Scotland for the Under-Five Set

Scotland was Malanga Papa's idea, but I ended up loving it. I had to wear a winter coat in May and my hair didn't curl the same way and we only had two rain-free days and yet I loved it. I loved the beyond-my-wildest-dreams landscapes, the friendly, outgoing people, and the feeling of hundreds and hundreds of years of history seeping into everything standing there today. I loved being on small islands that are cold and rugged and unlike any island I have ever been on before. Sometimes when I travel, I love a place because I feel at home there. Other times, like with Scotland, the less I recognize something, the more taken I am by it. Scotland is about the most exotic thing I can imagine in comparison to Cuba.

Scotland was incredible from Malanga Girl's perspective as well. Below are the top activities I would recommend for the under-five set (although for one of them, you technically have to be five and an allowance was made given Malanga Girl's upcoming 5th birthday). The only downside is that our trip involved a lot of driving. I do not like car vacations much, as a general rule, but the places we drove through were beautiful. Nonetheless, because of the driving and the fact that the activities/places I am about to recommend below are not close to each other, I would understand if you held off on a Scotland trip until you felt quite confident about your own ability to drive on the left side of the road. Driving on the left is the ultimate challenge in staying zen, as is being a passenger while your spouse drives on the left.

1) Stirling Castle

Let's start with the fact that it is an incredibly well-preserved castle with a lot to see. The Great Hall could very well have been the setting where all the clansmen gather to present their sons in the Disney movie Brave (ok, yes, I said that to Malanga Girl, but I was sure to say "maybe it was the setting..."). Then there are the vaults, where kids (and their parents) can dress up in period clothing, play musical instruments and see and participate in other aspects of palace life in the 1550s. You may have already seen the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters in New York, but this is the place they originally came from. Have you ever seen someone making a tapestry? Has your child? At Stirling Castle, you can! They are remaking each of the Unicorn Tapestries with the same original technique. Each tapestry takes years of work. It's fascinating to watch tapestry-making in progress.

2)  Urquhart Castle

Beautiful ruins and an interesting story about what has stood on this prominent point on Loch Ness at different points in history. Also, great views of Loch Ness!

(Picture above of a page in Malanga Girl's travel journal.)

3) Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye

This is where fairies live. I believe it.

4) Portree Stables "Own a Pony" Day, Isle of Skye

You have to be 5 for this one. It helps to love horses. It's a good thing Malanga Girl is turning 5 this month since she adores horses. We dropped her off at Portree Stables at 10am and while Malanga Papa and I walked through the Cuillin Hills of Skye, Malanga Girl got to brush, feed and ride a pony. We picked her up at 3pm and she was so thoroughly worn out that she promptly fell asleep in the back seat of the car. Good thing, too, since we had a long drive ahead of us to catch the ferry to Mallaig and then down to Oban from there. On the ferry ride, a perfectly revived Malanga Girl told us all about her pony day and hasn't stopped talking about it since...

5) Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre

I saw my first live meerkat upclose here. Malanga Girl's reaction to this animal was, "it's just like in the Playmobil zoo!" Sadly, my camera had run out of juice by this point in our vacation, so you will just have to go up to Comrie in Perthshire yourself to see your own meerkat. We also spotted peacocks, owls, llamas, alpacas, wallabys, and we fed goats and sheep. Malanga Girl held a baby chick and played in both the outdoor and indoor playground areas.

If you've had a long, action-packed vacation and want something low-key to the day before you fly back out, this is the perfect place to go. It's just a little over an hour drive to Edinburgh airport from here.

If You Only Travel to One New City with a Child...

It has to be Venice! Everything about the city was absolutely enchanting to Malanga Girl, from the magic of vaporetto rides up the Grand Canal to even the simplest things like the way that Cinderella sounds when reborn as "La Cenerentola." If the opportunity to see your child try spaghetti drowning in black cuttle-fish ink or to see her play with a plate of fried sardines before popping them into her mouth isn't enough, below is everything that pushed Venice to the top of our child-friendly destinations list.

1) Water! Canals! Vaporettos! Gondolas!

And better still, not a single car anywhere. Malanga Girl ran down Venetian streets, whipping around corners and racing to the next bridge to see if she could spot another gondola passing while we meandered along at our own pace.

2) Palazzos!

At least one of these palaces even has a jail hidden inside, I'm just saying.


3) Masks! Everywhere! And a chance to paint your own!

Ca' Macana in the Dorsoduro neighborhood is the place to go to paint your own masks. They have their own fabulous artisans' workshop just down the street from the shop and children as young as 5 (or almost 5, as was our case) can come in and paint their own mask for a fee. Malanga Girl selected a cat mask and learned how to mix pink and blue paints artfully, in addition to having the chance to play with some silver and gold paints and to select some fancy rhinestones and pearls to further decorate her mask.

