MILWAUKEE-NYC-ITALY-GREECE AND A DAY IN LONDON BLOG POST NINETEEN

THE LAST POST

Like a father obsessed now that we're back I wanted to do some calculating about our trip. I wanted to remember what we had done before we had time to forget and then to see if we all had a similar reaction to the high and low points of our trip. In my nerdy compulsiveness I put together a paper list of the thirteen places we had visited in chronological order. I then passed out the lists taking one myself and made Rick & Emmy, despite their groans, asking they give each of the places a number from one to thirteen in order of their preference. Surprisingly or maybe thankfully the tops and bottoms of our lists were very similar. The middle choices were a little up and down. Here are some highlights:

Number one on all of our lists was Armena. This was a no brainer. Virtually every time we cross the pond either as the first stop on our trip or as the period at the end of our holiday Armena always holds that spot.

It may be difficult for many people to equate travel with home but this is the symbiotic relationship of those two words for us when we say the word "Armena". There are many people who have weekend homes but not many that have travel homes.

The other top spots on our journey were not as firm but pretty close. Montelcino was a solid second. There's very little that can match a meal at Boccon Di Vino,

an afternoon spent with Ilaria tasting wine

or an evening gelato run at Why Not. If ithe gelato at Why Not was good enough for Michelle Obama it was certainly good enough for us.

We had a few more recognizable spots near the top of our list. It's always a good thing for us to go to Rome at the beginning of our trip. That way we can get most of our impulse shopping out of the way so we can concentrate on other things ... like eating.

Mykonos got up close to the top mostly because of its unique character. Our hotel started out on very shaky ground but soon became one of our favorite stays. It's absolutely on Emmy's "must return" list, only next time with her friends instead of her parents.

The last stop in London wetted our appetite for a return visit. We'd all been there before but it was years ago when Emmy was more interested in finding platform 9 3/4

than hunting out Christian Dior jackets at a vintage clothing shop called Rockit.

Even the places at the bottom of our lists weren't complete failures. Tinos gave us a great lunch even though there was very little else to see or do unless we were going to do the annual crawl up the hill from the seaport to the church on our hands and knees.

We got to see the Uffizi in Florence despite fighting the crowds everywhere else we went. We thought we were going in off-season only to find out Florence has no off-season!

Our biggest disappointment was Kamara, the beach on Santorini. Black sand makes for black water. It just wasn't very pretty and attracted a whole different type of traveler than we were accustomed to meeting. Since Emmy's whole reason for picking the Cyclades Islands was to swim in the clear aqua waters of the Aegean we really felt we let her down but she was very gracious about it.
So here's some hints and things we learned on this trip:

1. Try to pay for as much as you can before you go. It makes budgeting so much easier and less stressful when it comes to deciding whether to buy that new fall coat or two cases of wine rather than one.

2. Don't be afraid to ask for an upgrade at your hotel. There are all sorts of reasons why a better room might have become available. If you can come up with some sort of sob story about your previous hotel or travel fiasco the sympathy card works every time.

3. The best restaurants are rarely on the main streets but down narrow side streets with little signage and definitely no one out front trying to coax you in with the promise of the best food anywhere.

4. Remember that the Europeans are much less uptight about their bodies. They share bathrooms, they change their clothes on the beach, they have open-air pee stations for men and some hotels have clothing optional areas at their pools. We can verify having  seen all of this and then some.

5. Take your daughter to a drag a show. Embarrassing your children is one of the best joys of parenting.

6. Balance your travel with shopping, going to museums, eating and relaxing. Don't try to do too much. Stop for a cappuccino when you need to or spend an afternoon sitting by the pool with a good book instead of insisting on seeing one more Medieval sanctuary.

7. Always wear sunscreen and please, please don't let your fair skinned daughter fall asleep by the pool. It's going to cost you big on cover-up cosmetics and OTC pain relief remedies.

8. Have a nonverbal signal you can use when you see someone from your family is getting a little ornery. It stops fights and breaks the tension without having to say something you'll regret.

9. Eat something you've never had before. You're out there to experience a new culture. Jump in. If you don't like it you don't have to finish it.

10. Engage with the locals. Who knows? You too might find your other family from another country.