Yes, it's true. We have returned to American soil. Here is the update post on our final days in Italy:
For the first 11 days in July, we rented a vacation apartment in Praiano, on the Amalfi Coast. What a beautiful place! We had a small balcony that looked out over the Mediterranean, and what a view it was; our apartment was several hundred feet up from sea level, allowing us to see pretty far in all directions. We spent our days relaxing, resting, enjoying the weather, savoring the local food (seafood and lemons especially) and trying to fight off the passage of time so we didn't have to leave.
Also while we were there, we spent a couple days on the island of Capri. This was a fantastic way to celebrate our anniversary. We hired a local skipper to take us around the island. He showed us all of the neat little grottoes and towering cliffs. We even got to hop out and swim through the Green Grotto, which is a tunnel under a small peninsula where the light produces amazing blue-green colors underwater. One night we sat outside of a hotel and had a glass of wine while watching all of the people go by. It was peaceful and exciting at the same time.
After we left the Amalfi Coast we made our way up to Rome for our final two days. It was tough to do anything because it was 100 degrees outside during the day, but it was still amazing to see the city. On our last night, we took a cab ride around and saw the Colosseum, the Forum, and Castel Sant'Angelo all lit up. It was the perfect way to cap off our amazing trip.
More from Lucia on our final days coming up!
Arrivederci!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Spello and L'Infiorata
Last weekend we went down to Umbria for a special event. It was the Festa di Corpus Domini in the city of Spello. What makes this fesival so special is the corresponding celebration, L'Infiorata. More on that in a minute.
We arrived in Spello on a Friday afternoon, and found the locals to be very inviting and friendly. The town is like many other medieval towns, located atop the crest of a small hill so it would be easier to defend. Our hotel was right downtown, a perfect spot to witness what was about to unfold.
Saturday began the setup for L'Infiorata, which is a celebration of biblical and historical events through huge, elaborate "tapestries" of flower petals laid out on the streets of downtown Spello. Starting in the afternoon, the designs were laid out across the streets in the form of large paper sheets with 'paint-by-number' stencil designs. We could not believe how big (some were perhaps 40' x 10') and detailed these designs were. The designs were covered with large tents to shield the flowers from the wind. Then, starting around 7:00 PM, the teams began laying out the flower petals across the designs. Most of the flower petals were tiny, maybe half the size of a fingernail. Some people were putting them down with tweezers and aligning them with a credit card. It appeared to be exhausting work.
All through the night the teams worked, most finishing up the next morning. We actually got up at 3:00 AM to check on the progress, and found the town to be very active, with lots of people walking around and checking out the progress. In the morning, we got to see the finished products. Wow! They were even better than we ever thought they could be. After the Sunday mass, the priest led a procession through town, and walked over the flowers. All that work, and it gets ruined almost immediately.
We will post pictures of our favorite designs in a later post, because right now we have limited internet access.
Arrivederci!
We arrived in Spello on a Friday afternoon, and found the locals to be very inviting and friendly. The town is like many other medieval towns, located atop the crest of a small hill so it would be easier to defend. Our hotel was right downtown, a perfect spot to witness what was about to unfold.
Saturday began the setup for L'Infiorata, which is a celebration of biblical and historical events through huge, elaborate "tapestries" of flower petals laid out on the streets of downtown Spello. Starting in the afternoon, the designs were laid out across the streets in the form of large paper sheets with 'paint-by-number' stencil designs. We could not believe how big (some were perhaps 40' x 10') and detailed these designs were. The designs were covered with large tents to shield the flowers from the wind. Then, starting around 7:00 PM, the teams began laying out the flower petals across the designs. Most of the flower petals were tiny, maybe half the size of a fingernail. Some people were putting them down with tweezers and aligning them with a credit card. It appeared to be exhausting work.
All through the night the teams worked, most finishing up the next morning. We actually got up at 3:00 AM to check on the progress, and found the town to be very active, with lots of people walking around and checking out the progress. In the morning, we got to see the finished products. Wow! They were even better than we ever thought they could be. After the Sunday mass, the priest led a procession through town, and walked over the flowers. All that work, and it gets ruined almost immediately.
We will post pictures of our favorite designs in a later post, because right now we have limited internet access.
Arrivederci!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Catching Up - Part 2
I know, two posts in one day...can you handle it? We finally have a few days to catch up before heading south on Thursday.
Verona - 2 days
We met a couple from Colorado Springs a few months ago who come to Italy every year or two for a bike trip. They said we could not miss seeing an opera in the amphitheater in Verona. We looked at tickets and were able to find some for opening night. We had no idea if opening night would be as big of a deal in Italy as in the US, but the timing worked for us. It definitely was! The president of Italy showed up, thousands of people came, and we brushed arms with Italian celebrities (we had no idea who they were though). Everyone even sang the national anthem before the show started. We saw La Traviata and it was spectacular! It was even more impressive because we were in an historical city, in an ancient arena, and saw a full, red moon rise behind the "stage". We rented bikes the next day and saw more of Verona including Juliet's house and famous balcony and a large equestrian center just out of town.
Lake Como/Maggiore - 3 days
Wow! I am shocked Como isn't on more lists of the most beautiful places in the world. Picture this...the "foothills" of the Alps (which are still several thousand feet high) drop right into a clear, blue narrow but deep lake with small towns scattered around the lake filled with interesting architecture and neat shops and restaurants as well as the most beautiful villas all along the water. To top it off, there are very few tourists, especially Americans and virtually no boats on the water. We rented a boat one day and felt like we were the only ones on the lake. I'm sure in another month or two the place will be filled with Europeans on vacation, but we had the lake to ourselves. Here are some pictures I have to share so that everyone can experience the beauty of this area.
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| George Clooney's house |
We had a day of relaxation in the hotel spa one day with a sauna, steam room, pool, etc. We went to Citta Alta (the part of town up on a hill) via funicular for dinner and went back the next day to look in all the shops. A very quaint, neat town that we never would have seen had we only come to Italy for a short vacation.
Arrivederci!
Shifting Directions
Last night we went into Florence for dinner. We headed out to take the bus into town like we normally do, but when we got to the bus stop we noticed that the schedule was different. And then we noticed that the stop listing was different. Nonetheless, we got on, since we knew it was still going to go downtown.
Once we crossed the river into the downtown area, it was like entering the backwards world. All of a sudden, half the streets we knew like the back of our hands by this point had changed, with one-ways flipping directions, and others being closed to auto traffic completely. Confused as we were, we still managed to get off at the correct stop and make our way to dinner.
Imagine if they did this in New York City. "No news to report this morning, but oh, hey, 5th Avenue now goes north, and 57th street is now pedestrian only." Maybe it's just because we were travelling last week, but we never saw any notice that this was going to happen.
It's an interesting parallel to our Italian adventure. One goal we had in coming here was to push ourselves a bit, to break out of our comfort zone. We knew the directions of all the streets back home, and taking this journey turned everything backwards. But, of course, soon enough we'll be familiar with the new directions our lives are taking, and everything will be familiar again.
Only two more weeks until we head home.
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Once we crossed the river into the downtown area, it was like entering the backwards world. All of a sudden, half the streets we knew like the back of our hands by this point had changed, with one-ways flipping directions, and others being closed to auto traffic completely. Confused as we were, we still managed to get off at the correct stop and make our way to dinner.
Imagine if they did this in New York City. "No news to report this morning, but oh, hey, 5th Avenue now goes north, and 57th street is now pedestrian only." Maybe it's just because we were travelling last week, but we never saw any notice that this was going to happen.
It's an interesting parallel to our Italian adventure. One goal we had in coming here was to push ourselves a bit, to break out of our comfort zone. We knew the directions of all the streets back home, and taking this journey turned everything backwards. But, of course, soon enough we'll be familiar with the new directions our lives are taking, and everything will be familiar again.
Only two more weeks until we head home.
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Friday, June 24, 2011
Catching Up - Part 1
Ok, ok, we haven't posted a whole lot lately. It's only because we've been traveling a bunch, so we haven't had time to blog. Here's a quick recap of where we've been recently:
ROME - 3 days
Rome wasn't built in a day (don't you just hate cliches?), and it was hard enough to see all of it in 3 days. Nevertheless, we tried, as we got to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Baths at Caracalla, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, and everything in between. My favorite was the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums. It's hard to express how impressive the Sistine Chapel is, especially given how much Italian and Renaissance art we've seen on this trip; the works in the chapel blow pretty much everything else out of the water.
MILAN - 2 days
Milan was an impressive city. It's certainly newer and more modern than most of the cities that we've been to in Italy, but it still retains a lot of old-world feel and charm. The main cathedral was especially memorable. The facade and exterior walls were incredibly detailed and artistic, and the interior is lined with a wealth of awesome stained glass windows. We also did plenty of window shopping in Milan, as it's the fashion capital of Italy. Plus, as Lucia mentioned, we had martinis at the Four Seasons and managed to talk our way into a private Tom Ford event. Plenty of memories from Milan!
More to come soon about Verona, the Lakes, and Bergamo.
Arrivederci!
ROME - 3 days
Rome wasn't built in a day (don't you just hate cliches?), and it was hard enough to see all of it in 3 days. Nevertheless, we tried, as we got to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Baths at Caracalla, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, and everything in between. My favorite was the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums. It's hard to express how impressive the Sistine Chapel is, especially given how much Italian and Renaissance art we've seen on this trip; the works in the chapel blow pretty much everything else out of the water.
MILAN - 2 days
Milan was an impressive city. It's certainly newer and more modern than most of the cities that we've been to in Italy, but it still retains a lot of old-world feel and charm. The main cathedral was especially memorable. The facade and exterior walls were incredibly detailed and artistic, and the interior is lined with a wealth of awesome stained glass windows. We also did plenty of window shopping in Milan, as it's the fashion capital of Italy. Plus, as Lucia mentioned, we had martinis at the Four Seasons and managed to talk our way into a private Tom Ford event. Plenty of memories from Milan!
More to come soon about Verona, the Lakes, and Bergamo.
Arrivederci!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Plug List is Getting Longer
We have been adding to our "Plug List" over the past year, so I wanted to list all of the Plug List experiences we've had in Italy so far. As you might remember, a Plug List is a list of things that you do in life before someone "pulls the plug" that you can't plan or expect to happen but make your life all the better. In essence, they "plug the gaps" of your Bucket List.