Be sure to make a reservation.

Ca' Macana
Calle delle Botteghe 3172
041-277-61-42

And while you're in the Dorsoduro, check out some of the stores below that are in the same neighborhood.

4) Children's Book Stores!

By now you know I am a bit obsessed by bookstores and by the eternal search for the "perfect" bookstore. We found two lovely bookstores devoted to children's books in Venice. Toletta Kids is in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, not far from Ca' Macana. Laboratorio Blu is in the Cannaregio neighborhood's Old Ghetto. Both have an amazing selection of kids' books in Italian, some great books in English, and very inviting spaces for kids to sit down with big piles of books while they digest their latest gelato.

 Toletta Kids, Dorsoduro 1175

Laboratorio Blu, Cannaregio 1224 (Ghetto Vecchio)

5) Whimsical toys!

Signor Blum's 2-D wooden puzzles and mobiles wowed me. I wanted one of everything, from the miniature Rialto bridges in bright blues, oranges and reds to the gondola mobile I pictured hanging in a corner of my home office. I settled for letting Malanga Girl pick out a miniature tree decorated with different motifs instead of fruit. She had a hard time deciding between the music notes, ice cream cones and red hearts, but went with the music notes in the end. I am trying to figure out how to convince her that it should go somewhere besides her room, so we can all enjoy it.

Signor Blum
Campo San Barnaba 2840

Just across the square from Signor Blum is another toy shop, Lanterna Magica. They have a nice selection of toys like board games, dress-up clothes, and play kitchen accessories.

6) Gelato!

It's true that Malanga Girl has had a lot of good ice cream in her life already, but you can never have too much, right? This is just one more reason she loved Venice. The fish and pasta were also quite tasty.

De Madrid al Cielo

Even on a rainy day, Madrid makes me smile. Malanga Girl and I had a few hours to spend there this past Tuesday between our train arriving from another Spanish city and our flight back to Paris in the evening. My friend AL told us to meet her at the entrance to the Mercado de San Miguel, near the Plaza Mayor. The Mercado de San Miguel is new since the last time I was able to wander Madrid to my heart's content, but the Plaza Mayor and the Puerta del Sol (where the closest metro stop is) are as reassuringly familiar as a favorite old sweater. Sure, things change, like the Tio Pepe sign being taken down from Sol to make way for a new Apple store and the 2009 move of the Oso y el Madroño statue to a different point on the plaza. But I emerged from the Sol subway station and knew exactly which way to go. After fourteen months in Paris, I often come up from the metro at street level in different parts of town and have to spend a few minutes getting my bearings.

In any event, I snapped this picture of Malanga Girl in the Plaza Mayor just before the rain came down in full force. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with AL and eating the most delicious merluza I think has ever passed my lips. The beet, gorgonzola and hazelnut salad and the fresh-pressed banana juice were pretty close to absolute perfection as well. Oh, and the homemade hummus with sesame bread sticks had Malanga Girl practically licking the bowl. Really, I think I need to make a trip back to Madrid right now just to duck into Motha again. If you go there, you can thank AL for the recommendation.

American Girls in Bruges

This is Kanani in Bruges, Belgium last weekend. I could have posted a charming photo of Malanga Girl making silly faces canal-side, but her dolls are a fairly important part of our household. Many are just as well-traveled as Malanga Girl since I can't think of a single trip on which Malanga Girl has not brought a doll along. I even had to institute a "one doll only" policy a couple of years ago that was met with a certain amount of tears and protest. Anyway, I usually forget to capture which doll came where on film, so allow me this moment to eternalize Kanani's trip to the land of beer, chocolate and waffles. Truly, how could any family travel to Bruges and not be incredibly happy? Add a Christmas market with stand after stand of mulled wine and deep-fried olliebollen, fun game and carrousel areas for kids and you have yourself a truly divine place to spend the weekend before Christmas.

After the drudgery of lots of work in November and most of December, I'm basking in the just-like-in-college-or-grad-school glow of being blissfully deadline free this time of year. (So especially nice considering that I spent this time last year organizing an international move!) Besides traveling, I've been reading the thick stack of French paperbacks that had been sitting on my nightstand for months, catching up with old friends and making some new ones, trying out new recipes and reading The New Yorker magazine cover-to-cover. Oh, and exploring Paris! It took us 353 days to do so, but we finally visited the Louvre as a family today. Malanga Girl was not even the tiniest bit disappointed or perplexed by how much glass was standing between her and the Mona Lisa. Malanga Girl's face shone with admiration as Malanga Papa lifted her up so she could get a better look at La Gioconda through the crowds. And so our first year in Paris comes to a close.

Oh, Lusitania!

