Italian Vacation Pt. 3

Of course there is plenty of culture to enjoy in Italy. The Museo della Carta e della Filigrana in Fabriano for example, which of course first and foremost shows you that they do like their operatic themes in Italy, because that is what they call the paper mill museum. Which was a trip though, because they show you how they make watermarked paper right then and there. Karl right away declared himself the king of papermaking and claimed ownership of the building. As you can see, his mother was quite happy about his entrepreneurial efforts.



Otherwise culture is mainly an athletic endeavor, if you're three (or one) years old exploring the Renaissance town of Urbino.



Renaissance towns and artisans of course have nothing on a muddy riverbank.



Henri was very jealous about Karl being allowed to take off his shoes and just delve into the goo and guck. There were some master pebble skippers. I'm already proud, if I manage six skips, but some of them did dozen easy. Other great river games recommended - throw really big stones to splash water on legal guardians; make your brother giggle by pelting him with little pebbles; roll around the ground until all your clothes have the same color (mudd grey that is); make your legal guardians buy you some ice cream, if you promise to not soak your clothing in icy mountain stream water. He was quite happy to find some souvenir mudd his socks later that night. Gotta admit that the feeling of primordial ooze squishing between your toes is quite tempting. Which in turn has of course nothing on the feeling of having a pair of blue laser eyes radiating little boy curiousity from your right shoulder. Right on Italy! Next post - our Mother's Day weekend in the rolling hills of Swabia, where Matriarch Ulla assembled her six grandkids for the great recently started tradition of meeting in some remote corner of Germany for some serious kid chaos and some Michelin starred dinners.