living the expat life since 2010
My friend Fabienne and I decided to spend a fun day out taking pictures together. We picked Palisades Park since it is a pretty park with views of New York City.
Here are the pictures I took that day:https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20111015Palisades
Last week my family took our annual vacation to Long Beach Island, New Jersey. My dad’s oldest brother, Bill has a house there and we have gone every summer my entire life. We choose this week because it was right after I came back from Italy, but it worked out well because we love LBI off season. Not all the restaurants and stores are open, especially in the middle of the week, but it is so much more quiet and peaceful. Not to mention you are allowed to being dogs on the beach and go on the bird sanctuary at the end of the island. We spent nine days down there, reading, knitting, taking the sun, and eating way too much of my Uncle Larry’s heavy cooking.
(Entrance to the beach)
(Sunset on the bay)
(The bird sanctuary on LBI)The rest of my pictures from Long Beach Island:https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110918LBI#
This weekend (weekend for us) Daniele organized a surprise for me. It wasn’t a total surprise, I knew what was going on and had a rough idea even where we were going, but he organized everything by himself and actually managed quite a few surprises for the trip.
We left Sunday morning (8/21) when he finished his night shift. As soon as he got home we had a little breakfast together and headed north (about 90 minutes). That was when I found out our first destination because I had to get directions: Bagni San Filipo, Castiglione d’Orcia– so that’s why I needed a swimsuit!
Side NoteBagno, plural Bagni is an interesting Italian noun that means both bathroom and an outdoor pool. Not a typical swimming pool, or “piscina”, though you can “fare bagno” or bathe (as in swim or wade) in one as well as the ocean. Bagni as I have come across them are typically natural man-enhanced pools or springs. End side note.
The destination was actually the Therme of San Felipo. Daniele had brought me to terme once before near Viterbo not far from us. Those were the typical Roman style with different pools filled with hot, medium, or cool water boiling up from the ground. These here were in a park. The hot water came up in different places and mixed with the fresh streams that flowed through the woods. There was also this giant white bolder-mountain perhaps made of the calcium that flows from the hot spring water, I’m not sure. The hot water poured all over it and you could also lay in the sun. At the top there were pools of the hot water and even a little cave. Some water showered down from an even higher level, but I avoided the boiling-shower and sat in the little pools instead.
Lunch hunger hit me pretty hard since we had left early and the restaurant that Daniele’s friends had recommended to him was closed for Sunday. There was one other restaurant near there and I was really hungry so we went there. It was OK, nothing special, but not bad either. Daniele is very picky about restaurants, him agreeing to eat here so easily was definitely for me. (Only a little complaining)
After lunch we continued North to the town of Pienza. This cute but small town had a surprising amount of Americans there. The houses on the edge of the old center were newer but in the typical Italian / Tuscan villa style, so beautiful! The center had a lot of cute stores. The obligatory main church and city hall were pretty impressive. There was a park just outside the center-center. Super cute little town and just the kinda of thing I love to visit in Italy!
(Old Tuscan sunflower farm house on road to Pienza)
(Kait in Pienza)
(Cheese store in Pienza)After that we went to find and check into the hotel. We were staying in a hotel that used to be a tobacco farm. It was pretty cool. We got there like an hour before the pool closed, so we did that for a little while.
(Daniele and Kait at hotel pool)Daniele had bought a package that included one night dinner in the hotel restaurant. Like he read about, the restaurant was high quality, but the service was like a trattoria (one guy who kept forgetting he still had not taken our order). It was a package, so we each got two big plates of food. I knew he had the ring with him, and he even did a few fake outs.
After we finished dinner we took a short walk around the grounds of the hotel. That is where he asked me.