- Sitting in beanbag chairs on a bridge in Florence watching the Arno River below and stars above
- Getting a private tour of a balsamic vinegar shop by a fourth generation family member
- Watching a street band perform traditional Neapolitan songs with Ricardo's relative and seeing how much he appreciated the songs
- Attending La Traviata on opening night at an outdoor amphitheater (think Colosseum) in Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet, watching the full moon rise behind the performance
- Learning to cook from real Italians, not by taking cooking classes
- Renting a boat on Lake Como and just taking in the beautiful mountains, amazing villas and sweet lakeside towns
- Talking our way into a Tom Ford private event in Milan, drinking champagne and trying on $1,500 shoes
- Meeting distant relatives whom Ricardo never knew existed but now feeling much more connected to his family tree and heritage
- Witnessing a Liberation Day reenactment and celebration and feeling like we were a part of it
- Learning how to order martinis and get a haircut in a foreign country and language
I am sure there are many more but these are some of the ones that stick out most in my mind. We'll post more on our recent Rome, Milan, Verona, Lake Como/Maggiore, and Bergamo adventures tomorrow. Until then...
Arrivederci!
- Sitting in beanbag chairs on a bridge in Florence watching the Arno River below and stars above
- Getting a private tour of a balsamic vinegar shop by a fourth generation family member
- Watching a street band perform traditional Neapolitan songs with Ricardo's relative and seeing how much he appreciated the songs
- Attending La Traviata on opening night at an outdoor amphitheater (think Colosseum) in Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet, watching the full moon rise behind the performance
- Learning to cook from real Italians, not by taking cooking classes
- Renting a boat on Lake Como and just taking in the beautiful mountains, amazing villas and sweet lakeside towns
- Talking our way into a Tom Ford private event in Milan, drinking champagne and trying on $1,500 shoes
- Meeting distant relatives whom Ricardo never knew existed but now feeling much more connected to his family tree and heritage
- Witnessing a Liberation Day reenactment and celebration and feeling like we were a part of it
- Learning how to order martinis and get a haircut in a foreign country and language
I am sure there are many more but these are some of the ones that stick out most in my mind. We'll post more on our recent Rome, Milan, Verona, Lake Como/Maggiore, and Bergamo adventures tomorrow. Until then...
Arrivederci!
Monday, June 13, 2011
A Brief Culinary History of Our Trip
Since we have mentioned in the past that we are foodies, I thought I should write a bit about some of the food that we have encountered over the past two months. (Two months already?? Wow.)
First off, the cuisines are very regional here. More meat and cheese here in Tuscany, more fish by the coasts, lots of great sweet treats down south, and the pizza is different in every city. I wouldn't say that we have had a favorite cuisine, but that we have liked certain aspects of each one very much.
Second, it cannot be described how good some of the fresh produce is. We have had some of the best fruit we have ever had here; the strawberries are fantastic, and the cherries are easily the best we have ever tried. Both are far juicier than the types we are used to.
Lastly, Lucia and I have been discussing Italian cuisine in general. We came to the conclusion that it's not really that the food here is that much better than in the US, it's that the ingredients they use are so much fresher, which in turn makes the meals taste that much better.
We have been trying to learn some new recipes to take home with us, too. Only one month more to find some more tasty dishes!
Arrivederci!
First off, the cuisines are very regional here. More meat and cheese here in Tuscany, more fish by the coasts, lots of great sweet treats down south, and the pizza is different in every city. I wouldn't say that we have had a favorite cuisine, but that we have liked certain aspects of each one very much.
Second, it cannot be described how good some of the fresh produce is. We have had some of the best fruit we have ever had here; the strawberries are fantastic, and the cherries are easily the best we have ever tried. Both are far juicier than the types we are used to.
Lastly, Lucia and I have been discussing Italian cuisine in general. We came to the conclusion that it's not really that the food here is that much better than in the US, it's that the ingredients they use are so much fresher, which in turn makes the meals taste that much better.
We have been trying to learn some new recipes to take home with us, too. Only one month more to find some more tasty dishes!
Arrivederci!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Halftime Report
It is hard to believe that we are more than halfway through our Italian adventure. Last night at dinner, Ricardo and I were using football halftime as an analogy for where we are. It is time to take a break, relax, recharge, and decide how we want to "play" the rest of the game.
We have loved every minute of this adventure and have already made so many wonderful memories. However, I think we both realized that we want to do a little less sightseeing (our future trip to Rome excluded) and a lot more of what we do best (people-watching, walking the less-traveled streets, eating, hiking, renting a vespa, taking a sailing lesson, taking cooking classes,etc.). Don't get us wrong. We have loved the sightseeing and we cannot spend time in Italy without understanding the history. We are just getting a little run down and want to spend more time relaxing and making our remaining 5 1/2 weeks count. Before long, we will be back to work with a million things on our plate so we want to make sure we are not only enjoying Italy, but also enjoying each other.
Ricardo and I both feel that this trip has helped our states of mind (NYC was starting to wear on both of us more than we probably realized), life goals and, most importantly, our love for each other. I know it sounds sappy but we really have fallen even more in love with each other on this trip. You would think spending 24 hours a day together for the past two months would have the opposite effect, but it has brought us closer together. On the agenda for this week- Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, and Bergamo. Italy on 3 1....2....3....Italy!!
Arrivederci!
We have loved every minute of this adventure and have already made so many wonderful memories. However, I think we both realized that we want to do a little less sightseeing (our future trip to Rome excluded) and a lot more of what we do best (people-watching, walking the less-traveled streets, eating, hiking, renting a vespa, taking a sailing lesson, taking cooking classes,etc.). Don't get us wrong. We have loved the sightseeing and we cannot spend time in Italy without understanding the history. We are just getting a little run down and want to spend more time relaxing and making our remaining 5 1/2 weeks count. Before long, we will be back to work with a million things on our plate so we want to make sure we are not only enjoying Italy, but also enjoying each other.
Ricardo and I both feel that this trip has helped our states of mind (NYC was starting to wear on both of us more than we probably realized), life goals and, most importantly, our love for each other. I know it sounds sappy but we really have fallen even more in love with each other on this trip. You would think spending 24 hours a day together for the past two months would have the opposite effect, but it has brought us closer together. On the agenda for this week- Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, and Bergamo. Italy on 3 1....2....3....Italy!!
Arrivederci!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Power of History
I described in my last post how we were going to meet up with some of my distant relatives, and get to see the areas where my great-grandparents grew up before emigrating to the US. We were excited to finally get to meet up with someone who (unfortunately, unsuccessfully) helped us through the visa process.
The weekend could not have gone any better. The people we stayed with went way past being hospitable, with the typical Italian "Mangia, Mangia!" attitude that you'd expect. I think we left the south of Italy a little heavier than when we arrived.
On Sunday, we visited Taurasi, where my great-grandmother (bisnonna in Italian) was from, and then Frigento, where my great-grandfather (bisnonno) grew up. It was more of a moving experience than I realized it would be. To stand in the same spot where 100 years ago, my bisnonno might have stood and watched the cattle drink from the town fountain (Fontana della Madonna) and have the fountain still be there...it had an effect on me. It made me want to research my family history, to update the family tree that we got from our hosts in Avellino, and to try to connect everyone and convince more of my family to visit these places.
We live in an age where most everyone in the world is reachable with a few strokes of a keyboard. I think it would be interesting if we could put that power to use and bring together people that may not have known they were even family.
Arrivederci!
The weekend could not have gone any better. The people we stayed with went way past being hospitable, with the typical Italian "Mangia, Mangia!" attitude that you'd expect. I think we left the south of Italy a little heavier than when we arrived.
On Sunday, we visited Taurasi, where my great-grandmother (bisnonna in Italian) was from, and then Frigento, where my great-grandfather (bisnonno) grew up. It was more of a moving experience than I realized it would be. To stand in the same spot where 100 years ago, my bisnonno might have stood and watched the cattle drink from the town fountain (Fontana della Madonna) and have the fountain still be there...it had an effect on me. It made me want to research my family history, to update the family tree that we got from our hosts in Avellino, and to try to connect everyone and convince more of my family to visit these places.
We live in an age where most everyone in the world is reachable with a few strokes of a keyboard. I think it would be interesting if we could put that power to use and bring together people that may not have known they were even family.
Arrivederci!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Off on Another Journey!
As I write this, Lucia and I are zooming along the western coastline of Italy, on the Frecciarossa train down to Naples. From there, we will take a bus to the town of Avellino, where we will meet up with my grandfather's cousin. We will be staying with him and his family for a few days. It is going to be special for me, as we get to reconnect with distant relatives, and we get to thank someone who has helped us immensely with planning our trip to Italy.
We spoke the other day with the people we will be staying with, and they mentioned that on Sunday, they had set up a gathering of family and friends to take place in Frigento. I suppose it will take the place of a Memorial day barbecue that we may have had this weekend back in the US That will undoubtedly be special, because Frigento is where my ancestors came from, where they lived before my great-grandparents emigrated to America. I hope our Italian is good enough to communicate with everyone!
Also on this trip, we hope to explore Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi coast. It is our first foray into southern Italy, and it will be interesting to see how life differs from the Florentine days and nights that we are now used to.
Arrivederci!
We spoke the other day with the people we will be staying with, and they mentioned that on Sunday, they had set up a gathering of family and friends to take place in Frigento. I suppose it will take the place of a Memorial day barbecue that we may have had this weekend back in the US That will undoubtedly be special, because Frigento is where my ancestors came from, where they lived before my great-grandparents emigrated to America. I hope our Italian is good enough to communicate with everyone!
Also on this trip, we hope to explore Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi coast. It is our first foray into southern Italy, and it will be interesting to see how life differs from the Florentine days and nights that we are now used to.
Arrivederci!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Italy in Pictures
We wanted to share some of the fantastic sights we've taken in over the past couple weeks.
Our apartment in Florence:
Boboli Gardens:
San Marino:
Cinque Terre:
Arrivederci!
Our apartment in Florence:
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| We're staying at a fashion designer's apartment, so as you can see, color is pretty prominent. Also, Tosca likes it here. |
Boboli Gardens:
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| Lucia at a meeting of the minds |
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| Palazzo Pitti from atop the hill |
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| Ricardo, playing it cool in the gardens |
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| Guaita Tower. Every view from atop this city is just breathtaking. |
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| Ricardo and Lucia on the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. Can you see how tired this hike is making us? |
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| Later in the hike. Almost to Vernazza! |
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| An alleyway in Vernazza |
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| Still life in Vernazza |
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| One very enterprising gatto in Vernazza. I hope he got some pesce. |
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| On the "Lover's Walk" from Manarola to Riomaggiore |
Lucca:
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| The Palazzo Pfanner from atop the city walls |
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wishing we were with our family
The past couple of days have been very hard. We received some terrible news and wanted, more than anything, to be with our family. We had actually just said last week how we don't feel that far away from friends and family because of Skype, email, Facebook, etc. However, we could not have felt farther away this weekend. We really had to lean on each other for support. Luckily, we were able to Skype with our entire family last night, which made the distance (and pain) a little easier to bear. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers now in this tough time.
