My grandson Ryan was interested in an “adventure trip” this year instead of another baseball excursion.  So we planned a trip to Belize where I had been nine previous times and thus being a bit familiar with the country.  Unfortunately somebody, and we’re not quite sure where to pin the blame just yet, had other plans as we were denied boarding for our flight last Thursday due to United’s insistence that we needed special documentation to take Ryan to Belize.

Being in a helpless position we had to comply and we were able to get the documentation on Friday and be scheduled to fly out on Saturday only to wake up to a message that the aircraft that would take us to Houston was delayed and we would miss the connection.  A supervisor named Barb at DIA worked for nearly an hour to find us another way here and we did successfully arrive Saturday afternoon on American Airlines.

We tried to make the most of our first full day with a nice show by a group of Howler monkeys in the morning, a hike on one of the trails at lovely The Lodge at Chaa Creek, a posing Toucan and then a rugged upstream canoe trip (sans Konnie) where Ryan and I overcame a half dozen rapids before concluding a two and a half hour paddle.  Not Colorado style rapids mind you but water flowing at a speed that presented a significant challenge to overcome.

Chaa Creek is very lovely and the food is very good here.  And, as always in this part of the world, the people are warm and friendly.  Because of our truncated visit here, we are off to Chan Chich in northwestern Belize on Monday.

Lara Jane was born to my son and daughter in law, Benjamin and Fernanda, on March 31 and showed up weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces and sporting the near standard baby length of 20 inches.  She is my fourth grandchild with my daughter and son in law, Kristin and Rob McDade, having the other three, Isabelle (16), Ryan (14) and Logan (12).

We have been sharing many photos through various IPhoto applications so I am making this post of her first 19 days for family and friends who are not a part of that setup, either because we don’t want to constantly annoy you or you don’t have an Apple device.

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Pictures taken at Finnerty Gardens at the University of Victoria and Hatley Gardens at Royal Roads University, both in Victoria British Columbia.

At The Butchart Gardens

As much as we enjoy traveling with Isabelle and witness her seeing the world, I’m not a fan of the one week trip to Europe.  Because here we are, done already.  It has been another great trip climaxing with a gorgeous day today after a week that was a bit chilly, though warmer than either Madrid and Paris the past two years.

Since our visit to Pisa on Tuesday, we have been enjoying sites in Florence as well as dabbling in the retail marketplaces.  We have visited Santa Croce (very lovely) where the bodies of Marconi, Dante, Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are entombed.  Re-visited the Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) to the extent they now allow which is minimal without climbing the 463 steps into the Dome, the Galleria dell’ Accademia (home of Michelagelo’s David), Santa Maria Novella around the corner from our apartment (lovely), Palazzo Davanzati (very interesting), and San Lorenzo (disappointing).

We thoroughly enjoyed repeat dinners at L’Osteria Giovanni and Osteria Pastella where the hospitality is second to none and on our last night stumbled into a place called Neromo in the Oltrarno area of the city and it turned out to be terrific.  We were the only English speakers we heard.

And I should mention that we had an excellent apartment around the corner from Santa Maria Novella that we secured through Windows on Italy.

All for now.  Off to Victoria British Columbia in about a week.

On Tuesday we headed to the Hertz facility and rented a car so we could take Isabelle’s chosen side trip to Pisa.  We found the site of a few dozen cats, all of which looked exactly alike, apparently warming themselves on the hoods and tops of the darker colored vehicles to be humorous.  Anyway, Pisa is a little over an hour’s drive from Florence on a nice divided four lane highway.

Construction on the tower began in 1173 and it almost immediately began to shift as the foundation only consisted of a ten foot deep stone pad.  Apparently all the buildings in the complex are leaning.  In the European tradition, construction continued for only another 167 years.  In 2001, engineering support was added to assure the tower would remain at its current angle, thus assuring the main attraction that supports the Pisa economy.

We spent time in the Cathedral, Campo Santo (cemetery with fabulous frescoes) and the domed Baptistry (built 1260) where we witnessed the amazing demonstration of the dome’s perfect echo production.

We returned to our favorite wine bar from 2008 when we visited it every afternoon but lo, management had changed and it just wasn’t the same.

I am having camera issues as my most versatile lense hit the pavement for the second time recently and is no longer performing at all settings.

We decided to fit in our longest walking day on Monday given the forecast of rain for the rest of the week.  So we visited the massive Pitti Palace, construction of which began in 1457 by someone named Luca Pitti, but a century later when it bankrupted the Pittis it ended up in the hands of the ruling Medicis who made it their official home.  The close up versus the far away picture of Isabelle will give you some perspective on this “home.”

On this trip we spent our time visiting the Galleria Del Costume which Konnie and I had not done before.  As usual, we spent significant time in the eqully overwhelming Boboli Gardens which are lovely and intriguing, even when the flowers are not yet showing their colors.

From there we headed up Mt. Everest (or at least that’s Isabelle’s impression of the hike) to visit San Miniato al Monte.  The walk takes you along narrow medieval streets and city walls dating to 1260 including the home of Galileo.  The church was built in 1018 and with its geometric patterned green-grey and white marble marble facade, is magnificent.

We dropped in to a place called L’Osteria Di Giovanni for dinner.  How lucky were we tonight?  Wonderful food, service and people.  We received more off the menu treats in one evening than we do at our most frequented restaurants in Denver in the long history of our patronizing them.  And not the first time we have had that experience in Italy.  Actually it is the second time on just this trip.  The restauranteurs here are magnificent.  Their service is second to no one.