The next day we went to the city of Arezzo. Besides being a super cute city they have a ton of history– that even I know about! Two important people from the renaissance were from here. First we visited the house of Giorgio Vasari. He was an artist and architect, but he really made a name for himself as a writer. Before him no one ever really knew much about the artists behind famous works of art. He wrote about the super stars of the renaissance and is the reason we know about the people they were today. Then we visited the first home of the poet Francesco Patrarca (in English Petrarch). He is one of three poets, along with Giovanni Boccaccio and Dante Alighieri primarily credited with fathering the Italian language. Even in the time of the renaissance, the Italian language did not exist. While the French and Spanish had united under a common dialect, Italy was still a collection of different regional dialects with Latin used in universities. Florence’s central part in the renaissance (much thanks to patronage from the Medici family) led to many important works being written in that region’s dialect. Then when the nation finally united 150 years ago they chose it as their language. However still today depending where you are you can hear words mixed in (think “hella” or “wicked”) or entire separate languages spoken in the different regions. The city of Arezzo was also dripping in medieval charm. There was big squares, gardens, and colorful flags and family plagues all over the place. Probably one of my favorite places I’ve been in Italy, though as a disclaimer, it might be less impressive if you didn’t geek out as much as I did at those two guy’s work.
(Family plaques in Arezzo)
(Pozzo (water well) in Piazza Grande of Arezzo with the Palazzo delle Logge del Vasari / Columns designed by Vasari on the right)
(Piazza Grande of Arezzo)At night we went to the city of Laterina to get dinner. The city was small and cute. Most places in Italy close either Sunday or Monday. This was Monday and just about everything was closed. We did find a place called “Anema e Core” (Soul and Heart in Napoletano) where we were finally able to eat. And then just like that, our magical weekend was over.
The rest of the photos from this weekend are in my Proposal album:https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110821Proposal
Daniele has fallen in love with an Italain Groupon called Groupalia, at first I actually thought it was the same company. After enduring night after night of hearing about all you can eat pizza offers for 5 euros (one pizza typically cost 5 euros and that’s all I can eat), I got something good out of this new obsession– a trip to the water park!
This water park called Aquapiper. It has tube and no-tube water slides and two of those steep drop slides. There is also a wave pool and several other pools and acres of lounge chairs so all those Italians can get their tanning done. We normally go to the beach on his day off, this was a super fun way to mix it up.
All in all it was like an American water park (except maybe cuter lifeguards). I only made one major social observation this day. So. Most of the water slides all boarded on this one platform. One level down were some tube slides and one level up were three of those drop straight down slides. This middle platform was the busiest with the most and best slides. I’m sure anyone who has every been to Italy (or even an Italian bakery) can imagine the neat organized lines everyone formed, right? Of course it was just a big mob of people, everyone just kinda standing, or pushing, the kids running up to the front.
One time I get up to the platform and it was completely full (people are touching each other crowded) so I was standing at entrance and I put my foot and arm over the doorway so no one can get past me. I am at the end of the line, for any of the slides. Some kids try to get past me, to push to the front of the line for one of the slides, and I stop them, which I feel it the fair thing to do. They are not toddlers, they are like 12 years old. Then who shows me whats what– one of the lifequards comes over, he’s making rounds looking for kids to bring to the front.
So, apparently children, even older children in Italy don’t have to wait in lines. Which makes it easy to see why adults in Italy never learn the simple skill. I asked Daniele about this and he confirmed it. Guess I was in the wrong blocking the little brats from cutting. Though he added that in a place like this, were it is more than half kids, it normally wouldn’t apply. It’s more for when there is just one kid, you let them go to the front.
These children seemed so obnoxious to me, as do their grown up counterparts. For example, when they place a basket in line at the supermarket and then go about their shopping, expecting the rest of us to scoot it forward, rather than just step around it (which I’ve done and gotten a nasty look for). Or when someone walked up next to me (rather than behind) in a line and when asked who was here first, she can’t remember, but she only has one thing (same as me) do I mind?
This observation really drilled home for me the significance of having children follow the same rules as adults. It was also a reminder that while I may drink the coffee, speak the lingo, and hopefully soon have the papers to say I’m Italian, I’ll always be American.
(Daniele coming down the slide at Aquapiper)More photos are in my Summer Rome Album:https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110608Roma
Daniele’s parents have a beach house in the Marche region. Marche is directly east of Rome on the other coast, about a 2.5 hours drive give or take. In fact the road we live on, Salaria (one of the ancient Roman roads named for it’s use in transporting salt) takes you right there. We have been meaning to make a trip and this week his shifts happened to have an extra day off right on the weekend. This meant that his brother, who works normal hours, could join us too. We also were able to coordinate with their cousin Giuliano and his wife Mariagrazia to join us for a day. They live a bit closer, actually very close to Assisi.
