Friday, March 25, 2011

Exploring Lombardy with Micah & Anna

I am overwhelmed by the idea of writing about everything that happened this super fun weekend in Lombardia, so I'm starting by just sticking some captioned photos on here and see if something more organically flows from that beginning!

We visited Bergamo, Cremona and Piacenza with Micah & Anna!
Bergamo is all decked out to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.


Exploring Bergamo Alta (high) - the historic center is up on a hill above the modern city

The facade of the Duomo of Bergamo

The main piazza - we ate at that restaurant to the right

Looking down on Bergamo Basso (low)

Walking down to get the car & head to Cremona for night #2!

Piazza duomo in Cremona

Tallest brick tower in Italy, and we went up it!

Fabri climbing the final staircase up the tower

It took me some convincing and I was the last to arrive to the top.


Here we are in front of the duomo.  The rain began Sunday morning,

This is a very rainy Piacenza where we stopped for lunch before heading home.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Wearing green on St. Patty's Day before going out for a Guinness!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

International Woman's Day

Last week was the International Woman's Day which supposedly started in the US, but I had never heard about it before coming here.  In Italian it's called La Festa della Donna.  Fabri and I have never really celebrated it much.  Two years ago we bought a mimosa tree, the official woman's day flower.  Unfortunately Winter of 2009 was very harsh and that died and hasn't been replaced.  Last year Fabri probably brought me flowers, but I don't remember.  This year a couple of my American girlfriends here in Italy (Tammy & Anna) convinced me I had to do something for woman's day.  Fabri's response was, "yeah, sure, whatever go out and I'll go out with some guy friends."
The restaurant gave Tammy & I mimosa swags
So Tammy attempted to organize an evening of dinner and dancing, but apparently you have to book weeks ahead of time.  Who has time for that?  So then she suggested we go bowling.  I like bowling, but bowling in just two didn't sound that great, so I suggested we bring our husbands.  They put up a front like we were ruining their plans for a wild night out with the boys, but neither of them had spoken to any other "boyz" the afternoon of Festa della Donna.
Fabri and Michele LOVING their American import beers!
Anyway, they certainly enjoyed the restaurant choice! We went to Eleat in Cuneo. It's a new restaurant that opened in October.  Tammy & Michele had been there a few times and especially liked their mussel dishes.  Fabri and I were happy when we saw the reviews that they have good beer.  I have to say that bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tasted better than any Sierra Nevada I've had before. 
Tammy and Jess love Barbera!
The restaurant is very modern and looks super American compared to most of the restaurants I've been to in Italy.  It is on the third floor of an office building and the walls are completely windows so you can look out.  We told the owners that the restaurant was almost perfect, they just needed stools at the bar.  They had a nice looking American style restaurant bar, but no stools.  If they had been there, we would have had a drink at the bar while waiting for Tammy & Michele instead of waiting at the table.  Not that that's a big deal, but the restaurant owners said it was a good idea and that next time we came, there would be stools.  We all had the mussel appetizer and different pizzas.  It was good, but Tammy said the mussel portion used to be larger, and I'd like to see the bowl filled to the brim with mussels next time instead of the stools! 
Strike a bowling pose!
After dinner we went over to the bowling alley.  That was a lot of fun.  It was great to do something new.  We hadn't been bowling for at least a year.  I don't know if Festa della Donna will be an annual event for me, it's sort of a pointless holiday.  I expect Fabri to treat me like a goddess every day, not just one day a year! But it's always fun to have an excuse to go out with friends.
Roses Maria Pia bought me for Festa della Donna

Friday, March 4, 2011

A Normal Day in the Life

Exciting news.  This is my hundredth post!  Ok, not really that exciting, but I've been enjoying writing these and I really enjoy looking back at the photos and stories from the past 2.5 years.  Let me know what you like the best about the blog!

We've been keeping things low key lately.  You know, the holidays have been over for a couple months; the weather is still pretty bad; and, though we have things to look forward to, they're not happening until the spring.  So what have we been doing?  Well, Fabri's been working a lot and I've been trying to keep busy.  I have a few students, but I don't volunteer at the museum anymore.

the path around the field
Everyday I walk the dog a couple of times.  Often we meet neighbors with their dogs and let them play together in the field near our house.  

making some beer can chickens to eat for the week
I attempt to keep the house clean and presentable because sometimes we have fun folks come over for dinner!  This week was our upstairs neighbors.

rosemary encrusted salmon with red potatoes
I love to cook so I make dinner every night.  Sunday we made bugie, fried cookies, with Maria Pia.


Now that it's getting to be a little, tiny bit spring-like, I've been working in my "garden".  I cut some flowering bush branches and brought them inside to open.  The pink ones are very perfumed so the house smells like spring!

The palace in Racconigi, check out the storks on the roof!
Sometimes we go to markets or just to visit around a nearby town.  Last weekend we went to a flea market in Racconigi.