The twins Anjali and Rani returned home from a school trip to Italy last week. It was so good to have them home 🤗.  On this fun Italy trip the kids visited Naples, Florence, Bologna, and Rome. Here is a look at some of the highlights from the twin’s memorable holiday in Italy.

I asked the kids if they were happy to be back, and I got a shrug of the shoulders – “yeah” and a sigh.  I guess I would sigh too if I had to come back home from a fabulous vacation with my friends in Italy, and then start my summer job the next day 😒.  

What an awesome trip the kids had! They ate delectable Italian foods 😋.  Pasta, pizza, gelato, tiramisu, antipasti, local breads, fruits and vegetables. Anjali told me one day from Italy “The food here is so good, I will never be happy with Italian food anywhere else from now on!“

The kids attended a pasta making class one afternoon and had lunch with the pasta they made.

Some of the “off the beaten path” excursions the kids went on included touring a parmigiana cheese factory, a balsamic vinegar factory, and a prosciutto factory in Bologna.  The kids even wrote poems about their experience.

Cheese Factory:
poem by Rani  & Ayla

The stench of milk fills the air,
And workers are toiling around us.
Andrea leads us through the factory;
I’ve never seen so much cheese.
We check the wheels for air bubbles
And snack on the finished product;
A great way to start the tour.
Dressed in plastic bags, we enter the milky room.
Basins of white cream give off a cheesy perfume.
1000 cows Andrea says, 1000 cows!
We muffle our laughter as he taps cheese wheels for air, and as we try the vintage parmigiana,
Suddenly we haven’t any cares.

Prosciutto Factory:
by Rani and Ayla

The smell in this one is worst than the last;
I don’t know if I’ll make it past
The many room of pig legs hanging
In temperatures that really need changing.
Again some snacks to end the visit.
I don’t know if I’ll return.
Prosciutto factory? More like consciutto factory.
If anyone tells you it smells amazingly,
homie you know that’s baloney.

Balsamic Factory:
a poem by Rani  & Ayla

Barrels fill the expansive room.
A sweet scent fills the air.
We taste the sharp vinegar
Mixed with the grape juice of Boni’s labor.
Then we try it with some ice cream,
A creation worth experiencing.
We end by buying some gifts;
Hopefully they will be worth that price.

Balsamic Vinegar:
a poem by Rani & Ayla

Balsamic vinegar, balsamic vinegar
Thank god you smell so good.
When Andrea told us to sniff you, I wasn’t sure if I should.
The older you got, the better you tasted.
If I keep eating you, I’m going to be wasted.

The Trials and Tribulations of Travel to and from Italy

Anjali and Rani had an amazing time on their trip to Italy.  The travel to and back from Italy however was one for the books! In fact their travel tribulations were so memorable that Anjali even wrote a poem about it. You see, on the way out from San Jose, California their flight to London was delayed by 45 minutes, which meant they only had 30 minutes in London to connect to their flight to Italy.  Did they make it? NO! In fact, Anjali said they hustled to rush to their connecting flight only to reach it 4 minutes before the doors closed – their group was turned away.  And there were no more flights leaving for Italy that evening. The kids were stuck in London for one whole day, had to exit the airport, check into a hotel, and come back to the airport the following evening to catch their flight to Italy.  On the plus side, they did get to do some sightseeing in London!

What happened on their way back from Italy? The flight from London to San Francisco got delayed by 5 1/2 hours due to technical difficulties. The kids were stuck at London Heathrow yet again! Flights scheduled to leave after theirs were leaving on time while the kids heard boarding announcements one at a time for San Francisco, except for their own flight 😒.  As their teacher put it “We now know Heathrow London airport like it’s our home.”   Well, while waiting for their flight home one of the teacher’s commented that their travel adventure would make a great poem – and Anjali obliged by writing one 😀.  Here it is.

From the kids teacher in an email to all the parents from London  “A poem written by one of our students while sitting here at Heathrow… Enjoy!”

The London Incident: A Poem

Sit, grumble, sigh
Our boarding time was nigh
But our plane leaked
And our agony peaked
Why, someone please tell me why

So now here we are
Our boarding time is far
But at least it’s better than our last London flight
Which we missed because our layover was too tight
Let’s hope this isn’t as subpar

Heathrow, oh Heathrow
Why must you treat her so?
You’ve given her problems too many times
So visiting you feels like eating limes
Right now she just wants to go

We can go! We can go!
Let’s get on with the show
They say we can go soon
What a wonderful boon
But when is soon? I really don’t know.

Hip hip hooray!
We’re no longer delayed
We’re leaving now
(Though I don’t know how)
We’re going on our way
P.s.
It’s 5:35pm and they are finishing boarding!

by Anjali Sheth

Postcards from Italy.

I hope you enjoyed these postcards from Italy via my kids. I wish you safe travels where ever you may be heading this summer.

buon viaggio!
safe travels in Italian!