In case you haven't noticed, I spend a lot of time planning the trips I take with Malanga Girl. Even when it's just a whirlwind-we'll-only-be-there-for-two-days kind of trip, I want to know if there's some amazing park or museum or puppet theater we should check out. It helps when we have a local friend to show us around, but I'm not shy about emailing everyone I know to ask for recommendations or about poking around the Internet to get ideas. I found way too many suggestions for our recent jaunt to Lisbon, one of my very favorite cities anywhere. If you don't know my friend Miguel, who was a brilliant host when I went to Lisbon for a quick work-related visit this summer, then check out this page for a full line-up of kid-friendly activities.

For me, Lisbon is a wonderful place to just spend hours sitting in a cafe in the Chiado, sipping coffee, reading a book and nibbling on a pastel de nata, or two, as the sun shines down on me. Malanga Girl's enthusiasm for pasteis de nata rivals my own, but she has little desire to sit still for long. (Incidentally, if you're ever looking for a pastel de nata in Paris, I highly recommend Comme à Lisbonne on Rue du Roi de Sicile.) So, off we went to explore. A full day was spent running around the towns of Cascais and Sintra with my parents, whose quick trek through various towns in Spain and Portugal prompted our decision to fly to Lisbon in the first place.

In Sintra, the Museu do Brinquedo was just as quirky and charming as I remembered from a very long-ago visit with Malanga Papa (pre-Euro days, that's how long ago it was). Malanga Girl spent a long time on the third floor devoted to bonecas (dolls) of all shapes and sizes while her grandfather looked at all the miniature tin soldiers, Red Cross ambulances and other WWII-era toys. He happened upon quite a few things that he claims he hadn't seen since his own childhood. In short, the Museu do Brinquedo was the perfect multi-generational family outing.

A large part of our only full day in Lisbon was spent at the Marionette Museum, a museum Malanga Girl now claims is her favorite in the world. I'm not sure if any pictures do it justice as you can't quite feel the awe and magic of the dimly-lit puppet-filled rooms. Nonetheless, above is a sweet one to give you a sense of the museum.

One of Malanga Girl's enduring Portuguese obsessions now has to do with the unscripted moments of TV-watching while on vacation. At home, I am not a big TV person, but I do find it fun to flip through the channels on foreign TV to see what's popular in another country. Not only did I find plenty of Brazilian telenovelas airing on Portuguese TV (my guilty pleasure), we also found a kids' channel broadcasting Portuguese acts like Xana Toc Toc and Os Caricas. Malanga Girl found Xana Toc Toc's A Mala Cor de Rosa  to be positively addictive. Perhaps you will, too.

72 Hours in Berlin

I was an idealistic thirteen-year-old when I saw images of the Berlin Wall coming down, broadcast on TV in our U.S. living room, with my parents chanting "Cuba's next!" next to me on the sofa. I still remember Schwester Irene, our high school German teacher, and her excitement about the events unfolding in Germany in 1989. She brought in newspapers with big, bright pictures of people just a few years older than us standing atop the Wall or at the Brandenburg Gate, arms raised, faces caught in mid-yell. And so Berlin had lived in my imagination since then, despite my best efforts to visit it properly on previous European trips.

Malanga Girl and I made the two-hour flight to Berlin on a Wednesday afternoon last week, with a long list of sights to see, parks to visit and things to eat before our return flight on Saturday (thanks, KP, whose German experiences are artfully chronicled here). I had no idea how immense the city of Berlin is nor how much living in compact, walkable from end-to-end Paris has skewed my ability to manage my time in other cities. We quickly learned how to navigate both the S-bahn and the U-bahn, and learned that you can ride it for a long, long time and still be in Berlin proper. There's a lot we didn't do. Let's get that out of the way first, so I can refer back to this list in case I get to Berlin again anytime soon.

We didn't get to visit Checkpoint Charlie or the Museum there or any of the last remaining pieces of the Wall at Mauer Park or East Side Gallery; we missed out on the German Museum of Technology (supposedly fantastic for smaller visitors), the Legoland Discovery Center at Potsdamer Platz and on the more pedestrian pleasures of tasting Currywurst or a Berliner (jelly doughnut). We walked past the lovely and inviting Cafe im Literaturhaus, but Malanga Girl wasn't too interested in making a pit-stop there. I am also disappointed to report that I discovered upon arrival in Berlin that I'd left my camera's battery in Paris, so I have no pictures of our journey or of Berlin's majestic, tree-filled parks. I am inclined to call them mini-forests instead of parks. We did get our fill of those and you will have to believe my description, in lieu of pictures.

Here's everything we did see, hour by hour.

