The Broughtby's European Adventures

On to Rome from Barcelona. Ryan and I have have been to Rome multiple times and hit all the major sites but will re-do some things for Sam.   More Rome photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z9U3QKHiP3iywKHF8 August 26:   We arrived in Rome and the heat continues.  We had a restaurant reservation for a place recommended by the guide who is doing our golf cart tour tomorrow which turned out to be on point.  With that and gelato we had a successful Italy day (pizza or pasta + gelato is all I need for a successful Italy day).  Henceforth, I will be pursuing pizza or pasta + gelato daily while in Italy.   August 27:  We hopped on the Rome golf cart tour bandwagon.  This is where a guide takes you around Rome in a golf cart so you don't have to walk everyone in the heat.  We saw the Colosseum (from the outside - inside tour scheduled for later in the trip), Circus Maximus, Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, P...

We headed to Costa Brava ( coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain ) for several days (8/20 - 8/25) to get out of the city and near the beach.  Specifically we stayed in Pineda de Mar which is not too far from Barcelona but not overly touristy. More Costa Brava / Pineda de Mar photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/AEWDN9AG7wR5BJPu5 We alternated between the beach, the pool at the Airbnb and various restaurants for long meals and fruity drinks.  Similar to Barcelona, we ate a lot of tapas and drank a lot of Sangria.  There are very relaxing and beautiful sandy beaches with clear, warm water.  The beaches are also definitely clothing optional so Sam learned much about women's anatomy from the beaches of Spain (one less parenting task for me!).  There was also a random nightly carnival occurring just down the street from us which gave us something to motivate Sam with.  He did enjoy several rounds of bumper cars.   The down si...

Our next European travel adventure, and last for the summer, begins with Barcelona.  None of us have been to Spain prior to this.  My takeaway is, similar to Italy, the food and drinks are great and I anticipate we will take some of it into our daily lives.  There is something called  pan con tomate which is just bread, tomato, garlic and olive oil.  We got those ingredients (plus cheese) and ate it for meals several times at our Airbnb in Costa Brava - our next stop.   Also, Sangria.  Sangria de Vino and Sangria de Cava were served everywhere.  The food tour guide  mentioned that people in Spain tend to simplify these and use cheap wine or cava mixed with Fanta.  So, to Ryan's horror, we did that as well. A fun fact about Ryan is that he is a purist when it comes to wine and cava/champagne/prosecco so the idea of mixing those with other things or even putting in ice cubes is offensive to him.  Nonetheless, we did i...

Dallas -  We took our first trip back to the US in late July/early August to visit family.  Summary of trip:  over 100 degrees every day.  If you are keeping up with this blog as I expect you to be (😆), you would know that Sam and I don't do well with heat.  We rented a lake house with a pool so we survived by staying inside or in the pool.   Cat Cabinet - I've come to the realization that Sam and I are obsessed with cats.  You, as the reader of this blog, probably already knew this.  I am now fully self-aware and leaning into this fact.  There is a cat museum in Amsterdam called  KattenKabinet (Cat Cabinet).  It is all cat art purchased for a cat named John Pierpont Morgan. Best cat name ever! School Prep - Crazy but it's time to prepare for Sam's new school which starts September 7th.  Uniform has been purchased!  This will be interesting for a kid who predominantly wears cargo shorts and sweatpants.  I w...