We went to Rimini this weekend, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. The weather Saturday was gorgeous and we were even able to lay at the beach for a while. Yesterday, we felt like we were in the midst of a mild hurricane though. It poured and the winds were gusting all day....a perfect day for sitting at a restaurant talking all day. Today, we left Italy...for San Marino! This is a small, landlocked country in Italy that doesn't even have border control. We took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain and saw a few ancient fortresses before paying €5 each to get an official San Marino passport stamp. It was worth it to prove that we were there and it is a neat stamp. We took a scenic, but very long drive home tonight and are happy to be relaxing for a bit.
Arrivederci!
We went to Rimini this weekend, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. The weather Saturday was gorgeous and we were even able to lay at the beach for a while. Yesterday, we felt like we were in the midst of a mild hurricane though. It poured and the winds were gusting all day....a perfect day for sitting at a restaurant talking all day. Today, we left Italy...for San Marino! This is a small, landlocked country in Italy that doesn't even have border control. We took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain and saw a few ancient fortresses before paying €5 each to get an official San Marino passport stamp. It was worth it to prove that we were there and it is a neat stamp. We took a scenic, but very long drive home tonight and are happy to be relaxing for a bit.
Arrivederci!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Time is flying!
Looking at the calendar today, I realized that we have already been in Italy for four weeks. How did that happen so quickly? Lucia and I counted yesterday, we have visited 12 cities already. And we haven't even been south of Rome yet! It's strange how comfortable we are starting to feel here. Tasks which we would consider routine back in the US, and which we found challenging at first here, are starting to feel routine again, in a good way. If that makes sense.
For example, yesterday I got my hair cut. In the US, this is something I wouldn't think twice about. Here, I was a touch nervous about it, and put it off for a few days. It got to the point where the hair was just unacceptably long so in I went to the barber yesterday. I was able to get my intended haircut style across to the barber in broken Italian and hand gestures. We got to talking, and he actually complimented my Italian, and another guy in the store joked that I spoke better than some Italians. The barber recommended some places in Puglia to visit, because that's where he was from. It turned out to be a fun half an hour.
Not to say that any of the above means that we now intend to stay here forever. America will always be home, and we would miss our families way too much if we stayed here. But, for the moment, we feel comfortable and at home here. This weekend we are going on another trip to Rimini, and perhaps next week we will make a bigger trip to Sicily. Stay tuned!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
For example, yesterday I got my hair cut. In the US, this is something I wouldn't think twice about. Here, I was a touch nervous about it, and put it off for a few days. It got to the point where the hair was just unacceptably long so in I went to the barber yesterday. I was able to get my intended haircut style across to the barber in broken Italian and hand gestures. We got to talking, and he actually complimented my Italian, and another guy in the store joked that I spoke better than some Italians. The barber recommended some places in Puglia to visit, because that's where he was from. It turned out to be a fun half an hour.
Not to say that any of the above means that we now intend to stay here forever. America will always be home, and we would miss our families way too much if we stayed here. But, for the moment, we feel comfortable and at home here. This weekend we are going on another trip to Rimini, and perhaps next week we will make a bigger trip to Sicily. Stay tuned!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Leaning ways
Yesterday, we headed over to Pisa for a day trip. We saw the Leaning Tower and of course did some cheesy pictures of us holding it up like everyone else there. The tower is beautiful but wow, they really needed better architects and structural engineers back then. We also saw the cathedral (Ricardo's favorite so far), the Camposanto (an old burial ground), and did some people-watching whilst sitting in the lawn. Pisa is a cute town but you really only need to go for a day.
Today, we tackled my grandmother's dare to climb up to the top of the Duomo in Florence, 463 steps. I was a bit nervous about this but couldn't turn down a dare. If she did it, I was going to too! The first 100 steps were the hardest. Our hearts were racing and there were people behind us so we couldn't stop. After that, there were places to stop or step aside and I guess our adrenaline kicked in too. We could walk along the inside of the cupola and see the beautifully painted ceiling up close before continuing our climb. We made it to the top and the view made it all worthwhile. We both felt a little dizzy though after all the twists and turns so today, we were the ones who felt like we were leaning.
Today, we tackled my grandmother's dare to climb up to the top of the Duomo in Florence, 463 steps. I was a bit nervous about this but couldn't turn down a dare. If she did it, I was going to too! The first 100 steps were the hardest. Our hearts were racing and there were people behind us so we couldn't stop. After that, there were places to stop or step aside and I guess our adrenaline kicked in too. We could walk along the inside of the cupola and see the beautifully painted ceiling up close before continuing our climb. We made it to the top and the view made it all worthwhile. We both felt a little dizzy though after all the twists and turns so today, we were the ones who felt like we were leaning.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Mother's Day, and a New Friend
First off, I wanted to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. It's tough not being able to be with either of our mothers today, but hopefully they know how much we miss them.
Next, last night Lucia and I made a friend last night. We had previously learned about a wine bar from a ristorante that we had visited in Florence and it came very highly recommended, so we had to try it out. We had randomly walked by it the other day when we were at the Boboli Gardens, and so at that time we made a reservation for a wine tasting/dinner. Little did we know what we had in store.
The owner of the enoteca sat us down and fed us unbelievable Tuscan food, and kept pouring us tastes of many good Italian wines. It was incredibly fun to talk with him about wine, and we asked him plenty of questions to pick his brain. We asked him about any courses or classes that we could take on wine while we are in Italy, but his recommendation was that we just taste our way through Italy and form our own palate and opinions. Sounds like a plan to me!
As the night went on, and I kept raving about the food, I finally asked him if I could come in some time and learn how to make Italian dishes like the ones they served, and he was more than happy to oblige! So, we'll be going back there from time to time, and learning about food and wine. Very exciting!
Arrivederci!
Next, last night Lucia and I made a friend last night. We had previously learned about a wine bar from a ristorante that we had visited in Florence and it came very highly recommended, so we had to try it out. We had randomly walked by it the other day when we were at the Boboli Gardens, and so at that time we made a reservation for a wine tasting/dinner. Little did we know what we had in store.
The owner of the enoteca sat us down and fed us unbelievable Tuscan food, and kept pouring us tastes of many good Italian wines. It was incredibly fun to talk with him about wine, and we asked him plenty of questions to pick his brain. We asked him about any courses or classes that we could take on wine while we are in Italy, but his recommendation was that we just taste our way through Italy and form our own palate and opinions. Sounds like a plan to me!
As the night went on, and I kept raving about the food, I finally asked him if I could come in some time and learn how to make Italian dishes like the ones they served, and he was more than happy to oblige! So, we'll be going back there from time to time, and learning about food and wine. Very exciting!
Arrivederci!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Some takeaways from Italy
Since Ricardo explained some of our frustrations in a previous post, I thought I'd talk about the cool things we wish the US would adopt.
The first three involve grocery stores:
-The Esselunga (Italy's version of Wal-Mart) has parking below the store. To get your cart up a floor, you go on a moving sidewalk ramp. The grocery cart magnetizes to the ramp so that doesn't slide around. Ricardo and I were both pretty amused by this.
-You put a Euro in to get your cart that you then get back when you return your cart (kind of like the luggage carts at an airport). This encourages people to put their carts back in the proper place and not leave them all over the parking lot.
-Third, you have to pay for your grocery bags. You can buy reusable bags (which we did), so you aren't buying bags every time. I bet this encourages people to be more green.
-Instead of putting your own trash out once a week in front of your casa, you put your trash in a dumpster on the road. They also have recycling "dumpsters" separated by plastic, paper, and even organics for composting. I'm sure this saves the city time and money picking up garbage and sorting recyclables.
-At a bar in Bologna, each person receives a tab card. When you order something, it gets marked on your individual card. You have to pay the bill and get your card stamped before you can leave. This is nice because you don't have to leave your credit card with the bartender and worry about forgetting it or getting someone else's drink charged to it. It is also beneficial when someone wants to leave early; they just pay their individual bill rather than leaving money and possibly leaving the others stuck if they don't leave enough.
I'm sure there are others, but for now...
Arrivederci!
The first three involve grocery stores:
-The Esselunga (Italy's version of Wal-Mart) has parking below the store. To get your cart up a floor, you go on a moving sidewalk ramp. The grocery cart magnetizes to the ramp so that doesn't slide around. Ricardo and I were both pretty amused by this.
-You put a Euro in to get your cart that you then get back when you return your cart (kind of like the luggage carts at an airport). This encourages people to put their carts back in the proper place and not leave them all over the parking lot.
-Third, you have to pay for your grocery bags. You can buy reusable bags (which we did), so you aren't buying bags every time. I bet this encourages people to be more green.
-Instead of putting your own trash out once a week in front of your casa, you put your trash in a dumpster on the road. They also have recycling "dumpsters" separated by plastic, paper, and even organics for composting. I'm sure this saves the city time and money picking up garbage and sorting recyclables.
-At a bar in Bologna, each person receives a tab card. When you order something, it gets marked on your individual card. You have to pay the bill and get your card stamped before you can leave. This is nice because you don't have to leave your credit card with the bartender and worry about forgetting it or getting someone else's drink charged to it. It is also beneficial when someone wants to leave early; they just pay their individual bill rather than leaving money and possibly leaving the others stuck if they don't leave enough.
I'm sure there are others, but for now...
Arrivederci!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Random Notes From Florence
I don't have any specific topic in mind to write about today so here are a few random bullet points:
~ We are now moved into our apartment in Florence, where we will be for the next two months. It's nice to not have to live out of a suit case any more, over two weeks of that was plenty. Our apartment is just a few miles outside the center of town, near a smaller town called Scandicci. We have found that we can take the bus and be downtown in 10-15 minutes, which is nice.
~ The first night we were here, Sunday night, we headed downtown for dinner to a place called Trattoria Garga. It turned out to be really good. The staff was friendly, the food was amazing, and we just had a great time. Lucia had pasta with artichokes and bottarga (fish roe) which was very different but good. While we ate we chatted with the couple next to us, who were from Colorado Springs. It was nice to have Americans to talk to for an hour or so.
~ On our way home from the restaurant, we walked. It took us about 40 minutes, and it was a perfect night for walking. Along the way, we encountered another Plug List item. If you don't remember the plug list, just click the plug list tag at the bottom of this post for a reminder. Anyways, this time, we somehow ended up sitting in beanbags on a bridge above the Arno river, staring up at the clearest night sky. It was quite a feeling, being in a city with such life and romance, and amidst it all this tranquil moment. A great way to start off our time in Florence!
Arrivederci!
~ We are now moved into our apartment in Florence, where we will be for the next two months. It's nice to not have to live out of a suit case any more, over two weeks of that was plenty. Our apartment is just a few miles outside the center of town, near a smaller town called Scandicci. We have found that we can take the bus and be downtown in 10-15 minutes, which is nice.