Wednesday

5 p.m.
1) Charlottenburg

We arrived at Zoo Station via train from Schönefeld Airport. It was a very easy ride, during which I couldn't stop thinking of U2's Achtung Baby, another strong high school memory. After checking in at the Grand City Hotel and realizing it was the biggest hotel room I'd ever been assigned in Europe, Malanga Girl and I wandered up to Savigny Platz. There were tons of sidewalk cafes and restaurants inviting us to sit down for a meal. Hesitant of my German language skills, I chose Anda Lucia, the Spanish tapas restaurant where the entire waitstaff spoke Spanish with accents from Southern Spain. Minus two points for not pushing my comfort zone, but at least I asked the waiter to teach me how to say "check, please" in German.

Thursday

11 a.m.
2) Tiergarten

We walked past the Zoo, at the request of Malanga Girl (who was not in a zoo-visiting mood this day), and entered the vast Tiergarten, a veritable forest in the very center of Berlin. I had to consult one of the large maps posted by Strasse des 17 Juni (the main road that cuts through the Park) to find the Spielplätze (playgrounds) hidden within the dense lot of trees. We went to two different playgrounds, although there were several more dotting the Tiergarten map.

2 p.m.
3) Bus #100

My French guide book said this was the bus to take to get a full tour of Berlin's greatest sites. When I realized we were only 1/3 of the way through the Tiergarten and that it might take us much longer than I anticipated to reach the Brandenburg Gate on foot, I jumped on the #100 bus that stopped as we were waiting to cross the street. Too bad I got on in the wrong direction. Instead of taking us through the rest of the Tiergarten and then to the Brandenburg Gate, up Unter den Linden and eventually to Alexanderplatz, the bus took us back to the Zoo. We jumped on the U-bahn at Zoo Station to fix this mistake. It is extremely handy that a public transport ticket is valid for a full two hours no matter which combination of buses, S-bahn and U-bahn trains you take and not just valid for a single ride (take a lesson there, Paris).

3 p.m.
4) Unter den Linden (Mitte)

We stopped for an Apfelstrudel at Cafe Einstein. Malanga Girl accompanied hers with Erdbeer Eis (strawberry ice cream), even though the menu suggested Vanilla ice cream. One Apfelstrudrel would have sufficed for the two of us since it was rather large. The strawberry ice cream threw Malanga Girl over the top and she had no interest in eating anything again for several hours.

We wandered into Berlin Story bookshop, where there were many novels set in and about Berlin, available in English, as well as dozens of guidebooks, post cards, and children's books. I consulted more guide books with lists of child-friendly sites, just in case I could cram any more into my 72-hour window. I am compulsive like that. Two doors down from Berlin Story, we popped into the Nivea flagship store, because I can't resist gawking at beauty products. Too bad I wasn't checking luggage on the flight back as there weren't really any travel-sized containers to be had.

5 p.m.
5) Monbijou Park

This park is across the bridge from Museuminsel, the island home to many of Berlin's important museums. Malanga Girl and I made a deal that she would accompany me to a museum if we went to one more Spielplätz. The Berlin sky drizzled some rain on us, but Malanga Girl didn't mind at all as she climbed all over the playground equipment. Meanwhile, I studied the map once again in awe of how much ground we had covered with our feet already and how much of Berlin was still left unexplored.

6:30 p.m.
6) Pergamon Museum

Museums are open as late as 10 p.m. on Thursdays. Some are free after 6 p.m. According to the sign on the door, the Pergamon is not and hasn't been since 2010. Happily, admission is free for kids. This museum was quite magical, with its Greek altar and Gates of Babylon. The Museum of Islamic Art, on the second floor, also housed a beautiful collection and included a domed Moorish ceiling from Granada, Spain.

8:30 p.m.
7) Fernsehturm- the TV Tower

Just when I was looking for Bus # 100 to take us back to our hotel area, Malanga Girl spotted the TV tower and wanted to go inside. We walked until Unter den Linden meets Alexanderplatz and rode all the way up to the top of the tower. (It's open until midnight, in case you were wondering.) I enjoyed the view of the Brandenburg Gate at night, but couldn't quite make out the Soviet-style buildings of Karl Marx Allee. Surprisingly, this ended up being Malanga Girl's favorite sight in all of Berlin, even though she wondered why we couldn't go all the way up to the skinniest point of the tower.

9:30 p.m.
8) Bus #200

We got tired of waiting for Bus #100, so hopped on Bus # 200 instead. The end of the line is Zoo Station as well, but it goes through Potsdamer Platz instead of through the Brandenburg Gate and the Tiergarten. Several train lines stop at Alexanderplatz, but  I actually love seeing cities from the windows of its public buses.

Friday

11 a.m.
9) Viktoria Park (Kreuzberg)

Another veritable mini-forest in the middle of the city. I had to ask three different people, "Wo ist die Spielplätz?" to find the playground. I believe there's actually more than one playground in this park, but the one we found is by the tennis/raquetball court on the western edge of the park. I marked it with an "x" on my physical map of Berlin, like a treasure spot.

