Cookie's Dolce Vita

Orvieto and Rome

2011-06-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

On the last weekend of my parents' visit we decided to head to Rome, and on the way, made an impromptu stop in Orvieto--one of the great, walled cities in Umbria. Orvieto is what you think of when you think of a little Umbrian town--narrow cobblestoned streets, buildings with big shutters and flower boxes, groups of old men having coffee on the corner, and gorgeous piazzas--one in particular that boasts an amazing Cathedral! We enjoyed strolling the streets of Orvieto, stopped for what other than hotdogs--my folks were in the mood for them, admired the cathedral, and then headed on for another hour in the car to Rome.

In Rome, we once again lucked out with a convenient hotel which we found on Booking.com. It was near Termini--key to getting my folks to their airport hotel the next morning, and within easy walking or metro distance to other sites. Since we had toured Rome together before, I decided to take them to Trastevere, a charming, old Jewish neighborhood in Rome, away from the traffic and hustle/bustle of a lot of the other areas. The old, inner quarters of Trastevere are primarily predestrian only, so it's quite quiet and peaceful as you walk around the tiny streets by cafes, shops and restaurants. We had a lunch of pizza and vegetable soups and then headed back to the hotel where we got some gelato nearby and then decided to just relax and prepare for our good-byes the following morning.

The next day my folks headed to the airport hotel and Evan and I took the fast train back to Naples. My parents 5 week trip went by in the 'blink of an eye'! It was so fast, yet we had lots of great fun, and there was plenty of bonding time for Evan w/ his Nana and Papa. Can't wait for our next visit together!

Nana and Papa arrived, and Evan couldn't be more thrilled!

2011-05-11T03:38:00.000-07:00

My folks arrived in April, and Evan is so excited to have new playmates. My parents have endless energy when it comes to playing with their grandson, and so it's been fun to watch their relationship grow, after so many months across continents. With a week left to go in their visit, I'm already wondering how Evan is going to cope with their leaving...it will be a sad day for all. But...since April, you may be wondering what we've been doing to keep busy, besides playing with an energetic 18 month old. Well, we've definitely been keeping busy, although relaxing a little bit more than on their first visit to Naples about a year ago where we spent a month going around to almost every notable church, piazza, castle and ruin within the Naples area.
This visit, we've been exploring new sites. Padre Pio, for all you Catholics who might be familiar, was born in a town about 2 hours away, called Benevento. Benevento is, in my opinion, a smaller version of Assisi. In this town we saw Padre Pio's childhood home, the church that he preached at, and other relics associated with him. He was a saint known for the stigmatas he had in his palms and feet, just like Christ had, and for various miracles. The town was very quaint, and we enjoyed walking around, looking in the shops, sampling some local treats, and sitting down for lunch. It was a perfect day trip, and a new town for us to all explore together.

Another Saturday was spent on the Amalfi Coast, specifically in the resort coastal town of Positano. This cliffside village is gorgeous, with the mediterranean on one side and steep cliffs on the other. The streets are lined with quaint shops, cafe's and restaurants. I met up with my friend Simonne who I had been used to seeing every day in Naples until she moved to Lugano, Switzerland about 7 months ago, so it was a great spot for a mini-reunion for us. The ride to/from Positano isn't for those who experience car-sickness, since the switchbacks along the cliffs seem endless, and although the views are unbelievable, they can be clouded if you become nauseaus, so you have to be prepared. Unfortunately, my father wasn't too used to sitting in the back seat, so his belly didn't necessarily all the twists and turns, however, he'll agree that the payoff in Positano was well worth the suffering of the drive:)

We also spent a day walking Spaccanapoli...the term given to some streets and thoroghfares, which combined, are said to draw a line right through the center of the city. Along this walk we enjoyed the architecture of the Galleria, the frescos of various churches, the vastness of large piazzas (Piazza Dante), the intimacy of small piazzas (Piazza Bellini),the smells of baking bread and pizza, the many shops selling intricate nativity scenes with so many pieces and varieties (buying them would be like buying a doll house that you can use your imagination to fill up) and the tastes of warm from the oven chocolate-dripping cornettos, sugared graffas and foamy cappucinos. Bellisimo!!

Directly in our neighborhood of Posillipo, we've been spending time at the park, visiting the waterfront restaurants of Marechiaro (the street next to ours) and the ancient Roman ruins and tunnel of Grotta di Seino--an amazing archeologial area that we can actually see from our apartment, but is only accessible via a huge tunnel which dates back to the B.C times. We've also been indulging in Neopolitan pizza about once a week, and enjoying other treats like dark chocolate profiteroles from the local patisserie and some good tastes of home like Duncan Hines cakes and brownies, thanks to a day of shopping on the NATO base! We've been playing cards, yahtzee and reading too...also nursing ourselves back to health after a week of all of us having colds, bronchitis and sinus infection type symptoms. Not fun, but at least we had good views to enjoy while we recuperated.

The biggest "excursion" while my folks have been visiting was our cruise aboard MSC Cruiselines. Our itinerary started in Bari (a 2.5 hr drive from Naples) and brought us to the Greek Isles of Santorini, Mykenos &Corfu, plus the mainland for Athens/Piraeus, Dubrovnik-Croatia, Venice, Italy and then back to Bari. My folks had a room down the hall from us, so we were able to wave from our balcony's as we sailed, and easily meet up for any of the on board shows or meals that we were going to participate in together. True to normal cruising form, we all had plenty to eat both on and off the ship...had to taste the local foods in each port, and we really enjoyed each and every port. We opted not to do too many of the ships' organized excursions, but instead did the "on/off" bus in Athens, so that we had a chance to see the famed Acropolis and Parthenon, plus Josh and I explored the streets of Mykenos, and we all took the gondola up the cliffside to enjoy the hilltop town of Santorini. Other ports we explored on foot, taking in great views, coastlines and local bites.

Red Light, Green Light....hello Amsterdam!

2011-05-11T03:08:00.000-07:00

In March, it was finally time to explore Amsterdam. All I had ever heard about Amsterdam was that everyone smokes pot and that prostitutes dance in the windows of the Red Light District. Little did I know that this image and the reality of this, exists mainly on one small street, occupying a couple blocks of the whole of Amsterdam. Instead of the Red Light District, Amsterdam should be known for it's endless canal-lined streets that rival those of Venice, it's international offering of cuisine, it's gorgeous parks and green space, and it's 2-wheeled population since hopping on a bicycle seems to be the preferred mode of transportation used by locals and tourists alike to navigate the city. Although Dutch is the official language, English seemed to be spoken everywhere, so landing there for a weekend was easy, since we didn't have to worry too much about communication. I had rented us a small, but fabulous apartment in a perfect location along a canal and walking distance to the Museum Quarter, Anne Frank House, Red Light District, Dam Square, and tons of restaurants, parks and shops. There was also a great bagel shop near by, and after living in Italy for 1.5 yrs where I have yet to find bagels, the ability to get a toasted bagel w/ cream cheese each morning was a huge treat! I also didn't feel like I was missing out on local Dutch cuisine, since a couple locals had told us there really isnt' a quintessential "Dutch" dish to order off a menu....maybe Dutch Pancakes, but the bagel sounded better. Besides...wouldn't they have to use a 'dutch oven' to make a dutch pancake..I didn't want to risk that..sounds stinky (haha).

Each day we loved strolling along the tree lined, gable roof house-lined, canals. Although there was traffic, most of the traffic was caused by bicyclists, so the city is free of a lot of the loud traffic noise caused by big cars and trucks, making our strolls that much more enjoyable. We took a boat cruise one day which was a fun way to see the city sites while cruising the intricacies of the canals. We also were subjected to some fraternity boys having fun with a blow up doll in the window of a houseboat we cruised by. The group of guys were obviously performing for our tour group, and by the time we were fully past them, everyone on our boat was laughing...even if at first they tried to stifle their laughs due to embarrassment, noone could resist, and it did seem to be a very Amsterdam/RedLight type moment:)

We also enjoyed 2 of their over 50 museums--the Anne Frank House/Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. The Anne Frank House still seems to breathe the atmosphere of the time in 1944 when The Frank's hiding place was betrayed and tehy were deported to various concentration camps. Quotes from Anne's diary (and her actual diaries), photographs, historical documents, film images and original objects that belonged to the Frank's while in hiding are all on display. It was amazing to be in the actual tour, and I was actually moved to tears by some of the video footage. A definite 'must do' / 'can't miss' if you are ever in Amsterdam! The Van Gogh Museum was also very impressive. It houses the world's largest collection of Van Gogh works, but if pressed for time, you can likely make it through in under 2 hours, like we did since we had a tired little Evan with us that evening:)

We are loving having so many amazing cities within easy reach, and are looking forward to continuing our exploration of Europe. So far, Amsterdam, with its beautiful scenery and active lifestlye, may just be my favorite European city yet!!!

Enjoy some Fado and Port in where else? Portugal!

2011-05-11T02:46:00.000-07:00

In February, we headed to Lisbon for the weekend. After having done little research on this city, but for some reason, feeling like I just really wanted to see it, we arrived and were pleasantly surprised. The first impression was that of a clean, organized city, with nice views even along the drive from the airport to our apartment. I found us an apartment in the Bairro Alto neighborhood...an old neighborhood, with narrow, cobble stoned streets, where locals live quietly by day, and out of towners and local university students party well into the wee hours of the night. The transition from day to night in this neighborhood was amazing. Many of the shops didn't even open during the day, since the streets were so deserted, but in the evenings, the same stores would quickly pull up their grates, unlock their doors, to serve the hundreds of people packing the streets of Bairro Alto as they lined up at Fado Bars, dined in restaurants, and freely indulged in cocktails in the streets. We were told by our cab driver that many taxis won't even come into Bairro Alto not only because the streets are so narrow making it hard to turn any corners, but also, the broken bottles that make the streets glimmer in the aftermath of the late night party scenes are just too perilous for the cabbies' tires, so many avoid the area all together. All that being said, we loved the neighborhood and were hardly disturbed by the late night partying thanks to thick, double-paned glass windows we had in our apartment. In fact, we kind of liked observing the scene below from our window, while Evan slept soundly in his crib.
So...what's there to do in Lisbon? Well, we walked the city at a relaxed pace, taking in the incredible black and white marble sidewalks and streets, enjoying the local pastries (not so much other cuisine), and visiting some of the main sites such as St. Jorge's castle in the ancient Alfama district which offered outstanding, panoramic views of Lisbon.There were also wide open piazzas where Evan liked to run and chase pigeons ...such as Praca do Comercio which bordered the coast.
Since we were in the Old City (as opposed to the New City where all the big named hotels and convention center are...but not any of the historical sites), we found the area very walkable, and going from neighborhood to neighborhood was easy. Having read about a resort town named Caiscais which was only a short train ride away, we decided to enjoy one day there, along the water. Caiscais definitely had a resort feel, and was quite international, obviously catering to the tastes of the vacationers who flock there from Ireland, England, etc during the summer months. The village was charming, with lots of shops, flowers, restaurants, and a beautiful boardwalk and sidewalk that allowed you to really enjoy the coastline.
We had a great, relaxing weekend and I would absolutely recommend Lisbon!

Weekend of exploring

2011-02-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

After a fun Friday night dinner party at our place w/ a group of our Italian friends, we decided, on a whim, on Saturday morning, to take advantage of the sunshine and head out on a drive to Civita. Civita is a small..I'm talking only 2 year round residents in the whole place small...midevil village located 3 hours from our apartment in the region of Umbria. Because Civita is located in a volcanic area, and because it has succumbed to a lot of erosion over the years, the only way to access Civita is via a pedestrian walkway/bridge that leads from it's neighboring village, Bagnoreggia, up to Civita. As we walked over the bridge, we were taken back by the awesome scenery....Civita perched up on a hill, surrounded by dusty canyons..really cool place!

Once in Civita, we took our time meandering the tiny cobblestone streets and alleyways, took in the sights--quaint restaurants, lots of pretty cats, old world charm, antique olive presses--complete with samplings of bruschetta made with 'first press' olive oil, and our very own mini-soccer player...Evan playing in the main piazza of Civita..so cute!

Civita is Rick Steve's favorite of the 5 mideveil walled cities that include: Sienna, Orvieto, San Gemiagno, and Assisi (all of which I've visited and written about in previous blog posts). Due to the tiny size of Civita, it can easily be combined w/ Orvieto if you want to stay overnight to enjoy some dinner in the piazza or just the ambiance while visiting. A great way to spend the day!

On Sunday we did some more local exploring in the historical center of Naples. We took the train and bus into Piazza Cavour where our friends own a shop. After saying hi to them, and as usual, sitting down for a cup of espresso and a quick visit in their shop, we headed over to Piazza Bellini--a cute, popular piazza known as a place where poets and artists gather while sipping cappucinos or sharing a caraffe of wine. A short walk after Piazza Bellini brings you to Via Tribulani--Naples' street that is famous for the best pizza in town...and seeing that pizza was 'invented' in Naples, it's a street not to be missed, and a pizza lovers dream! We stopped at a pizzeria I had eaten in once before with a friend, and enjoyed the fresh mozzarella, basil, eggplant and tomato pizza before heading back home. Buono!!

January in Naples, reconnecting with Italia

2011-01-22T01:42:00.001-08:00

Coming 'home' to Naples after 6 weeks in Boston was easier than we expected. Our little Italian villa felt like 'home', we hadn't been invaded by ants while we were away, and our Italian friends had missed us, as we had missed them. Josh was back into his work routine, with a New Years resolution/goal to see more of the local sites and experience more Italian culture (outside of his work commitments), and Kim was back to daily walks to the park, afternoons with friends and Evan with playmates, and a goal to try cooking at least one new recipe a week. Kim spends most days with Italian friends Claudia and Loredana, and their sons/Evan's best friends, Andrea and Allessandro, Mom's all within walking distance, and babies all within a few months apart. On the weekends this month we've been exploring--true to Josh's resolution, and spent time in Piazza Cavour shopping the local market, visiting Italian friends, 'picnicking' in the heart of Naples with fresh sandwiches from the Salumeria, at night watching the Napoli soccer team with Italian friends, dining together on pizza, picking the oranges from our orange tree, and recently even checked out an 'ecological site' that we can literally see from our villa but had yet to explore. It dates back hundreds of years, and after walking through a tunnel that takes about 20 min to 1/2 hour to get through, opens up to a park with sweeping views of the Meditteranean, old Roman ampitheatres and a ton of history. Due to politics, money that was given to continue excavation of this site has been blocked, so there is tons of land, within easy walking distance of our villa, that folks know has tons of additional archeologial treasures, but have yet to be uncovered. Pretty neat that we live so close.

I hosted a girls breakfast this week, serving up homemade blueberry muffins and french toast, an unusual menu for my Italian girlfriends but a menu enjoyed by all.

January has been pretty mild, with me wanting to wear white as if it is summer, but today, the rain has come in, and so we are planning a relaxing day at home. Who knows, maybe we'll look ahead to make a plan for next weekend...so much to explore!!

Wicked fun time in Boston and & Pittsburgh for the holidays

2011-01-22T01:22:00.000-08:00

Josh, Evan and I took advantage of the long Christmas break to trek back to the East Coast for some fun times with friends and family, both in Boston and Pittsburgh. Kim and Evan made the flight to Boston 2 weeks ahead of Josh (thank God Evan cooperated on the long flight), and then Josh arrived to meet us for an additional week in Hingham before headed to Pittsburgh to spend actually Christmas day with the Blank side. We were excited to go to Theresa's wedding (Kim's longtime friend from Bentley, and 10 yr roommate). The wedding was not only a magical time for Theresa and her new husband, Mike, but also a great chance for me to reconnect with some Bentley and Seattle friends, while at the same time getting my groove on with lots of dancing, including a choreographed dance to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you" that all of us bridesmaids, and Theresa serenaded her groom with. So fun!

In Boston we had some great times visiting with my folks, Tom & Gwynne and Mason and Cassidy, all of Kim's friends, and all of Evan's new buddies..as lots of playdates were arranged with Kerrin, Tory, Shannon and Melanie's little ones. We spent lots of time around the house, just all playing games, talking and even tackling a furniture refinishing project that my mother and I tackled, with of course so extra painting help from my father. We also visited a little Christmas market, caught up on some dental and medical appointments and relaxed together. The time flew by (too fast), but it was great!

In Pittsburgh we hopped around spending time at each of Josh's brother's houses and his Dads place too. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Dara's, good planning, we all sat down for a family portrait session, and so as the family grows with new cousins/kids/grandchilden, we're getting the pictures done to chronical the Blank family growth:) It was fun to watch all of the cousins play together, and we had fun just hanging out, seeing Jason and Mandy's new house, seeing the progress in Ed & Dara's basement remodel with Josh getting his hands dirty with Ed a bit working on some baseboards, and the brothers even fitting in a night at the Steelers game. Christmas day was spent at Aunt Kay's complete with plenty of food, lots of presents, and a few rounds of Bingo. A fun and festive day.

On the day we were to fly back from Pittsburgh to Boston, we took Evan to the walk in clinic due to a stubborn cold that he had, and us wanting to make sure his ears were ok before the flight. Well, the doctor confirmed our fears that he did have an ear infection, and we were advised not to have him fly. Off to Enterprise we went to rent a car so that we could make the 10 hour drive to Boston in order for Josh to catch his Boston to Italy flight the following morning. Kim and Evan were 'grounded' in Boston so that Evan's antibiotic had time to kick in, and after a week's wait in Boston, and more family bonding time, Kim and Evan flew back to meet up with Josh in Naples. A whirlwind trip home and a greatway to spend the holidays!

Thanksgiving day meals in 3 places

2011-01-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

What better way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday week then in Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck. A 'side' of Germany and Austria with our turkey please:)

A flight from Naples to Munich is only about 2 hours, so we arrived in Munich fresh and ready to see the city. I lucked out again with a great apartment that I found on Booking.com, situated right by the "Rodeo Drive" of Munich, and within easy walking distance to lots of shops, restaurants, and the famous Hofbrauhaus--a huge beer hall/beer garden where you have to stake out seats in hopes of getting the chance to sample their huge, tall beers, and even bigger pretzels..yum! This time of year in Bavaria is cold but perfect for those wanting to experience the various Christmas markets (Kindermarkt) which you seem to stumble across as you walk around the various cobblestone back streets of the city, plus some of the main, more modern, thoroughfares. If you don't seem to just 'stumble' across them, than just follow your nose as the scents of roasting chestnuts, sizzling bratwursts and other 'wursts', plus gluewein (a local spiced wine served hot to take the chill away) lead you in the proper direction.

In addition to experiencing the local markets, food, and people, we took a serious dive into WWII history and rememberence when we toured the Dachau Concentration camp, located just 1/2 hour outside of Munich. The Dachau site is an unbelievably moving memorial. As you stroll through the camp listening to the audio guide with narratives by survivors and others who had been at the camp during the days that it was in 'operation' it is hard to believe that the atrocities that happened there actually happened...especially since it wasn't that long ago in our history. The tour takes you through a museam showing various memorabilia of captives...items that were confiscated as they entered into the camp, family pictures that they had in their wallets..before and after pictures..folks who were happy, family people reduced to starving shells of their true selves after years of being belittled, tortured and deprived of all the self respect they had at first entered the camp with. It was just amazing to see how these folks who were just like you and me, once they entered the gates of this camp, were stripped of everything they knew and believed..even about themselves. They were immediately called basically 'animals' and treated as such from their time of arrival, until their death or day of liberation. When you see how close this camp is to the normal 'neighborhoods' it is hard to believe that folks really didn't know what was going on on the other side of the barbed wire. If you ever have the chance to go there, I think it is a place not to be missed. It's depressing and hard to digest, but such an important place to visit in my opinion.

After a couple nights in Munich, lots of history and learning, and more than a couple bratwursts and super human size pretzels, we took a 2 hour train ride through the gorgeous, snow covered land of the German/Austrian countryside to Salzburg, the home of the Von Trapp family and the birthplace of Mozart. Our hotel was on one of the most popular little streets (the street Mozart was born on), full of quaint shops, restaurants, and little Christmas markets. An outdoor ice skating rink was set up within Mozart Square,and Christmas carols and other tunes bellowed from the speakers as kids skated and parents stayed warm with gluewein, scarves and mittens. Salzburg also had lots of outdoor holiday markets set up so we had fun strolling through them, tasting the apple strudel, chocolate covered pretzels, austrian goulash, and of course, more wursts. There is a huge castle that sits up on the hill, offering a great backdrop to Salzburg, so we toured that on foot, instead of opting for the touristy "Sound of Music tour"...although I had considered staying one night in the Von Trapp house which has been converted to an Inn, but then decided not to give into my 'inner tourist' and stayed instead in our historical hotel in the city center.