~ The first night we were here, Sunday night, we headed downtown for dinner to a place called Trattoria Garga. It turned out to be really good. The staff was friendly, the food was amazing, and we just had a great time. Lucia had pasta with artichokes and bottarga (fish roe) which was very different but good. While we ate we chatted with the couple next to us, who were from Colorado Springs. It was nice to have Americans to talk to for an hour or so.
~ On our way home from the restaurant, we walked. It took us about 40 minutes, and it was a perfect night for walking. Along the way, we encountered another Plug List item. If you don't remember the plug list, just click the plug list tag at the bottom of this post for a reminder. Anyways, this time, we somehow ended up sitting in beanbags on a bridge above the Arno river, staring up at the clearest night sky. It was quite a feeling, being in a city with such life and romance, and amidst it all this tranquil moment. A great way to start off our time in Florence!
Arrivederci!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Venice, the Las Vegas of Italy
We headed up to Venezia on Thursday to celebrate Ricardo's 30th birthday. We got up very early and took the first train from Bologna. We got there around 10AM and took the vaporetto to our hotel. We dropped our bags off and took off. Our hotel is right near Piazza San Marco so it didn't take long for us to find a delicious lunch and see the famous structures in the Piazza. At my grandmother's suggestion, we got gelato and watched all of the tourists and pigeons in the square before walking around a bit. We didn't really have an agenda and did not feel like waiting for hours to do some of the touristy stuff. Sometimes we enjoy just walking around and getting a feel for the area. As the title of this post implies, we concluded that Venice is a bit like Las Vegas. It is touristy, expensive, but you can't help but be invigorated by it all. The romance, gondaliers, beautiful architecture, and meandering paths over bridges and through narrow walkways...it is just breathtaking! Pictures just cannot do justice to this city. After a while, we headed to dinner at Fiaschetteria Toscana to celebrate. The food was delicious, mostly local seafood which hit the spot after two weeks of mostly meats, cheeses, and pasta. It ended up being a late night of celebrating and meeting new people.
The next day, we had brunch and then headed over to Murano to see the beautiful glass and watch the glassmakers in action. We ended up walking away a bit poorer but with a beautiful piece of artwork that will remind us of this spectacular trip. We had to name our piece of artwork that will go on the Certificate of Authenticity. We decided on "Il Dolce Far Niente", again meaning "the sweetness of doing nothing", which has been our motto and outlook for this trip. We wandered around a bit more once we got back to Venice before we had to get the train back home. All in all, a fantastic trip!
The next day, we had brunch and then headed over to Murano to see the beautiful glass and watch the glassmakers in action. We ended up walking away a bit poorer but with a beautiful piece of artwork that will remind us of this spectacular trip. We had to name our piece of artwork that will go on the Certificate of Authenticity. We decided on "Il Dolce Far Niente", again meaning "the sweetness of doing nothing", which has been our motto and outlook for this trip. We wandered around a bit more once we got back to Venice before we had to get the train back home. All in all, a fantastic trip!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Balsamic Vinegar and Parmigiano, yum!
As we have mentioned before, we get kind of geeked out when it comes to food. It's no wonder we chose Italy for our journey, as it has so many culinary treats and traditions to explore and enjoy. We got to experience two of them this week.
On Tuesday, we drove up to Modena, home of the world's best balsamic vinegar. We started off by wandering around the center of the city (as has become our M.O.) to see the sights. We grabbed a pizza for lunch near this huge old military building, and after that pointed the Fiat south to Castelvetro. There we got an amazing private tour at La Dispensa Vecchia, a small producer of several types of vinegar. Our extremely nice tour guide showed us all of their production rooms and walked us through the processes and strict regulations in order for their vinegar to be classified an Aceto Balsamico di Modena Tradizionale. It was interesting for us both because we knew nothing about the process and because our guide (a member of the family that runs the business) seemed so proud of their products and business. And then we got to try some! It was just amazing. Quite a treat.
On Wednesday we drove even farther away, to the small village of Varsi, to a small farm called Caseificio Val Ceno. There they produce Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of cheeses. Again we got a great private tour, but this time it was a little harder to understand because the tour guide did not speak English. We were able to understand almost all of it, but he had to be a little patient with us. At the end, he let us try all kinds of cheeses they made on the farm, all fantastic. We ended that days trip with a beautiful drive through the countryside and up into the mountainside. What a great two days!
On Tuesday, we drove up to Modena, home of the world's best balsamic vinegar. We started off by wandering around the center of the city (as has become our M.O.) to see the sights. We grabbed a pizza for lunch near this huge old military building, and after that pointed the Fiat south to Castelvetro. There we got an amazing private tour at La Dispensa Vecchia, a small producer of several types of vinegar. Our extremely nice tour guide showed us all of their production rooms and walked us through the processes and strict regulations in order for their vinegar to be classified an Aceto Balsamico di Modena Tradizionale. It was interesting for us both because we knew nothing about the process and because our guide (a member of the family that runs the business) seemed so proud of their products and business. And then we got to try some! It was just amazing. Quite a treat.
On Wednesday we drove even farther away, to the small village of Varsi, to a small farm called Caseificio Val Ceno. There they produce Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of cheeses. Again we got a great private tour, but this time it was a little harder to understand because the tour guide did not speak English. We were able to understand almost all of it, but he had to be a little patient with us. At the end, he let us try all kinds of cheeses they made on the farm, all fantastic. We ended that days trip with a beautiful drive through the countryside and up into the mountainside. What a great two days!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Things we are lacking here in Italia
Over the 11 days we have been here so far, we have come across a couple of glitches. Mainly things that we have been looking for and for one reason or another couldn't find. Here is a list of those items:
-Peanut butter. Apparently doesn't exist in this country, but they have Nutella by the truckload.
-Spinach. They have something called spinaccio, which you would assume is spinach, but it's more like less bitter broccoli rabe.
-Clothes dryers. No easy 45 minute dry cycle for us! Let's see if we can get these jeans dry by next month, shall we?
-120 volts. Am I right, engineers? (nerd joke)
-Orange juice. The orange juice here is weird, like they took regular orange juice and blended in a bunch of SweeTarts. They do have arance rosse, or blood orange juice, but it is cursed with the same affliction as its less-sanguine brother.
-Easy-to-see street signs. Did I just miss another turn? I sure did!
-Sour cream. Couldn't find this anywhere in the grocery store today, but they do have a surprising amount of yogurt. Also, the yogurt here seems a little off, but I haven't made a formal opinion on that yet so let's move on.
-Starbucks, and that is actually a good thing. I like Starbucks back home, but the coffee here is fantastic, and I am kind of obsessed with all the coffee bars that are all over the place. I am more than addicted.
More to come as our journey continues...
Arrivederci!
-Peanut butter. Apparently doesn't exist in this country, but they have Nutella by the truckload.
-Spinach. They have something called spinaccio, which you would assume is spinach, but it's more like less bitter broccoli rabe.
-Clothes dryers. No easy 45 minute dry cycle for us! Let's see if we can get these jeans dry by next month, shall we?
-120 volts. Am I right, engineers? (nerd joke)
-Orange juice. The orange juice here is weird, like they took regular orange juice and blended in a bunch of SweeTarts. They do have arance rosse, or blood orange juice, but it is cursed with the same affliction as its less-sanguine brother.
-Easy-to-see street signs. Did I just miss another turn? I sure did!
-Sour cream. Couldn't find this anywhere in the grocery store today, but they do have a surprising amount of yogurt. Also, the yogurt here seems a little off, but I haven't made a formal opinion on that yet so let's move on.
-Starbucks, and that is actually a good thing. I like Starbucks back home, but the coffee here is fantastic, and I am kind of obsessed with all the coffee bars that are all over the place. I am more than addicted.
More to come as our journey continues...
Arrivederci!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Buona Pasqua
The past three days have been wonderful. Saturday, we walked all around Bologna and found the neatest shops and sites. There are two towers in the center of town, one of which is severely leaning. We found a neat enoteca and stopped for a glass of wine and Ricardo had his first (and maybe last) grappa of the trip...boy is that stuff pungent! Then we went to the supermercato to stock up on food for the next few days as we figured most restaurants and stores would be closed Sunday for Easter and Monday for Liberation Day. We made dinner and enjoyed the night in our apartment.
Sunday, we slept in and planned our trips for the rest of the week. We decided to go to Ferrara Monday, Modena Tuesday, Parma Wednesday and Venezia Thursday and Friday. We then went for a walk around Bologna and went to a restaurant for dinner. The food was fantastic but the service left a lot to be desired. The manager kept coming by and looking at our tab. Typically in Italy, you have to ask for the bill and you have the table for as long as you want it so we were surprised that he seemed so anxious to get rid of us, especially with several other open tables. He then took our tab and brought the actual bill. We paid right away and asked our server why the manager was trying to get rid of us. He apologized profusely and even gave us some complimentary limoncello. We didn't let him rush us as we were enjoying the nice weather.
Today, we headed to Ferrara and decided to rent bikes to explore the town. It was such a great way to see the city. We saw the Este Castle which is surrounded by a moat right in the center of town. We also saw one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen. They were even holding mass when we went in and it was interesting to hear service in Italian. We also biked around a peaceful park and stopped at a local pizzeria for lunch.
The best part was that it was Liberation Day and they did a reenactment of the end of German-Fascist control that occurred on April 25, 1945. It seemed all of the local residents came to town to celebrate and watch. We'll try to post a video of the festivities later.
Arrivederci!
Sunday, we slept in and planned our trips for the rest of the week. We decided to go to Ferrara Monday, Modena Tuesday, Parma Wednesday and Venezia Thursday and Friday. We then went for a walk around Bologna and went to a restaurant for dinner. The food was fantastic but the service left a lot to be desired. The manager kept coming by and looking at our tab. Typically in Italy, you have to ask for the bill and you have the table for as long as you want it so we were surprised that he seemed so anxious to get rid of us, especially with several other open tables. He then took our tab and brought the actual bill. We paid right away and asked our server why the manager was trying to get rid of us. He apologized profusely and even gave us some complimentary limoncello. We didn't let him rush us as we were enjoying the nice weather.
Today, we headed to Ferrara and decided to rent bikes to explore the town. It was such a great way to see the city. We saw the Este Castle which is surrounded by a moat right in the center of town. We also saw one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen. They were even holding mass when we went in and it was interesting to hear service in Italian. We also biked around a peaceful park and stopped at a local pizzeria for lunch.
The best part was that it was Liberation Day and they did a reenactment of the end of German-Fascist control that occurred on April 25, 1945. It seemed all of the local residents came to town to celebrate and watch. We'll try to post a video of the festivities later.