4 p.m.
10) Zoo

It took a long time to get out to Kreuzberg in the morning and back to the Zoo area, which is a shame since the Zoo closes at 6 p.m. Nonetheless, we got a nice taste of what a wonderful Zoo this is. The giraffes mesmerized both of us and Malanga Girl was also quite taken with the lions. In addition to the almost 14,00 animals, there are also small playground areas in the Zoo, as well as, you guessed it, many, many trees. I would go to Berlin again just to spend a full day at the Zoo with Malanga Girl.

6:30 p.m.
11) Ka De We

This is the big department store in Berlin- Kaufhaus den Westens. According to one of my guide books, it's also continental Europe's largest department store. Ka De We is a short walk from the Zoo and is open until 9 p.m. on Fridays, so it seemed like a good place to stop before dinner. The gourmet food hall on the top floor satisfied my usual curiosities about food-shopping in other countries (and had some deliciously ripe peaches that we ate on the spot). The toy floor, however, was where we spent most of our time. Playmobil, Haba, Gotz dolls, Steiff stuffed animals and various non-German brands of toys all share space here in neat rows that afford opportunity for hands-on play. It was the vastest toy selection I've seen in a long time (in Europe, at least) and the prices were very reasonable considering that Ka De We is an upscale department store. We left with a few new Playmobil figures, including a flight attendant from the Playmobil "Special Plus" collection, a collection I haven't seen in France at all. I also grabbed a German Playmobil catalogue and have since been agonizing over the price difference (compared to France) and the availability of play sets in Germany that I didn't previously know existed. Maybe they'll come out here soon?

Saturday

10 a.m.
12) The long subway ride to Kollwitz Plaza

I thought I was planning efficiently by choosing a playground spot right by a much-raved-about farmers' market on the same side of town as the airport, where I had to be by about 12:30 p.m. Little did I know that the journey from Charlottenburg to the neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg would take almost an hour, leaving us just a precious 30 minutes or so to take in the market (well worth the hype) and play in the playground (also quite nice). There was no time left at all to walk just the few blocks or so on to Mauer Park before heading to the airport, but I'm glad Malanga Girl was able to get a final taste of Berlin's Spielplätze.

12 p.m.
13) Weltzeituhr- Alexanderplatz

Our last ground-view glimpse of Berlin was of the Weltzeituhr, the World Time Clock, on Alexanderplatz as we ran from the U-bahn station to the big train station for our airport-bound line. This futuristic-looking clock shows the time in different cities around the world. It gave me pause for thought that this clock was at the heart of East Berlin back in the day, and that most people there were never allowed to visit any of the cities listed on the clock.

Livrarias & Co.

The true measure of a city's greatness is the quality of its bookstores. I've been to otherwise perfectly lovely places and left with a pain in my chest at not finding a single good bookstore despite there being a strong local literary tradition (I mean you, Granada, Nicaragua). But then there are the places where you would fly in for a day just to spend a few hours at a place like Miami's Books & Books, or New York's Idlewild or The Strand  or Boston's Trident Books or Philadelphia's House of Our Own Bookstore or Buenos Aires' El Ateneo. Just writing their names makes me swoon a little.

Happily, my recent travels to Lisbon, Portugal and Copenhagen, Denmark were filled with discoveries of lovely bookshops. In Lisbon, I stocked up on Portuguese literature and children's books at Assirio e Alvim and Livraria Bertrand in the Chiado and at Ler Devagar (pictured) in the LX factory of the Alcantara neighborhood. Should you find yourself in Lisbon, the Chiado is easy to find and picture-perfect for strolling around. To get to the LX factory, take tram # 15 and get off at the Alcantara stop, then walk a few blocks to Rua Rodrigues Faria. The factory is at the end of that street, with other cute stores inside, but I only had eyes for the bookstore.

In Copenhagen, our friend and local guide led us to the absolutely charming Børnenes Boghandel, a brightly lit children's bookstore that made me want to learn Danish on the spot, just so I could take home one of everything on display! We bought an English translation of a Pippi Longstocking book that we read THREE times home on the plane. We also managed to walk out with two small Danish-language books. My friend was kind enough to translate the gist of the first book, but since the second one is all labeled pictures of things relating to dance stars, pop stars, veterinarians and other professions children dream of becoming, Malanga Girl and I are learning some new vocabulary.

Les Vacances!

A post in snapshots.

 St. Jean de Luz, France

 Pamplona, Spain

Mar-seille, can you see...