After a few days soaking in the beauty and chill of Salzburg, we hopped on the train again, for a another 2 hour ridet, but this time to Innsbruck. Once again, Booking.com was a success, and we ended up with a hotel right smack in the middle of Innsbrucks main,historical square. There was a Kindermarkt going on right below our hotel room's 'nook' area, so we were able to sit there all warm and cozy and people watch down below. Our view was so good that Josh literally watched one of the market vendors grilling some bratwursts, saw the one on the grill he wanted, told me he'd "be right back" and within 5 minutes had gone down into the market, bought the wurst he had been eyeing from our room, and came back up to eat it with us. There were also delicious frozen dough treats with mixed berries or sauerkraut poured over them, and also fresh and warm pretzels and 'bavarian cream donuts'...where else to get a bavarian donut then in bavaria!!

Innsbruck was like a winter wonderland, with the view from our hotel window including the snow covered Alps and a huge fir tree all lit up for Christmas. To get a better look of the mountains, we took the gondola up to the skiers lodge, but due to white out conditions, we weren't able to see much of the scenery, but could easily imagine it and it's splendor.

We also spent one day taking a field trip to Haldstatt, a 'can't miss' town that we had read about in a Rick Steve's book. We had to take a train ride and then a boat to access this postcard perfect town, but unfortunalely, we went on a day (actually within a month) that the whole town shuts down due to the weather. Upon our initial arrival, we were surprised to find it empty. Thinking the town was maybe full of late-risers, we enjoyed the empty streets until our suspicion kicked in, and we stopped in the tourist office to see what the deal was. Well, the town basically is shut down for the winter, with only one option for lunch, a small restaurant/cafe that stays open for some of the locals. We saw a Hallstadt Schmuck sign..not sure what the sign really was intended to mean, but that description fit the bill to describe us, as after a 1/2 day commuting to this, yes, picturesque little town, we truly did feel like schmucks to arrive when it was shut down. Who knew? Rick Steves surely didn't!

Click here to see Josh in a Kilt!!

2010-11-16T05:16:00.000-08:00

Ahhh...got your attention didn't I?! Ha. Actually, we saw lots of plaids and lots of kilts while in Scotland, but neither of us cruised around town in one. Maybe next time!

We spent a long weekend in Edinburgh and it was definitely one of my favorite cities so far. We rented an apartment through Booking.com (A site I would definitely recommend), and found ourselves in a quiet spot next to the university, within walking distance to everything in Old Town. Apparently, on the site where our apartment was, used to stand a huge infirmiry, which made me squeemish for a split second, until I realized all of those old germs of the olden days diseases like polio, measels, cholera etc are gone from this site by now!

Edinburgh is small, quaint, clean, has tons of history, good food (not only the Scottish pubs, but also they have diversity--Indian, Thai, Greek etc which Naples tends to lack), and we found it to be very walkable...even with a stroller. The highlight of the 'touristy' things we did was the Edinburgh Castle, offering tons of history and spectacular views of the city. We also visited a cathedral and went to one* of the palaces that the Queen enjoys when in Scotland. (*How many palaces does a person really need?). We also spent a lot of time walking around the Royal Mile, the quaint, cobble stone street that runs straight from the queen's palace to the Edinburgh castle, and is lined w/ shops, pubs, cafes, and even a bag piper:)

Since there isn't too much to do in the city center, it is a city easily done in a long weekend, those 3 days allowing plenty of time to walk the city at a relaxing pace, dine on fish n chips, enjoy some scottish beers, and consider if your legs really are meant to be shown off in a kilt or not:)

Buon Compleanno Evan!! Tanti Auguri!

2010-10-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but Evan celebrated his 1st Birthday! We had a afternoon birthday party, since Evan,thankfully, goes to sleep every night by 7:30, and it was a big success. I made all the food that morning and the day before, and I was very excited that my homemade lasagna was a huge hit with the Italians! They also really liked the chocolate cake & vanilla frosting, and carrot cake cupcakes. Thank you Duncan Heinz and Betty Crocker..I owe ya one! (Also thanks to my NATO friend, Kirsty, who was able to buy the cake mixes on the military base for me.) His birthday theme was Mickey Mouse, and Evan had a great time with all the kids who turned up to help him celebrate. It was a very international party, with lots of Italian friends, plus a handful of Brits, Germans & Dutch. Bellissimo!

Home 'dolce' home in Napoli:)

2010-10-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

After almost a year of Italian living, Naples, and our neighborhood of Posillipo, is definitely starting to feel more and more like home. Since our trip to Vienna, we have been relaxing a lot at home, and keeping busy with Evan and all of our new friends. After so many weekends 'on the go' this summer with weekend getaways and multiple road trips, it's been nice to be home and to just hang out with friends and with each other. Don't get me wrong, we are always itching for a road trip, and we have our next destinations (Edinburgh, followed by Munich/Insbrook/Salzburg)already planned, but in the meantime, I thought it was time to post some pictures of just our normal, every day living in Posillipo pictures.

There is an advantage to Evan waking up so early...

2010-09-16T11:33:00.001-07:00

we get to see amazing sunrises from our balcony every morning:)

We waltzed our way to Vienna

2010-09-08T02:38:00.000-07:00

After just an hour and twenty minute flight from Rome, we were in Vienna, Austria, to enjoy the weekend exploring the city, the food, & the culture...not to mention doing some detective work on Josh's ancestral roots.

I had prepared myself for the weather change, by conducting some research on weather.com, so I wasn't too alarmed when we arrived to much cooler weather. Josh and I still have a bit of our 'east coast blood', so upper 50s low 60s doesn't chill us to the bone, and we managed to get some sideways glances since I arrived in shorts, Evan didn't have a jacket on, and the majority of the locals were in winter coats, hats, scarves etc. The lack of heat and humidity was a nice change from Naples for the weekend.

Our hotel was situated right across the street from the Vienna Opera House, a beautiful Baroque style building along "The Ring" boulevard. The Ring Boulevard is 4km long, flanked by tons of trees, and was built to 'form a girdle' around the inner city and to preserve the distinctive architectural style of the buildings that went up 'almost overnight' when Vienna was transformed into a modern European metropolis following 'inspired and revolutionary transformation' instead of slow development or decisions by careful town planners.. We had used points to secure our hotel room and were pleasantly surprised by the suite they bumped us up to, which was actually bigger than our Lake St. condo in Kirkland! It was great to have the extra space with Evan, and we were thankful to have it.

As you can imagine, we spent most days exploring the sites, relaxing in the plentiful, gorgeous parks that dot the city, eating lots of goulash (usually just the meat and paprika sauce--Hungarian style, vs. the goulash we had in Prague that comes w/ dumplings and potatoes in the sauce) and strudel (apple and 'curd' varieties-curd, basically a cottage cheese strudel), drinking Viennese coffee (and some Starbucks since I can't get it in Italy), tasting the local beer, and the "storm"..a popular wine drink that is basically a wine that is unfiltered and still fermenting...it looks to me like a cloudy lemonade and tastes refreshing and sweet. We learned that ordering "Toast" brings you a toasted ham & cheese sandwich--not grilled..just toasted, so the bread is dry but the ham & cheese is all melted..not sure how they toast it, and that chicken cordon blue, a dish appearing on most of the menus we saw, is definitely not as good as the French make it..at least in my opinion.

The most interesting day we had involved us renting a car and heading about 2 hours outside of Vienna to a tiny town called Newmarkt. Many of you know that for the past several years Josh has been doing some online research and detective work to learn more about his ancestors and his Austrian heritage. In fact, about 5 years ago, Josh took his Dad on a trip to Austria where they connected with a girl who Josh had emailed several times, and her family, to 'compare notes' and try to figure out their relation. Josh still isn't 100% sure how he is related to her, but they think they are cousins somehow. Anyways, after on-going research, Josh felt pretty confident that his great grandparents were from this town called Newmarkt. Our plan was to drive to the town, look for a church, and assume that a cemetery would be behind the church. I mean, how many churches and cemeteries could a tiny town like this have. So, as we drove through the hills of the Austrian countryside, we saw Newmarkt in the distance, and sure enough, one steeple set apart from the uniformity of all the other roofs of the houses in town. We headed straight for the church, and at the bottom of the church driveway, we noticed a WWI memorial. We pulled over to have a look and "Franz Plank's" name was inscribed on the monument. We aren't sure of this Plank's relation, but we were feeling pretty good about being in the right spot. (A side note: The Plank name got switched to Blank at Ellis island, so Josh's great grandparents were Planks).

We pulled up to the cemetery and decided to divide up the territory, each skimming the names on the gravestones searching for Anna and Johan Plank. After about 5 minutes, I found an Anna Plank--bullseye..it was so exciting. We stopped, kind of "talked to G-Grandma"..'introduced Evan'..and just kind of pondered the fact that in the whole world, Josh's Internet research led us to this teeny town, and of this whole world, we found this one 6x6 plot of land that we think is his G-Grandma. It was a cool moment. Well, we started kind of wondering where her husband was, as she had her own plot, and there weren't any other Planks around her. She had an inscription on her grave that translated to something like "calm and loving mother", so we at least knew 'this' Anna was a mom, but definitely had lots of questions. We continued walking the graveyard, each covering our parts, and I stumbled across BOTH Anna and Johan Blank--BINGO...now we think THIS is them! So, we had a moment there, again 'talking to GG-Ma and GG-Pa', introducing Evan, and wondering how these Planks might fit together. Maybe the 'single' Anna is the sister of Johan? We walked the rest of the area, seeing if there were any other Planks, but after scouring the cemetery, only these 2 gravestones belonged to Planks. More investigative work was needed!

We decided to go to THE cafe (also the general store, since in a town of 382, how many stores do you need) in the hopes of learning something about the Planks from a local. We ordered coffees and Josh recited his German sentence which he had memorized to the clerk, translated, was basically "my G-Grandparents are from here". We showed the clerk a picture of the headstone, since we had it on our digital camera, he racked his brain, but did not know any Planks. He was born and raised in Newmarkt, as were his parents, and given the small population, if any Planks were still there, he would have known them. He directed us to a neighboring town, two towns away, which has a municipal office containing all the city records on folks in Newmarkt. We decided it was worth a shot to research files there..I mean, when are we going to be in Austria again, but by the time we got to that office, they had closed 10 minutes prior. Oh well, at least Josh has the name of that town, and can try to contact that office on-line.

Before leaving Newmarkt, we bought candles to light on Anna, Johan and the single Anna's grave...not wanting to leave anyone out, said some prayers at their graves, and were back on our way to Vienna. Such a great day, and the story and research continues.

Back in Vienna with one more day to tour, we decided to go to the Schonbrunn castle. Amazing place with grounds that must cover the same amount of acreage as Central Park. Huge gardens, fountains, statues, etc. Such a beautiful place to spend our last day in Vienna.

Food, Fun & Friends on the Amalfi Coast

2010-08-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

With two vacation days on the books for Josh, and without any last minute flights that caught our eyes, we were excited to head to the Amalfi Coast with Simonne and Fabio for a relaxing time in Praiano. Fabio's folks have a house in Praiano, a small town between Amalfi and Positano, overlooking the Mediterranean, and the serenity and beauty surrounding this place is unbelievable. Fabio took care of booking us a hotel a few steps away from his folk's place, and we headed down Thursday morning, for a couple nights of relaxation.

The drive, since we got ahead of traffic, only took about 1.5 hours. The ride is full of mountain switchbacks as we traversed over the mountain and along the cliffs of the coast. This drive does tend to make me a bit car-sick, but the views make it worth it. Josh and I laughed about my father's joke when we took my folks there for a visit. As driving along the cliffs, my father said, "My friends don't call me Cliffy for nothing!"..budumpbum!ha

Once we arrived, we met up with Simonne and Fabio for some espressos and chocolate cornettos, and then made our way to their boat for a day spent cruising the coastline, swimming and relaxing in the sun. The water was so warm and clear, the sun was hot, and the views incredible. We anchored in a couple of different spots to jump off the boat to swim, and then just puttered along the coast, checking out the amazing villas, hotels, vineyards, and caves that dot the coastline. It was a great day.

After boating, we relaxed for a bit, then decided to grill out on the terrace at Fabio's place and watch the sunset. We all sipped gin and tonics on the terrace, watched the sky turn to pink and gold as the sun set over Positano, and then indulged in some veggies (peppers, eggplant, pumpkin, zucchini) that Fabio grilled on the BBQ and then tossed in a simple dressing of olive oil, basil and garlic (so delicious)and then dug into some meats--hamburger, steak and italian sausages that were cooked just right over the grill. It was a fantastic night, and we had a great time telling stories, laughing, eating and enjoying the view.

On Friday Josh, Evan and I had breakfast on the hotel terrace and then met up with Simonne and Fabio to head about 35 minutes up the cliffside to a town called Ravello. Ravello is a gorgeous little village with manicured gardens, a pretty piazza, quaint little shops and cobblestone walk ways, and 5 star hotels offering exceptional views of the Amalfi Coast below. We stopped in a Salumeria to get a bunch of fresh sandwiches--Salame and Pecorino, Tuna and tomato, Parmigiana etc, and found a great picnic spot in one of the gorgeous little parks. We relaxed and ate on the picnic blanket, while Evan played, and it was perfect. We had a spot in the shade with just enough of a breeze so that we couldn't have been more comfortable and relaxed. After lunch we strolled the streets, stopped for espresso, found some other vista points to take in the view, stopped again for a milk shake, and then headed back to Praiano. That night we hung out for a quick cocktail with Fabio's parents on their terrace, than went for an awesome dinner at a restaurant next door to our hotel. Every course throughout the meal deserved an "mmmm..mmmmm.." as the food just melted in your mouth. Some of the things we had were tuna carpacio, spaghetti con vongole (with clams), homemade ravioli w/ cheese and eggplant, fish cooked in "crazy water"...a tomato/garlic type mixture that is a typical, neopolitan way to prepare fish, meatballs, pasta w/ pesto and provolone, rolled veal, and of course some desserts of lemon sorbet and strawberry tirimasu. Despite all of this food, the Italian food is just so fresh and cooked w/ simplicity that believe it or not, we didn't have to be rolled out of there. We were all satisfied but not uncomfortably stuffed, and I have to say, it was one of the best meals I've had so far in Italy--excellent!

On Saturday we got an early start after breakfast on the hotel terrace, and are now home, enjoying a full weekend in Posillipo. Josh cooked us pancakes for breakfast...the first batch of pancakes we've had in almost a year, and we are thinking of picnicking in the park by our house later on today. What a great way to spend the weekend.

Hey, where'd everybody go?

2010-08-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

Naples feels like a different city in August. With the heat and humidity at it's peak, the majority of Neapolitan families go on vacation and head south to the beaches in Puglia & Calabria, or head to the islands of Ischia, Capri or Procida that are just a quick ferry ride away. With most folks out of town, the normal traffic intensity of Naples is eased, the availability of parking is incredible, and the ability to find an open store, pizzeria, gelato stand etc is a bit more challenging. All that being said, we are enjoying the calm that August brings to Naples, and enjoying day trips on the weekends to take advantage of the lack of typical traffic.

Last Saturday we drove 45 minutes to Mt. Vesuvius and beared the heat and lack of shade as we hiked to the crater of the volcano. The view was well worth the effort, and we were rewarded at the top with a glass of Mt. Vesuvius white wine...not very tasty, but it seemed like fun to toast with a glass of wine on the edge of a volcano...especially an active one which Vesuvius still is:)

On Sunday, we accepted an invitation from our Italian friends Rosa and Paolo to join them at an Agriturismo (basically a park w/ bbq pits, bathroom facilities, playgrounds etc..and many with restaurants) for a picnic. We arrived after 2.5 hours in the car...an extra hour owed to some mixed communications about directions and meeting places...and found ourselves at a huge park where $10/car allows you entrance and use of all the facilities. We quickly claimed a spot, Paolo got the fire going, the girls laid out all the food on the picnic table, and we spent the day relaxing, talking, and of course, eating. On the grill there was corn on the cob, sausages, turkey & pork and even huge chunks of cheese grilled over the fire, and then we had a rice, tuna and olive salad and the cous cous salad which I had contributed. Conversations were primarily all in Italian which can be challenging due to the sheer speed of the way Italians talk when they all get together, but we managed to keep up with 'most' of the conversation, and had a great time. I've vowed not to drive 2.5 hours again for a picnic, but I'll gladly have them to my neck of the woods for a casual picnic in our neighboring park before the summer is done.

We head to the Amalfi Coast again this week to meet up with Simonne and Fabio for more fun times on their boat, BBQ on their terrace, and just fun times with them. They have become great friends, and they will be moving to Switzerland in a few weeks, so we are really trying to spend as much time with them as possible before they move. I miss Simonne already since she usually comes over almost every day when she isn't at the coast, but once they are settled up in Switzerland I'll be sure to visit:)

I continue to go to the park in my neighborhood almost every day and always seem to make new friends. This week I was invited to run with a group of runners that I have seen there often, so it was great to have the company as I do my laps around the park. This week I became friends with a Grammar School teacher who lives in my neighborhood, and today I met an OB/GYN, Simonna, who after joining me with her babies on my picnic blanket, said she would love to hang out more and asked to exchange phone #s. So..despite what a lot of people think about Neopolitans being closed in and hard to meet, I find just the opposite to be true. The folks I have met all seem open, friendly, and interested in developing new friendships. It's great!

Pictures include:
View from atop the crater of Mt. Vesuvius
Picnic at the Agriturismo
Sunrise from our balcony (w/Evan an early riser, we've decided to start out each day w/ some family time-drinking coffee & watching the sunrise together from our balcony before Josh leaves for work
And Evan showing off some new shoes...Evan DOES have big feet, but not that big-the camera perspective is funny!

Over the mountain and to the coast, to our friends' boat we go!

2010-08-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

We had a spectacular day on the Amalfi coast yesterday, spending the day on our friends' Simonne and Fabio's boat.

We left Naples first thing in the morning, actually getting out the door before 7am, and arriving, in Praiano ( a coastal town between Positano and Amalfi) by 8ish. Fabio's folks have a house in Praiano, so we picked up Simonne and Fabio, went straight to a Bar for some cappucinos and cornettos con chocolat, and then headed to the marina to board the boat. The Amalfi coast this time of year is usually a zoo, and traffic can be a bear, but thankfully, we had clear roads most of the way, and were on the boat just after 9.

Aboard the boat, we all quickly got comfortable on the cushion-covered bow, which offered us a 'front-row seat' to the beautiful Amalfi coast. Fabio was a great captain, touring us around past both Positano and Amalfi, with a couple pit stops where we anchored, jumped off the boat for some swimming, and tendered in to a restaurant on the beach for a great lunch of mozzarella caprese, fresh pasta, eggplant parmigiana, stuffed peppers, grilled tuna, and some white wine with fresh peaches added to it--quite a refreshing beverage for the beach!

It was a fun day in every way--great friends, amazing views, warm dips in the Meditteranean, and 'smooth sailing' the full day. Evan was very relaxed on the boat, was NOT interested in swimming, and slept most of the way back to Naples. What a great way to spend a Saturday--loved it!

Under the Tuscan Sun--that's where we were this weekend:)

2010-08-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

At the recommendation of our good friends, Simonne and Fabio, Josh, Evan and I headed to the Tuscan countryside to enjoy some R&R at Il Fonte Machievelli, Simonne and Fabio's favorite B&B, just outside of Florence. I had to go to the immigration office in the morning for fingerprinting, and Josh had to work, but Friday evening, we made our way to Tuscany, enjoying the scenic drive for the full 4 hour ride.

The township we stayed in, San Casciano, was only about 10 minutes outside of Florence, so from Naples, we simply took the Autostrada the whole way, past Rome, to Florence, and enjoyed not only the vineyards and hillsides, but also amazing, midievel walled cities that you can see perched up on cliffs as you drive through Umbria and enter into Toscana--so pretty! As you view these walled cities, dotted with various look-out towers, you can imagine life back in those mideivel times when a city's position along a cliff or bordering a river allowed for more protection from invaders. Really cool!