Arrivederci!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
A Setback, and Then a New City
Buon giorno from Bologna! We are now staying in a studio apartment on the outskirts of the city here for the next week. This was not the original plan.
We had been staying in the hills outside Florence. While this was a pretty location, and fun for a little while, it had its drawbacks. For one, it was not very easy to get to. We had to drive for 20 minutes up into the hills, including a long drive up a windy dirt driveway, just to get to our farmhouse lodging. Also, it had some problems that generally come with living in a farmhouse. The hot water was spotty at best (you had to run the hot water in the sink for a couple minutes before you could even try the hot water in the shower, and we didn't figure this trick out for a couple days so we had some cold showers...not fun). And then came the final straw...a scorpion in our bathroom! Not having ever encountered one before, we were both sufficiently freaked out to want to switch apartments. That's how we decided to come to Bologna.
Last night was our first night in this new city, and we decided to check out the nightlife, a first for us in Italy. We wandered around the center of the city until we found a bar that seemed to be near the university. The beer was cold, the fried mozzarella was excellent, and the people watching was fantastic. On our way out we noticed a waffle and crepe shop next door, and we just had to try that. Waffles are a favorite of mine, and adding a huge scoop of chocolate gelato did nothing but make the waffle even more delicious. All in all, a fun first night in Bologna!
We had been staying in the hills outside Florence. While this was a pretty location, and fun for a little while, it had its drawbacks. For one, it was not very easy to get to. We had to drive for 20 minutes up into the hills, including a long drive up a windy dirt driveway, just to get to our farmhouse lodging. Also, it had some problems that generally come with living in a farmhouse. The hot water was spotty at best (you had to run the hot water in the sink for a couple minutes before you could even try the hot water in the shower, and we didn't figure this trick out for a couple days so we had some cold showers...not fun). And then came the final straw...a scorpion in our bathroom! Not having ever encountered one before, we were both sufficiently freaked out to want to switch apartments. That's how we decided to come to Bologna.
Last night was our first night in this new city, and we decided to check out the nightlife, a first for us in Italy. We wandered around the center of the city until we found a bar that seemed to be near the university. The beer was cold, the fried mozzarella was excellent, and the people watching was fantastic. On our way out we noticed a waffle and crepe shop next door, and we just had to try that. Waffles are a favorite of mine, and adding a huge scoop of chocolate gelato did nothing but make the waffle even more delicious. All in all, a fun first night in Bologna!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The Love Affair with Italy has Begun
Ricardo and I have finally been able to tour around a bit. Tuesday we went to Arezzo, yesterday we went to Fiesole (just north of Florence) and today we went to Scandicci and Firenze centro (downtown Florence). In Fiesole yesterday we found the most unbelievable gelato, watched the church bells ring to call the locals to mass, and I saw my first ancient Roman ruins. We also climbed up a large hill to see the most beautiful view of Florence.
This picture doesn't even do the view justice.
We went to a restaurant last night near our casa that served horse as a meal. Needless to say, we quickly left that place as soon as we saw that and it was hard for me to regain an appetite. Let's hope that was an anomaly and not customary in Italy. Luckily, we found a great substitute restaurant and had a tasty meal.
Today, we drove to Scandicci (right over the Arno River from Florence) to see an apartment owned by Ricardo's relative's friend, Barbara. She was so nice and the apartment is so cool. Every room is painted in a bright color and the apartment is very modern. It is funny because we pictured living out in the hills of Tuscany in some villa before we came here. Now that we're here, we realize this is very different than what you'd imagine. It is hard to get anywhere in Tuscany and the roads are very, very narrow (to the point where you have to pull off the road if another car comes along). We realized we would rather live a little closer to a big city so that we can easily travel around Italy. We were impressed that we were able to hold a 30 minute conversation with Barbara strictly in Italian with little to no trouble. I guess we know more than we think we do.
After we checked out the apartment we went over the river to Florence. We found a small restaurant for dinner. We drove along the Arno River to get back home afterwards. I had heard/read of so many people having a "love affair" with Italy and was curious if it would happen to me. It finally happened tonight when we were driving home. Florence has a heartbeat just like New York. I had the same feeling I did when I first went to New York and am anxious to explore more of Florence. We are also finally feeling more comfortable and at home here. Until the next adventure...
Arrivederci!
This picture doesn't even do the view justice.
We went to a restaurant last night near our casa that served horse as a meal. Needless to say, we quickly left that place as soon as we saw that and it was hard for me to regain an appetite. Let's hope that was an anomaly and not customary in Italy. Luckily, we found a great substitute restaurant and had a tasty meal.
Today, we drove to Scandicci (right over the Arno River from Florence) to see an apartment owned by Ricardo's relative's friend, Barbara. She was so nice and the apartment is so cool. Every room is painted in a bright color and the apartment is very modern. It is funny because we pictured living out in the hills of Tuscany in some villa before we came here. Now that we're here, we realize this is very different than what you'd imagine. It is hard to get anywhere in Tuscany and the roads are very, very narrow (to the point where you have to pull off the road if another car comes along). We realized we would rather live a little closer to a big city so that we can easily travel around Italy. We were impressed that we were able to hold a 30 minute conversation with Barbara strictly in Italian with little to no trouble. I guess we know more than we think we do.
After we checked out the apartment we went over the river to Florence. We found a small restaurant for dinner. We drove along the Arno River to get back home afterwards. I had heard/read of so many people having a "love affair" with Italy and was curious if it would happen to me. It finally happened tonight when we were driving home. Florence has a heartbeat just like New York. I had the same feeling I did when I first went to New York and am anxious to explore more of Florence. We are also finally feeling more comfortable and at home here. Until the next adventure...
Arrivederci!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Arezzo, una Città Meravigliosa
Lucia and I drove down to the city of Arezzo yesterday for our first real day of sightseeing in Italy. As the title of this post notes, we found it to be a marvelous city. The minute we parked our car and started walking around, Lucia noted, "This is exactly what I pictured Italy to be like!" We wandered around the strade pedonale (pedestrian streets) for several hours just looking at shops, people watching, and of course, having gelato. The only problem with Arezzo, as we had read beforehand, is that the city is built into quite a hill, and everywhere you walked felt like you were walking uphill. Not that we let that dampen our enthusiasm.
Two stores we visited in Arezzo stood out in our mind. The first was a small enoteca and formaggeria (wine and cheese bar - no way to go wrong there!) Eliana, the store owner and seemingly only employee, recommended to us a fantastic Rosso di Montalcino, and brought us the best fresh pecorino cheese. Not a bad way to spend an, afternoon! Since we were the only customers in the store, we got to talking with Eliana, and she was kind enough to write down some of her favorite Tuscan wineries for tasting. We are going to take her up on the recommendations, because after yesterday, we definitely trust her judgment.
The other place we visited was a coffee bar, where a very animated man poured espresso and other refreshments with gusto. He was a sight to watch, a blur of movement behind the bar, with every order seeming to arrive within seconds, and each looking like it had taken an hour to prepare. We couldn't help ourselves and had to ask about a couple of the drinks he was pouring and though his English was minimal, he tried explaining them to us, and seemed happy to inform us on the Italian way of life.
More to come about today's travels in another post, probably tomorrow.
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Two stores we visited in Arezzo stood out in our mind. The first was a small enoteca and formaggeria (wine and cheese bar - no way to go wrong there!) Eliana, the store owner and seemingly only employee, recommended to us a fantastic Rosso di Montalcino, and brought us the best fresh pecorino cheese. Not a bad way to spend an, afternoon! Since we were the only customers in the store, we got to talking with Eliana, and she was kind enough to write down some of her favorite Tuscan wineries for tasting. We are going to take her up on the recommendations, because after yesterday, we definitely trust her judgment.
The other place we visited was a coffee bar, where a very animated man poured espresso and other refreshments with gusto. He was a sight to watch, a blur of movement behind the bar, with every order seeming to arrive within seconds, and each looking like it had taken an hour to prepare. We couldn't help ourselves and had to ask about a couple of the drinks he was pouring and though his English was minimal, he tried explaining them to us, and seemed happy to inform us on the Italian way of life.
More to come about today's travels in another post, probably tomorrow.
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Initial Impressions
Ricardo and I drove up to Tuscany yesterday and are now staying in a beautiful house up in the hills near a small town called Molino del Piano. We are now well rested, settled and better able to take it all in.
My first impressions are:
-The motorcyclists are crazy and weave all around you. This was a little unnerving when we were trying to navigate around Rome.
-It must be pretty obvious that we are not Italians because everyone in Rome spoke English to us at first. However, as soon as we responded in Italian, most of them spoke to us in Italian. We aren't quite conversational but can understand what most people are saying.
-Deodorant usage is minimal, at least in Rome.
-We are the talk of Molino del Piano. We went to the macelleria (butcher shop) and mercato (market) last night and found out that everyone already knew about us.
The countryside is absolutely gorgeous. We are loving the small town atmosphere and have even cooked our first meal in our small kitchen while enjoying a little local wine. Life is good!
Arrivederci!
Lucia
My first impressions are:
-The motorcyclists are crazy and weave all around you. This was a little unnerving when we were trying to navigate around Rome.
-It must be pretty obvious that we are not Italians because everyone in Rome spoke English to us at first. However, as soon as we responded in Italian, most of them spoke to us in Italian. We aren't quite conversational but can understand what most people are saying.
-Deodorant usage is minimal, at least in Rome.
-We are the talk of Molino del Piano. We went to the macelleria (butcher shop) and mercato (market) last night and found out that everyone already knew about us.
The countryside is absolutely gorgeous. We are loving the small town atmosphere and have even cooked our first meal in our small kitchen while enjoying a little local wine. Life is good!
Arrivederci!
Lucia
Friday, April 15, 2011
Benvenuti a Roma!
Well, here we are! We made it to Rome early yesterday morning with Tosca in tow. A lot has happened since our last post and we didn't have much time to update the blog. Unfortunately we ended up getting denied for our year long visas. What a frustrating process that ended up being fruitless for us. We are determined to not let it get us down or put a damper on our trip though. We are both very fortunate to have the opportunity to go to Italy, even if it is only for three months.
More to come, but we only have a few minutes of wifi left at this hotel. For now we are off to Tuscany!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
More to come, but we only have a few minutes of wifi left at this hotel. For now we are off to Tuscany!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Become Your Dream
In the last week of our lives in New York, right around our apartment, someone has been writing "BECOME YOUR DREAM" in chalk all over the sidewalk. Ricardo and I can't help but think this is more than a coincidence and are using this as inspiration to get through this final week of plans, work, stress, moving, anticipation, etc. We haven't heard anything from the consulate so we are hoping this is good news. We will find out for sure on Thursday as we are heading out of town.
