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

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!

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"

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!

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

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!!

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

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.