Anyways, we were pleasantly surprised by the light traffic---most Italians head South for their August vacations, so we were going against traffic, and we arrived in time to unpack, settle in a bit, and head to dinner at a spot 5 minutes away from the B&B. Hungry, from a day on the road, we ordered lots of food--the Crostini recommended by Simonne, came topped with a variety of things including liver--not my favorite, tomatoes, beans, and wild boar sauce, followed by homemade pasta with the special wild boar sauce of the day, then osso bucco and roasted/seasoned chicken, topped finally off with dessert of gelato for me and a great pastry/cookie type thing with the freshest cream and berries that were to die for for Josh. Evan had his cheerios and was quite content with those:)

The B&B was spectacular. We woke to a stunning view of the countryside from our window, then took in an expansive view of the countryside from the terrace where breakfast was served. It was a buffet of bacon & eggs...which we never see in Naples, ham, various whole fruits, juices, cheeses, rolls and croissants. It was buffet style but the rolls and espressos were delivered to our table. The first day at the buffet, I saw some yummy looking croissants in baskets in the buffet room. Not exactly right next to the buffet, but I thought that maybe we could have them. I grabbed one from a basket, and when I got back out to our table where Josh and Evan were, I saw that the waiter had delivered our own basket of 2 croissants...meaning I had 'stolen' someone elses. Geez..you just can't take this girl anywhere! So..it was kind of embarrassing..not too much..I mean..we did enjoy that extra croissant smothered in Nutella, but I did feel a bit bad. Well..sure enough at breakfast the next day, we had not 2 but 3 croissants in our basket. Josh and I just laughed...my little faux pas paid off for the 2nd day:) ha!

After a leisurely breakfast the first day, we spent a few hours by the pool, swimming with Evan in his new blow up float toy, and then just relaxed poolside while Evan slept in the shade of some olive trees---all sounds very Tuscan doesn't it:) After enough time by the pool and in the sun, we went to lunch in San Casciano where we found one of maybe 3 open restaurants to eat at. You see, in Italy, everyone goes on vacation in August, so it is not unusual to find whole streets of stores, shops, restaurants closed for the month, with little hand-written signs in the windows that say the date they will be back from holiday. So, we didn't have a ton of options, but we found a little place where we sat outside and enjoyed bread salad, bruscetta, pesto gnocchi, spaghetti con pomodoro and some wine. After lunch, we had enough time to head into Florence to check out Piazza Michelangelo, a piazza that offers a panaromic view of the city. We enjoyed some super cold iced-teas while we took in the view, and then headed back to San Casciano for our 5:30pm private wine-tasting appointement at Mangia Cane ("Eat Dog"...a restaurant/resort that was recommended to us). The wines were great and we learned a lot about the grapes, the wines, their process from the Sommelier who served us. After the winetasting we were able to enjoy the view from one of the terraces at Mangia Cane and the food offered as part of a hotel type 'happy hour'. So, even though we weren't staying at the hotel (where prices ranged from $350-$3000/night), we got to spend a lot of time there, and indulge in the spread of food and wines they put out, including cheeses, meats, fried mozzarella balls, wontons, prusciutto etc. A great spread, a great view, and a perfect night in Tuscany.

On our last day, we woke up to the spectacular breakfast on the terrace and then headed out towards San Gimignano and Siena for the day. Both of these towns are walled cities, so you have to park outside the walls and then walk in. In San Gimignano we stopped into an Enoteca for a winetasting. We had told the girl working there that I am learning Italian and like to practice, so she described each of the wines to us in Italian, and conversed solely in Italian for the 1/2 hour we spent with her. Josh and I were proud of ourselves for understanding so much of what she was saying, since technical wine making terms haven't necessarily been part of the Italian vocabulary that we've been learning. In any case, the wines were great, our hostess was nice and knowledgeable, and we walked out of there with a nice bottle of Chianti Classico.

After winetasting, we walked up to Piazza di Cisterna...the site of a 12th century Cistern, but also, lucky for me, the site of the "Gelato World Champion's" gelato shop. Well, the Cistern was something to see, but didn't nearly hold my attention as much as my triple cone of eggnog, chocolate and coconut gelato--now that was GOOD! With icecreams in hand, we strolled the narrow, pedestrian only streets, window shopped, people watched, and then headed on to Siena. We had been to Siena on vacation about 5 years ago, never thinking then that we would be returning a second time from our 'home' in Italy. Weird how life goes. Anyways, on our previous vacation, Siena had been one of our favorite spots, so we kind of recreated what we had done during our previous visit, which was stop in a local deli (which our first time we were totally intimidated since everyone was speaking Italian and the guy behind the counter was like the 'soup nazi from Seinfeld, but this time, with our Italian skills improved, there was little intimidation:), order parmmesan, salami, bread and drinks, and have a picnic in the main piazza. It was a little different this time, since now we had a picnic blanket filled with toys to keep Evan occupied, but otherwise, the day in Siena was reminiscent of our past visit--nice weather, huge sandwiches, great people watching, and totally relaxing.

Amazing how just a few hours drive away and we get totally different landscapes, different food choices/menu varieties, different driving abilities from the locals, and different attitudes of the people. We just love the experience we are having living in Italy and are constantly trying to take it all in, and not take it for granted. Now...where to next....???

Pictures:
-The B&B with a great pool--our room 2nd floor of the bldg behind pool
-Evan just so happy to be in his stroller touring Tuscany
-My Crostini at dinner the first night
-View from our room
-Evan happy to be on the breakfast terrace overlooking Tuscan countryside
-Evan and Josh getting refreshed in the pool
-The 3 of us at Piazza Michelangelo, overlooking Florence
-Winetasting at "Mangia Cane"

That Queen is a hoot! Such a bloody riot!

2010-08-05T08:19:00.001-07:00

Josh, Evan and I had a great time visiting my old San Francisco roomie, Liz, in London for the weekend. Liz moved there for an adventure as she always wanted to live in Europe, and well, we decided to experience the adventure with her for a weekend in her new city.

London is fabulous, and her neighborhood, West Hempstead, was a great place to call 'home' for the weekend.

A snapshot of our itinerary:
-Arrived Friday afternoon and experienced the 'fast train' from Stanstead airport to Liverpool Station, and then had our first "Tube" ride to Liz's neighborhood. We got settled into Liz's apartment--a great, garden apartment with lots of space inside, and outside--she has a patio area/garden and access to a huge open meadow out back--unusual for London living. After getting settled, we headed to Covent Garden, the core of the "West End", watched some street performers, browsed the market stalls with vendors selling all sorts of items from foods to crafts, and then dined on some fish & chips and English Ale at a typical British Pub. The food was good..even the 'mushy peas' that when we looked at them, thought that our fish was accompanied by guacamole, but they were in fact the English veggie staple of mushy peas which were quite delicious. Following dinner we walked to Piccadily Circus--a super crowded area..especially on a Friday night, lined w/ theatres, crowded with theatre go-ers, tourists and 20-30 somethings, and some swank restaurants. We sat outside at an Argentinian steak house for dirty martinis, and then we called it a night.
-Day 2 in London started w/ a great walk to the Primrose Hill area for breakfast of pastries in the park, stroll through the neighborhoods, gorgeous walk along one of teh canals that they refer to as 'little Venice', and then headed to The Thames for a lunch-time picnic in the park..right in the shadow of The London Eye. We bought all the fixings for a perfect picnic--cheeses, olives, breads, hummus, wine, salami etc, and truly loved the people watching and the view of The Eye, Parliament, Big Ben and The Thames. After lunch, we walked across the river to Westminster Chapel which was very impressive from the outside, and probably more-so from the inside, however, we couldn't go in. That night Josh was dying for some Indian food--diverse restaurants extremely hard to find in Naples, so we finished our Day 2 adventure with some curries, tikka masalas and nann bread before heading back to Liz's cozy apartment, just a short walk from the restaurant--and lots of other shops, cafes etc.
-Day 3 Josh and I got up early...well, Evan got up early, so we decided to as well, and we headed out for a morning stroll to Starbucks..another U.S comfort that we sometimes miss in Naples. We enjoyed the walk through Liz's neighborhood, had coffee and some amazing scones, then went back to Liz's so that we could all head out for a longer walk, exploring another neighborhood close to hers. After a great walk, we headed via taxi...the taxis that you can fit the entire stroller in w/o having to collapse it--very convenient-- and headed to Notting Hill's Portobello Market for some people watching and shopping. Both sides of Portobello St are lined with antique shops, some souvenir shops, vintage clothing/jewelry stores etc. It reminded me a bit of Haight Ashbury in San Francisco in a strange way. We explored some of the shops, and then settled into an English Pub for another round of Fish & Chips. It was a perfect afternoon, capped off by a fun BBQ at Liz's house later that evening..complete with Pimms..a popular British cocktail.

The weekend flew by and we vowed to definitely visit Liz again soon, since she's really only a short plane ride away.

Side note: The red phone booths and double decker busses are everywhere and really make you feel like you are in London:)

Ummmm...OK, I'll go to Umbria:)

2010-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we decided to wake up early and head on a road trip to Umbria, with Assisi as our main destination.

After a quick, 3.5 hour, drive through the beautiful Italian countryside, we arrived in Assisi. It is such a gorgeous, clean and quaint city, easily walkable, and definitely worth the ride. St. Francis of Assisi Basilica is the main attraction, so we hit that spot first...hoping to get some shelter and relief from the heat within this huge structure. We were not rewarded with any cool air, but the Basilica was beautiful, in an understated, yet Gothic kind of way. The tomb of St. Francis was also pretty incredible, and there was definitely a 'holy' feeling within the building.

After touring St. Francis we wandered up to Piazza di Commune, on the hunt for shade and something to eat. We grabbed some beers, cold waters, and sandwiches at a Salumeria and sprawled out our picnic blanket in the Piazza in the shade of one of the big buildings. It was the perfect spot for Evan to play, while we ate and people-watched. There were a lot of Americans touring around, and although there were many tour groups, the streets did not feel overly crowded at all.

After lunch we headed to our hotel, another great find through Tripadvisor.com's recommendations, and then decided on what to do the rest of the afternoon. We went to a few more churches and a temple (Santa Chiara, San Ruffino and Minerva temple) recommended by the hotel, began to melt from the heat, went and got gelato (chocolate and coconut combo) to cool off, and then parked ourselves at a restaurant that had misting fans to help keep their customers cool. We plopped our sweaty selves down directly in front of one of the big fans and enjoyed some cold beers while doing some more people watching. A great, relaxing way to spend the rest of this very hot and very humid afternoon. Evan was happy to cool off back in our hotel room where he enjoyed a cold bath before getting ready for bed.

2 funny things about the churches:
-My tank top and shorts were too revealing for the modesty required to enter the churches, so I was provided with shawls--one to wrap around my shoulders and one to wrap around my waist. Josh said I looked like a gypsy, but oh well, at least I got in:)
-Evan's gas would apparently get to the point of where he just couldn't hold it anymore, and big, explosive "fffaaaarrrrrttttt" would just come out at, of course, the most quiet area of the churches. Didn't he see the signs all around demanding "Silenzio"!

After touring the churches and relaxing in the piazza, we strolled Evan to sleep in his stroller, while we headed off to dinner at a restaurant up the street from our hotel. We enjoyed a nice dinner outside, got some cannolis to-go from a local bakery, and then called it a night.

On Sunday morning we got up and headed out of Assisi to Orvieto, another Umbria hilltown about an hour drive from Assisi. Josh had learned of this town after a brief google search on Umbria, and we were so glad that he stumbled across it. Orvieto is such a pretty town, with many 'post-card-worthy' scenes. Pretty cobblestrone streets, window boxes overflowing with fuschia flowers, little parks offering shade and benches, and lots of quaint shops selling typical wares from ceramics, to olive oils, embroidered items etc. The Duomo is the main attraction...a huge, gothic style cathedral, that from the front, looked to me like Florence's Duomo. I would definitely recommend Orvieto as a great town to go for the weekend, or even as a day trip from Naples, as the ride home was only 2.5 hours.

Now home at our apartment in Naples, we are finishing up laundry from our trip, listening to fireworks (a typical, nightly affair around here), digesting our dinner--Josh's homemade mac & cheese..or should I say cheese and mac, and relaxing. We are thankful to have air conditioning after surviving the temps in the upper 90s in Assisi without the hotel having air conditioning. Note to self: when booking hotels in the summer in Italy...always doublecheck for AC as it is not something that can be taken for granted here.

Back in Italy

2010-07-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

After a week of adjusting from jet-lag, I can say that we are all back into the swing of things in Napoli. It was a tough adjustment the first few days getting used to everything Italian again, but I am regaining my confidence with the language, and getting back into routine. Evan has also fallen back into his routine which is a huge help, so things are good. Buono!

For the past 2 days I've walked up to the park, bringing along a huge picnic blanket, toys and lunch for Evan and I. It is TOO hot and humid to go for my normal speed walk while pushing Evan, so instead, we are just relaxing at the park, which we both really enjoy. Being at the park allows Evan to watch all the kids playing on the playground, while giving both of us a change of scenery from the apartment.

Yesterday, I saw a few women and kids sitting near me, they said 'ciao', I said 'ciao' back, and that was the extent of it. Today, I walked back up to the park at the same time, and the same girls were there. One of them, Mary, came over, introduced herself, sat down with us, and chatted for about 10 minutes--all in Italian mind you. She then invited Evan and I to join her and her friends, which we did. I am so excited about meeting them. There are 5 girls (Mary, Veronica, Maria, a Russian girl who moved here 4 years ago..i forget her name, and another girl whose name I forget) and about 8 kids (Lorenzo, Luigi, Eduardo, Tomaso, I forget the others), and they all go to the park for the same time every day--from about 11am-4pm. They let the kids run around while they sit and visit. They told me to come and join them each day and in no time, I'll be a master of Italian. I love the sound of that!! I held my own in conversation today, and I can't wait to sit with them tomorrow to practice my Italian more...never mind the benefit of adult conversation!!

I've been practicing vocabulary via homemade flashcards, but nothing beats conversation. I've made friends with Vincent and Bruno--the security guards at the park, so we talk a bit each day as I'm coming and going, plus the produce man, Francesco, at the Super-O is helping me with the names of fruits and vegetables. Hopefully, by the time I am home at Xmas, I'll have more language skills to show for my time here. Hard to believe that by December we will have already lived in Italy for one year!!!

Time to Pahhk the Cah in Hahvahd Yahhd

2010-07-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

After cracking a molar while in Istanbul, I decided to fly back to my Hingham, hometown, dentist rather then venture to a dentist here in Southern Italy. I had heard that the option for Novacane was variable to non-existent, and knowing my low-pain threshold, I quickly logged onto Orbitz to find Evan and I some cheap, last minute flights to the US. After hardly having time to unpack from Istanbul, we were back on a train to Rome's Leonardo di Vinci airport and then over to Boston's Logan airport via London.

Lesson # 1---never attempt an International trip without a stroller!! I had thought the stroller would be too much of a pain loading on/off trains and planes with my luggage in tow, but Boy! was that a mistake! I arrived at each 'transition' along the route looking sweaty and disheveled, with 20 pounds of Evan strapped to me in the Bjorn, a backpack on my back, my baby holster (i.e large fanny pack containing bottles, toys, pacifier etc) and my large roller bag being dragged behind me. If any of you have ever read the book "Slummy Mummy" and remember the character....I was her!!

Lesson #2---consider forgoing feeding Evan prunes with his morning cereal on any days that airport changing stations are involved. I had Evan propped on the changing table in the restroom at the airport and Holy diaper Explosion!! Just what I needed!! I had so much stuff with me, but did I have enough baby wipes for something as massive as this..of course not!! In a matter of seconds, there was poop everywhere, Evan had thrust both hands in it, and I was looking more and more incompetent to the 'spectators' watching this all happen as they primped in the mirror from their long flights, washed their hands etc. I was sweating even more than before---say hello to Slummy Mummy again! Can I please just get my bags checked and get onto the plane please!!

Finally, on the flight after being delayed due to French air traffic controllers being on strike, we took off heading 'the long way' to London, since we couldn't even fly over French air space. Thankfully, I made my connection in time, and was on my way to Boston...hooray!

As we exited Logan's baggage claim area, Tom was there to greet us with a big "We love you Kim" sign. He had left work early and drove all the way down from Vermont to pick me up and to meet his nephew Evan for the first time. How nice was that!!

Driving from the airport to Hingham, I immediately noticed just how orderly the driving seemed and how 'easy' things already felt. What a huge difference it makes when you can understand what everyone is saying, when you can read street signs, and when you actually know where you are going. A convenience/luxury you can easily take for granted until you are plunked into a foreign country.

The trip to Boston was great. Some highlights:
-Spending quality time with family and friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, college friends, Hingham friends, work friends etc. Just so great to see everyone and catch up.
-Visiting Nana and watching her with Evan. She loves babies, and thankfully that's the truth considering she had 8 of them.
-Dunkin donuts coffee
-Going grocery shopping and knowing what I am buying. The ability to read labels is a huge help when it comes to shopping!
-Watching Evan with family and watching them get to know each other.
-Hanging out by 'the pool'..even if it was just a blow up, inflatable one.
-Meeting some of my friends' babies who were born when I was either out of state or out of the country. So fun for Evan to meet so many potential future wives:)
-Going to the 4th of July parade and festivities. Really made me feel 'at home in the US'. In Italy, there have been so many Saint's days and holidays, but I always feel a bit out of the loop not even knowing that it is a holiday until I try to shop and find the stores closed.
-The luxury of babysitters--thanks Ma & Pa!
-Getting my haircut and being able to explain what I want the stylist to do. Another communication thing that is easily taken for granted.
-The support of friends and family which allowed me to conquer the 'cry it out' method and get Evan on a schedule that seems to work for the both of us.
-Time at the beach in Brant Rock, Hingham Harbor and Egypt Beach. It was fun for me, although Evan still is a bit scared of the ocean--not sure if he doesn't like the waves, or if it's the sand, but 3 beaches=3 strikeouts with him liking it. Maybe it had to do with the borrowed pink beach hat I had him wear. He was maybe just too self conscious and wanted to get the heck off the beach before any of his baby friends saw him:)

During our trip home, we were able to fly down to Pittsburgh to see Josh's side of the family, and introduce Evan to them. Poppy had come out to Seattle when Evan was first born, but the rest of the gang had yet to meet him. From Boston, it was a quick flight, and Evan flew like a pro.

Some highlights from Pittsburgh:
-Being picked up by Dara at the airport and seeing Leah and Chloe's excitement about meeting their new, baby cousin for the first time.
-The irony of going to "The Olive Garden" for lunch---if you ask me, it is still pretty good Italian, and you got to love the bottomless soup, salad and breadsticks:)
-Watching Evan check out Uncle Ed for the first time. It was as if he was wondering..."is this Daddy? Did Daddy shave off his goatee?"
-Evan and cousin Aubrey meeting for the first time. They really checked each other out.
-Watching all the cousins playing together in the kiddie pool and on the 'love sac'.
-Going to take a shower while leaving Evan in the care of Ed, Dara and the kids, and coming back downstairs to find Evan all 'girled' up with a pigtail on his head, playing with dolls, on the pink barbie couch. Nice touch Blank family! ha
-Poppy's reaction at just how much Evan has grown and how different he looks. He's a real little boy now!
-Being able to see, in person, how much Evan looks like Jason, since at one time or another, it seems that all the Blank kids look like Uncle Jason.
-Getting to meet baby Lilah, and see how much Zack had grown, and visiting with Robin, Aunt K and Aaron.

We plan to head back to the East Coast for a few weeks in December, so we'll be seeing everyone again soon.

I'll take a Turkey Kebap please!

2010-07-07T01:37:00.000-07:00

We were in Turkey for a long weekend at the end of June and it was amazing! I was surprised to feel more 'at home' in Turkey than I initially did in Southern Italy. Istanbul was definitely more Western than I had imagined, and to prove it, our first stop once off the bus from the airport was at the Starbucks...a company most of my Italian friends have never even heard of. After refreshing iced venti, decaf, vanilla soy lattes, we took the Funicular from Tasnim Square down into new town, then a metro ride over to Sultanhmet (old town) where our hotel was. I had found our hotel on Trip Advisor and when we first arrived at the address given on the website we were shocked to find an abandoned building, but thankfully, the address I had was wrong, and we were quickly pointed to the correct building and we found the Maywood Hotel to be quite nice, especially for the bargain rate I found on line. We spent each day enjoying the huge buffet breakfast at the hotel complete with lots of chopped salads of eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta; huge platters of honeycomb, olives in every style--from fresh in their own juices to marinaded or spiced up with red peppers, large varieties of "Turkish Delight" a sweet, candy type item, plus egg dishes, pastries, and of course --Turkish Coffee...although we observed that tea seemed to be the more popular beverage among the Turks. For lunches and dinners we tried as much of the local fare as we could, and enjoyed the restaurants that had pillows on the floor for seating, since that allowed Josh and I some freedom from holding Evan as he was more than comfortable playing on the cozy cushions next to us while we enjoyed meze plates, super cold Turkish beers, Turkish pizza, and various lamb and beef dishes--yum! I was a definite fan of the food and impressed by how consistently iced-cold the Elin beers were. Very refreshing considering the temperature each day was in the upper 80s to 90s.