We had our final going away party with our good friends last weekend and ate an AMAZING "last hurrah" meal at a top restaurant in the city. We are now busy packing and getting ready for the movers.
Arrivederci!
We had our final going away party with our good friends last weekend and ate an AMAZING "last hurrah" meal at a top restaurant in the city. We are now busy packing and getting ready for the movers.
Arrivederci!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Finish Line, Hopefully
As we have noted in earlier posts, the process to obtain a 1 year elective residence visa turned out to be much more frustrating than we could ever have anticipated. After providing endless documentation, and complying with inane and seemingly ever-changing requirements, we seem to have made a breakthrough. We finally got the consulate to see that we only wanted to go for one year, that we had adequate means to sustain ourselves, and that we had no plans to mooch off the Italian government. On Monday they accepted our application and told us that it would be in review and that if we did not hear from them about a rejection, then we could pick up our visa on the 31st. The 31st is also the day that we are moving out of New York. Nothing like cutting it a little close! So, fingers crossed, we may have our visa soon.
Yesterday was my last day of work. It was surreal to be leaving, because now I have no employment for the next year, and that is actually pretty scary. We both hope that we are not going to regret giving up on our successful career paths in order to chase our crazy dream. We have been running the gamut of emotions lately; happy to be arriving at the doorstep of our amazing year in Italy, sad to be leaving New York, anxious about leaving our jobs, nostalgic about our amazing 5+ years here, and excited to be entering the next phase in our lives.
Just a few days left and then we are off!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Yesterday was my last day of work. It was surreal to be leaving, because now I have no employment for the next year, and that is actually pretty scary. We both hope that we are not going to regret giving up on our successful career paths in order to chase our crazy dream. We have been running the gamut of emotions lately; happy to be arriving at the doorstep of our amazing year in Italy, sad to be leaving New York, anxious about leaving our jobs, nostalgic about our amazing 5+ years here, and excited to be entering the next phase in our lives.
Just a few days left and then we are off!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Visa Saga Continues...
We found out that it would take 4 months to process a work visa so we would have to apply now and then come back in 3 months or so to get it...and that's assuming we even get approved. We decided that it is not worth it and decided to stick with our original plan to apply for elective residence.
We went yesterday and met with the Italian Consulate. They require that you have a monthly income in order to apply for this type of visa. You are not allowed to work, so they expect you to have pension, investment or rental income. They even said that this type of visa is really for retired people. We left defeated but still determined. I talked to my company and arranged for my deferred compension to be paid out over the next year so we have a monthly income. We went back this morning and it seems that is going to work. They said technically we have to have income into perpetuity because this type of visa is a lifetime visa. Although we are granted the visa for a year, it seems we can continue to renew it. Therefore, the consulate has to make sure we have enough income and assets to make sure we won't be living on Italy's dime (or Euro). The supervisor we have been speaking with seems to want to work with us though so we are keeping our fingers crossed. The only other problem is that they would not accept Ricardo's relative's "lettera di invito" as proof of residence. Therefore, we have to work out a lease agreement. We are running out of time and getting a little nervous but are planning to make the most out of whatever time and opportunities we have in Europe.
We'll keep you posted as everything happens....
Arrivederci!
We went yesterday and met with the Italian Consulate. They require that you have a monthly income in order to apply for this type of visa. You are not allowed to work, so they expect you to have pension, investment or rental income. They even said that this type of visa is really for retired people. We left defeated but still determined. I talked to my company and arranged for my deferred compension to be paid out over the next year so we have a monthly income. We went back this morning and it seems that is going to work. They said technically we have to have income into perpetuity because this type of visa is a lifetime visa. Although we are granted the visa for a year, it seems we can continue to renew it. Therefore, the consulate has to make sure we have enough income and assets to make sure we won't be living on Italy's dime (or Euro). The supervisor we have been speaking with seems to want to work with us though so we are keeping our fingers crossed. The only other problem is that they would not accept Ricardo's relative's "lettera di invito" as proof of residence. Therefore, we have to work out a lease agreement. We are running out of time and getting a little nervous but are planning to make the most out of whatever time and opportunities we have in Europe.
We'll keep you posted as everything happens....
Arrivederci!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Visas, Etc.
A lot of action to discuss this week...
We went to apply for our visas two weeks ago. Unfortunately, it did not go well. We didn't have all of the required supporting documentation, and were denied. Needless to say, this was a frustrating development. Since then, we've been compiling the required paperwork, and getting a "letter of invitation" from my relative in Italy in the hopes that the letter would aid in our visa application. Our plan was to reapply for our visa this morning.
However, on Monday, we both gave notice at our respective jobs that we were leaving. Both employers were sad to see us leave, and Lucia's even offered to let her work part-time from Italy, so we decided to explore that option first before applying for our residency visa. The residency visa would not technically allow us to work, but we're still trying to figure out if she will be able to work for a US company or not with that visa. It's a complicated problem to solve, really. But, in the end, we're going to have a great time no matter what, so it's not a terrible problem to have.
Aside from the visa issue, we've been keeping up with the rest of our planning. We've booked an apartment for the first two weeks that we are there, in a small town called Fornello, about 10 miles outside of Florence. In researching apartments, we contacted many people, and almost all of them were exceptionally kind in their replies to our inquiries. Most replied that they were excited for us that we were planning this trip, and that we could contact them for any help that we might need. It was encouraging to us to find that people were so outgoing and nice to complete strangers.
Hopefully we get it all figured out soon!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Almost at the top...
Our latest accomplishment in getting ready to go to Italy was making the appointments at the Italian consulate in order to apply for our visas. I'd have to say that of all the steps and processes so far in preparing for our journey, this one felt the most final. There was almost a wave of panic after we made the appointments, sort of "wait, are we really doing this??" In a good way, if that makes sense. It's exciting, but certainly bittersweet, as we are definitely sad to leave New York. We've touched on that subject here before, so it's not new territory, but it's getting harder to imagine not living here.
Tonight Lucia and I were talking about our anxiety, and whether or not we were doing the right thing in leaving New York, discussing plans we needed to be making, etc., when a metaphor for our situation came to me out of the blue. Right now, we're in the last ten seconds of the climb up the first hill of a rollercoaster. In those ten seconds, a small panic attack hits you, as you're as high up as you can get on the ride, and you start to wonder, "Why am I on this ride? Why did I agree to this? Get me DOWN!" It's not long until you're hurtling down the hill, exhilarated, thrilled, and happy that you decided to get on the ride. I can definitely say that we're both very ready to hit the crest of the hill and start our wild ride.
Arrividerci!
Ricardo
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Two months to go
The holidays are wrapping up and so is our time here in New York. We have been falling in love with our fair city all over again these past few months. Despite the mass of tourists during the holidays, the inches and inches of snow and all of the pushy rude people on the buses and subways, we really do love this city. This is where we fell in love, advanced our careers and met lifelong friends. We are putting our notice in this week that we aren't renewing our apartment lease. This has, in my opinion, much more of a feeling of finality than booking our one way flights. We are leaving the city and there's no turning back. Although we're incredibly excited to start this new adventure and know that it will lead to wonderful memories and experiences, we can't help but get nostalgic leaving New York and get a little scared about what's to come. As with any major life change, it is intimidating! We are leaving at the end of March and will visit our families for two weeks before our April 14th departure. Before we leave, we are going to take a day and be tourists. We plan to do a few of the things we've always wanted to do in New York but haven't done yet. This list includes the United Nations tour, Statue of Liberty, double-decker bus, and many more.
To give everyone an update on our planning, we've applied for our International Driver's licenses and we have booked a hotel in Rome for our first night in Italy. We think we found a cheaper and better way to get international health insurance (that might even allow us to come back to US once or twice) and are looking at apartments in and around Florence for our first week. We will be applying for our visas in the next few weeks which should be an interesting experience. Until then...
Arrivederci!
To give everyone an update on our planning, we've applied for our International Driver's licenses and we have booked a hotel in Rome for our first night in Italy. We think we found a cheaper and better way to get international health insurance (that might even allow us to come back to US once or twice) and are looking at apartments in and around Florence for our first week. We will be applying for our visas in the next few weeks which should be an interesting experience. Until then...
Arrivederci!
Monday, November 22, 2010
UPDATE!
Ooooooookay, so it's been a while since we posted. Let's dive right into the updates on our progress:
-We've been researching houses and cars. Still narrowing down the exact town we want to live in, but we're pretty set on Southern Tuscany. Anyone have any suggestions to help us out? Also, we have been checking out potentially renting a car long-term over there instead of buying and having to sell when we leave. No decisions yet, but renting is more palatable than we originally thought.
-Going along with the car situation, we found out that we'll need to get an International Driver's License, which is pretty easy to obtain, surprisingly.
-Our plan as of now is to take our cat Tosca with us, so we've been researching how to import a cat into Italy. So, poor kitty had to take a trip to the vet and get a checkup and some shots. We need to get her some pet travel documentation as the trip approaches, and then she is good to go!
-Finally, the big update...we booked our flight to Italy! We leave on April 14th. It's a bit scary to book a one-way flight to another continent, but here we are. So, it's official, we're definitely going!
More updates soon,
Ricardo.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A Day-A-Whey
Last Sunday, Ricardo and I spent a "Day-A-Whey" heading up to the Hudson Valley on a charter bus to a few dairy farms. I wish Ricardo and I were the clever ones to think of this name. We got a tour of the first farm and tried some of their homemade cheeses. Afterwards, we headed to the second farm. We first walked up to the top of this hill that overlooked all of the Hudson Valley. We could even see Albany in the distance. We had a champagne toast at the top of the hill and tried some of their delicious cheese. Then, we went back down towards the creamery to have a pig roast lunch. We sat at long picnic tables, eating pork, baked beans, homemade corn bread and drinking local wine. The day was absolutely gorgeous (70s and sunny) and everyone was so friendly. It was nice to get out of the city for the day and enjoy the fresh air and last bit of nice weather we might have for the year. I think most people don't realize what a luxury it is for us New Yorkers to be outside, eating barbecued food, surrounded by trees and grass.
Finally, I just have to share part of the response I got from Ricardo when I asked whether he wanted to attend this event. It still cracks me up!
There is much to love about this email. Let's break it down in bullet format:
Finally, I just have to share part of the response I got from Ricardo when I asked whether he wanted to attend this event. It still cracks me up!
There is much to love about this email. Let's break it down in bullet format:
- Day-A-Whey...can't beat that wordplay.
- Champagne reception AND a pig roast? Have they been recording my dreams?
- We're doing this. There's really no choice.
