ciao from italia

Well after 18 hours of flights, layovers, crying children, cramped spaces I'm in Bella Florence, Italian.  It is worth all that effort and much more.

The weather is perfect, mid-70's with a light breeze.  Arrived around 12noon and had no problem locating my hotel.  It had no lift but thankfully it was only up 1.5 flights.  Manageable with my 2 bags.  I was able to have lunch at one of the most reasonably priced with delicious food that I swear Nonna (grandma) is in the kitchen cooking ~Da Giorgio's on via Palazzuolo.  I enjoyed gnocchi with a Gorgonzola and noci (walnut) sauce -very yummy; sliced steak on a bed of arugula with shaved Parmesan cheese on top and some spinach.  All for a grand total of €12 and included a bottle of water and a 1/4 liter of wine (rosso for me).

Stopped at the TIM store to put money on my phone and I was ready for a walk.  Walked to Piazza Della Repubblica and watched the kids on the merry go round in a daze, jet lag is starting to hit.  Walk over towards the Duomo where I went to see about getting a sweatshirt like the one I purchased on my first trip in 2004, worn it so much it's starting to gets holes.  They don't have this style any longer but will keep checking.  Picked up a map at the TI store as I gave mine a couple at lunch.  After a few phone calls I went back to my room and made some hotel reservations, did a few emails, and then decided not to fight the jet lag any longer.  Got a good 3 hours of sleep.  

At 9pm (only in Italy do I eat this late) I went to Il Latiini's (via dei Palchetti, 6r).  This is truly a red meat eaters place.  They have a great Ragu and their Bisteca alla fIorentina is massive and comes carmelized on the outside and bloody on the inside and is usually 1 1/2 - 2 inches thick. What I like to call a caveman cut.  I enjoyed crostini with chicken liver pate, a barley salad, prosuitto, penne with ragu, and a glass of vin santo wine (complimentary) and a cappacino to end the meal (total €20).  Dined across from a lovely young man, Nicolas, who has opened up a clothing store in Piazza della Signoria, enjoyed the conversation over dinner. Sat next to two couples from Philadelphia and gave them some suggestions on places to eat and visit.

Left the restaurant almost 12am and it's now almost 2am, I'm hoping I won't wake up too early.  Have a zanzare (mosquito) in my room must get rid of it before falling asleep.  Reminds me to pick up some of those outlet plug-in repellants, tomorrow.

Blogging on my iPad is going well so far, need to figure out how to post pictures.    

Ciao 

italia

Yesterday I had a conference call meeting to review a new tool that I needed to pull reports from. So we both could view my desktop we used NetMeeting and started the meeting. I had several Internet Explorer screens open which is pretty normal and I was flipping from one to another. I inadvertently stopped on one IE screen that had a Google map of Italy up. I made a flip comment about Italy not being the correct screen we needed to view. This person then said, Oh, I’m going on vacation next year in Italy.

As many of my friends know that was all I needed to delve into a conversation of Italy. It really doesn’t take much to do but I typically don’t do this in a random meeting with someone I don’t know. I of course asked the when, where, and for how long questions. I told her how much she was going to enjoy her trip, gave her some tips on certain places and let her know that if she wanted some recommendations to zip me an email. I forced myself to get back to the meeting at hand.

I’m always amused at what will pull my attention to Italy and keep my mind there even during a day at work. It could be the hallway question from a co-worker asking when my next trip to Italy is (2009 thank you very much). An email from Italian Notebook, about.com, or ciao Italia. Or someone comments about the picture on my desktop of Burano, Italy. It just doesn’t take much, and it shouldn’t as Italy is a beautiful magical country where the people, history, countryside, food, and shopping will put a spell on you. If you doubt me then go to Italy and come back and tell me it isn’t. I dare you.

Since I’m in a reminiscent mood I thought I’d share some photos of my last trip to Italy in May 2007. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year and a half when it seems just like yesterday.

Arezzo

caffe

municipal building

can't you just smell the jasmine?

look at the fresh wonderful vegetables

Cortona

the valley below Cortona

a window with view

vino

now that's fresh mozzerella

the stairs



sunflowers


my waiter



beef tips in a chianti reduction

outside dining

Florence

an temporary statue

a corner blessing

a building

ponte vecchio

santa maria novella church courtyard

proscuitto at Il Latini

good luck chinghale

Tuscany Countryside

a villa

a very small chapel

lovely jasmine


a backyard

Hope you enuoyed my walk through memory lane.

pienza, italy

I’ve having a blogging block and can’t seem to think of anything to write about nor seem to find the time to post. Since the old saying ‘Pictures say a thousand words’ I’m going to take that to heart and post pictures. I’m a visual person anyways and have always enjoyed looking at the pictures in magazines instead of reading the articles.

Pienza is a flat (unusual for Italian hill towns) easy to walk and has a quaint feel. Many small shops to poke your noise into, some delicious places to eat at, along with the proverbial church or two. The outer walk way gives you great views to snap photos of the beautiful Tuscan valley.