Some favorite spots:
-Lunch under the bridge along the Bosphorous straight. The breeze was great, plus it was fun to see what the fisherman were pulling up before even they saw, as about 100 fishing lines were dropped down in the water from above where we were dining.
-Taking the bus over the bridge and on one sign seeing "welcome to Asia" and then driving in the other direction, "Welcome to Europe".
-The Blue Mosque--the history and architecture were so impressive!
-The Grande Bazaar--you just can't believe how huge this shopping area is. It is all inside,with tons of hallways/wings selling similar items--i.e the Leather wing, the Candy wing, the Jewelry wing etc. It's like a maze and hard not to get lost in it.
-The Spice Market, fun place to walk through and watch the locals buying their spices, nuts etc. The scents are incredible as you walk through.
-The various restaurants with the floor/pillow seating. I wish there were more of those in the US and Italy as it was a very fun and comfortable way to dine. Hmmm..maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time assembling my Ikea dining chairs...throw pillows would have been much easier and maybe I could have started a trend in home dining decor...hmmm...
-The people. I found the Turkish people to be very nice and wow..do they love babies!! I didn't think anyone could love babies more than Southern Italians, but the Turks definitely do. People were practically diving over each other on the crowded trains to get a chance to stroke Evan's cheek or hold his hand--unbelievable!
-The Whirling Dirvishes!! These guys are amazing. I had never heard of them, so in case you haven't either, they are these monk-type guys who wear long white dresses and twirl in place to music. They hold there posture in such a way that their arms are out, their head is slightly tilted and looking up, and they just spin their feet with their whole body kind of on an axis and with the white dress flowing out to the sides. They are truly mesmerizing to watch, and we watched 'a dirvish' while we were indulging in pistachio baklavah and sipping apple tea at a cafe in the park between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya.
-Sultanahmet was a great neighborhood to stay in for ease of access to all the sites. It is the "heart of old city" and was once home to Byzantine emperors and Ottoman sultans, but now it's just the perfect spot to stay if you are visiting and it is within walkind distance to most major mosques, museums, hotels and cafes.

We didn't buy a Turkish rug on this trip, but if you are ever in the market for one, I'd recommend a trip to go buy one in person. You won't be dissappointed by what Istanbul has to offer!

The days in between

2010-06-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, we did take some time to relax, despite the multitude of things to see and places to go in the area. We tried for some 'down time' every other day and on those days we relaxed at our apartment, on the balconies, or took walks up to Parco Virgiliano near our place, or down to the beach at the end of our road. If in the city, we couldn't help but pop into any church with an open door, since usually, behind those doors, we were treated to amazing duomos, frescoes, lavish paintings and marble carvings.

Up the hill to the Monastery

2010-06-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

On a whim, after looking at the Certosa di San Martino Monastery looming over us from Piazza Plebiscito, we decided to take the funiculare up to the Vomero neighborhood to check it out. The monastery is said to 'command the most perfect location in the entire city' from a view perspective, which attests to the wealth and power the monks once enjoyed. I read that the monks, in the 17th & 18th centuries, commissioned the greatest artists of the time to embellish the church and chambers and there is now at least one work done by each famous artist of that age. We were blown away by the church and we sat on the benches taking in the views of Naples and the Bay for a long time before finally heading home hoping to get ahead of a looming dark rain cloud. On our way home, we hopped off the bus in Piazza Vanvitelli for a great lunch of burgers, homemade chips, and salad at one of my favorite English pubs, before bussing it back home to Posillipo for a relaxing night on the balcony. From one of the terraces of the monastery I took a picture showing our neighborhood of Posillipo nestled along the bay, as well as a 'bird's eye view' of Piazza Plebiscito and then the main downtown of Naples...just try to count all the church domes..amazing!

Rome in a Day

2010-06-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

We drove the 2 hours up to Rome and opted for an on-off bus tour which allowed us to see all the key sites and get on and off at our leisure to explore more areas on foot. We had lunch in Piazza Navona, my favorite, and from there walked to the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon where we were taken back by the beauty of the sculptures and the architectural skills of the ancient Romans. We walked the perimeter of the Collosseaum..not wanting to wait in the huge lines to get in, and indulged, as usual, in a few scoops of gelato before hopping back in the car for our journey home. My parents just 'couldn't take it all in' since every where you look there seems to be a sculpture, monument, gorgeous piazza or enormous structure to look at. We'll be spending some more time in Rome before they leave, and they'll be sure to go back again to experience even more of Rome during a future visit to Italy.

Rainy day in Amalfi

2010-06-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

Being quite comfortable at our apartment, we kept putting off a drive to the Amalfi coast, and then the day we chose, we ended up getting rainy and foggy weather. This bad weather took away some of the awe of the Amalfi Coast views, but we still had a fun day as we drove over the mountain into the town of Amalfi where we toured the Amalfi Duomo/Cathedral, shopped amongst the ceramic shops where I finally bought my olio and aceto set (Oil and Vinegar), stopped for espressos and pastries--indulging in our usual chocolate filled cornettos and cream filled pastries, and then headed back home along the switchbacks, made treacherous not only by the rain but by the abundance of huge tour busses trying their luck around the 90 degree turns at the same time we were..mamma mia..thank God Josh is so comfortable behind the wheel!

7th century BC Paestum

2010-06-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

3 intact Greek Temples sit just about an hour and 45 minutes from our apartment, and wow, are they impressive. Some friends have said that if we've been to Paestum we can knock the Acropolis in Athens off our list, since in their opinion, the Paestum temples of Hera & Zeus, Neptune and Ceres are just as impressive.

Boat to Capri

2010-06-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

After staring across the Bay of Naples at Capri from our apartment, we decided to take the boat over to check out "Glamourous Capri", the island which since the 1960s has brought the international jet-setters and hollywood film stars to it's shores. The boat ride is a quick hour cruise from Naples' 'port' road which we ended up having to bus and walk to after Josh dropped us off at one ferry dock that I thought had Capri boats, but come to find out, it didn't. So, we got to the correct dock in time for the 9:10am boat, and docked at Capri with plenty of time for a full day of relaxation and exploration in the sun--people watching, gelato eating, window shopping, and taking various modes of transportation--from the funiculare up the cliff amongst the lemon trees, to the great wooden motor boat ride around the island to the Blue Grotto. We had 3 pit stops all in all...one for espressos and pastires in the morning at Marina Grande along the seaside coast of the island where the ferry landed, then up the funicular to for lunch and walks through Monte Solaro and Capri Town where you can take in amazing views of gardens, lemon tree groves and the sea--littered with yachts from all over, and then back down to Marina Grande for our gelatos before hopping on our motor boat ride to the Blue Grotto. The boat ride was a perfect excursion..just enough wind to keep us cool, and exceptional views of the island from the water perspective. Blue Grotto is 100% overrated in my opinion and not even worth the 15 or so Euro I paid for a 5 minute row boat ride into the grotto, but at least I can check it off my list as far as 'must see' attractions, although in my opinion, just look at the picture of it on a postcard as there isn't much to glimpse inside. Capri was a fun day trip and it was great to get back home and look across the bay at where we had just been and reminisce on the good time we had over there.

Duomo and Botanical Gardens

2010-06-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Stephanie served as a great tour guide taking us to The Duomo in Naples and the Botanical Gardens, which are by appointment only, so we felt special being able to go there and picnic on great sandwiches that we had picked up at the Salumeria outside the gates. We explored the sites with Stephanie, Brandy and Adrienne, taking out time absorbing the amazing marble-work and frescos at the Duomo and neighboring churches and chapels, and than meandering through the serenity of the Botanical Gardens. All in all a great day taking in the sites, while my folks got to also experience what it is like navigating the Napoli metro system with a stroller. This city isn't big on elevators and ramps, so lugging the stroller up and down staircases of stations, and of the busses and trains themselves becomes part of the overall 'living in Napoli' experience. The extra hands of my parents made all the difference!

Old vs. New

2010-06-06T06:06:00.001-07:00

It's amazing to drive 1/2 an hour from our apartment and be delivered into the ancient world of Pompeii. We had a fabulous day exploring Pompeii, walking the ancient cobblestone streets, viewing temples dedicated to different Gods worshipped 2thousand years ago, drifting through the Forums imagining how the residents would go there to do their shopping amongst the market stalls and engage in various civic, religious and political activities, taking in the amazing residences covered in frescoes and mosaics, and enjoying the many gardens scattered throughout the city. The most moving part was viewing the plaster casts of the bodies that had been made when archaeologists poured plaster into cavities that were left when the remains of Pompeii citizens who died when Vesuvius erupted had disintegrated into the earth, leaving air cavities that could be filled to make exact casts of how the people were when they were suddenly overcome by the forces of the volcano. I found the plaster cast of the pregnant woman laying on her belly, and the casts of what looked like a couple and their children to be some of the saddest ones to look at. There was even a cast of an unfortunate dog, curled up in an awkward position, obviously suffering from the heat or ash of the volcano.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera this day. I had been to Pompeii before and had thought I'd be dropping my parents off for a day in Pompeii themselves, but last minute, I decided to join them, and was glad I did. Being 'stroller-less' since Josh was watching Evan, gave us the opportunity to explore a lot more of Pompeii's uneven, un-stroller-friendly streets, so it was a whole new tour this second time around. When we initially got there, I also thought it was cool to be having coffee in an Autogrill restaurant that they built right on the ancient grounds. So..here we were walking out of the Forum, dating from 79 AD, to round the corner to be in a modern cafe where we could order our cappuccinos, americanos and pastries--such a juxtaposition between the ancient and modern worlds.

We explored Pompeii for about 3+ hours then got our well-earned gelatos on the way out before heading home to relax. What a great day!

Day in Sorrento

2010-05-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day in Sorrento. We had debated going due to a forecast of rain, but we lucked out w/ just a sprinkle that lasted a few minutes, and was hardly umbrella-worthy for these Seattle-ites and Bostonians...

We spent the day strolling the narrow, pedestrian streets, taking in the local fares such as ceramics, lemoncellos, candies etc, indulging in some Italian staples...pastries and espressos for breakfast, pizzas for lunch and gelatos for dessert, and then making our way along the cliffside switchbacks back to Napoli. It was a fun day and we're looking forward to more touring later this week and this weekend.

Neopolitan driving

2010-05-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

My mother, Evan and I joined some friends at a "Turkish Luncheon" at the NATO base. The luncheons occur each month, sponsored by women from various countries, and besides getting to learn about the culture and taste the foods of whichever country is highlighted, the functions are usually a great place to mingle and meet new people.

Our excursion to the Turkish Luncheon did start off with a bit of a hiccup though as we got in a car accident on the way there. My friend had come to pick us up in her brand new car..not even a month old, and we were t-boned just outside the NATO base. Thankfully noone was hurt but I guess my Mom got a true understanding of what the roads, traffic and driving are like in Napoli!

Our "days off" from touring

2010-05-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

We've been keeping busy sightseeing, but my parents are also having fun just relaxing at our apartment and hanging out with Evan. It's been a HUGE help having them here, and I've been joking with my Mom that her profile picture on the "au pair" website was a bit dated, and her Italian isn't as good as she claimed, but she's still well worth the 2 euro an hour and boy is she a hard worker! Her new nickname is Luigia...my Italian Au Pair:)ha!

My parents studied up on a bit of Italian before they arrived, and they've been practicing some of the words they learned. The funniest was when they practiced their "Grazie"..(Thank You), by enthusiastically smiling and waving and yelling "Grazie" in unison to the beggar at the toll booth. They thought she was a toll collector there to help drivers understand the automated toll collecting machine. That was truly their 'tourist' moment! Hysterical!

I've posted some pics from time relaxing at the apartment, catching some wind down at our beach, strolling in the park, and playing with Evan. There's also one of Luigia hard at work in the kitchen:)

Does this Palace look familiar?

2010-05-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

My folks, Evan and I had a great time exploring the Royal Palace of Caserta this week.

The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the eighteenth century and it was modeled after Versailles. It is absolutely huge, and has some 1,200 rooms, including two dozen state apartments, a large library, and a theatre modelled after the Teatro San Carlo of Naples.

Another cool thing about the palace and surrounding gardens is the fact that this location was used in a bunch of blockbuster movies. Caserta palace was used as the location for Queen Amidala's Royal Palace on Naboo in the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and again in the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as Queen Jamilla's palace. The same room was also used in Mission: Impossible III as Vatican City. In fact, the square where the Lamborghini is blown up is actually the square inside the Palace. The main staircase is also used in Angels & Demons (film) as the Vatican's staircase. The mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli used the palace as primary location for the film "L'art des castrats" that accompanies her album "Sacrificium", dedicated to the music written for the castrato singers of the baroque period. So...this palace may just look familiar. If you look really closely as you watch those movies, you may also see The Berry/Blank family bobbing their heads amongst the 'extras'...haha..

Benvenuti a mamma e papà Italia

2010-05-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

My parents arrived safely to Italy on Wednesday and we are having a great time taking in the sites of Naples, the views from our apartment, and just general life in Italy.

On Wednesday, they arrived in Rome, so after a 2 hour drive back to Naples, we decided to just relax at home. We had some coffees out on the balcony, played with Evan, and enjoyed some pizzas that Josh got on his way home from work. My mother and I enjoyed Siciliana pizza (eggplant), my father had the spicy Diavola (the closest thing to a pepperoni pizza), and Josh had the classic Marguerita. All of us went to bed early, exhausted after a long day of travel, airport pickups, and work.

On Thursday, my folks and I met up with my Italian friend Claudia and her baby Andrea for a walk to the Posillipo outdoor market. This weekly market takes up an entire street and sells everything from shoes and clothes to kitchen accessories and general housewares. I had a long list of household items I needed, so it was great to have Claudia with us since she could help translate my list for the salespeople and also help to ensure that I didn't pay too much since when they can, the sellers will definitely charge tourists more than what they will charge the locals. After a successful time at the market, conquering 3 quarters of my shopping list, Claudia headed to the park to feed Andrea, while we went to the Gelateria for some gelato..my father had the Tirimisu flavor, and my mother and I created a great double scoop combo of Chocolate and Coconut...tasted just like Ma's favorite candy--Mounds bars...yum!

Friday was spent touring Napoli. We bussed down the hill from Posillipo to Chiaia, strolled Via Chiaia--a pedestrian lane lined w/ shops and restaurants..stopping for a slice of lasagna pizza which we ate in Piazza Plebiscito while watching the police on motorcycles practicing some type of riding formation. After Piazza Plebiscito, we walked across the street, up Via Toledo to Galleria Umberto--a grand shopping center with amazing architecture, mosaic floor and a central dome, where we split a batch of chocolate covered, cream filled profiteroles, and then, with this boost of sugar, made our way down the road to Castel Nouvo. I am so used to driving by Castel Nouvo as part of a high traffic commute, that it has lost a bit of its awe for me, but my mother couldn't help thinking of the times of knights dueling, and battles going on as she looked at this massive, ancient structure in the middle of bustling Napoli traffic. After Castel Nuovo, we walked back up through Piazza Plebisito into the Santa Lucia neighborhood where we stopped for Gelato (you understand the pattern here...see a site, stop for a sweet, see a sight, stop for a sweet..see a site, stop for a sweet :). This time my mother had Panna (whipped cream) on top of her gelato cone and had to eat is so fast to keep it from melting that she could hardly enjoy it...well, she did enjoy it, but would have preferred to savor every bite. Next time, she'll opt for the big bowl instead. After our gelato pitstop, we meandered down Via Santa Lucia, waved hello to the lavandaria ladies who used to hang my bloomers outside their shop, and stopped in to say 'buongiorno' to my friends at Hotel Excelsior, our home for the first 4 months we were in Italy. The staff their were so happy to see us, especially Evan, and they gave me free reign to take my folks around the hotel. We took the elevator up to the top floor restaurant to say hi to my friends Francesca and Mario who work there, and then enjoyed a little rest out on the roof deck at the hotel. The view was bellissimo, and we could clearly see Castel Ovo, which was to be our next venture of the day. My mother loved the hotel so much, she was kicking herself for not coming out to visit us while we lived there. I guess she no longer felt sorry for me and my 4 months of hotel living...crying her a river wasn't going to bring on much sympathy!

The day was perfect for a walk around Castel Ovo, and my folks loved the views from the top. They were impressed by the ancient cannons, the long drop down to the sea below, and the panoramic views that the roof of the castel offered.

They got a great overview of where and how I've been spending my time so far in Italy and this weekend we'll be trying to plan out the rest of their visit, with some 'must sees' that they have on their list including Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Paestum, Pompei, Rome etc. Relaxing at home with their grandson is also on their list, so we'll be laying low at home today to do just that.

We'll keep you posted as the Berry vacation adventure continues...stay tuned.

Driving Ms. Daisy

2010-05-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

Josh, Evan and I arrived back from Ireland and had a great trip. The vacation involved a bit too much driving time for my liking, but I guess that is the way to see and experience the Irish countryside.

On Thursday, we arrived in Ireland around 3:30 pm, and since I had done my homework on the Guiness Factory, I knew that we would have to go straight from the airport to the factory in order to make it in time for the last tour. So, we did just that, and wasted very little time in Dublin before enjoying our first Guiness. The beer tasted great, and the tour was pretty good too:)

The tour of the factory is self-guided and takes you through the beer making process as you walk through various exhibits scattered throughout the 7 story building. The finale of the tour is the top floor tasting room, where you get to enjoy a draft, poured the 'correct way'which for a Guiness takes just under 2 minutes per pour, while taking in the 360 degree view of Dublin. We enjoyed the views and got into a conversation with a couple from Chicago who recommended that we take the scenic drive through the Wicklow mountains on our way to Killarney, which is the town I had booked us an Inn at for the next two days. The scenic drive turned out to take us about 11.5 hours! To be fair, that horrendous amount of driving time did include putting a donut on the car after getting a flat tire (actually completely shredded tire thanks to a rogue screw) which we got before we even got out of Dublin, stopping for lunch of Irish Stew and Fish & Chips--delicious, in Waterford, the home of Waterford Crystal, and the 'learning curve' of driving w/ the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car, and the driving lane opposite what we are used to.

We arrived in Killarney, got settled into our Inn, and went out to explore the town. Killarney is a popular 'jumping off' point for the Ring of Kerry--the drive we had intended to do the following morning until our Inn keeper politely said "I don't think so" when we told her of our plan. Apparently, a big car rally was going on that weekend, and some of the roads along the Ring of Kerry were closed for races. I wasn't too disappointed, as the thought of another 110km in the car to see the scenery wasn't top of my list anyways, so we opted for the shorter scenic drive along the Dingle Peninsula. The scenery was pretty, the switchbacks were precarious, the cliffs were breathtaking, and the drive wasn't too too long. We stopped for breakfast in Dingle-- a homemade scone w/ cappuccino for me, and Josh had the full Irish breakfast, consisting of blood pudding, fried egg, sausages, bacon--the Irish type--extra fat and not crispy, and toast. We drove along the peninsula making a few stops to get out and take in the views, and were home to Killarney by mid afternoon. We took a slight detour before heading to our Inn, and stopped at the Killarney Lakes--a destination in and of itself of many travelers. The lakes are pretty, and their was a castle on the lower lake that we visited. After that short stop off, we made it back to the Inn in time for a late lunch/early dinner of more Irish Stew for me, and a Sheppard's pie type of dish for Josh. The Irish food definitely meets the 'comfort food' description..lots of hearty stews, potatoes etc.

The rest of our time in Killarney was spent walking the various streets of shops, pubs etc. We found Killarney, and all of the other towns to be very clean and quaint, with all the storefronts looking like the typical American "Irish Pub" type of architecture. On Sunday we headed back to Dublin...the express route...which only took 4 hours, as opposed to 11.5 thank God! We had opted for a hotel by the airport since we had an early morning flight, but we still ventured into Dublin that night for dinner in the Temple Bar neighborhood. Prior to heading to Temple Bar we had stopped by a pub that the hotel recommended but after witnessing a drunken fist fight outside of that pub (I guess you have to see at least one of those in Ireland)we decided it wasn't the most 'family friendly' place and went to another pub instead. We had a great meal; more fish n chips, bangers and mash, Smithwicks beers and Bailey's cheese cakes while we enjoyed the people watching scene of one of Dublin's trendiest neighborhoods. After that, back to the hotel for some sleep before our morning 4am wake up call..yikes!

Overall, our trip to Ireland was a great one. It was nice to be able to navigate with ease within an English speaking country, and although the thick Irish brogues of some of those who we encountered would trip us up for a second, the general lack of a language barrier helped make this trip that much more relaxing. We didn't spot any leprechauns, but then again, we hadn't seen any rainbows either so I guess it would have been pretty amazing to have found a wee little leprechaun without the colorful path of a rainbow leading our way:) I didn't have me my Lucky Charms either, but hey, Ireland offered me a lot of other things that I'll keep in my memory for years to come.

