Eurochocolate Festival, Perugia – Una Gustosa Festa
There are lots of things you go to Italy for. Cappuccinos. Wine. Great bolognese. Smooth-talking men. But chocolate? I’d always reserved that for the Belgians, the Swiss and possibly the French, although in France I’m usually too busy eating crêpes to care about much else. Perugia was to change my attitude completely. Held in October, the annual Eurochocolate Festival that crowds the tiny medieval streets of the Umbrian capital with every imaginable form of cocoa-based substances is a feast for the eyes…and of course, the palette. Frankly I stumbled upon...
Read More9 Things To Love About Venice
Venice devotees are a dime a dozen, but what is it about the city that causes some to go so far as to brand ourselves “Venetophiles?” What stardust did the city sprinkle on us (or was it pigeon droppings?) that made it seal itself into our hearts forever? Despite the growing proliferation of other places I’ve visited, I have never experienced what I feel in Venice in any other city, which has caused me to return again and again, always reveling anew in it’s mystery. It may be impossible to put my finger on the exact reasons, but here are a few of the things...
Read MoreRestaurant Review: Spirito DiVino – Rome, Italy
Originally posted on ThingsYouShouldDo.com as a guest article, 9/09 Italian food is arguably one of the most popular – and misused – cuisines in the world. So no matter what a guidebook recommends or how many adjectives they use, the phrase “authentic home-cooked Italian” tends to incite mistrust. Even if it’s a restaurant in Italy. So on a recent trip, after almost 2 weeks of red-sauce-soaked dining (not to take anything away from marinara), it was my birthday in the Eternal City and I wanted exactly that – some authentic Italian. The pasta-free version. Spirito...
Read MoreHow To See Rome in a Day (warning: not for the faint of heart!)
They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. (I can see why). But you can see a whole lot in less than 24 hours…from the best of museums, architecture, cathedrals, monuments and restaurants you’ll get a taste of the Eternal City without leaving regretfully and wondering if you missed out AND without spending a ton of money! I don’t mean to insinuate that one day trapsing through the heart of Italy is enough to satisfy – if anything it will make you want more. Truly there is no way you can see it all (and you shouldn’t try) – Rome is full of treasures no...
Read MoreAn Italian birthday
10/26/07 Ihavenoideawhattimeitis….(somewhere over Ireland) Well here I am on the plane home…I can’t believe it’s over already! But I’ll get to that in a bit… Our last day in Rome was drizzly and wet but we were determined to make it last anyway. I’m like a cat – I hate being out in the rain, but staying inside on my birthday in Italy just sounded ridiculous, so we headed straight for the Vatican to see if we could get in the museum since Katie had never seen it (fat chance, apparently). At least we got some souvenir shopping done in the...
Read MoreWhen in Rome…
10/25/07 12:55am Today Katie had most of the day off (yay!) and it was another unexpectedly gorgeous day, especially welcome since they had been calling for rain the entire day and we woke up to blue sky, warmer temps and puffy white clouds. Although I’d already seen it, Katie hadn’t and I was more than happy to visit again, so we jostled our way rather quickly through the long queue and into the Colosseum, a short 10-minute walk from the hotel. On the way we stopped at a small church near the hotel that is famous for an old ruin that somehow ended up in their courtyard –...
Read MoreRoman Holiday
11:14pm 10/22/07 If I only had a dime for every church I go into when I visit Europe…well, I’d have a LOT of dimes. Arrived in a sunny, crisply cool Rome yesterday after a great train ride (in first class no less! free coffee! Trenitalia rules!) through the farmlands of central Italy and found a cab right away despite the complete ZOO at Rome Termini train station. It was like Christmas in there. My cab driver didn’t speak any English but was a delightful man, so I chatted with him the whole way in Italian as best I could (meaning we talked about weather, home prices in...
Read MoreArt is for kids who like books with pictures
1:28am 10/21/07 An unexpectedly successful day in Florence, despite some patchy cloudiness, biting chill (!) and gusty wind. Schwing! What I’ve come to love about Hotel Mario’s is how tiny it is…both size-wise and cozyness-factor-wise. There are only something like 14 rooms, so breakfast is small, uncrowded and personal, kind of like a B&B without the forced socialization factor. The front desk clerk doubled as barista and happily made us 3 perfect cappuccinos to accompany our croissants and fruit. Plus the Internet computer, while slightly more expensive than any...
Read MoreHell’s Stairmaster and Fiery Popcorn
1:24am 10/20/07 Had a leisurely day, by Florentine standards. That is, if you don’t count the 375739329475602 miles we walked. Katie had meetings today also, but only for the first part of the day, so Bob and I trekked across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti and stopped at a cafe for cappuccinos, wine, pasta and croissants, which we sat and enjoyed for nearly 2 hours. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day. The air was crisp and clear, there were very scantily scattered puffy white clouds and the sun shone brilliantly, but not exceptionally warmly. It was a perfect day to...
Read MoreJust point to the chianti…
2:44am 10/19/07 So here I sit in my Florentine hotel room at Hotel Mario’s on the Via Faenza – a little private suite of my own, in fact, as the room we’ve been given has 2 separate bedrooms (tiny ones at that) with a common bathroom in the hallway. Bob and Katie have taken the larger room and I have my own little one with a small window that overlooks a residential courtyard and a tiny twin bed. The whole thing is somewhat reminiscent of my college dorm rooms, and I feel like an American exchange student wandering the streets by day and doing homework at night by typing my...
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