Give me a gritty port city and I am a happy woman. Havana, Cuba and Naples, Italy are among some of my favorite places in the world, so I wasn't surprised to find Marseille charming when others recommended I skip it and go straight to Provence's lavender fields. I wouldn't normally gush when a place fits in so perfectly with my own personal ideal since I do recognize that not everyone has the same tastes. However, in this case, I really think Marseille is worth seeing if you like good food and happen to be traveling with a small child. It is a city that has the right amount and diversity of sights to see with someone who has graduated from the stroller set (the hills might make it a little more challenging with a stroller, but still doable). Here's a glimpse of what made our stay in Marseilles so fun:

- After our mesmerizing three-hour train ride from Paris to Marseille (hooray for train travel!), we jumped on a cruise out to see the Calanques. The Calanques are deep narrow inlets surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. You can hike the Calanques as well, but sitting on a boat and enjoying the fresh saltwater breeze was a very pleasant way to see them for the first time.

- We strolled the hilltop Le Panier district in the early evening, waiting for Pizzaria Chez Etienne (emphatically recommended by all the guides we consulted) to open for dinner service at 7:30pm. We found plenty of small shops and plazas to keep us busy. We climbed the steps up to this neighborhood again several more times during our stay, both to further explore the winding streets and to hit a few more spots that appealed to us. The ice cream at Le Glacier du Roi is reason enough to venture up to Le Panier. Between the three of us, we tried vanilla, strawberry, peach, passion fruit and navetissimo. All of them were impressive, but if you can only try one, go for navetissimo. Its orange-flower-flavor is based on the boat-shaped Navette cookies that are typical of Marseille. I recommend eating an actual navette, or many, as well, but while you can bring a box of those home with you, the navetissimo ice cream is a have-it-in-Le-Panier-only experience.

The pizza and supions (breaded, fried squid) at Pizzaria Chez Etienne were delicious, by the way. The service, however, was nothing to write home about. Get there as early as possible to snag a table since there's no phone to make reservations and they're quite happy to turn hungry tourists away.

- We rode the little train up to the Byzantine church Notre Dame de la Garde on Sunday, an experience that offered us more stunning views of the Calanques, the water and Marseille in all its glory. The train stops at Notre Dame and you can see the church and enjoy the sweeping views at your leisure. Trains going back down to the port come by once every twenty minutes.

- You have your pick of tagine dishes in Marseille's several North African restaurants. We went for La Kahena, a Tunisian place on Rue de la Republique right on the Vieux Port. Malanga Papa and I ordered a fish tagine, being in a port town and all, but I daresay Malanga Girl's meatballs were the star of the meal. Was that ras-el-hanout in them or was it the mix of lamb and other meats that made them so memorable? Mmmm!

- On Monday, I went for a nice run along the Vieux Port and up to the Jardin du Pharo. I'm still fairly new at this running thing, but the warm sunshine, new scenery and fresh sea smell kept me from thinking of my aching knees for once. I think this was my best run so far since I took up running a few weeks ago. It was also nice to have the Jardin du Pharo to myself at 8am, and to discover it's not really worth making a special trip just to see the big green lawn they call a "garden." I'm not sure what goes on in the Palais du Pharo, however, so that might be worth considering.

- I stopped at Pain de l'Opera for croissants and pain au chocolat before going back to wake Malanga Family for the day's outing. We took the bus to Aix-en-Provence right from the St. Charles train station. Buses leave every 10 minutes, cost 4,90 Euros for adults, are free for children and the ride lasts about 35 minutes. We spent a very pleasant day in the old part of Aix, including a lunch made from the amazing selection of sausages, cheese and bread at the farmers' market in one of the plazas there. Along the way, some soaps and sundry gifts were picked up, as well as coffee and ice cream. Really, just about any time of day in almost any place in the world is good for a coffee/ice cream stop.

- Monday evening found us back in Marseille for our reservation at Chez Madie Les Galinettes to eat bouillabaise. You have to make your reservation 48 hours in advance, but happily, there's no attitude served alongside the delicious fish & broth. The staff was amazingly pleasant and they even gave Malanga Girl a little gift package full of coloring supplies, candy and plastic jewelry. Malanga Papa and I have discussed returning to Marseille on the TGV (high-speed train) just to have bouillabaise again.

- On our last day in town, we were finally able to visit La Vieille Charite, an extremely well-done museum that displays Egyptian mummies, Greco-Roman pottery, bright Mexican masks and other cultural artifacts in a beautiful space right in the heart of Le Panier. We were lured by the promise of cat mummies, as promised by a New York Times article, and these did not disappoint. Going to the museum was also a chance to have more ice cream at Le Glacier du Roi before we headed back to the train station and to Paris.

- Throughout our stay, Malanga Papa and I drank lots of a local artisanal beer called La Cagole. We highly recommend it (and I'm not even a beer drinker)!

Sevilla tiene un color especial...

We couldn't resist a jaunt down to Sevilla for a few days during Malanga Girl's school break. Did you know that French children get a TWO WEEK vacation every six weeks? Well, neither did I. Good thing I was able to come up with a quick plan to get us some fun and sunshine.