Mangia Mangia~~

2010-04-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Evan is enjoying his new food adventures! We have primarily been sticking to the foods recommended in the U.S--Avocado, Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, & Pears, although we did give him some "Crema di mais e tapioca" this morning which he seemed to like. Babies in Italy are introduced to Parmigian cheese and pasta right away, but I might wait a while for those. We just ordered a new camera, so we'll be sure to catch all the funny faces he'll be sure to make when he tastes something that he doesn't like.

We are headed to Ireland today, so we'll write more when we get back.

Reunion w/ Debbie

2010-04-21T23:16:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to do some shopping in a little American store today after a Women's luncheon event w/ some NATO friends.

The luncheon was great. Women representing different NATO countries put on the luncheon each month, so yesterday was the British lunch, and next month it's the Greek/Turkish lunch. I guess I behaved myself, because my new friends invited me back to come to the one next month--fun!

About 100 NATO women and their friends attended the luncheon that was on the NATO base about 25 minutes from our apartment. Every attendee had to wear a nametag that also included on it the flag representing each person's nationality. It's weird, but without even looking at nametags, I could tell who the American girls were. There was about an hour of mingling and enjoying some British appetizers and cocktails---I forget what the cocktail was called but it was similar to a 'bitters' type drink w/ cucumber in it. After the lunch time cocktail hour, we all moved into a large function room where we were greeted by some members of the NATO brass band. Everyone sat at tables for 10, and by the end of lunch I had exchanged numbers with an Italian girl, Teresa, at my table---she teaches English at the British School but said she needed more practice understaning American accented English, and with a German girl, Karin, who was a Product Manager for Adidas but is now keeping busy raising her 2 boys on the base. I had been invited by Kirstey, my friend who I met last week after approaching her on the playground at the park after I heard her speaking English. Kirstey is Austrailian, so this has been a successful week expanding my International friend network:)

After lunch, we went to the mini-mart sized American store, and you can see by the picture, that I bought a few of my favorite treats:) It was a great day, and all the girls are planning to come over with their families on Monday, a NATO holiday, so as long as we get some more Ikea furniture built, I should be able to keep that plan w/ them..otherwise, it will be a group social when we get back from Dublin.

Ok..off to enjoy a Little Debbie:)

How do you say Ikea in Italian?

2010-04-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Josh and I have spent WAY too much time at Ikea over the past few weekends, and now that a majority of the shopping is done, the furniture assembly process begins! Evan and I hung out at the new apartment Monday and Tuesday waiting for 2 Ikea shipments. We THINK we received everything, but it's hard to tell since the number of boxes is just overwhelming. My goal will be to have everything assembled before we go to Dublin next Thursday...assuming our flight doesn't get cancelled due to the continuously erupting Iceland volcano.

I attached some pictures from today at the new apartment. I had visitors in the morning--my friend Kirstey , who I approached last week in the playground when I heard her speaking English, and now we're friends--and then in the afternoon Evan 'supervised' me as I assembled 6 dining chairs and a living room chair. I got way more than I expected to get done w/ Evan there, but apparently my singing and dancing as I assemble furniture is highly entertaining to a 6 month old:) I even was using my broom as a fake microphone, so if any of my new neighbors happened to catch a glimpse of me through the window, they probably already think I'm nuts. Oh well, I guess I'll just be that 'crazy American' who just moved in on the block:) ha

In the pictures you can see some of the views from our apartment. Every room has a balcony--the big selling point for me when we saw the place. The views made putting together all that furniture much more bearable, especially, since I could assemble the chairs on our deck!

"How 'bout them apples"...I mean oranges:)

2010-04-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Pictures of one of the orange trees at our new place and Evan getting ready to stroll back to our temporary place where we will try the oranges:) It was a rainy day today, but perfect to get some unpacking done in the new apartment. Evan supervised me from "King Kong", Josh's large recliner, while I got buried in boxes. I think Evan is planning to stake claim on that chair...move over Daddy!

We were lucky to get our electricity turned on today and are hoping to get the gas, Internet, phone, cable tv, air conditioning, light fixtures installed, furniture delivered, appliances ordered etc all done before we leave for Dublin at the end of this month. It will be a super busy time, but we are so ready to be in our own place that we don't mind having a bit of craziness while we work hard to get settled. The furniture is all going to be from Ikea, so we'll have a lot of assembling to do when we get back from Ireland. My folks are coming to visit..I better tell them to bring their tool belts:) ha

Despite the state of the apartment: mess with boxes everywhere, no heat, no lights etc, it already is feeling like 'home'. And as I sit on "king kong" when my boss, Evan, gives me a break, I am instantly relaxed by the incredible views that we get from this apartment. Today it was rainy and foggy over the water, but I still could see cruise ships, fishing vessels, barges and leisure boats cruising by, and it was just beautiful. We definitely chose the right apartment for us and I think we'll really like living in this spot!

A place to call "home"...finally!

2010-04-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

We picked up the keys today to our new apartment, and we are so excited to finally be able to get settled. Our next few weekends will be spent shopping at Ikea (where everyone around here seems to shop for furniture) and unpacking things from storage. There will be more pictures coming, but at least these give you an idea of where we will be:)

Pictures:
-Orange and lemon trees in our yard, and flowers are blooming
-Our apt is one unit in this house that has been divided up into 4 units
-The gate leading to our apartment
-Our narrow, cobblestone street. Just a quick 10 minute walk to my favorite park, Parco Virgiliano.

Leapin' Lizards

2010-04-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

The "Histo" resort is a beautiful resort down in the "heel of the boot" of Italy. It's about a 3-3.5 hour drive from Naples, although it feels like a whole other world. The resort is settled amidst 70 acres of Olive trees, with views of the water just beyond the trees. The resort itself is modeled after the old basilica next door, so it is luxurious in a modern comfort meets old style architecture type of way. A great escape from Naples, and we were definitely refreshed after our visit there. Oh...and there were little lizards everywhere...it seemed like we were in Palm Springs w/ all the cacti and lizards!

Pictures:
Our patio off of our room--great views
Our room was on the right hand side
The welcome sign to the resort
View from our deck
Evan lying on the bed in our room--notice the cool ceiling

Auguri!

2010-04-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

Auguri, or "Best Wishes", is typically scrawled onto the Easter Eggs around here. We showed a ton of self control after my chocolate factory tour, and didn't dig into the huge Easter egg until Easter morning...a feat I am extremely proud of! ha! Inside the egg was a wine cork w/ a message on it from me, and an Italia 'shirt' w/ a string around it that serves as a cell phone case. Neopolitans are big on cell phone cases that they wear around their necks, and this Italia shirt one was a surprise gift put inside the egg by the chocolate factory folks. Evan really liked playing w/ the cellophane the egg came in while Josh and I really liked the egg itself:) We hope everyone had a great Easter!

Evan 'said he was sick', but I'm not so sure!!

2010-04-05T03:59:00.000-07:00

What do you mean the Easter Bunny doesn't lay those eggs?

2010-03-31T06:08:00.001-07:00

I went with friends on a fabulous chocolate factory tour, just in time to sample some eggs before the big Easter holiday. Easter is celebrated in a big way here in Easter, and you can easily see 3+ aisles at the grocery stores dedicated to all types of chocolate eggs, chickens, etc. The bunny apparently doesn't hop around in Italy, but they do celebrate with chocolate.

The tour was fabulous, not only because we learned the secret to making hollow eggs, but we got to sample many of the treats along the way. And you all know, I love my samples...just ask anyone who has ever joined me on a weekend Costco trip!

The tour was very lax..we didn't have to wear any hairnets or booties, but instead were given full access to the various work stations and we got to get up close and personal with the chocolate connosiurs and with the chocolate itself! Yum! Not bad for a free tour!

Enjoying some fine Czech cuisine!

2010-03-30T11:08:00.001-07:00

Lots of Goulash, Beer, Dumplings, Cheese spreads, even a steak tenderloin dinner I got came w/ whipped cream and cherries on it. Wow..I like how these Czech's think!

"Me and Dupree"

2010-03-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

We spent an amazing 4 nights in Prague and would highly recommend it! It is just a quick 1 hr 35 minute flight from Rome, so on the plane we tried to cram some Czech words into our heads so that we could at least get by with some basics--"please, thank you, good morning" etc. Josh tends to pick up languages a lot easier than I do, especially the accents, and this point was made the first time I tried to say "Thank You" and rather than saying "Daquee", I came out with Dupree--just like the character from that goofy movie:) ha! Well, regardless, I think the Czech folks appreciated the effort to learn their language, eventhough Dupree shouldn't have really 'tagged along' on this trip! ha!

Our time was spent seeing all of the main sites, but at a very relaxed pace since the city is small and everything is within easy walking distance from each other, and thankfully from the apartment we had booked. Over the few days we were there we saw: St. Vitus Cathedral (the most impressive of all the sites to us); The Prague Castle (absolutely breathtaking castle perched up on a hill overlooking the city); St. George's Basilica; Golden Lane;Old Town Square--including Tyn Church, Jan Hus Memorial, Astronomical Clock, Metronome; The Jewish Quarter with a Cemetery so tightly packed with tombstones you can't believe it..since from 1439-1787 there was only this one small cemetery allowed for the Jews of Prague. Apparently the graves are 12 bodies high, which explains why the land is now a big mound. So sad! We also went to the different sites in New Town, Along the Vltava River, The Charles Bridge, The Little Quarter, and the Monastery--where we went to the monastery brewery which was started by an Abbott in the 1600s...no wonder their beer was so good..they've been making it for a while!

Outside of seeing sites, we ate. We ate a lot!! Typical Czech food includes goulash, dumplings (bread dumplings, potato dumplings etc), beer, soups of all sorts--onion soup, garlic soup, potato soup, sausage soup etc (we tried them all), potato pancakes, cabbage and a lot of pork, duck, rabbit etc. Meats tend to be fatty, but it seems to go with the rest of the heavy, yet quite delicious foods. We indulged in it all, washing it down with some amazing cold beer! I drank some of the non-alcoholic beers and even those are outstanding! For dessert we usually went with the apple strudel but also had 'pancakes' which are really crepes filled w/ either blueberry or chocolate and one day we had fruit dumplings which were super doughy dumplings with ice cold berries on the inside, covered in a buttery/sugar sauce--very tasty!

We used Rick Steves' "Best of Europe" guide book and followed many of his recommendations regarding which sites to spend time at, the best time to go to avoid the huge crowds--since Prague is definitely a hot spot for large tour groups, and even tried some of his restaurant recommendations. Overall, we think he did a pretty good job pointing us in the right direction.

There was also an Easter festival going on in Old Town Square, so as I did when we were in Berlin, I found the booth that was selling incredible Belgian Waffles w/ chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and it didn't take me long to really get to know that vendor..since she saw me at least..sometimes twice (I admit it) a day. Those waffles are just irresistible and I have some tight pants to prove it!

Weather was great..a few showers, but generally sunny w/ blue skies, people were nice, food was definitely cheap, and the streets were amazingly clean. A great place to visit for sure!

Indulgent Zeppola for a great Dad!

2010-03-22T07:04:00.001-07:00

To our surprise, March 19th was Italy's version of Father's Day, also known as La Festa di San Giuseppe, so we indulged in some Zeppola, the traditional pastry eaten on this day. I also bought Josh a bottle of his favorite Limoncello from Antonio & Antonio, one of our favorite restaurants. Lucky us, we get to celebrate both the US and Italian Father's/Mother's Day!

Below is Wikipedia's info on Zeppola:

A zeppola (plural zeppole, in southern dialects zeppoli) or St. Joseph's Day cake, also called sfinge, and in Rome Bignè di S. Giuseppe, is a pastry typical of Roman, Neapolitan and generally peninsular Italian cuisine.[1] They are also served in Sicily and on the island of Malta.

Commonly light, deep-fried dough balls about 2 inches (5.1 cm) in diameter, these doughnuts or fritters are usually topped with powdered sugar and may be filled with custard, jelly, cannoli-style pastry cream or a butter-and-honey mixture. Their consistency ranges from light and puffy, to bread or pasta-like.

Zeppole are traditionally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph's Day), (March 19). In Rome, Naples and Sicily, these little pastries are sold on many streets and are sometimes gifts on this day. They are also common in Italian communities in the United States.

The custom was popularized in the early 19th century by Neapolitan baker Pasquale Pintauro.[1]

Temporary apartment

2010-03-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Just a couple pictures of our new, temporary, place. It has a wide open living/dining/kitchen space, and then 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. We have a washer/dryer here, so I was excited (no, that's not quite the right word, I was thankful (that's more like it) to have a machine wash my clothes vs. doing my laundry in the sink every morning and hanging it on the drying racks. Yes, we still did use the lavandaria once in a while, but I got kind of sick of seeing our bloomers blowing in the wind:) ha

Pictures:
-Our 'new' key for our apartment, instead of our credit card key. Most everyone has big skeleton type keys as house keys.
-Back yard
-Living space

Peaceful Posillipo!!

2010-03-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

What a great feeling to be in our apartment, eventhough it is just a temporary one. Josh and I went to the grocery store yesterday and made, you guessed it, hamburgers, for dinner last night. They didn't constitute a gourmet meal or anything but they weren't pizza either. The only thing missing was cheddar cheese (you can't get there here), but we topped them with parmesan chunks and they hit the spot!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful sound...peace and quiet! It's amazing what a difference 5 miles makes. We are still so close to our former hotel, but we feel like we are in a different place completely. From the apartment we hear the sing-song birds, which is another sound I missed over the past few months, and we even have grass and palm trees, so being surrounded by some greenery is a definite treat!

Evan and I also took a great walk to Parco Virgiliano--just 15 minutes away. The views are stunning and I felt like I was walking in Seattle, looking out across the sound at the mountains, or at the San Juan islands. So beautiful. I definitely think we made the right decision choosing Posillipo as the neighborhood for us to settle into.

Pictures of our walk this morning.

Morning of our hotel move

2010-03-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to have some sentimental feelings take over as we moved out of Hotel Excelsior, our first "home" in Naples, and the place we have been living since December 6th. (Prior to that we had a 2 week hotel stay in Seattle, so had been in a hotel since the day before Thanksgiving).

We made our rounds and said bye to everyone from the maids and the front desk crew, to our waiters and waitresses, those being the ones I had formed the closest bond with, since I got to know them during our daily breakfast...almost 7 days a week for the past several months.

I became closest to Francesca and Mario, but there were several others that I hope to keep in touch with as well. They have really bonded with Evan too, and we were starting to refer to Francesca and Mario as Zia and Zio (Aunt and Uncle!). Once we get settled into our permanent apartment, we are planning to have them for dinner, which will be lots of fun. I will also plan to pop into the hotel to make my rounds soon enough, as I'll be in that neighborhood getting together with friends often.

So, it was weird leaving there, I actually teared up saying bye at breakfast, and saying bye to some of the girls at the front desk. I guess it just had to do with some of the memories we have of Evan's first few months of life here. He'll be surprised when he learns that we really don't live in a mansion (the hotel) and we don't have butlers and maids, like we did during our time there!

Pictures: Breakfast at the hotel, Our friends-Francesca and Mario, and packed up and heading out.

Our last night in San Lucia before moving to our temporary apartment.

2010-03-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Just about every night we switched off between having dinner at Antonio & Antonio, or at Gusto & Gusto, 2 of our favorite restaurants within easy walking distance from our hotel. On our last night, which also happened to be "La Festa di San Giuseppe", the Italian equivalent of Father's Day, we decided on Antonio & Antonio for dinner. We sat in Mauricio's section, one of our favorite waiters there, and broke the news to him that we were moving to Posillipo, so would no longer be seeing him every other night. He said, "just don't forget about your friend Mauricio!", which of course, we won't, and we promised to come and visit him soon. The waiters have pretty much seen Evan grow up over the past few months, and they have also all become my informal Italian teachers, so even though we are only moving a few miles away, it was still kind of sad to say bye to them, and know we won't see them every day. After dinner at Antonio & Antonio, we stopped in to see the guys at Gusto & Gusto to tell them that we are moving too, since I went there for lunch almost daily, and didn't want them to wonder what happened to me if I just stopped showing up. After saying bye to them, we promised to stop by as soon as we get settled in our new place, since they too, have become not only our favorite waiters, but friends along the way.

**Pictures: Nightly walk for dinner from the hotel; Enjoying my Parmigiana de Melanzane and Spaghetti con pomodoro (These are 2 seperate dishes, but I eat it "sicilian style" and put my Eggplant parmigian on top of my spaghetti. Bellissimo!Josh enjoying his Zeppola, the traditional dessert served on "Father's Day" and a picture of Josh and Mauricio.

Movin' on...

2010-03-19T04:20:00.000-07:00

We got word today that we can officially move into a temporary apartment tomorrow. Wow! We are still looking forward to being in a permanent place, but we are definitely excited to know that our days of hotel living are finally coming to a close. I will definitely miss some of the staff here at the hotel who have become my Italian teachers (by default) & friends (by design), but I've already started collecting their phone numbers and email addresses so that we can stay in touch, and once we get into our permanent place, I've already promised to have them over for an American style dinner party.

The place we are moving to is in Posillipo, the neighborhood we hope to find our permanent apartment in. It is a very tranquil (relative term) part of the city, and I'm looking forward to having more peaceful walks with Evan around the neighborhood there. I've also been to this apartment several times as our friends just moved out of there, so it's nice to have some familiarity with it.

*Attached are pictures of Evan's first "house" in Italy.

I found my oasis!

2010-03-19T03:59:00.000-07:00

Evan and I took a "field trip" to the Botanical Gardens, thanks to my friend Stephanie making the plan for us. The Botanical Gardens date back to the 1600s, and this huge park offers an amazing respite from the chaotic streets of Naples. The gardens are owned by the University of Naples and are the most important Botanical Gardens in Italy, with plant and tree varieties from all over the world.

To start our field trip, Evan and I walked to Piazza Amadeo, about 15 minutes from the hotel, to catch the metro/subway to Piazza Cavour, a quick two stops away. Stephanie thought that there was an elevator in the metro station, but unfortunately she was mistaken. Thankfully I'm not afraid to ask for help, and I found some nice folks willing to offer me a hand carrying the stroller up and down numerous flights of stairs to get up and over one set of tracks to the next set that would take us to Piazza Cavour. We also had to maneuver up 3 stairs to get onto the train itself, so again, I was thankful for some helping hands. The metro is old, definitely not sleek, but for a mere 1.10 euro, it's an efficient way to get from point A to B.

We arrived at Piazza Cavour where Stephanie was waiting for us. It was fun to see another one of Napoli's neighborhoods. Stephanie lives in this area, which she refers to as 'the hood', but I actually liked the buzz and energy of this area, and felt quite safe. Her husband runs a liquor and wine business so we stopped by his shop first, since her mother-in-law wanted to see Evan. We popped in the store, accepted an offer for some espresso, enjoyed our cafe, let Evan be loved on for a bit, and then we headed out towards the Botanical Gardens. Antonio, Stephanie's husband, had recommended that we stop in at a local Salumeria to get sandwiches for our picnic in the gardens, and he loaded us up w/ cokes and gatorade before we left his shop.

We found what we thought was the recommended Salumeria (it wasn't the right one, but the sandwiches were still great), bought our 3 euro sandwiches--parmesan and salami for me, and proscuitto cotto (ham) and swiss for Stephanie, and we were on our way. Appointments are required to get into the Botanical Gardens. Stephanie had called ahead, so at that gate, we just checked in, and then began exploring the gardens. We walked through the California palm trees, to the desert section--tons of cacti, around by the rainforest section...brimming with waterfalls and ferns, up to the fruit tree section, with Sorrento lemons the size of grapefruits, past the greenhouses where congested pregnant women and infants are allowed to sit to take advantage of all the clean oxygen, to our picnic spot..a nice little grassy area by a goldfish pond. We enjoyed our massive sandwiches while Evan enjoyed the sun, the breeze, the greenery the grass and the sound of the birds--all which he doesn't get to experience too often in Naples. It was such a peaceful place, and we had a ball. Stephanie goes every few months, and so we look forward to joining her again sometime soon. Such a great hidden treasure and certainly worth the visit!

What do you mean Barney wasn't invited!??