Mother-daughter bonding
My mom and I have started to have a girls' weekend once a year. A few weeks ago, we got together in West Virginia at the Greenbrier resort. I'm amazed this place doesn't get more publicity. It's nestled in the mountains with gorgeous views in every direction. The resort itself has a sulphur springs spa, casino, several restaurants and many top stores for shopping. You can sign up for any activity you can think of including off-road driving, horseback riding, archery, hiking, etc. The decor of the resort is very interesting too...almost looks like it came from Alice in Wonderland....very colorful and bright! Anyway, I'm not getting paid by this resort, just thought I'd pass along information about this semi-hidden gem.
We walked around the resort the first day and just caught up on life. We found a backgammon table and I remembered how much I love this game. Unfortunately, I was a little rusty and lost all three games.
The next day, we had spa appointments, complete with a sulphur soak, steam or sauna room and massage. We then went into town for some shopping. Most of the stores were small boutiques so there was something interesting in every one. Before dinner, we went back to the backgammon table. This time I won all three games! We had a delicious sushi dinner which was on the other end of the casino. As we were walking out, we stopped to watch the people playing craps. My mom and I aren't gamblers at all, but decided to each gamble $10. We ended up walking away with $50 each, so we were happy! I even got to toss the dice a few times! We stayed up late that night laughing and just being goofy. It was a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to next year. Guess we'll have to find someplace in Italy...
Arrivederci!
We walked around the resort the first day and just caught up on life. We found a backgammon table and I remembered how much I love this game. Unfortunately, I was a little rusty and lost all three games.
The next day, we had spa appointments, complete with a sulphur soak, steam or sauna room and massage. We then went into town for some shopping. Most of the stores were small boutiques so there was something interesting in every one. Before dinner, we went back to the backgammon table. This time I won all three games! We had a delicious sushi dinner which was on the other end of the casino. As we were walking out, we stopped to watch the people playing craps. My mom and I aren't gamblers at all, but decided to each gamble $10. We ended up walking away with $50 each, so we were happy! I even got to toss the dice a few times! We stayed up late that night laughing and just being goofy. It was a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to next year. Guess we'll have to find someplace in Italy...
Arrivederci!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The Long and Winery Road - Part III
After we descended from Mt. St. Helens, we headed north for Woodinville, WA. Once we arrived in Woodinville, we made our way to...you guessed it...more wine tastings! It was a gorgeous day, and from Woodinville, you can get a pretty good sighting of Mt. Rainier. It definitely made up for us not seeing it up close:
The next day, we took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo just north of Seattle. We were hoping to see the meerkats that they have on exhibit there, but for some reason they weren't out for the public to see that day. Big disappointment. We had a lot of fun anyways, as we always both enjoy seeing the animals.
After the zoo we headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up for our dinner at Herbfarm. We had booked this dinner months in advance after hearing about it from Lucia's coworker. Dinner at Herbfarm is a 9 course "themed" dinner featuring local ingredients and herbs from the on-site garden. Prior to dining, we got a garden tour where the owner taught us about herbs, and was pulling them fresh from the garden for us to taste and smell The food was out-of-this-world! And...PLUG LIST ALERT...during dinner you could go feed their Vietnamese Pot-bellied pigs, so of course we did that! Here are the pigs we fed:
The next day we headed into Seattle. Highlights included the Pike Place Market (we ate at the Athenian Inn, where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed, and we sat in Tom Hanks' and Rob Reiner's seats while we were eating); the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project; the Ballard Locks, where the salmon swim upstream from Puget Sound; Spinasse, a restaurant we had read about and where we got a Chef's Table meal prepared for us; the Seattle Underground tour; and a Seattle Mariners game.
We had such an amazing trip to the Pacific Northwest. We met a lot of nice people, saw tons of great sights, and had a blast! We'd recommend it to anyone!
Arrivederci!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Long and Winery Road - Part II
Picking up where we left off, we left the Willamette Valley and headed east in the search for more wine. We stopped at Multnomah Falls and did some hiking on the way.
Che bello!
The drive east was a little longer than we expected. It was a beautiful drive, so we hardly noticed. There were hundreds of wind turbines working on the mountains, which was an impressive sight. We stopped at a few wineries before checking into our hotel in Walla Walla.
The next day we had a few appointments at wineries in the Yakima area that are a little more off the beaten path. The first one was in a huge chateau and we were the only tasters there. The estate was beautiful and the wine was some of the best we tasted out West. It was really a romantic setting. The second was drastically different. This was a winery that you probably have never heard of. We found out about it through some of our other wine-obsessed friends. You drive out to the middle of nowhere and pull into this driveway with no sign. The winery is run by the sweetest family and they are truly passionate about what they do. They casually mention that they’ve won all of these awards as we’re tasting their wine in the garage/winery. We felt so lucky to have found this place!
We stopped in Yakima for a quick lunch and headed for the mountains (AKA Mt. Rainier). Again, the drive was beautiful. However, it was raining pretty hard as we ascended the mountain, so this is all we saw...
The next morning we headed up Mt. Saint Helens to check out the crater. Again, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and this is all we saw....
We did get to see some beautiful sights on the drive up, like...
And....
We will post the last leg of our trip shortly. Until then, arrivederci!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Long and Winery Road - Part 1
Greetings, readers!
So, it's been another couple weeks since we've posted. Mostly that was because we took a 10 day vacation to Oregon and Washington.
For the trip, we started out in Portland. What a fun city! Lucia had been there briefly for work, but I had never been there before. We had no idea it was such a "foodie" city! We ate at a few local spots that couldn't be described as anything but amazing. If you're ever in Portland and looking for breakfast, go to Tasty and Sons...you will not be disappointed.
After Portland we started the "wine" portion of our trip. We went to a bunch of fun wineries in the Willamette Valley (and even learned that it's pronounced Will-LAM-ette...who knew?). Lucia was amazed and thrilled because on one side of the street would be beautiful vineyards and on the other would be grazing horses. "The best of both worlds!" according to her.
In both Portland and the Willamette Valley we found a lot of outgoing, caring, and passionate people. We really feel like we got a good sense of the culture and how happy everyone seems to be out there.
In the next post, we'll move onward on our journey..
Arrivederci!
Ricardo
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
La Dolce Far Niente
Naturally, right after claiming we were going to post more...we went 3 weeks without posting. My bad!
Perhaps we were practicing to enjoy "la dolce far niente." This is an Italian phrase/lifestyle which means "the sweetness of doing nothing." This is not to say that we've literally been doing nothing...in reality, far from it. It just seems as though life, in the doldrums of summer, is passing us by as we enjoy it without reservation. August has been nice; our jobs have provided little stress, we've been able to enjoy the quietest time of the year in New York City by going to the theater and sitting in the park, and we've been cooking some new recipes to go along with some great wine at home.
Soon the summer travelers will return to the city, and it will be busier at our jobs and at home. But that's alright, since we know we have all of next year to enjoy "la dolce far niente."
Arrivederci!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
25 things we've done since our last post
In an effort to catch everyone up on what Ricardo and I have been doing this summer, we put together a list:
- Ricardo ran in the JP Morgan corporate challenge and did really well!
- Went to a friend's 30th birthday party on a Manhattan rooftop and cooked lobsters
- Went to New Hampshire for another friend's 30th birthday
- Had a luau for said friend in NH
- Went to Tennessee for the annual 4th of July get together with my family
- Barbecued, boated, swam and watched fireworks in TN
- Played with my nieces and nephews and caught up with the rest of my family in TN
- Saw The Hangover on a pier overlooking the Hudson River
- Met Ricardo's aunt, uncle and cousin in NYC after his cousin just moved here for an internship
- Had our first anniversary!!
- Went to the Northfork of Long Island for our anniversary weekend
- Went on a private wine tasting tour around Long Island and were surprised by the quality of wines
- Stayed in an adorable bed and breakfast in Long Island
- Went biking around Greenport, Long Island
- Were sick for a week
- Saw Dave Matthews Band and Zac Brown Band in concert
- Were told we were the most boring couple at the DMB concert (after being sick all week)
- Went back home to Ohio for our friend's wedding
- Took Ricardo to the county fair where I used to show horses
- Ricardo saw many farm animals, including beef cattle for the first time in his life
- Spent an entire day on my parents' porch with my parents, grandma and Ricardo - perfect day!
- Saw Willie Nelson in concert
- Got yelled at during the Willie concert for being too loud (this was a week after being told we were boring...ha!)
- Took a touristy boat tour around Manhattan
- Ricardo took me to my first Yankees game at New Yankee Stadium
Monday, August 2, 2010
Abbiamo bisogno di scrivere più sul nostro blog
Well hello there. Yeah, yeah, we know, it's been a while. It's been a busy summer for the two of us. We appreciate your patience.
As you can tell from the title of the post, Lucia and I are getting better at our Italian! And as you might not be able to tell, the title means "we need to write more on our blog." Which is definitely the truth. Expect more blogtastic fun from the L & R team in the near future.
So...let's get caught up. We're trying to keep diligent about the Italian lessons (but it has been a little hard with the weekend trips we've been taking), and we've gotten a little further into researching where to live over in Italia. Right now our focus is on the small town of Arezzo, which is in Tuscany. The next step for us is to make sure we're all set to apply for a visa in a couple of months, and that involves going to the Italian Consulate and meeting with them to seek out their help.
Anyways, we'll be writing more very soon about the past month and what we've been up to. We hope you didn't all miss us too much!
Arrivederci!
Lucia and Ricardo
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Spontaneous Poetry Jam
Lucia and I went out for dinner tonight to celebrate 4 years since our first date. Afterwards, one of us (not going to tell you who) decided to see if the other could come up with a poem noting the occasion on the spot. Neither one of us can back down from a challenge like that. We decided to post the results for everyone's enjoyment:
Lucia's poem:
Craziness, it's been four years
Our wedding caused many tears
Our love brings so much joy
Because you're such a wonderful boy
So let's give ourselves four cheers!
Ricardo's poem:
Our love
Like waves
The roads
It paves
The days I spend with you;
Each morn'
I wake
The love
We make
Gives us more to look forward to!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The results are up!
We got 25th place in the crazy race we did this weekend, so we qualify for "nationals" in New Orleans over Halloween weekend. Should we go? We've never been to New Orleans so it could be fun! Maybe we could take Flip video of our race and use it for an Amazing Race audition tape....now we're on to something!
Arrivederci!
Arrivederci!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Racing Across NYC
Lucia and I have been busy learning Italian lately, hence the lack of posts. We promise to keep up with the posting better than we have been!
Yesterday we spent the day doing something fun...we did the Citysolve Urban Adventure Race! It's a race/scavenger hunt throughout the city, sort of a mini-Amazing Race.
The format consisted of everyone getting the same multiple-choice clue, and the correct answer pointed you to a location where you picked up a packet of ten clues for the rest of the race. The answer for each clue was a location in Manhattan, and each team had to take a picture of themselves at that location in order to complete the task. Teams could only travel via foot, bus, or subway. Lucia and I completed the race in 3 hours 21 minutes, which we thought was pretty good, considering we had to run around in the NYC summer heat. We will find out on Tuesday if we qualified for the national Citysolve finals, which take place in New Orleans in October. Maybe we'll go!