Not sure what to do in Sevilla with a small child? If strolling around the beautiful Parque de Maria Luisa isn't enough, you're sure to run into a playground while you wander the streets. There is at least one right inside the Parque de Maria Luisa (we spent such a long time there, I never got to see if there was another one within the large park's confines). There's another lovely one in the Prado de San Sebastian, right off of Avenida del Cid, where the bus from the airport drops one off. We also discovered one in the Jardines de Cristina (near the Puerta de Jerez) that was designed for two-year-olds, but was a lot of fun for my almost-four-year-old.

The big draw for us, however, was flamenco. Eyeing the shop windows on Calle Cuna alone was a treat, since every gorgeous dress, fan and sparkling hair comb is out on display during these weeks leading up to the April Feria. The real deal dresses cost several hundred euros, but luckily the tourist shops around the Cathedral sell kid-sized dresses in your choice of pink and black polka-dots, red and black polka-dots, or red and white polka-dots for about 10 Euros each. (Shop around as the prices can vary a bit from store to store, as well as the size and color selection.) Malanga Girl stocked up on a matching fan, hair combs, hair flower and shoes as well and was quite excited to stomp away in her new shoes in our hotel room every evening.

The Museo del baile flamenco was worth a visit. The interactive exhibits were a lot of fun for both Malanga Girl and this Malanga Mama. The highlight of our "ruta del flamenco," however, was a show at the Casa de la Memoria on Calle Ximenez de Enciso (Barrio de Sta. Cruz). While they don't technically let small children in, I smooth talked our way in and Malanga Girl was perfectly behaved for the whole 1 hour & 10 minute show, even though it was way past her bedtime. She was absolutely transfixed by the fancy footwork on stage.

And now we're back in Paris, where things are starting to feel a little more like "home."

Malanga Baby Goes to Cuba

There is no way to easily summarize the whole experience of taking Malanga Baby to the homeland. Malanga Mama is still a little overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude that this trip came together with relative ease so that Malanga Baby could meet her Tia Ali for the first time. While I continue to process how AMAZING it was to be able to give both my daughter and my sister this gift, let's focus on the specifics of traveling with an active toddler off the beaten path.

Cuba poses a few challenges to even the most seasoned traveler. The first is the chronic shortages faced by a country cut off from Soviet aid for nearly two decades now and still subject to the US embargo. While the black market economy is thriving, and while there are a few upscale shops designated exclusively for tourists, it would be foolhardy to think anything you need toddler-wise can be obtained if you're willing to pay enough or go through enough effort. Oh, yes, I did see a pack of 8 disposable diapers for $15 in a glass case near Havana's Plaza de Armas, but did they have them available in Malanga Baby's size? Not a chance. I also spent one rainy, miserable afternoon visiting seven different grocery shops in search of a stick of butter after Malanga Baby licked the last of my sister's butter off a cracker the night before and then immediately asked for more. I will never again take butter for granted (or eggs, which were also notoriously hard to find).

The second challenge is that it can be difficult, if not impossible, to come by ready-made or snack food while one is out and about. There are restaurants, but they require time and patience while the food is prepared. (In some cases, your patience will also be tested by the waiter telling you absolutely everything you just tried to order from the menu is not available that day and that, in reality, there is really just one dish you can have.) As such, it is prudent for any parent to always, always, always pack several snacks for daylong outings. And, given the shortages referenced above, don't assume you can stock up on said snacks at a local grocery store when you arrive in Havana. Unless, of course, you don't mind your child eating nothing but potato chips and strawberry-cream-filled cookies during your entire stay, since this was the extent of the snack food I saw available at local grocery stores. Even fruit was in rare supply. (I know, I know, how is this possible in a Caribbean country? I have no idea. But I hear from other friends that if you stay in a five-star hotel, you have your choice of fresh fruit from gleaming platters every morning at the breakfast buffet. Perhaps this is where all the country's fruit goes?)

Challenge number three is that if you're American, even if you are traveling to Cuba legally (as we were), you cannot use credit cards or access your US bank accounts via an ATM card while in Cuba. So, even assuming you were willing to shell out the $15 for 8 precious disposable diapers referenced above, isn't it easier just to pack the things you absolutely know you will need and use in Cuba and save your limited cash for anything else that might come up? Here's where my master packing lists come in.

I made three different extensive packing lists while preparing for the trip to Cuba.

List one- items to take to my family

I will not post the full list here, but highlights of it will give you a sense of things that are difficult to find in Cuba that you might want to take for yourself.