2010-03-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned in a previous post that purple is THE color in Napoli. As you walk down the street, everyone is adorned in purple--purple pants, purple boots, purple hats, purple scarfs, purple puffy coats, purple purple purple! All of the stores' display windows are merchandised with purple, and you just might feel a bit out of it if purple is not included in your wardrobe. So, in honor of this purple phenomenon that has taken over Napoli, our friends, Perry and Jordan, threw a purple party. It was a blast, and so fun to hang out with good friends in all of our purple fabulous-ness! We hear that the color tourquoise will be the next "in" thing to hit these streets, so start shopping now if you want to be considered a fashion trend-setter:)

Check out the purple party pictures at : http://www.perrygill.com/PurpleParty.aspx

One of Naples "Top 10" sites

2010-03-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we took a leisurely one hour drive to Paestum, the site of 7th century BC Greek Poseidonia. From our guide book, we learned "Paestum enjoyed 1000 years of prosperity, first as Greek Poseidonia, then under the Lucanians, then the Romans. The crumbling of the Roman Empire led to the gradual abandonment of the city, and with that, the degradation of the fields, which turned into malaria-ridden swamps. No one dared come near the spot until the 18th century, when Charles III was having a road built, trees cleared etc..and out of this clearing, there they were--three intact Greek temples." Much more was discovered in teh 20th century, and for only 4 euro you can walk amongst the remains of the temples, ampitheatres, and city walls, and also view many of the artifacts, pottery and sculpture that were unburied which are showcased in the Paestum museum.

We had a great time exploring all of the ruins, and after an exhausting (not so much, but good excuse) hike around the grounds, I suggested we boost up our energy with a much needed gelato. So, we relaxed with 2 scoops of gelato at the touristy gelato stand outside of the ruins, and headed home, wondering what our next day trip will be:)

(Pictures of Paestum and my gelato. I love how they put whipped cream and a cookie on top of each cone--why not go all out is my motto:)

Weekend of winetasting

2010-03-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we loaded up the car and took off to Avelino, a town situated about 45minutes south of Naples, but allows you to feel like you are a world away. My friend Brandy and I had talked for a while about planning a day trip to Mastroberardino Winery, the winery that her boyfriend, Dario, works at, and we finally did it.

Brandy is a writer for an American wine website, having given up her "safe" corporate job as an Accountant, to move to Italy to pursue her passion for wine about a year ago. It was at a wine expo in Verona (close to Venice), where she met Dario, who is the CEO of Sales for Mastroberardino, the oldest wine exporter in Southern Italy. Given both Brandy and Dario's passion and knowledge for wine, we couldn't think of better 'hosts' for our winetasting weekend.

Dario and Brandy met us at our hotel on Saturday morning so that we could follow them to the winery. Wineries aren't normally open on the weekends in this area, so we had the whole winery to ourselves, as Dario led us on an amazing tour--sharing with us all of the amazing history of Mastroberardino. The archeological committee of Pompei actually approached Mastroberardino to 'recreate' the ancient winemaking process that was used in Pompei and by making a mold of the underground root system, they were able to figure out what kinds of grapes used to be grown in Pompei, and replant them, and today, if you walk through Pompei, you will see the vineyard that Mastroberardino is now responsible for--very cool!

Our tour of the winery ended in the tasting room, where Dario had 4 wines selected for us to taste. It was amazing to have Dario walk us through the flavors and uniqueness of each wine, plus be able to talk to us about the specific grapes etc. Brandy also had a lot of information about each wine that she has learned, not only from dating Dario, but through her own research and discovery of the Mastroberardino wines about 10 years ago. Mastroberardino owns all of their vineyards, with some of the grapes growing down by Vesuvius, in volcanic soil, giving it a really unique and wonderful taste.

After our amazing wine tasting and tour, we drove 1/2 hour to the Radici Resort (www.ridiciresort.com)(also owned by the winery), where we all had lunch together at the Mirabella restaurant in the main resort. It was incredible. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves, and Dario had the chef prepare a tasting menu for us, so we got to taste a bunch of small sized portions of the most amazing dishes. I wish I knew what each dish was called, but to describe a few we had : fish bites in a very light coating, mushroom surrounded in a zucchini and bean puree, artichoke ravioli, a beef that was prepared perfectly and was so tender it melted in our mouths, biscotti, warm vanilla cake 'cups' filled with custard etc. Each course was served with wine and the whole 'event' was just out of this world. We definitely felt like VIPs!

After lunch, we checked into our room, a great room overlooking the vineyards. It was so serene, and we couldn't believe we were so close to Naples. It really felt like we were in another country!

For breakfast, when we walked down to the breakfast area, we noticed that one of the tables was all set w/ linens, fresh pineapple juice, sfeggliatellis ( a popular pastry in Napoli that looks like a croissant but is made w/ ricotta cheese and orange--so good!), cereal, toast w/ marmalades and nutella, creatively carved 1/2 pineapples and other whole fruits--pears and apples, and espressos. To our surprise, they had set it up for us...that was our 'included breakfast'! Again, we felt like we were getting the royal treatment, and we couldn't have asked for a better, more fun and relaxing weekend! Thanks Dario & Brandy..it was the best!!

Just when I was getting good at Italian....

2010-03-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

We went to Paris last weekend, and had a blast! My years of Jr. High and High school French classes were locked away in the caverns of my brain, and unfortunately, only a few words were ever able to make their way out of those dark recesses! Also having been diligent in my Italian "home schooling" made it even more difficult to remember any French vocabulary without getting confused w/ the Italian words. BUT, we did know the basics, and survived w/ the use of plenty of "merci beaucoups", "S'il vous plaits" and "Pain au chocolat"..the 3rd phrase, in my opinion, being the most important!

We arrived in Paris on Thursday night, flying in to Orly airport, hopping on the "Air France" shuttle to Arc de Triumphe, and then walking our way to our hotel, Le Meridien Etoile, about a 10 minute walk from the Arc de Triumphe. We had packed reasonably lightly, so were able to bungee cord our back pack to the stroller which I pushed, while Josh wheeled our two roller bags.

We got to our hotel, checked in, and headed straight out for dinner at a nearby restaurant we had passed while walking to our hotel. We both started out with a big bowl of Onion Soup, and then I had a salad with toasted goat cheese on it--delicious, and Josh had some steak tar tar with french fries. And, since it was our first night in Paris afterall, we couldn't leave without trying some of the desserts too, so we indulged in chocolate mousse and creme brulee--both of which were fabulously delicious (wait..is that how the leprechaun describes Lucky Charms? ...oh no, that's magically delicious!). Well, these desserts were magically delicious too, and we scraped the glass bowls of each before asking for the check.

On Friday, we got out the door around 10am, to walk back up to the Arc de Triumphe to catch a hop on/hop off tour bus that had been recommended. On the way there, we passed by a Patisserie that had an amazing aroma wafting out the door that we just couldn't ignore, so we stopped in and I ordered our "Chocolate Croissants"... Josh soon corrected me with the appropriate "Pain au Chocolat" term that I was supposed to use. Ahhh..Americani...we always stand out! I asked if they could heat them up, but they don't tend to do that in Paris, and the hostess informed us that they were just out of the oven about 15 minutes prior, and boy were they good! So fresh with the perfect balance of buttery flakiness, and perfect tunnels of chocolate buried within. Yum! We washed them down with cappuccino and espresso, and were on our way to the bus...our bellies and tastebuds fully satisfied!

The bus arrived, and we almost couldn't get our enormous BOB stroller on board. The stroller is great, but it is very big for most places in Italy, and now in Paris, we were finding out. We had to lift it up over the hand railings to get on the bus, but once on board, we were able to collapse it, and take Evan, in the carseat to the top deck of the double decker, and sit outside to take in the sites. The tour was an audio tour with headsets, so we listened to the facts of each site as we passed, and in between, they pumped out French music to listen to as we cruised the Parisian streets. It was a bit chilly on the top deck, but bearable, at least until the rain started just after the Eiffel Tower. We climbed back inside the bus, where almost every seat was "obstructed view", and took it to The Louvre, where we decided to hop off, get lunch, and explore the museam. We found a great little cafe for lunch and we both had some incredible Onion Soup, topped with toasted baggette pieces and lots of melted gruyere cheese, and then each had Croque Monsier sandwiches--bread broiled with jambon (ham) and gruyere--kind of like a grilled ham and cheese, but a whole lot better!

After lunch, we headed to The Louvre, and spent the day exploring it's various wings, of course, starting out at the Mona Lisa, which never ceases to impress! We toured the Italian art section, Spanish art, various sculpture exhibits, and an exhibit on the History of the Louvre. The museam is huge, and you could easily spend a few days there, but we limited ourselves to the afternoon for Evan's sake.

Saturday the weather cooperated, and we spent the day strolling the streets. We pretty much followed the bus route from our hop on/hop off bus, so that at any point, we could jump on if we needed to. The time just flew by because during the walk there was just so much to take in, not only from the obvious 'sites', but just the streets in general, with the gorgeous architecture that is everywhere to be seen. The wide sidewalks, and tree lined streets, make it a perfect city to walk in, or for joggers, running up and down The Seine as part of your jogging route would be quite a treat.

We walked under the Arc de Triumphe, to the Eifel Tower, then through the neighborhood of St. Germain to Notre Dame. Notre Dame cathedral is incredible, with the main cathedral down the center, with numerous chapels along the perimeter, that you could go in to for some individual prayers or to light a candle. We tried to join a tour inside the cathedral, but the tourguide's voice was so soft, it was too hard to hear her. Instead, we opted for a loop around the outside of the cathedral to take in the exterior architecture, and while doing so, enjoyed some cups of hot spiced wine that one of the local street vendors was selling and it was the perfect beverage to hold us over until our next meal:) Which, every day, we had Onion Soup for lunch and dinner..plus a main course, but that soup is to die for!

Storm Xynthia, the most violent storm to hit France since 1999, hit on Saturday with gale force winds up to 100 MPH and torrential downpours. Paris wasn't in the heart of the storm, but on Sunday, Xynthia was showing herself, and the day was mainly stormy, so we opted to take the boat tour (if they would be running)so we could ride the boat along the Seine. We had to catch the boat somewhere off of the Champs d'Elysee. We left the hotel, Josh carrying Evan in the Bjorn, and I was pushing the stroller so we'd have it just in case. The rains were coming down super heavy, so we dashed into a cafe to get our Pain au Chocolats and our cafes. Not sure why we got them 'to go' but we did, and headed back on our walking route. By the time we got up to the open area by the Arc de Triumphe, the winds were really gusting, and at one point Josh looked to see me being dragged through the square by the BOB, which a gust of wind had pretty much caused to whip onto it's side, and because the wind guard was on it, it was being inflated like a kite, and dragging me along as if I was kite surfing. I was only holding the stroller with one hand...God forbid I spill my cappuccino, so Josh said it looked like I was riding a horse (a lot of you know my horseback riding stories too, so you know, it wasn't a pretty sight!). Anyways, once I got the BOB under control, it was a hilarious to think about how ridiculous I probably looked, and I'm sure some onlookers got a good chuckle, at least once they realized that I didn't have the baby inside!

We arrived at The Seine, and hopped on the boats, which were still running despite teh waves and white caps in the river. The ride was surprisingly smooth, and a great, dry, way to see the city. We got out at one of the famous gardens and walked from there, along the river, back to Notre Dame for some more spiced wine and another peak at this amazing cathedral. From there, we did some more strolling, since the winds had died down, and because it is such a beautiful city to walk on foot. We went into the opera house, through Place de la Concorde, and back up Champs d'Elysee and home. Overall, a great, fun day, and again, walking, even in the rain, really makes you feel like you are experiencing the city. We had also eaten not one but two Pain au Chocolats that morning, so a little extra exercise was good. We felt that having braved the storm, in the morning, that when we passed the 2nd Patisserie, just after finishing our first Pain au Chocolat that we deserved a second round. I of course had Josh check my face to make sure I didn't have any tell-tale chocolate or pastry flakes on my lips before I ordered at the 2nd patisserie, since I didn't want to look like a piggy, and after getting the all clear, I sauntered up and ordered round two...just as delicious as the first round, and so good, that on Monday, the day we left, I ordered back ups for the airport, so we had our double dose two days in a row, with no regrets:) Got to love Paris!

Neopolitans love their soccer, but Evan's staying loyal!

2010-02-24T12:44:00.001-08:00

Buon Compleanno Josh!

2010-02-24T04:46:00.000-08:00

Today is Josh's birthday, Buon Compleanno!! What better gift than jet-setting to Paris:) We leave tomorrow for an extended weekend, and are really looking forward to seeing the sites and enjoying the various neighborhoods, cafes, and cuisine. If only I could remember my French and everything Ms. Slackovich has taught me in Jr. High!!

Noi amiamo il nostro medico!

2010-02-24T04:29:00.000-08:00

We love our doctor! Evan had his 4 month vaccinations and thanks to our great doctor, I was less nervous than I normally would have been. Medical visits are very different here in Italy, but thankfully, the Pediatrician we use, says just the right things to help put our minds at ease. She is very detailed and precise, plus she has a "gentle touch" when it comes to vaccines. She is a mom too, so she said she always gets anxious when vaccinating babies. Not because she doubts her ability, but because she feels bad for the babies. In Italy, most Italians go to the public health clinic for vaccines, so administering vaccinations is not an everyday thing for our Pediatrician here, but we were thankful that she was willing to do it for us, since dealing with the public health department may have been too confusing for us.

In order to obtain one of the vaccines, the pediatrician had to call all over the country just to find a Farmacia that was carrying it. Due to the swine flu, many Farmacia's weren't carrying regular vaccines, just the swine flu primarily, so she said most Italian kids were going without for a bit, while the country worked to obtain some from Spain. Thankfully, again, our doctor was diligent in her efforts, and managed to find a Farmacia down in the "heal of the boot", who was able to ship it up to a town closer to Naples where we were able to pick it up. I'll be calling our Seattle pediatrician next week to find out what Evan will need for his 6 month shots, so that the doctor here will have enough time to locate those vaccines too.

Our doctor had opened her office off of her normal office hours just to accommodate us and to give Evan his shots. She was so gentle, and I cried before Evan did. I had warned her that I would, and she apologized that I cry every time I come to her office. Oh well, motherhood has turned me more into an emotional basketcase I guess, but as a mother herself, she totally understands. Evan was a trooper, getting a shot in each thigh, plus one vaccine administered orally. Mid-shots, the doctor gave Evan the Italian version of infant tylenol (via suppository..the preferred way to administer baby medicine in Italy, so I had to learn how to do that), and after a few crying moments, Josh was able to quickly comfort Evan in his arms, while I consoled my self and blew my nose and wiped away my own tears, while sighing a big sigh of relief.

We hung out at her office for about 30 minutes after the vaccines to make sure that he did not have any allergic reactions. She checked his temperature by putting her lips to his forward--"her technique" she said, and double checked the injection points for redness, but he was fine. Yeah..now we are all set, at least until we have to repeat this in another two months. Ugh!

Today is the day after his vaccines, and I'm happy to report he seems to have had no side effects. I've been giving him baby tylenol almost every 4 hours to stay ahead of any possible soreness in his legs, and it's working great. He is his usual, smiley self!

His stats on his visit: 16.5 pounds and 26 inches long--he's a big boy. No wonder the Italians always comment "Molto Grande" whenever they see him!

Abbiamo Cenato

2010-02-22T01:28:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night, we were spoiled with another great dinner at our friend Rosa's house! She had told us the night before that we'd just be ordering pizzas, since she has 2 babies, and didn't think she'd have the time to cook. We really enjoy Rosa and Paolo's company, so we were just looking forward to hanging out with them, and although we'd miss Rosa's great cooking, we were happy to have pizzas. So, when we arrived at their apartment, we were surprised that she has another of her homemade menu's displayed on the dinner table and that she had found some time to prepare not just a meal, but another feast...mamma mia!

Her menu this time:
-Ciambellone Rustico
-Pizzette Partenope
-Frittata Saporita
-Grano con verdure
-Polpettine Sfiziose
-Zuppa di Lenticchie
-Tagliere di Formaggi e Salumi
-Fonduta Messicana
-Patate, Wurstel, Salatini, Crostini
And for dolce(dessert)
-Fonduta al Cioccolato
-Maddalene & Savoiardi
-Tiramisu alla Rosa
-Various limoncello, cognacs and other liqueurs to try sips of as part of dessert.
& a mix of cannolis and other pastries that Josh and I had bought that day at a "Festa al Cioccolato"--chocolate festival, that we had attended. (*footnote--see previous blog entitled "need elastic waist pants"!

We arrived at Rosa & Paolo's apartments at 6:30 and didn't get home until almost 1:00am. You need that much time to dine, and need to leave at least an hour after dinner to even begin to make room for dessert. During dinner, I tried to converse in Italian as much as possible, and Rosa is great about forcing me to form complete sentences with some of my new vocab words (mainly verbs) that I practice with her when we get together. Josh got a lesson in Calcio (soccer) from Paolo, so that he can better understand not only the rules of the game, but also the different teams, and which games/teams are the most popular to watch, etc.

Rosa and Paolo are still looking forward to us hosting them for a BBQ once we get an apartment, but I've already told her that I won't be able to compete with the feasts she prepares, that's for sure!!

Photos:
-The pastries we bought at the Chocolate Festival
-Rosa, Gabriel and I
-Rosa, Paolo and Gabriel
-Her menu

Un biglietto per favore.

2010-02-18T07:47:00.000-08:00

Today was a milestone for Evan and I. We successfully took the bus. We took it to Posillipo, but even if we had just gotten on and off, it would have been a success, and a step towards independance in Napoli.

Everyone who knows me, knows I am not a snob when it comes to public transportation. I loved commuting on the T in Boston, I was always on the bus in San Francisco, and I was often taking the bus from Kirkland to Seattle to avoid the 520 bridge traffic, and had recently gotten to know the Green Lake to Seattle route, which I definitely enjoyed taking--hopping on/off the bus beats looking for parking any day!

To ride the bus, you normally buy your ticket at a Tabacchi shop ( a shop that sells cigarettes as well as a variety of other random things). Bars, supermercati's or restaurants also sometimes sell tickets, but a sure bet is always a nearby Tabacchi. I bought my ticket for 1.10 Euro, and ran out of the Tabacchi to catch the #140 bus that had just arrived. I had to "pop a wheelie" to get Evan's stroller up into the bus, and then just barely was in before the doors pinched close. There is a 'reserved' spot for wheelchair riders and people with strollers, but the bus was packed, so I just stood in the aisle and found a post to grab on to as we swerved our way through traffic and up the hill from Chiaia to Posillipo.

When you get on the bus, you have to time-stamp your ticket which can then be reused for up to 1.5 hours. My plan was to ride up to Posillipo to attend an open-air market that occurs every Thursday from 9-2pm. Since I had no idea where this bus would be stopping along the way, I asked someone to let me know when we arrived at the stop closest to Parco Virgiliano, a beautiful park that I knew was close to the market. After riding for about 20 minutes, my trusted bus informant let me know that I should "uscita" the bus (get off), and then he gave me directions to the street that the market is on. Since his directions were contradictory to the way "I knew", I ignored his directions, and instead took my way...which turned out to be the longest/hilliest way to get to the market...oh well, live and learn. By the time I got to the market, I had stripped off my jacket, and was only in a short sleeve shirt, since "my way" had taken me along a curvy road that essentially was an uphill climb the whole way. When I got to the market, all eyes were on me, since the Italians surely thought I was a crazy woman, walking around in just short sleeves, while they were bundled up in ski coats, hats, scarves and gloves. Many of them actually commented "Fa Freddo, fa freddo"...it's cold, but I just smiled, told them I was from Seattle, and that I was too warm to be bundled up. Some didn't comment at all, just stared at me wondering what planet I had arrived from:) ha!

The market was great, despite the stares! Vendors sell everything from clothing and shoes to jewelry to household goods, including cleaning supplies, kitchen items, clocks, knick knacks etc. Most items are marked with very reasonable prices. I've been told to try not to stand out as an American when trying to buy a non-priced item, since if they get a look at a flashy wedding ring, or just hear your English, they may jack the price up to take advantage of what they think is a "rich American". On this day, I was just there to browse, but I'm sure I'll be doing some real shopping there once we get settled into a permanent apartment up in Posillipo (which we are hoping will be in the next 5-6 weeks if all goes smoothly!).

(Pictures are Evan waiting for the bus--all smiles, and then Evan on the bus--hey, where'd that smile go? ha)

Apartment Update- Mama Mia!

2010-02-17T08:01:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, we are no longer pursuing the apartment that we wanted in Posillipo. We learned this weekend that the unit directly above the one we wanted is going to be under construction, undergoing a total remodeling project including knocking down walls, putting in new plumbing/electrical etc. The couple living in the apartment now said that they are already dealing with banging on the ceiling and construction vehicles parked in their parking spots. The landlord who is in charge of the unit being remodeled said that the expected completion date is April 2012, and I don't know about you, but I've rarely heard of a construction project staying on schedule! The whole reason we want to live in Posillipo is for the peace and quiet that location offers, so living in a construction zone is just not an option.

Thankfully, we did have a back-up apartment that we liked if this one didn't work out, so our real estate agent is now trying to secure a lease on that one. This 'runner up' apartment was previously mentioned in my blog....it's the one with the vineyard at the top of the street, orange/lemon trees on the property, beach access, and some great views---so, not a bad second choice. It is definitely smaller than the one in the now construction zone, but we'll still have a guest bedroom for all of you who said you are planning to come visit:) When we had first seen this one, I got that 'feeling' that this was 'the one'...when you just 'know' that this is the one you should be in, so I definitely feel good about it, and now am just hoping and praying that we get it.

