BakerChungs in Barcelona 2008-9: An embarrassment of riches

We write to you on the eve of Inauguration Day! It’s hard to be away just now, but Tarim walked into our local convenience store tonight to find the cashiers watching a primetime TV show segment entitled “Adios, Bush!” So while away from home, we are still in good company (with all of western Europe).

Since last posting, we’ve suffered, as Tarim would say, an “embarrassment of riches,” having enjoyed a MONTH on the road with family and friends. At the beginning of December, Lisa’s parents joined us in Barcelona, as did Peter, and we happily walked the city together, laying waste to our favorite tapas bars.

Then we all flew to London for two weeks, where we rented an apartment in the very central Russell Square. Ah, London at Christmas time! With a long stay and Ellis at the helm, we went at London with abandon: pub lunches, stunning museums, reunions with Lisa’s Oxford buddies and Gil Grimm; and loads of theatre, of course. The girls sang along with Oliver and Maria von Trapp, and the adults took in serious, affordable shows ($7 standing room tix, anyone?) Our favorite? Perhaps Ralph Fiennes in Oedipus at the National Theatre. Our dinners at home put a cozy cap on our busy days. In all, we loved the time as a tri-generational travel squad.

Then, on to Lugano, Switzerland for Christmas and New Year’s with the UlkuSteiners in their new place, a few doors down from our beloved old digs. By then, the girls were really starved for good (English-speaking) buddies, and found them in Kenan and Lucy. Aside from four days of local skiing, we passed our time cooking, laughing, and catching up on episodes of “House”!

Last stop: Fiss, Austria with the heroic Raine family who traveled (all 5.5 of them) from Boston for a week. Together, we ran a stunningly successful kids’ ski camp by packing our offspring with as many calories as possible and then turning them out on the slopes of the local mountain (200 meters away) to ski until they dropped. Sunny days, cold nights, warm company, throbbing leg muscles…and voila, we have four new skiers in the pride. On our last night, bells jingling, we took a nippy two-horse open sleigh to a mountaintop restaurant for venison and accordion serenades.

For no good reason (OK, $20 RyanAir tickets out of an Italian shoebox airport) we also spent our last days in Verona (Malia had to see Juliet’s house) and Venice on the way home. Pearls before swine? Perhaps. A typical venetian exchange:
Overachieving parent: “Kids, this is a floating city!”
Overstimulated child: “Is that a cat on that bridge?!!??”

You are so kind to keep in touch. We miss you all and can’t wait to see you in May (by which time Obama will have fixed everything)!

Love, Lisa, Tarim, Malia and Thea

PS. Pardon the disarray of photos below; we couldn't figure out how to chronologically order.

Lovin' in Venice