Imodium
Throat lozenges/cold remedies
Aspirin/Tylenol/Motrin
Alka-Seltzer
Band-aids

List two- baby gear/big items

Passports/visas/notarized letters (if you are traveling with your child but not with the child's mother or father, you need a notarized letter stating the other person is aware of the trip)

Diapers (I took about 50 for 7 days)

Wipes (I took 150)

Sunscreen

Teething remedies (Hyland's teething tablets travel exceptionally well)

Infant Tylenol & Infant Motrin

Gentle Naturals Tummy soother

Neosporin

Diaper rash cream

Hand sanitizer

Bodywash & shampoo

Toddler toothbrush & toothpaste

Sun hat

Sippy cups

Plastic plate to eat (I like IKEA plates, they are very flat and easy to pack, I always have one in my diaper bag for eating out)

Tupperware or small bowl with lid (for snacks or leftovers- restaurants in Cuba will often just give you leftover food in a plastic bag)

Clothing, including pj's

Toys & books (I am sad to report I didn't find any good toddler books at Havana's main bookstores)

Ergo or other sling/carrier (I preferred this to a stroller since Havana's streets are not uniformly paved, but you might want to bring your own stroller in addition)

Car seat *see note below*

Also, I wish I had brought something for heat rash.


List three- food/snacks

Gatorade/pedialyte (in case of diarreah/vomiting)

Materne Gogo Squeez Applesauce pouches (3)

Peanut butter crackers & Cheese crackers (8 packs)

Cheddar bunnies (in the small, individual packets, avail. in boxes of 6)

Back to Nature Honey graham sticks (also in small, individual packets)

Raisins & other dried fruit

Happy Baby yogurt melts (2 packs)

Cereal bars/granola bars

Whole Foods 365 brand peach bits in pear juice (4)

Gerber Infant pear juice (for constipation)

Rice cakes (for flight, in diaper bag, not checked luggage)

Mini cereal boxes (2)

Horizon boxed milk (or you could bring powdered milk)



A final note: car seats are not required by law, not used at all by the general population and not compatible with cars lacking seat belts in the back (which is the majority of cars on the road in Cuba). If you find yourself a bit squeamish about your small child riding here and there on your lap, know that you will have to both pack your own car seat for the trip and either rent a car or hire a driver that is known to have seat belts in the back. Do NOT assume that all taxi cabs have seat belts in the back.

On the road with Malanga Baby

I always thought that living in New York was my way of bringing the world to Malanga Baby, but it turns out that I couldn't resist the travel bug and just had to bring Malanga Baby to the world. So off we went to Horsham, England and Paris, France, where I conveniently have friends with small children. That means I was able to get out of here with just our passports, some clothes, an Ergo (especially useful for the airtrain ride to Kennedy airport and for the Metro in Paris), a lightweight stroller and enough diapers and wipes for the plane ride. Really, that's it! I carried it all myself to the airport on public transportation.

Malanga Baby had a fabulous time exploring the sand pit at a local park in England, cooing over my friend's two-month old baby and playing on the trampoline in my friend's backyard. She also adapted very well to the demands of Parisian life- lots of crowded subway riding (the NY subway is a haven of wide open spaces in comparison, even during rush hour), lots of croissant-eating (I believe she may have ingested her weight in butter- oops) and some stroller napping while Malanga Mama shopped. Malanga Baby also thoroughly enjoyed the communal bath experience with my Parisian friend's 5-year-old and 8-month-old.

The only thing I didn't get to do enough on this trip was write down all of my thoughts, but I'll try to give the highlights of what I learned along the way here:

- Sainsbury Grocery Store chain in England has a fantastic Eco-Friendly diaper line. I wish I could find these in the US!

- Boots Pharmacy in Horsham has an entire floor dedicated to baby products- cute clothes, Fisher Price toys with a British accent, not just one, but TWO lines of organic baby snacks (including Minky Moon Crescents, which Malanga Baby gobbled up) and more stuff than I could ever successfully cram into my tiny suitcase.

- If you're ever planning to take your child to Paris's Jardin de Luxembourg, make sure your pockets are heavy with Euros because it all comes at a cost. The children's park has an entrance fee. If I remember correctly, it's 2,60 euros for children and 1,60 for adults. There's a separate set of swings that cost 1,40 euro per 5-minute ride. Neither of these attractions is particularly noteworthy, but the Guignol (puppet show) was worth every penny. The shows are currently at 4pm every day and cost 4,50 euros per person, large or small. Malanga Baby was positively charmed by the show and by all the children sitting around her on the low benches.

- If shopping for the little one is your thing, head to the Rue Vavin, not far from the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris's 6th Arrondissement. Sweet Petite Bateau onesies and pajamas are much more affordable than they are States-side. There's also a fantastic toy shop right across the street from the Petite Bateau store and lots of other baby stores up and down the same street.

- Petite Pan is another children's store not to be missed in Paris.

- Above all, children are more flexible and resilient than you think!!!

First wedding, first ocean, first orange

Malanga Baby's world expanded beyond her wildest imaginings in Key West, Florida this past week. She even had a lick of her first cupcake. It all called for a lot of clapping.