(The boys keeping dry under the beach umbrella)The house itself is in Marina di Altidona part of a sort of condo complex. It is two floors with a small garden two minutes from the beach, super cute (I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture). The neighbors are all really nice and Daniele and Emanuele know all of them from when they would spend entire summers there.
We had 3-ish (7/22 – 7/24) days there. The day we arrived had the nicest weather and Daniele and I spent it on the beach. We also went around the nearby town of Torre di Palme. That night Emauele got in. He took a bus that came into Pedaso, which was a cute town, too. The next day Giuliano and Mariagrazia spent with us, but it rained on and off all day. We made the best of it and had two short beach trips and one long meal all together. The next day Daniele, Emanuele, and I walked around Montefiore dell’ Aso during the day and the busy San Benedetto del Tronto at night.
(View of hills outside Torre di Palme) The rest of the photos from this trip are in my Marche album:https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110722Marche
This is a post just for me to remember my favorite places in Venice, I hope to add to it over time.
Franca (Store that makes the masks)San Marco, 477 or San Marco, 592/B, 30124 Venezia(Chiesa di S. Zulian)Tel. 0039.041.5226482
Stefano MinucciFondamenta Vetrai n. 59, 301 Murano-Colonna, VeneziaTel +39 041 739.133
Venice is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. This was my third visit. Continuing from Fabienne visiting me in Rome, we took the morning train from Florence, spent a day and a half in Venice and took the overnight train back to Rome.
Our first half day we spent in Venice itself. The only real sight we wanted to do was the Duomo; we did that first. We had seen museums in Florence, here we wanted to see Venice. We also found a cool shop that is one of the last two that hand makes the Venetian masks. They had all different beautiful kinds for men and women, adults and children. Then we just walked around and enjoyed the city.
The next day we visited the other islands in the lagoon. We did them in order of distance, so we started with Murano. Murano is the most famous of the islands in the Lagoon of Venice after Venice itself. They are famous for their colored glass works. We went to a demo of one of the workshops and saw three men hand off getting the glass out of the oven, molding it into a vase shape, and finishing it off. The streets here are lined with glass shops. Some talked a bit about the glass. There are different types of glass, any of the colorful glasses are Murano, but the most traditional are the mosaics. The artisans who make the glass specialize in vases, lamps, or jewelry.
After we went on to Burano. Burano is slightly less touristy, but so much more adorable! All the houses are bright colors. The island is famous for lace making, but it is the island itself that you should go there to see. Some shop owners there were nice and explained about the lace to us as well, for example some of the ways to tell hand made from machine made lace. The easiest is to look at the back and if it is different from the front, it has a clear front and back side, it should be hand made.
We also stopped at Torcello. I knew the story of the of Venice’s origin; that the settlers came to the lagoon escaping barbarian hordes but I didn’t know anything about Torcello until this visit. Torcello was the original settlement of Venice. Today only 20 people live on this small grassy island. It boasts some ruins and the oldest church of Venice, Santa Maria Assunta.
All the pictures I took of Venice during Fab’s visit are in my “Fabienne Visit’s -Venice ” album: https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110710FabienneSVisitVenezia
This is a post just for me to remember my favorite places in Florence, I hope to add to it over time.
Trattoria I’ Raddi
Via dell’ Ardiglione 47/R
Tel 055 211072
(Via Sant’Agostino and Via dei Serragli)
Flavio Pelletterie
Piazza Duomo, 37/R, 50122 Firenze
Tel 055.283503
During Fabienne’s visit to Rome (see last post) we went up to Florence for a day trip. We took an early morning train in, spent the night, and took a train the next day to Venice.
Florence is a small city and most of her sights are right in a line from the train station, but we didn’t do them at all in order. We were all over the place juggling opening hours and lines. But again, it’s small so no big deal. Rome about the ancient Romans, Vatican, and the political capital; Florence is all about museums and churches. It was the center of the world during the Renaissance. While Venice is overall the most expensive city in Italy (IMO), we actually spent less money there because we spent more of our time walking around enjoying the city’s beauty. Compared to everything we did in Florence which had a fee attached. Fabienne wanted to see as much as possible and they all nickle and dime you with their three to ten euro entrance frees.