I just tallied the notches that I've been putting in the wall and today is day 85 of hotel living!! Holy cow!!

Buon San Valentino

2010-02-14T02:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Saint Valentines Day! It's hard to believe that we've now celebrated 3 US holidays in Europe already, and 4 while in a hotel. Thanksgiving we were in the Seattle Sheraton--but spent Turkey-day at Andrea & Kelly Kimuras which was fabulous, spent Christmas in Berlin, New Years in Napoli, and now Valentines Day in Napoli too. We can't forget the "bomb scare" i experienced on San Lucia day here either, but obviously, that's one of the many, many Italian holidays, or at least Neopolitan, that we don't have in the US.

We started our Valentines day celebration yesterday with a leisurely dinner of take-out Siciliana pizza (eggplant pizza) and due tirimisus in our hotel room, paired with an 8 euro bottle of Prosecco. Evan cooperated by sleeping well, and so we had a nice, relaxing, evening in for a change.

During the day yesterday, we ventured out to try a new place for lunch, as opposed to going to one of our old stand-bys that we typically eat at near our hotel. We had a late lunch--I had insalate mista (basically lettuce w/ tomatoes and carrots) and lasagna, and Josh had meatballs and diavola pizza (the closest thing to pepperoni),and then we indulged in dessert. I had what they translated to vanilla waffles w/ chocolate sauce, but was really vanilla wafers w/ a cup of chocolate to dip them in--delicious! Josh had warm chocolate cake and vanilla icecream for dessert. We also, of course, both had espresso w/ our dessert..Josh getting the typical caffe (just a shot of espresso), and I had a cappuccino--eventhough most Italianis don't have cappuccino in the afternoon...it's generally only something to drink in the morning. Evan just had his usual milk...so boring! When is he going to try something new? haha

After lunch, we strolled the cobblestone streets, Josh popping into a floral shop while I walked ahead, and after a few minutes he emerged w/ a dozen long stem roses for me for Valentines Day. Bellissimo:) The element of surprise wasn't really there, but with a baby, he had to take the opportunity to buy the flowers while we were walking by...hard enough to know where to even find flowers or floral shops around here, never mind, plan a time to go get them:) We meandered home, taking care of a few errands on the way, and then arrived at our hotel. What a mob scene! The Milan soccer team is in town for a big game against Napoli. Our hotel was barricaded, fans were crowded in front and in back of our hotel, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the players as they arrive. Soccer players are like Rock Stars here, and the fans are rabid! I have to admit, it was kind of cool to be able to whip out our hotel key card, allowing us access to cross over the barricade, and through the lines of police protection. As we walked in the closed off area, all the fans started yelling and cheering for us. We weren't sure if they were totally just cheering for Evan (since they love babies so much) as we heard "Complementi"..an exclamation typically heard from folks as they admire your baby, or if they were cheering for Josh since he was carrying my long stem roses, and maybe they were verbally giving him a 'high five' for being such a romantic?! I'm not sure what the answer is, but I loved the attention, and raised my arms and kind of ran in front of the crowd like I was a champion. It was fun to have our family moment in the spotlight:) ha!

When we got to our room, we heard fans also yelling on the back side of the hotel. They had lined up in the back because some of the players were out on their balcony (our old hotel room actually), and so fans were yelling up to them, chanting songs, taking pictures, and checking them out with binoculars. We went out on our balcony to watch and we could feel the excitement amongst them all, so much so, that it may have even inspired us to watch the game tonight!

Barricades are still up, as fans are coming back today to see them as they depart from the hotel. I wonder who'll be checking in next week?

Bellissimo Venduta!

2010-02-11T03:18:00.000-08:00

We continue to be patient in our apartment search, although the thought of spreading out into more than one room is becoming more and more desirable, and we are definitely starting to get excited about the potential of having an apartment in the near future.

I posted pictures that show the views from one that we are currently pursuing. The apartment is located in a quiet, gated, neighborhood in Posillipo. The #1 thing that appeals to me about it is the fact that it is in such a quiet spot. We did, however, just learn that trucks showed up yesterday at the apartment with scaffolding, to get started on a construction project, the duration of which, we are not yet sure. Since we don't want to end up living in a noisy construction zone, we are waiting to learn more about the project to see if we will continue to pursue this apartment, or continue our search to find an alternative. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the project is a short one, but we'll see.

We definitely want to get settled into a place that we can 'call our own' for the next couple of years, and of course, we want a place that we'll be able to entertain both out of town and local guests in. Having to always eat out or go out gets exhausting, so please say some prayers that this apartment works out!

Is it true? Do horizontal stripes make me look fat?

2010-02-11T03:10:00.000-08:00

Abbiamo cenato

2010-02-08T03:01:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night, our friends Rosa and Paolo had us over for a fabulous dinner. They live in Portici ("Port", by the shipping port), and from the balcony of their apartment they have spectacular views of Naples, plus partial views of Capri and Sorrento--Bellisimo Venduta (means great view!). If you were in Napoli looking towards Portici, you would see the Portici homes clustered along part of the base of Vesuvio, and it only took us about 20 minutes to get to their apartment from Napoli.

When we got to their place, Rosa gave us a tour of their apartment--a great place with lots of unique design accents i.e neat accent lighting, a subfloor with glass top to display shells they had collected on various trips, cool tile work in the bathrooms etc, all ideas Rosa came up with on her own. Rosa had also taken time to create a great tablescape complete with printed menus and gifts for all of us ( A Napoli bib for Evan, and cool, 3 dimensional magnets for Josh and I of Napoli and Piazza Plebiscito. She had the gifts tied up in mesh bags w/ a 'horn' charm (animal horn, not instrumental horn)--horns being the symbol of good luck here, and many people keep horns mounted in their homes, or dangling from their car's rearview mirror). She has 6 month old Gabriel and 2.5 yr old Manuel, so where she found the time to cook us the feast she had prepared, plus do all the little extras I have no idea! I attached a picture of her tablescape and menu. You will see a picture on the front of the menu of a guy--Rosa explained that every city has a "mascot" type figure, and the one on the menu is the "Mascot" of Napoli. She told us his name (which I forget) and that he is described as being very lazy as well as some other things. She also printed a story/history of, I think, food in Naples, but she didn't translate it, instead, she gave me that as a homework assignment, to figure out what it says:) ha! We told Rosa that she was the "Martha Stewart" of Italy! She's never heard of Martha Stewart, but we explained who she is, and she understood and accepted the compliment:)

Rosa's menu for us consisted of:
"Stuzzichini della casa"--starters
-Tarallini--a type of cracker that reminds me of breadsticks and they are shaped like little donuts
-Sfogliata Rustica-a potato, cheese and bacon torte--Yum!
-Bruschette

Primi- 1st course
-Pasticcio di pasta al forno- wide ziti like noodles with lots of cheese and meatballs

Secondi-2nd course
-Involtini di pollo a modo mio--Rosa called this "Chicken her way!". Chicken rolled up with a delicious sauce.
-Trionfo Campano: Ovvero "Salsicce e Friarielli"--I think that means, a typical dish of Campania (the region Naples is in) which consists of spinach like veggie with sausages.
-Terrina de Patate-layers of potato and ham or bacon ( I forget now, but very delicious). It looked like if you were to cut a marble pound cake.

Dolce-Dessert
Cupola di Profiteroles-- french dish. Puff pastries filled w/ homemade whipped cream and then covered in melted dark chocolate candy bars--so good! I had 4 of them, and then before she started doing dishes, Rosa offered me the spoon to 'clean off'. Kind of like when I used to lick the beaters when my mother would make cakes:) You're never too old to lick the beaters!!

I had also brought over Chiachiare and chocolate--the dessert I had mentioned in a previous post that is typical during Carnevale--which continues up until 2/16.

Speaking of Carnevale--Rosa lent me a pumpkin outfit for Evan to wear on the weekends, since all the kids dress up and go out on the weekends of Carnivale. So, yesterday, we dressed him up and walked to the park to see all the other costumes--ranging from Minnie Mouse, to baby brides, Spiderman, Pirates, Band Majorettes etc. The piazzas and parks were covered in silly string and confetti!!

We look forward to spending more time w/ Rosa & her family, and they are looking forward to us getting an apartment so that they can come over for a Barbecue..a cooking technique they are not familiar with and definitely want to try!

I'm not the only "Housewife" in this hotel!

2010-02-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

Evan and I exited the elevator into our hotel lobby to wait for my friend Stephanie who I was having lunch with. As I got off the elevator, I saw this girl who I just knew that I knew from somewhere, but I had no clue, from where! Did we go to college together? Was she a friend of a friend? Someone I knew from Boston? San Francisco? Seattle? Summer Camp? Band Camp?(Ha) It was killing me! She had a son who looked to be about 7, and then was attending to a baby in a stroller. I was scrolling through everyone in my head...what moms do I know with kids that age, etc etc.. I couldn't place it, so I just asked her if she was from Seattle. She said, "Nope, I'm from New Jersey". "Oh, OK, it's just that you look SO familiar to me, but I guess you just might remind me of someone else." Then her mom chimes in..."Do you ever watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey? She's Jacqueline!" I have to admit, I love the drama of that reality show, and I did watch the whole season of it. Of course, it's Jacqueline! She was the nicest housewife on the show, and I have to say, she's a lot prettier in person. She was also very down to earth, and we chatted for about 1/2 an hour. As we were talking, Caroline and her husband, another couple on the show, came down into the lobby and also said 'hi'. Caroline also looks a lot better in person--I think the camera really must add 10 pounds, since they looked slimmer in person. Jacqueline and I doted over each other's babies, talked about our impressions of Naples--she said it totally reminds her of The Bronx, she asked for recommendations for lunch spots since she was starving, and then she told me a bit about their schedule while here. They had come in on a cruise ship, and were spending a few days in Naples, and then heading a couple hours North to visit Theresa's family, with all the footage from this trip going into the making of the premier episode for Season 2. I asked Jacqueline if she is used to having her life filmed 24/7 and she said "yes, since the crew has become like my family." She said, you kind of forget the crew is even there." She said they are always around, and gave the example of even as she was throwing up on the ship the night before due to sea sickness, there was the camera man, right in the bathroom with her...not holding her hair back, but videoing the whole thing. Now that is going to be some quality t.v! ha!

The next morning I saw Theresa, her husband Joe, and all of their kids at breakfast. Theresa was all dolled up, with lots of bling, her girls were all dressed to the nines (just like on the show), and her husband looked like maybe he had too much red wine or lemoncello the night before--yet he still managed to dress well, and put on his huge rolex studded w/ what must have been 60 diamonds--Mamma Mia!

Ok..off to find myself an Extra spot in Season 2--be sure to watch the Season 2 opening, maybe you'll see my head bobbing in the background:) haha

The Farmer in the Dell

2010-02-01T02:59:00.000-08:00

I've been learning some nursery rhymes to sing to Evan, and Farmer in the Dell is one of his favorites--hence the overalls:) ha

Andiamo a Roma!

2010-02-01T02:25:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we decided to get a change of scenery and head out on a spontaneous road trip to Rome. The fact that we can randomly just drive up to Rome for the day is still something to get used to!

The drive is an easy 2 hours on the Autostrada, and so after a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, we loaded up the car (amazing how much stuff you have to pack just for a day trip w/ a baby!) and headed to Rome with the goal of touring the colliseum and hanging out in Piazza Navona, our favorite spot from when we went to Rome a few years ago.

We had checked the weather before heading out, and there was 30% chance of showers, and temps predicted in the upper 40s to low 50s. We drove through a few terrential downpours, and experienced a few once we were on foot in Rome, but for the most part, the weather cooperated.

Upon arrival, we found easy on-street parking just a couple blocks from the Colleseum, and paid the meter about 2 euros for essentially 8 hours of parking--I guess the parking angel was on our side that day! We were floored by how sane and orderly the driving seemed in Rome. I can remember being there years ago, when I almost had a heart attack driving in a cab in Rome and thinking that driving in Rome was crazy, but ohhhh, how two months in Napoli changed my perspective!! Rome seems like a drive in Pleasantville compared to the chaotic streets in Napoli.

Once parked and geared up w/ our baby stuff, we headed off to find some lunch. It was great to have some new menu items and some more, what we consider, traditional Italian dishes, such as meat lasagna, to choose from. We had a great lunch--Josh indulging in meat lasagna and a sausage w/patate (potato) dish, not to mention his vino rosso de la casa (house red wine), and I had the pasta a fagioli (pasta and bean soup) with a nice helping of fresh parmesan on top, and a salad with lots of toppings on it (which is hard to find in Naples where a salad is often iceburg lettuce on a plate). We noticed that not one person in Rome interrupted our lunch to come and stare at Evan, rub his cheek, or lean in to give him a big kiss--the typical scenario occuring at least once..usually much more than that, per meal, in Naples. Not to go off on a tangent, but on my walk yesterday, a car actually pulled off the road, asked me to open the stroller visor, so that this woman and her husband could peek in to see Evan. They went on and on about him--Bello, Bellissimo, Complementi etc etc, and wanted to know how old he is etc. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Neopolitan's LOVE babies! Going out w/ Evan is like having a celebrity in the stroller!

Ok..back to Rome. So, after a satisfying lunch, we headed to the colliseum. It is so impressive, and as you approach it, it almost doesn't look real, as if it is superimposed in the landscape. We walked around the various levels of it, reading about it's history, and how everything from Rhinos & Hippos, to the more infamous lions and tigers would be sent in to the arena to hunt down the prisoners there to be executed. I hadn't realized that right after an 'execution' the animals themselves would be slaughtered, the meat then given away for free to attendees of 'the games'. Also, during gladitorial fights, the loser's blood would actually be soaked up with sponges, and then sold, as many Romans believed that the gladitorial blood would in some way protect or heal them from disease. Sounds gross to me, but hey..what happens in Rome, stays in Rome! They also had a lot of interesting artifacts on exhibit, such as sheep knuckles--used as part of a game, bone dice, glass "poker chips" etc all game pieces attendees would use as they sat in the stands, waiting for a show to begin. I found the chunks of marble with 'graffiti' carved into them interesting, since I think it would be hard to not get caught doing graffiti back in Roman times, considering you had to carve your 'tag' into marble!ha

After the Colliseum, we walked about a mile to Piazza Navona. The sun was starting to set, and the air was turning cool, so what better way to warm up then with a gelato! We hit the gelato stand, walked around the Piazza a bit, and then headed home. All in all, it was a great day, and we look forward to heading up there more often whenever we need a change.

Red Rover, Red Rover...

2010-02-01T02:17:00.000-08:00

"Red Rover, Red Rover, sending Kimmy and Evan right over"...I often feel like yelling that as I approach families of 5 strolling arm in arm, or 6-7 school girls (or boys) walking along holding hands, or with arms locked...creating a kind of moving road block that we have to navigate through, just like the childhood Red Rover game.

I find it refreshing,in a way, to see so much hand-holding, linked arms, and yes, even people making out in the streets, on a daily basis. The affectionate body language, and lack of need for personal space, is nice to see...it makes you feel like singing, "love is in the air"..:) ha! I know Josh and I hold hands or stroll with our arms locked a lot more these days, just to fit in if nothing else:) ha!

Sua Amico Gabriel

2010-01-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

Evan loves having another baby around, and he and Gabriel have become fast friends, as have Gabriel's mom, Rosa, and I.

Carnevale

2010-01-26T02:36:00.000-08:00

When Rosa and I went out last week, she introduced me to "chiacchiere", a special sweet that we had at a nearby bar/ coffee shop. "Chiacchiere" is also the Italian verb to 'chit chat', but as a pastry, it is eaten mainly as part of Carnevale which is celebrated for 4 weeks, and begins 60 days before Easter. Chiacchiere look kind of like lasagna noodle shaped fried dough, covered in powdered sugar, and served w/ some liquid chocolate that you can dunk it in. I had one bite and Rosa said, "oh..you made a mess!". I looked down, and my black coat was covered in powdered sugar, as were my black shoes. Mamma Mia...you can't take me anywhere!ha! Anyhow, while Josh and I were out walking this weekend, we came upon Piazza Plebiscito and noticed kids running everywhere, shooting off silly string, and throwing tons of confetti. Then, shopping yesterday, I saw huge bags of confetti being sold at all the stores. I checked in with Rosa to learn more and she said that for Carnevale,for 4 weeks, especially during the weekends, you can see kids dressed up in costumes, throwing confetti (coriandoli) in the street and spraying white silly string..they can even spray it on you as you walk by minding your own business. Rosa also informed me that "the kids make jokes (some not nice at all), but you can not protest!" Ok..if I can't protest, can I at least throw a zinger of a joke their way?ha!

Cosa fai questa weekend?

2010-01-25T04:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend was sunny and mild, and we had a fun time just strolling the city, making our typical Saturday shopping trip, and relaxing together.

On Saturday, we decided to venture to a new mall, called Campania, that we had heard was nicer than the other one we had been driving to when we needed to shop for diapers, groceries etc. Only about 25 minutes away, we found the mall no problem. The first thing you do at the mall, is get your sideways driving shopping cart from the parking lot. It costs one euro, which you slide in a slot attached to the 'handle bar', and that will release it from the other carts it is chained to. My friend Janine told me a trick though. Instead of a Euro, insert a quarter, and that will also cause it to release, and when you return your cart, the quarter gets pushed back out of the slot. Since we will never spend the quarter in Italy, it's convenient to just keep it in my wallet, so i'll never be without the proper fitting coin whenever I go to the mall. Yeah..that was a good time Janine!

At the mall, we found most of the things we needed (except index cards for me to use for flash cards to study--according to my friend Rosa, they don't sell those here), including a gelato cone w/ whipped cream on top:) Can't go without the whipped cream on top of an icecream cone..love it! After the mall, we had planned to check out some Roman ruins that are in our tour book, but since they were an hour away, we decided to save that excursion for another day.

On Sunday, the sun was shining and everyone was out and about enjoying the great weather. Josh had to do some work from the hotel room, so I decided to finally check out Castel dell'Ovo which is across from the hotel. The site of the Castel has quite a history, initially existing as part of a 5th century estate of a General, then an order of monks founded a monestary there, and then the Normans built the first Castel at the site. Succeeding dynasties modified it after that, and it acheived its present form in the 16th century. Legend has it that its name derives from a magic egg (uovo)hidden inside and placed there by a Roman poet named Virgil. The Castel is now open for free to the public to stroll through and is also used for cultural events. While I walked through it, with Evan in the Baby Bjorn, (or mucipial as Neopolitans call it) there were a bunch of temporary art galleries set up in several of the rooms of the Castel, so it was fun to not only take in the amazing views from various windows throughout the Castel, but also wander amongst some original art--from classic to very modern (and strange) pieces. You definitely get a sense of old history as you pass through the walkways of the castle, and I was so glad to finally explore it.

Later on Sunday we walked to a late lunch to check out Donna Marguerita, a restaurant that had been recommended to me. It was about a mile walk, and it was so peaceful. Sundays are the quietest day on the streets, with stores all closed, the locals usually stay at home and prepare and indulge in huge Sunday dinners. If only every day was quiet like that!

Pictures (bottom to top): Evan and I enjoying the sunny day on our hotel roof terrace; Walking up into the Castel dell'Ovo, Inside the Castel--huge archways; Vesuvius from castel window, our hotel (farthest on the right) from the barred window of the Castel.

Mia amica Italiana

2010-01-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

On Friday I had a great day hanging out with my Italian friend, Rosa, and her 6 month old baby boy, Gabriel. Rosa and I met through the Yahoo Group, "Naples Moms", and after emailing while I was still in Seattle, and then chatting on the phone once we got to Napoli, she and I finally connected in person yesterday. It was a great visit, and so fun to have a new Italian friend. Evan also got a kick out of having another bambino around, and he stared at Gabriel a lot while flashing him a wide grin every once in a while. It was so cute.

Rosa and I spent about 5 hours hanging out, and as we walked and chatted, she answered quite a few of my questions, and gave me some great insight on life in Napoli. Some of the things I learned or we discussed:

-Every morning, as I walk along the water, I wonder what all the padlocks are for that are hanging from the railing along the sidewalk that lines the waterfront of the Bay of Naples. There are tons of them and I wondered if they were for crab pots..but where are the pots? For boats...but there aren't tons of boats lined up there? For bikes...but hardly anyone is brave enough to ride a bike around here..!?, so what are they for? Rosa explained that there is a famous movie where the main characters write their names on a padlock as a symbol of their unending love and locked hearts. Now, the people in Naples "are just copying the movie" as Rosa said, and so there are hundreds of locks. Today on my walk, for the first time, I noticed that there are names on all of them. I guess Josh and I will have to add one soon:)

-Rosa's never heard of Starbucks! I love that! And, that adds validity to the claim I had heard that Italy has some sort of ban on Starbucks. When I told Rosa what my typical Starbucks order was "Venti, decaf, non-fat, extra-hot, no foam, vanilla latte", she was amazed by all the customization we can do. She was surprised that we could pick the type of milk and the flavor etc. After I told her how large a Venti cup is, she said, "No wonder you like to have 2 cappuccinos, you are used to your big Starbucks!"