We like the show The Amazing Race, mostly because we love to travel and are jealous of the teams on the show that get to see far-away locales, and participate in local traditions. At least for one day, we got to compete in a similar competition. Hopefully someday we'll get to go on The Amazing Race and travel the world solving clues and racing to the finish line!
Arrivederci!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Italian cooking class
Ricardo and I took a Naples/Campagnia cooking class last weekend. We made raw tuna crostini, zucchini pasta, braciole, broccolini, and babas (a bisquit-like dessert with a custard typically made with rum, but we made it with limoncello). Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not really a fan of Italian desserts. This is the first Italian dessert that I have loved! I guess I'll have to switch my creme brulee desserts to babas while we're in Italy.
We were paired with a bossy, know-it-all woman, who we thought we might kill before the end of the class. Luckily, we decided to divide duties and Ricardo and I did our own thing. The best part of the class is that the meal was paired with wines from the Naples area. We really liked a few of the wines and are excited to learn more about Italian wines while we're there. We have been fortunate enough to try a lot of Italian wines recently to get prepared.
Also, Ricardo is running in a race tonight, so wish him luck!
Arrivederci!
We were paired with a bossy, know-it-all woman, who we thought we might kill before the end of the class. Luckily, we decided to divide duties and Ricardo and I did our own thing. The best part of the class is that the meal was paired with wines from the Naples area. We really liked a few of the wines and are excited to learn more about Italian wines while we're there. We have been fortunate enough to try a lot of Italian wines recently to get prepared.
Also, Ricardo is running in a race tonight, so wish him luck!
Arrivederci!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Lucia, you've got some splaining to do!
I've been a little MIA with the blog lately....partially because Ricardo and I have been having so much fun.
We went up to Kennebunkport, Maine (summer home of George H.W. Bush) with Ricardo's parents for Memorial Day weekend. We went in all the shops and looked at the trinkets for sale. I can get lost in these types of shops. Everything is so interesting and it is amazing to see what people come up with. I was typically the last one out of each store. We also went on a whale watching tour and saw a humpback whale and a minke whale. I had never seen a whale before (excluding Sea World) so it was quite a sight! They are so big and seem so prehistoric! The tour went an hour longer than anticipated so we had to rush to get ready before our gourmet meal at the White Barn Inn. This restaurant is amazing! As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by about 15 staff members. The food was delectable, the service was fantastic, and the company wasn't too bad either. I'm surprised this restaurant isn't well-known nationally. Monday on our way back to the city, we stopped to see our friends who had just had a baby a few weeks ago. Boy was he precious and soooo tiny!
On the Italy front, we've been working on our Italian and Ricardo has been speaking with his family in Italy. I'll let him update you on that progress.
Arrivederci!
We went up to Kennebunkport, Maine (summer home of George H.W. Bush) with Ricardo's parents for Memorial Day weekend. We went in all the shops and looked at the trinkets for sale. I can get lost in these types of shops. Everything is so interesting and it is amazing to see what people come up with. I was typically the last one out of each store. We also went on a whale watching tour and saw a humpback whale and a minke whale. I had never seen a whale before (excluding Sea World) so it was quite a sight! They are so big and seem so prehistoric! The tour went an hour longer than anticipated so we had to rush to get ready before our gourmet meal at the White Barn Inn. This restaurant is amazing! As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by about 15 staff members. The food was delectable, the service was fantastic, and the company wasn't too bad either. I'm surprised this restaurant isn't well-known nationally. Monday on our way back to the city, we stopped to see our friends who had just had a baby a few weeks ago. Boy was he precious and soooo tiny!
On the Italy front, we've been working on our Italian and Ricardo has been speaking with his family in Italy. I'll let him update you on that progress.
Arrivederci!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Musings on Passionate People
Lucia and I like to think of ourselves as observers sometimes. We compare various situations and discuss how and why people and places are different, and why the differences matter. A common theme in our discussions is passion.
Being passionate about your life, whether it be your job, a hobby, your family, your friends, etc. is almost always plainly obvious to people around you. We went to two different restaurants this week, Felice on Thursday and Maya on Friday. We frequent both regularly, and they happen to be across the street from each other. The food at each is superb, each have great atmosphere, and thus the only way to compare them is to look at the service. Let's refer to them as restaurants A and B, since I don't want anyone to get a bad impression of either.
To say that one restaurant's service is better than the other would be inaccurate and incomplete; if the service at one were bad we wouldn't keep going there. This is where the passion of the employees at one restaurant is evident, and the lack of passion at the second restaurant is even more noticeable given the juxtaposition with the first.
You can tell that the passionate employees at restaurant A care about what they do. They want their customers to have the best possible dining experience, and they know and care about every item on the menu. They ooze enthusiasm about their product, and it makes the experience more positive for the diner.
At restaurant B, the servers are almost emotionless. If you ask for a recommendation on the menu (almost a necessity, as it's so hard to choose between all the good dishes), they'll recite two or three dishes in a dull monotone, and it hardly seems that the dishes they highlight are "can't-miss" items. A little passion about the food would go a long way here.
How does this relate to us? Lucia and I hope to always be passionate about our lives. That's a big reason for this journey to Italy, is that we're chasing our dream and our passion for travel, food, and wine. It's just over 10 months away now, and I think we're both getting antsy; it's hard to keep ourselves bottled up when we're just dying to go. In this way, I can tell that we're doing the right thing.
Until next time,
Arrivederci!
Friday, May 14, 2010
I accidentally just bought a case of wine
We went to a winemakers dinner last weekend for Shinas Estates wine. The winemaker is a judge in Australia so his wines have legal names (The Innocent viognier, The Guilty shiraz, and The Verdict cabernet sauvignon). The wines are right up my alley (full-bodied, jammy, delicious with food). They told us that a wine store that just happens to be right next to my office carries the wine (bad idea). I stopped in there this afternoon and spoke with the owner, Larry. He was so excited about these wines. He said he's been selling them for years but they're not well-known. He was just so enthusiastic that I bought a case! To top it off, he completely agreed with me that Pinot Noirs aren't as good these days and we lamented about the effect of Sideways (as good as the movie is).
Also, I spoke with the wine director at the restaurant where we had the wine dinner. She said she might be able to get me involved in future tastings and the wine classes that are about to start up again. I'm hoping I can learn from her as she's studying to be a Master Sommelier.
Arrivederci!
Also, I spoke with the wine director at the restaurant where we had the wine dinner. She said she might be able to get me involved in future tastings and the wine classes that are about to start up again. I'm hoping I can learn from her as she's studying to be a Master Sommelier.
Arrivederci!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ricardo's Bucket List
This is a work in progress, but I figured if Lucia is going to have her Bucket List written down, I might as well do it too.
Go to a Super Bowl
Helicopter over the Grand Canyon
Visit the 4 other continents I haven't been to (Africa, South America, Asia, Australia) (Antarctica might be a stretch)
Skydive
Bungee Jump
Coach Little League baseball or softball
Make homemade wine
Learn to ride a horse
Ride in a fighter jet
Run a marathon
Go to a black tie event at the opera
See the Egyptian pyramids
Live in Italy and learn Italian (hey, now we're on to something!)
Love Lucia with everything that I have
I'm sure I will think of more but for now that will have to do.
Arrivederci
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Derby in Photos
Time for a new type of post on our little blog. A photo essay. Yeah, it's the sort of project that you'd get assigned in 5th grade, but so what? It's still fun.
Oh hey, look at that. It's our first view of Churchill Downs, and it's through the rain that pretty much dominated the day.
Here's the view from our seats. Pretty good stuff, we lucked out. We didn't wind up sitting in them all day; instead we sought out shelter from the weather.
Mint Juleps! They were delicious.
We were pretty glad that we weren't in the infield on Saturday.
But then this happened. Yup, the sun came out, just in time for the big race. Funny how life works sometimes.
I wish I had an actual picture of the race, because the horses thundering by was pretty amazing, but I was too busy watching them go by to take a picture. All in all, a fantastic day, and a great experience!
Monday, May 3, 2010
And they're off....
Ricardo and I went to the Kentucky Derby this weekend with my parents. Despite the wind and rain, we had an amazing weekend! The Derby was even better than I expected. Our seats were right past the finish line 5 feet from the track. When the horses ran past us, the ground practically shook. My mom and I wore big hats and fun dresses while the boys wore seersucker/Summer suits. We watched lots of interesting people, saw gorgeous outfits and hats, stayed in a hotel filled with partying college students and even tried mint juleps (Ricardo loved them since he's a bourbon drinker). Everyone ended up winning one of their bets but me. I didn't care though, just being there meant more to me than anything else. It was an experience I will always treasure.
After the race, we went downtown Louisville to 4th Street Live, a great area downtown that is covered and closed off from traffic. They had a live band playing in the street and there were lots of people there celebrating. We went to the Maker's Mark restaurant (right up Ricardo's alley) and had a delicious dinner. Joey Fatone, from NSYNC, walked into the restaurant as we were finishing up. Ricardo and I tried to get our picture with him (for comedy purposes, of course), but he had a personal security guard keeping us away. Bummer! We then went to Howl at the Moon for dancing and then saw a gorgeous old bar at the Seelbach hotel.
Sunday, we stopped at the Brown Hotel, a very old, gorgeous hotel that my great-uncle helped design. We had dinner with my grandma back in Ohio and watched old videos from my dance team in high school. Ricardo had never seen these, so it was a lot of fun. (Side note: I looked so young in high school)
We flew back this morning and went straight to work. Needless to say, we're both exhausted, but it's worth it for the memories and experiences.
Arrivederci!
After the race, we went downtown Louisville to 4th Street Live, a great area downtown that is covered and closed off from traffic. They had a live band playing in the street and there were lots of people there celebrating. We went to the Maker's Mark restaurant (right up Ricardo's alley) and had a delicious dinner. Joey Fatone, from NSYNC, walked into the restaurant as we were finishing up. Ricardo and I tried to get our picture with him (for comedy purposes, of course), but he had a personal security guard keeping us away. Bummer! We then went to Howl at the Moon for dancing and then saw a gorgeous old bar at the Seelbach hotel.
Sunday, we stopped at the Brown Hotel, a very old, gorgeous hotel that my great-uncle helped design. We had dinner with my grandma back in Ohio and watched old videos from my dance team in high school. Ricardo had never seen these, so it was a lot of fun. (Side note: I looked so young in high school)
We flew back this morning and went straight to work. Needless to say, we're both exhausted, but it's worth it for the memories and experiences.
Arrivederci!
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