fun, days traipsing all over Florence and Pisa, Henry is safely situated at his Nanny's house. I have some fantastic photos, of course, but Papa has our download cable and is still in Florence, so you will have to wait.

Henry ate Gelato everyday, stayed up way past his usual bed time, discovered a love of pesto gnocchi and mozzarella cheese and an ability to nap in the ergo that Alison so kindly lent us. We loved the architecture of Florence, but realised pretty quickly (in fact after the very first museum that we went into) that museums aren't for us, so we stuck to looking at the outside of buildings, which was much cheaper anyways! Free in fact!

We had a little hiccup on our train journey to Pisa in that our train broke down and we were just sitting on it with all the other passengers and no body decided to tell us. Eventually a nice lady came and told us and we all disembarked. Stuck in some po-dung town on a Sunday in a country where you don't speak the lingo, oh yes, with an eight month old. Yippee. We were on the brink of sharing a taxi with an older British couple to Pisa when the crowd started flooding back into the station... yep, trains were back on. So carrying all of our junk, and H asleep in his little pouch, we joined the throngs of people down the stairs, under the railway, up the stairs, run along the platform trying to squeeze onto a carriage... we made it onto the last one because I ran and stood in the doorway so it wouldn't close. Danny runs up with our suitcases, falls... but thankfully only scraped his ankle because from where I was standing, watching one foot (and leg) disappear between the train and the platform, we were headed to the Emergency Room, if there was one... We made it to Pisa and strangely enough, were staying in the same hotel as the British couple we were going to share a taxi with! I LOVED Pisa. Much more old towny and relaxed than Florence. We even found a childrens park and played on the swings, mixed with little Italian toddlers and hit the merry-go-round, though the later wasn't exactly a hit with the H-man. Henry and I took a quick flight back to England and he slept the whole flight. Im sure the people that decided not to sit next to us (we had the whole row to ourselves) because they didnt want to sit next to a baby, were aggravated that the toddlers in the middle of the plane cried the whole way there, whilst H just slept on quietly in his pouch. I even managed to get the car seat in Grandpa's car all on my own, in the dark, tired ad hungry! Brownie points for Mummy!

We are now just relaxing at Nanny's house. This morning we ate our lunch out in the garden, feeding the ducks our left over bread. Henry loves watching the lambs play in the field behind us and is seemingly transfixed by the goings-on of the pond. Tomorrow the Country Living Fair, so let's hope Henry is in a good mood for our day-long outing with the girlies and that this time our train doesn't decide to just give up!

We miss Papa and look forward to his arrival tomorrow night. Should be a nice surprise for H Friday morning when he wakes up.

Essential baby gear for International travelling: an Ergo pouch for daytime naps on the go; a very durable stroller (we have a something Maclaren but I cant remember the name right now); teething biscuits for entertainment and popping those ears if its not time to nurse during take off and landing; bread sticks for restaurant entertainment; a wipe-able bib; a sleepsack and binky (comfort blanket) to make every hotel bed feel like home...