Ciao!

In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

I can't begin to express how much gratitude I feel for the people we met during our Italian journey. Spending time in Italy with family members I have never met was an amazing, heartening experience. They opened their homes to us, indulged us at mealtimes, and most importantly, shared their stories with us.

At the same time, I was lucky enough to spend this trip with my grandfather, who has taught me so much about openess, honesty and love. He climbed every hill with us as we traversed the Italian countryside, laughed at every joke, jumped into the water at nearly every beach, and shared some wonderful stories of his own. I realize how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to take this trip with him.

Of course, being with the boys (Steen, Matthew, Lucas and Nicholas) for fourteen days was a tremendous highlight. I enjoyed watching them spend time with grandpa, and I treasured every hug, every sight we shared, and every crazy game we played.

I've decided to divide my description of the trip into several posts, which I'll put online as I get the time (i.e. when Nicholas naps and I've finished all of my other duties....). However, I must stress that no words of mine can ever relay the amazement I felt during the trip or the many thoughts about it that now fill my head.

So here goes!

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Days 1 and 2 -- Cannobio, Italy
Steen, Matthew, Lucas, Nicholas and I leave the house at 4 a.m. to make a flight to Zurich that leaves just after 6. As Steen and I were up packing until 1 a.m., we are tired, but any exhaustion is washed away by excitement. Steen carries Nick onto the plane, where he sleeps in his arms for the entire trip to Zurich.

After getting our luggage, we wait for grandpa to arrive an hour later. While Lucas and I are waiting for him in the arrival hall, I find my thoughts oscillating between excitement and fear that for some reason he won't walk through the doors. But he does, smiling and surprisingly awake after his trans-continental trip.

After a great deal of fuss with the car-rental agency, we finally get our minivan, load it up, and are on our way towards the Italian Alps.

Our first stop, and our first meal with grandpa, was in a small Swiss town. The boys stuffed themselves with pizza (a recurring theme throughout the trip -- we would be spending most of our time in Italy, after all), while grandpa enjoyed a soup.

After lunch, we headed for the Italian border -- it was the first of many drives where the beauty of the scenery was outstanding. Grandpa has never seen any mountain chain except those in the eastern US, so the Alps were a new experience for him.

We spent the first two nights at the Residenza Patrizia in Cannobio, Italy, a town on the shore of Lake Maggiore. It is a beautiful, apartment-style hotel with great service, a terrific pool and amazing views.

We chose Cannobio because my grandmother's cousin, Mario, and his lovely wife, Yolanda, live there.

I have heard about Mario and Yolanda all my life, but had never met them, despite the facts that they lived in Chicago for some 20 years and that they still visit their Chicago family often. We spent two wonderful days with them, enjoying Yolanda's delicious cooking, seeing the sights, hearing many stories and sharing a good many laughs. This is the first of many new links to my Italian heritage and I think it is precious.