If you love pecorino cheese then Pienza is a must visit on your next trip to Italy. It literally smells of pecorino as you walk down the cobblestone streets, it could be overwhelming if you didn’t know the succulent savory delight that was awaiting you at any of the many cheese stores. Walking around town and sampling all the many types of pecorino with a bit of wine is my kind of fun.

My parents and I really enjoyed Pienza and we had a very enjoyable picnic in a small park at the edge of town. We dined on a lovely park bench under a huge shade tree with some boar salami, pecorino cheese with truffles, pecorino cheese with jalapeño pepper, and a bottle of wine. Relaxing, yummy, and very reasonably priced.

So without further adieu here are some pictures of Pienza, Italy.

villa reale - lucca, italy

When I was in Italy in 2006 I took a week long Italian class that was disastrous, but I’ll save that for another post. The class was in one of my favorite towns, Lucca. I love love love Lucca and I rank it right at the top of my favorite small towns in Italy list. My favorite large city is Florence.

One of the excursions during the week long Italian lessons was a field trip to Villa Reale located a short distance outside the walls of Lucca. The instructor spoke Italian the whole time explaining what everything was giving the intermediate and advanced students some good lessons. For us beginners it was useless so I roamed the property taking pictures. It was a beautiful villa, can you imagine being the gardener?

Here are some of my pictures.

making a difference

If you’ve visited Positano, Italy you won’t quickly forget the beauty of this town that clings to the mountainside by its finger tips. There are amazing picturesque views for that perfect photo. I’ve not had the pleasure of visiting Positano during my visits to Italy but I’ve read enough and seen many pictures to know what a beautiful place it is.

Nikki over at The Life I Chose writes about Positano and her life in Positano, you should check it out. In her July 14th blog entry she mentions some cement damns they are proposing to build through the valley tearing down all the trees, woodland, plant life and ancient pathways, and destroying many species of rare ferns, flora and creatures. You can read about it here.

She is asking for those who love Positano to stop by her blog and sign a petition to stop the damns from being built. If you have a minute please zip over to Nikki's blog and help out.


Today’s Temperature
High: 106°F/41°C
Low: 82°F/28°C

out of control

Okay I admit it, I have an addiction. It’s a sickness, one that I haven’t tried to get control over but one that I have accepted. I’m thankful that this addiction is not of a chemical sense but there must be some chemical that is triggered in me when I’m close to my addiction. It’s neither an addiction that I find in a bottle, from a bookie, or in food. You see my addiction is tablecloths. Now stop laughing because this can be serious. One can only have so many tablecloths can’t they??

As someone who has only one dining room table, how many tablecloths does one need? I must have a couple of dozen but I won’t go count them for fear of embarrassment.

When I go shopping I don’t go looking for tablecloths but if I’m in a Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Ross, Marshall’s, etc. I always gravitate towards the house wares section to see if there are any styles/colors that I like. I’m thankful as many times I find a pattern I really like but it’s not in the size I need. Whew. In the past I’ve bought a size that doesn’t fit any table that I own but because I really liked the pattern and was sure I’d find some use for it, I’d buy it. See, that’s called an addiction.

The other day I was cleaning out my tablecloth drawer. The drawer (36”w x 20”l x 8”d, no small cubby here) was packed plus there was some more in the hall closet. Oh my. Yes, it’s time to purge. Seeing that I bought a new table after my remodel and some of the tablecloths don’t fit the new size, I had to let go.

Through this process I found a very nice surprise. It brought back such vivid memories of my first trip to Italy. You see in the bottom of the drawer I found a bundle carefully wrapped in tissue paper. I sat down and carefully unfolded the tissue paper trying to remember what I had purchased. There in front of me were delicate handkerchiefs in different patterns, several placemats that I use as table toppers, and one white starched linen tablecloth with delicate embroidery with matching napkins and one beige linen tablecloth with a lot of crocheted details also with matching napkins.

When I read while researching for my trip to Italy that the ladies of Burano hand made the lace I knew without a doubt that I was going there. I had to see these linens that someone put their heart and soul into. I was enthralled with Burano, such a quaint island that you can walk 15 minutes in any direction and be on the other side. I loved that each house was painted a different color, bright melon next to pale mustard next to mauvy brown. It’s like each home owner put his hand in a bag and pulled out what color they would paint their homes.

I walked around the island enjoying each shop I came to admiring their wares. They were just beautiful. I found the linens that I wanted and made my purchase. This was my first real purchase in Italy (I had bought a printed picture from a street vendor in Florence for €5 but I don’t think this counts). The sales lady delicately wrapped my purchase in a light rose colored tissue paper secured with a printed sticker and then placed in a very sturdy brightly printed bag with handles tied with colored ribbon. I was surprised by the flourish that went into bagging my purchase knowing that in the U.S. it more then likely been put in a nondescript plastic bag.

The only downside of my purchase, I didn’t realize how heavy the bag of linen would be and that I had to hand carry this the remaining two weeks of my time in Italy as I only had a backpack and was using the train system most of the time. Some day soon I will post my journal of my first trip to Italy. I warn you it’s long but entertaining and would need to be posted in many installments.

I'm out to run some errands, what? no I'm not stopping at target... er, bye!


Today’s Temperature
High: 110°F / 43°C
Low: 81°F / 27°C