When in Rome...

When in Rome, you must see the Coloseum.

 And must keep your pants on at the Pantheon.

Make a face like those on the fountain of the Pantheon.

Toss a penny over your shoulder at Trevi Fountain.

Proudly display your name inside the Pantheon.

Pose in the light of the eye of the Pantheon.

 Behold beautiful bridges.

 Contemplate more cool fountains.

Amble to the Arch of Constantine.

 Give moustaches to Griffins.

And make a lot of puns... so Colosee-ya in Rome!

Gettnn on the boat in Italy!

We trained from Nice to Savona, Italy to get on the boat (the smaller one on the right).

 

We walked through a huge castle to see the view of the town.

Once on the boat, we explored the many levels (12) and can see getting around the boat will be an adventure of it's own.

Our in-room TV has a channel that shows our list of stops.

I will add 7 countries to my "been there" countries list. Wow.

When in France...

We're in France, where wren wears pants.

 

We take the public bus to Nice, where we catch the train.

 We make it to our hostel, Hotel Buffa and hit the town.

We walked the boardwalk where we touched the Mediterranean sea (which was warmish!), and saw this ferris wheel and a giant snow globe!

 The next morning, I thought it only appropriate to have a croissant and an espresso.

When in France...

Our big trip!

So we are just a few days into our International adventure, and we've already experienced so many great things! We left Anacortes November 30th to play Bingo, and ride to Seattle in the International Cookie Wagon with Rebecca (she was going on an adventure as well!). We stayed at Wrens step-brother, Sam's house and met his new puppy, Candy, and saw a pile of glass ducks, boats, and fishing rods that he makes.

December 1st we shuttle to the airport

to find our flight is full! We end up with another that will get us to New York even earlier! But by then, our bag is on the other plane, which ends up arriving late, so we have to wait for our bag for 2.5 hours. Alas. But we are in New York, staying at Wren's friend, Shane's house.

We have an entire day in New York, so we go to see the Big Apple Circus: The Grand Tour!

 There was an AMAZING juggler, teeter board, hula hoop, aerial strap, acrobats, hand balancers, wheel of death, and a dog act.

Later we walked through Central Park, Sacks 5th Ave, Bryant Park,

 St. Patricks Cathedral, and Times Square. The next day we had a notorious New York bagel for breakfast

and saw the World Trade Center Fountains... it was more moving than I expected, and couldn't bring myself to take a picture. Later I saw this memorial on a path to Battery Park.

We visited the Irish Hunger Memorial where you can see New Jersey from the top.

We took the ferry to Statin Island, and saw this lovely view of New York.

 The Subway system is outrageous. So many people and so many trains and stations... and rats. I saw three of them!

Friday, December 4th, we flew to Oslo, and then France. It was a long journey, but thankfully, we got a few naps in. Next up, Our time in France!

Halloween 2015

Halloween pre-funk party costume... found the sparkle pants n stripes at the quarry, was augmented with helmet and ear thingies when I arrived, than Rod added the red shoes, clubs and cute lunch box.

And Us as Elove-phants.

Cafe Bouzingo Birthday

I decided to spend my birthday at an open mic. Anew lounge called Cafe Bouzingo.

A few sweet friends heard and came along, and were great supporters while I performed my Piggy Fan Dance, (with help from the sneaky Wren cloud, not pictured here) I've been enjoying this act so much, that I don't ever remember performing a move like this one captured here... amazing!

Photo credit to Jonathan Williams

Bellingham Alive Magazine

We were in it! I'm right under the gray arrow.