Since we only had one day, I made Fabienne choose between the Academia and the Uffizi (the two largest museums in Florence). We went with the Uffizi, which I think was the best choice, but that meant we didn’t get to see David. I’ve seen him before, but it would have been nice to catch up on old times. We did see all of his replicas in various places so that is almost as good. The Uffizi is a great museum filled with works even a uneducated schmuck like me can recognize, but is was crowded. July is a busy tourists season in Europe.
Naturally we went in the Duomo with it’s beautiful pink and green marble facade. This was the first domed ceiling, if you don’t count the Pantheon, which no one ever does. It was built in the Renaissance and the technology of how the Romans built domed ceilings had been lost in the dark ages. The Florentines were so confident someone would figure it out that they build their church without a roof and waited for the technology to be invented. It took many years, but eventually Filippo Brunelleschi was visiting Rome and saw the dome of the Pantheon and immediately knew how to complete the Florence Cathedral. It took several more years for him to convince the city to give him the contract, but eventually Florence got their Duomo.
We visited Opera di Santa Croce, the church where there are the tombs of Michelangelo and Galleleo. There are also some important fresco and the cowl and girdle worn by St Francis of Assisi. There is also a leather school attached to the back. We got to walk around old men hand making leather goods as well as a very expensive store.
In between we saw some other important sights. We saw Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria, the Baptistry of the Duomo, and a few others.
Ponte Vecchio is the covered bridge that goes over the Arno. There are stores here, especially goldsmiths, and people hang out at night. There was a band performing on the bridge when we were there.
For a while now I have had the benefit of having Daniele tell me all the best restaurants, but he doesn’t know Florence. So I followed all the general rules: away from the main tourist hub, not right on a square or anything touristy, better if the menu is not in six languages. So as it got closer to dinner time we wondered away from the Duomo and on the other side of the river. There were still some churches near the Ponte Vecchio, so we walked some more. Just as Fabienne was saying maybe we should start working our way back, a presumably drugged out man did what I call the “zombi walk” out of a side street. That’s when I knew we were close! That street had a restaurant. A very drunk British woman who had just walked out saw us looking at the menu and gave it a recommendation. So we went for it. We split a bottle of their house white wine and a cheese platter. I got a zucchini crotchet thing, and Fabs got ravioli– best meal I have had in a long time! They had both Italians and foreigners eating there. It was called Trattoria I’ Raddi. Next time I’m in Florence I’m definitely going back… so good!
All the pictures from this day are in my “Fabienne Visit’s -Firenze ” album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110709FabienneVisitSFirenze
My friend from high school, Fabienne made a special trip to Rome to visit me. We had lots of adventures in the center and area around Rome. We also took a trip to Florence and Venice.
Originally I had misread her flight itinerary and thought she was coming in the day before. That day Daniele was off work so I figured we would have a fun beach day and break into the touristy thing gently, shake the jet lag, also Rome’s airport is like a five-minute drive from the beach. But the actual day she came in he worked, so I couldn’t pick her up by car. It’s easy to take the train to the center. So I sent updated instructions once I realized. She saw the email, but did not open it. It was a pretty stressful morning for both of us waiting and not knowing where the other was. We found each other eventually.
At that point Daniele was actually done with his morning shift. So we stashed her luggage in his car and were able to drive to some of the parts of the city less famous than the Colosseum. We went to Gianicolo Hill, one of the original hills of Rome. More of a residential area now, but the top is a park with fountains and great views. We also hit up Aventino hill which also has a great view from its gorgeous orange garden. I think that night we had diner at home, but I can’t put the pieces together perfectly now.