-After lunch, Rosa and I walked around the city a bit more and then I suggested we stop for some Cappuccinos. She said, "ahhh..Italians never have Cappucinos in the afternoon, just in the morning, and usually,just one". I told her it looks like I'll be standing out as an American again!

-There is no return policy on purchased goods in Naples. If you buy something, that's it, you can't return it. I said, so if you buy a shirt, and it doesn't fit, you can't return it even if it has the tags on it. She said..."No way...they would laugh at you." I told her about Costco and Nordstrom's generous return policy and she couldn't believe it. She said she would bankrupt them because she'd do all her shopping there and then return things when she got sick of them. She said she would take total advantage of it. I told her some people do, but for the most part, we are used to being able to return things, so it's not that abused. She said the exception here is shopping at Ikea since they allow things to be returned. She said, it's so nice to shop at Ikea because "you don't worry, you just buy what you like, and if you change your mind, no worry, just return it. It is so nice at Ikea!"

-She said Naples recently passed a law about making the city more wheelchair accessible. We were talking about how difficult it is w/ strollers and I said I can't imagine what people in wheelchairs do. She said there are just parts of the city they can't go to at all, because even with help, there are too many stairs connecting some areas to others, and most shops, restaurants, public transportation etc, don't have wheelchair accommodations.

-There is a no smoking rule for all shops and restaurants are supposed to have smoking/non smoking sections. The problem is, it isn't much enforced. When I picked up my laundry last week, the 2 owners and their friend were all chain smoking amidst the clean clothes. Nothing like having your clothes all reek of smoke after paying to have them cleaned.

-I said, why do you think Italians are so much thinner than Americans? She said when she was in the states for a bit, she couldn't believe how much Americans snack. She said, there will be fat people eating chips and nuts and tons of soda. She also said, "You drink milk with meals! Milk has all the nutrients and ingrediants to be it's own meal, and you drink it to go with your meal. That is part of the overweight problem."

-Rosa was dressed so stylish for our visit, but she downplayed it,and felt like she was just dressed totally comfortably. She had on stylish boots, wool,tailored pants, a nice sweater, gorgeous long coat, and a fur hat. I told her I hope to expand my wardrobe and become more fashionable while here, but until then, it's jeans and sneakers for me...especially when out walking the city.

-Employment--Rosa said many companies totally take advantage of their employees because the unemployment rate is high, and bosses figure if their employee quits due to bad conditions, there are hundreds of other people who would love the job. She used to work at a hotel, and she said that it was normal for her to have to work an extra day a week with no pay, or even though her shift was supposed to end at 4, she might be asked to stay until 9--all for no pay. If you complain, the boss will just say, too bad..if you don't want to do it, someone else will gladly take your job. She is glad that she was able to leave after her 2nd baby. In Italy, you get 6 months of 100% paid maternity leave from the government--a generous benefit, but Rosa said taxes are so high, it's just good to get some of what you pay in, back.

There were lots of other things we talked about, learned from each other, and shared, and we are looking forward to hanging out some more soon. She wants to have us over her apartment for dinner, and she said once we get settled into an apartment, she'll come over to show me how to cook Eggplant parmigiana (since that has been a recent favorite at restaurants) and tiramisu. Yum!

No news is good news, we hope!

2010-01-21T04:05:00.000-08:00

We have started the negotiations process with the landlord of an apartment that we hope to get in Posillipo. I've been dying of suspense, so I called our Realtor today who said that the landlord's lawyers are currently reviewing the corporate lease document that we would be proposing to use. Our Realtor said he had hoped to hear from the landlord tomorrow, but "since we are in Napoli", he'll give it until mid next week, since things do take a lot longer here. In his opinion, "no news is good news", and being an optimist, he thinks we will get the place, but he's basing that solely on the fact that he is an optimist, not on anything he heard from the landlord or legal team. I'm also an optimist, so I'm hopeful we'll get it too! I'll definitely keep you posted, and would love all the luck and prayers you send our way so that we can hopefully soon be settled in this apartment and out of the hotel. Hard to believe we have been living in a hotel since the day before Thanksgiving, and with a newborn:) Calgon, take me away! ha!

I've attached some pictures of maps (and one of the view looking towards Posillipo) to give you an idea of where we currently are, and the different neighborhoods, including Posillipo, where we hope to be.

If you click on the map that is the 2nd to the bottom, it will enlarge. Our hotel is on Via Partenope in San Lucia neighborhood. I do my powerwalks through San Lucia, to Chiaia, and in the park between via Francesco Carriocciolo and Riviera di Chiaia. I sometimes also walk up to Via Posillipo, but the park is quieter. To get to the apartment we want, you have to go all the way up Via Posillipo, and then head down towards the water. Hopefully, we'll get settled into a new place soon, so that you can come and visit and we can give you a tour in person, vs. virtually:)

Planes, trains and automobiles..

2010-01-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

Translates to Mopeds, busses, trains and funiculars in Napoli! I had my first experience with Napoli public transportation yesterday when my friends Jordan and Jen met Evan and I and showed us how to use the funicular. With all the hills in the area, funicular railways are considered a charming necessity. The most accessible and important ones in Naples are the ones that take you from the historic centre of the city up to the Vomero neighborhood--a bustling neighborhood with incredible views, lots of shopping, and of course, a ton of traffic. I learned that there used to be a funicular that went up to Vesuvius. It is now defunct, but that one inspired the song "Funicoli, Funicula"...I haven't heard of it, but in case you have, now you know where the inspiration came from.

So, yesterday, we took the funicular. You can buy tickets at the station, but like the bus tickets here, you can also buy tickets at the Tabaccaio shops. Tickets are1.10 Euro, and are good for 90 minutes on any bus/funicular or train. We got our tickets and ,thankfully, Jordan and Jen were there to help me navigate some of the stairs in the station. Naples is hardly wheelchair friendly, and the lack of ramps and elevators not only poses a hardship for people in wheelchairs, but also for moms with stollers. I have bruises on my shins from having to constantly use my shins as levers or props to maneuver Evan in his stroller up and down steps. (Thankfully tall boots are in fashion here, or those ugly black and blues would be fully exposed!).

Once on the funicular, we had 3 stops until we exited at the top of the hill in Vomero. We decided to take a stroll through Villa la Floridiana park, and then go for lunch. Villa la Floridiana has been a public park since the 1920s, but originally, it was a gift and love token to Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia, from her husband, Ferdinand I. So, what started as a romantic gift to a duchess, is now a park that offers some of the best views of Naples and the bay (and considered one of the top 10 romantic spots in Napoli). There are lots of trails, gardens, a turtle pond, and the main building on the grounds is now a museum filled with some remarkable treasures I have yet to check out. That will have to be what I do on my next funicular ride to the top.

Tummy Time!

2010-01-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

All the baby books say that I'm supposed to be giving Evan tummy time, but with the lack of carpeting in the hotel, I have to admit, that I've been slacking on that. I did lay down some blankets this week for him though, and when he came up from his time on his tummy, he all of a sudden had a new hair part. I always comb his hair to the side, but maybe he's trying to tell me that he prefers a middle part..just like his Uncle Tom had throughout highschool:) ha!

Walking the city

2010-01-20T07:21:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 days I've been starting my day off with a morning power walk. My route is the same each day, offering as much insulation from the morning traffic as possible. I leave the hotel, walk the main drag for about 10 minutes to the entrance to a park on Riviera di Chiaia (see pics..the bottom pic is my walk to the park..you can see the trees in the distance), and then do 2 up and back laps within the park. I guess the park is as much of an in city 'oasis' as you can get, at least within the Chiaia neighborhood which borders my hotel area. The park is essentially a narrow strip between 2 main thoroughfares. I walked on Monday and my effort to escape some of Naples' noise was futile. I felt like I was on candid camera or something, since my walk (which is intended to relieve stress..you know, with that rush of endorphins I'm supposed to get) was littered w/ every loud noise you could imagine--here's a snapshot: at the park entrance I was greeted by jackhammers as workers were digging up some cobblestone, within the park, every landscaper seemed to perfectly time the pulling of the lawn mower starter cord to right when I was walking by w/ the stroller (nothing like startling the baby!), every dog seemed to have a beef with me and barked as we walked by, 3 screaming ambulance sirens, incessant beeping as the owners of cars who get double parked/blocked in just continually beep until the owner of the other car comes to move it, slamming doors of the buildings I passed, 2cranes starting on some type of construction at the far end of the park..etc...etc. Sounds like a nice, relaxing walk, right? I think I returned to the hotel looking so stressed and frazzled that they must have called up to the waitstaff to put extra champagne out for the breakfast buffet, because here was coming a girl who needed a mimosa or two to calm down from her relaxing walk! ugh!

Thankfully, my walk today was a bit more peaceful. The jackhammers were gone, the dogs maybe recognized me, and the lawn was already mowed, so I did get a bit of a relaxing walk in, which seems to make all the difference in how the rest of my day goes. A good work out in the morning, time to clear my head, a cooperative/sleeping baby in the stroller, and then a quick breakfast and time to study my Italian book while I sip capuccino, is definitely,what I call, a successful morning. Hopefully, this morning is the beginning of a successful streak with my a.m routine!

Use your words!

2010-01-20T03:06:00.001-08:00

Since Evan can't communicate with words yet, he decided to send a note to all his friends and family back home via the shirt he wore today. He especially sends his 'hug me' request to Nana, Papa & Poppy!

Gift request: Can someone send me some elastic waist pants?

2010-01-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

Food in Italy is delizioso, and pants that fit me a week after Evan was born, are now starting to get a bit tight...now that is sad, that Italy is doing to me what pregnancy did not! Bread & pizza dough apparently do more of a number on me than my little dough boy did (pic attached of my little dough boy:).

Despite the delicious, fresh, flavorful food of Naples, such as my "Amalfi" salad that I order quite often (pizza boxes are typically used by the restaurants near our hotel as the 'to go' containers for anything we order..pizza or not), it is still sometimes nice to have some good old American food, so we were excited to have meatloaf & cheesy potatos at our friends house this past weekend. I also indulge every once in a while in my "American Nutty" ~$10 jar of peanut butter, as well as a Hamburger con formaggio (cheeseburger) at this new burger joint called "Orange" that is just about a 15 minute walk away, and is always packed w/Italian teenagers.

I've tried to make it a point this week to order new things, and have been pleasantly surprised by my:
-Zuppa di pasta e zucca= essentially pureed butternut squash served hot w/ a variety of freshly made pasta noodles mixed in.
-Insalate con legumes= cold bean salad. Consisted of pinto beans, white beans and chick peas, served cold on a plate. Then, the waiter brought me a lemon slice, high quality olive oil (which it all seems to be around here) and salt. The beans, lightly seasoned with those items, were delicious. Light, fresh, and so tasty. I think later that day I was "passa a wind" like the sign in my earlier post suggested:)
-Bean and sausage soup. I forget what it was called, but it was great. Very hearty and spicy.
-One of Josh's favorites--the huge mozzarella ball w/ tomatos, called "mozzarella du bufala".
-I've been ordering parmigiana de melanzane at most places that have it to compare the various 'eggplant parmigiana' recipes. Everyone has their own way of making it, but so far, each recipe has tasted great, and it continues to be one of my favorite dishes. They love eggplant here...hmmmm...maybe it's eggplant that the Neapolitan's are 'honoring' with all the purple that they wear. Purple seems to be the color of choice for Neopolitans, and as we walk down the street, it's hard to avoid seeing a sea of purple dressed people. Men wearing purple scarves (I know what I'm getting Josh for his birthday:) , purple pants, women in purple berets, sweaters, jackets etc. Hmmm..maybe they are just die-hard Seahawks fans???...Nah..I think it's the eggplant:)

I'm really hoping that we get that Posillipo apartment so that I can learn some Italian cooking. I talked to my friend Stephanie today, who is married to a Neopolitan, plus, although American, she has a huge Italian family, and she was in the midst of preparing Sunday dinner for her husband. The menu: pasta in a bolognese sauce, meatballs, sausage, steak, salad, cheese's, salami's, olives, nuts, fruit, profiteroles, etc. I've already enlisted her to teach me some of her cooking skills, plus, as a bonus, she makes homemade limoncello--fun! So again, please send me some elastic waist pants--pronto! ha!

Apartment search update

2010-01-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

We had some success with our housing search, and are hoping and praying that we are able to lease an apartment in the Posillipo neighborhood of Naples. Our search was focused on finding a place either in Posillipo, or in Cava de Tirreni (town 5 minutes from Amalfi coast), and after 2 days of touring apartments, we found one that we really feel like we would be happy in, which is no easy feat here in Napoli!

The apartment we want is owned by a Countess (I still have to google what exactly makes someone a Countess), but I've heard she is super nice, which was great to hear if she is to become our future landlord. Here are some of the details about the apartment:
-one unit in a 4 unit building
-2 floors, with living/dining/kitchen/bath on 1st floor and 3 bedrooms (one super tiny, but will be perfect for Evan) and a bathroom on the 2nd floor.
-Balconies with great views of Vesuvius volcano, the Bay of Naples, Capri, and the island of Ischia.
-A vineyard is set at the top of the street (see picture), and the apartment is surrounded by greenery, including orange and lemon trees. Quite the oasis in Naples, as it is tough to get away from the traffic and noise in this city.
-Some charming Italian accents, such as the wood burning pizza oven in the kitchen, blue and white tiled kitchen counter top and oven hood, teracotta tiles throughout the apartment, and a teracotta roof.
-Beach access. There is a private beach, only accessible by people within this gated community.
-10 minute walk to the park, which offers a clean playground, various trails and walking paths, and exceptional views. (see pictures)
-15 minute walk to shops, cafes, restaurants, and the bus stop that will allow me to hop the bus into downtown Naples to meet up w/ friends, do more shopping, touring of museums.
-15-20 minute drive (depending on traffic) to get to the train station (or can take the bus). From the train station, can catch the fast train to Rome which only takes about 1hr 10 minutes.
-quiet, tranquil space for Evan, and of course, for our future visitors:)

We are truly keeping our fingers crossed that we get this place. Leases are typically 4-5 years here in Napoli, so it can be tough to negotiate a 'short' lease of only 2 years, but our Realtor is experienced with working on these corporate leases, so we are hoping he will help to get us into this apartment. In the meantime, we are still living in the hotel, in Santa Lucia, Napoli.

I attached a picture of the bay of Naples. Posillipo is at the end of the point in the distance along the water. I also took some rainy day pictures when I was up in that neighborhood the other day. I will take more pictures when we go back to the apartment and hopefully get some pics on a clear day that really show the beauty of this little area of Posillipo. The apartment in Cava di Tirreni was also cute, but a lot smaller. It was also on the top floor, without an elevator, so trying to get in and out w/ Evan, his stroller, etc, would have been too much of a hassle. I would have probably built up some muscles lugging his stroller up and down 5 flights of stairs, but would have not enjoyed doing it day in and day out. I attached two pictures that show the views from the terrace of the Cava apartment. It was definitely cute, and Cava is a great little town, settled in the mountains, and again, super close to the Amalfi coast. A fun town to check out if you come and visit.

Evan is making friends

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Little does he know, the baby he's been talking to and flirting with, is cardboard:)

Our own little meatball:)

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Evan is just over 2.5 months, but this outfit is a 6 month outfit. We constantly hear "Molto Grande!" (very big) from his Italian admirers, so I guess the pizzas, mozzarella balls, and pasta dishes we are feeding him are really accelerating his growth:)

50 Euro worth of laundry, the remaining 25 Euro worth are still blowing in the wind on the sidewalk!

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I put the sneakers there to show the scale of the bags. These are small bags of laundry. I guess owning a Lavandaria is a lucrative business around here!

Check out this Italian Diva!!

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This little bitch strutting her stuff at Piazza Plebiscito!

I may have had beans in my salad, but I just wanted to buy a cellphone!!

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Who can spot the American?

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Yesterday I had some free time and decided to take a 'field trip' to the large grocery store that my friend Jordan had shown me. It took me a few tries to find the correct cobblestone street that it was on, amongst the winding roads, but once I found it, I was excited to take my time, cruising the aisles, taking in the various products, and getting more acquainted with Italian grocery stores. Jordan had told me that she likes to go between 1:30-3, since that tends to be the time it is least crowded, as everyone is at lunch, vs out doing errands. I entered the store and thought, "wow, she was right, the store is dead, and I can really navigate it w/ ease with the stroller, and just have a relaxing time. Great!" So, I began my shopping experience in the produce department, learning how to shop for fruits and veggies. Basically, you select your items...say, apples, than you take them over to a scale, that has a board w/ buttons that each have a picture an item on them (apple, banana etc), you hit the button that corresponds with what you are weighing, so the 'apple' for my example, and then a sticker w/ the price and barcode is spit out. This saves the cashier from having to weigh your produce at check out. So, I gained my confidence in that department,then moved from aisle to aisle, checking out the different items that you just don't find in the US, and the missing items, that I just can't find here in Italy. Some of the observances:
1-Eggs are not refridgerated. They are just sitting on the shelves, just like cereal.
2-Speaking of cereal, it's expensive,and it comes in small boxes (kind of like the size of the grapenuts cereal box). I also thought I was buying the same Honey Nut Cheerios that I get at home, but it seems that General Mills must have licensed their branding to Nestles, because although the Nestle's HN Cheerios box looks just like the General Mills one, complete with the same little honeybee, the cereal itself isn't the same, and I miss the flavor of the General Mills ones.
3-Milk just comes in small size plastic bottles. I've yet to see a gallon of milk anywhere, even at the larger grocery chains.
4-A lot of the yogurt brands come in glass jars, kind of like baby food.
5-The tiniest jar of peanut butter is 6+ Euro
6-It's hard to find baking ingredients such as baking soda,baking powder, brown sugar, chocolate chips etc. Most grocery stores, if they carry baking powder/soda at all, the 2 ingredients are combined in little envelopes, so not sure how you would convert those to try to bake a new recipe? Also, brown sugar has big sugar granules..almost looks like the raw sugar you get at Starbucks, or like light brown Kosher salt. A friend did find some 'normal' containers of baking powder/soda and Dunkin Heinz cake mixes at the Lindt specialty chocolate store, but otherwise, I think the best bet, is to stock up on those items during a future trip back to the US.
7-Speaking of Starbucks, I heard today from several of the girls at coffee this morning (1 who is married to a Neopolitan, and 2 who are dating Neopolitans), that there is a law (not sure if it is a written law, or an unwritten rule) against Starbucks here, and that it's not allowed in Italy. Another one of the girls said that probably explains why her Starbucks coffee beans that she bought while in Edinborogh last weekend were confiscated at the Italian airport.

Anyhow, I kind of digressed from my story...so, I was walking the aisles, taking my time to take it all in, loving how deserted the store was, and enjoying my 'field trip'. I kept hearing announcements on the loudspeaker,but was basically ignoring them,since I couldn't understand anyways. After a few minutes of announcements, and another aisle covered, a store clerk approached me. I couldn't understand her at first, but then realized that she was telling me they are closed. I was the only one in the store, and I didn't even have any intention of buying anything. This was just my field trip. It was so funny! As she directed me to the exit, and as I rode the moving ramp to the door (like a flat escalator that they use at all the malls and big stores), I looked down to see the cashiers all counting out their drawers to cash out, and all the aisles totally empty! I wonder how long they were trying to tell me to get out of there via the loud speaker, since literally, I was the only one in there! The manager was at the door with the keys, and she locked the door the second Evan and I exited. Oops...my vocab for the day "we are closing..get out!" ha

I laughed at myself, and decided to stop and treat myself to a hot chocolate(literally a cup of melted chocolate) at Gambrinos on my way home. Gambrino's is a famous cafe here..still don't know what it is famous for. I got in the cafe, and I decided I'd also get some Tirimisu, to try their version of it. I looked in the bakery case, didn't see it, and so then I opened up the refriderated case and was going through the items in there, to see what the desserts were, and if there was a tirimisu or something else that looked good. The security guy whipped over there so quickly, snapped the door shut, and slapped a lock on it. Apparently, going into the case yourself is a big 'no-no'. Oopsy, this Americana still has a lot to learn to blend in w/ the locals, but when it comes to sweets, I tend to just go for it! ha