The next day Fab’s and I had a jam-packed sight seeing day in the center. After we all had breakfast together at home, Daniele dropped us off near the Vatican before heading to work. First I had us pick up some slices of pizza and mini-pizzas from my favorite baker/pizzeria. For about 3-euros a piece we each had a bag of yummy goodies. We checked out the Vatican after that. Checked out the square and then got in line for St. Peter’s Cathedral; it was the perfect amount of time to eat our lunch. We stayed a really long time in the cathedral. It’s just so beautiful. Took most of our day and it was too late to go to the Vatican Museums after. Fabs was also on the border about doing that anyway. From here we grabbed a snack at Mondo Arrancini and brought it to Castel Sant’ Angelo to sit by the water and eat them. We took some pictures of the castle and bridge of angels before crossing over the river to the other side of the city. We walked along the river, stopping briefly at the Ara Pacis, on our way to Piazza del Popolo. From Piazza del Popolo, you can follow Via del Corso through the historical center and hit most the sights. Unfortunately it was late in the day. We quickly stopped by the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain when Daniele called saying he was waiting for us at Piazza del Popolo. I made Fabienne through 3 quick coins over her shoulder and we hurried back. That night we walked around the San Lorenzo area and had dinner at my favorite pizzaria, Marotoneta.
UPDATE:
Fabs has a italian-speaking opera-siniging bf now. They met in the US, but I have to give some credit to those Trevi Fountain coins.
There is more after all these pictures…
The next day we went to Lake Bracciano. We visited two towns on the lake: Bracciano and Anguillara, both medieval hill towns. First we went to Bracciano. It is set farther back from the lake and has a castle. In between we went to a restaurant that serves fish from the lake where Daniele’s family always goes when they are here. I’ve mentioned Italians prefer going to the same restaurants over trying new ones. After we walked through Angulara, which is small and still elevated but set closer to the lake. We took a path down to the lake and walked along the path there. There are houses along the cliff edge between the old center and lake; many were covered in flowers. Farther down the river road there were sun bathers on the narrow lake beach. Some of the swimmers harassed the swans that were there.
(Lake Bracciano and surrounding area)The next day we spent in the center doing the sights we still hadn’t seen. We started with the Roman Forum which was awesome. It was actually my first time going inside, too. Then we hit up the Colosseum. From there we went to Piazza Venezia, then the Pantheon. There we got some of the original frozen espresso at Tazza D’Oro– delicious! After we passed by the statue of Pasquino. This statue was unearthed in the 15th century and in the 16th century became the first talking statue. People would attach poems written in the Roman dialect to the statue criticizing the Pope or denouncing injustice. The tradition continues today. Then we went to Piazza Navona where we took lots of pictures and bought some small original paintings. Then wondered to Campo dei Fiori and eventually Tibertina Island, where we met up with my friend Ben who is on a trip around the world now that he finished school before he enters the working world and just happens to be in Rome now, as well as Daniele who’s birthday it was! Daniele picked my favorite place for dinner: Momo. When we got there we found that they had little baby bunnies in the front lawn area, for no reason just hopping around being cute.
The following day was our beach day. I took Fabs to Ostia because I think it is a great experience and has a great culture. Ostia is “Rome’s Beach”. There are several beaches near by, but this one is actually considered a suburb of Rome and the trains come here from the center. It’s the most crowded, but that’s some great people watching. Every woman in Italy wears a bikini. Size or age has no restrictions. The modesty bar is wayyyy over from were you are used to it being. Tops are optional all over the Mediterranean, you don’t need to be at a special nude beach. Tops are optional for young girls any age young enough were she is not developed, so 10 year olds with out tops sometimes. Butt coverage? I don’t really want to get into it, but there is not much there to describe. Men are not exempt. Sure smaller bathing suits are much more common; we all already know about that. Those who do where the style of swim trunks common in the US hike up the legs to make sure their thighs tan. Then there are the vendors. Vendors are so much more common all over Italy, but at the beach you really notice them. You are a captive audience. They just walk around offering their goods, from clothing to inflatables to coconut, normally kicking some sand on you or your towel as they pass. I hate the vendors. Anyway, Ostia is Italy at it’s most guido. We took lots of pictures of cute boys, because that seemed funny to us at the time. Fab’s and I had a lot of fun this day.
The next three days we spent in Florence and Venice. I’ll write about them separately.
After that it was basically time to say goodbye.
All the pictures I took of Rome during Fab’s visit are in my “Fabienne’s Visit -Rome” album
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110704FabienneSVisitRoma#