Isola d'Elba

Family friends hosted us at their home on Isola d'Elba ("A" on map), an island off the coast of Toscana (Tuscany) known from ancient times for its iron mining and, more recently, for Napoleon being exiled there. Every beach around the intricate coastline is different than the last - some rocky, some sandy; some with nearly private sunsets, others bustling with restaurants and shopping - and we were able to explore several. We also visited a couple very old towns up in the hills, including Capo Liveri and Marciana.

Pause and click through this slideshow to view captions:



What a beautiful adventure! Thanks to Jim and Cecilia for hosting!

Quick Trips, Long Post: Lago di Garda, Nice Jazz Festival, Bordighera

July was a busy month! We certainly made the best of an incredible array of choices for day trips and over-nighters in Italy.

(note: click on links to see more!)

Lago di Garda

On the way back from Venice, we took a detour to Lago di Garda. We discovered that we wished we had more time to enjoy it, and we might go back sometime. It was so peaceful and beautiful, and, of course, there was a castle!

Click this pic to enlarge!

The Nice Jazz Festival

 

The following weekend, we headed to Nice, France for the Nice Jazz Festival. We specifically wanted to see Robert Randolph and the Family Band, a funk/soul/rock band from the States.

Peter found a really cute hotel right in the middle of everything, one block from the venue (he's great at this!), called Le Petit Trianon. Here is the view of the intersection of Rue Paradis and Rue Massina from our balcony:

At the concert, we hung back and watched the show for a bit from the back of the seated audience. But, as the sun went down and the music got louder, people started dancing.... We ended up down in front, boogyin' with many others who had also got the music in their feet!








Bordigherra for Alice's Birthday

The weekend after that, we headed to Bordighera for Alice's 30th birthday. Due to a slight failure to communicate, we got there the night before the party, but, as always, we made the best of it...

And we even ran into the birthday girl at dinner!

We stayed at the beach restaurant for several hours and watched the sun go down over the point.

This guy in camo pants looks pretty cheesy, but he had a remarkably nice, powerful voice and was rockin' out on the keys. He covered some really great music, from Pink Floyd to Fleetwood Mac, and from Italian hits to Michael Jackson. We really enjoyed listening to him and got a chuckle out of how awkward and lounge-singery he could have been, but wasn't.

Another really cute hotel, the Hotel Villa Elisa was right in the middle of everything. Unfortunately, all of my pics were blurry but this one of the courtyard:

Saturday night was party time! We gathered at a friend's vacation condo for aperitivi on the veranda. The view of Bordighera was really nice!

Then we... went back to the same restaurant where we ate the night before! Turns out we have good taste;) We had another lovely dinner on the beach with many wonderful friends of Alice. We dined until after midnight, and then everyone headed to a dance club in Monte Carlo (just around the bend).... except for us because we have discovered that being just thirty versus being solidly in one's thirties is enough of an age difference to not be able to stay out dancing till 6am, especially if starting at 1am. Been there, done that (last summer, in fact)!

Next post: our visit to Isola d'Elba!

Italian Doppelgangers

We have spotted the Italian twins of many family and friends. It's sometimes rather funny and always uncanny! To prevent comments like "I'm not that..." big, old, ugly, etc, we have not taken pictures. But here is a list of doppelgängers we've spotted...

Old Mansy
Chrissy, also preggers
Old Uncle Dick
College Erin A.
Tourist Alex P.
Pro Footballer Chris D. (on tv)
Big Girl Sophia
Mini Peter
Beach Town Bohdan
But-that's-not-your-girlfriend Paolo
Terminella
Danielle (about 5 times)
Cartoon Silhouette Rosella
Fencing Ref Matt O. (on tv)
Jazz Festival Enzo
Beach Babe Anastasiya
Photographer Leonid

In addition, we saw the real versions of Laura and Anne at the airport on the way here:)

It's nice to see so many familiar faces:)

Spritz it up!

I'm sure some of you will be familiar with this aperitivo, but familiarity does not apply here. In Europe (well, Italy, Switzerland, and France by my personal observation), the spritz is ubiquitous! And I'm a little in love myself... it is a quite mature, grown up little cocktail that is not too sweet or strong, and just enough of bitter and bubbles. Everyone orders this; meaning, it does not seem to be exclusive of a particular age group or gender. Middle-aged guys are not deterred at all by the "pretty" looks of it. I have seen a table full of them with pretty red drinks watching soccer, no problem. And, really, must we attach gender to every friggin thing? Don't get me going there...

Here is the recipe:

- 2 parts Campari, Aperol, or similar bitter
- 1 part soda
- 3 parts prosecco (sparkling white wine)

And here it is, being all pretty:

Don't you want to go make yourself one?! I just did!

Ciao!

Venezia!

I am at a loss for words to describe our experience in Venice, so I'll leave most of it to the photos. "Intricate" is foremost in my mind when I remember the narrow streets one must explore to get around the town, the architecture, and just about every detail of the buildings and art. The place begs the question, "whose crazy-ass idea was this?!"

Ultimately, one must go there to truly understand what it is like... and, wow, do people go there! Tourists from all over - mainly the US and China, it seemed - filled every street and shop. And so, it appears that Venice continues its very long history as an international attraction, only now its business is tourism rather than trade. Peter and I were wondering if that means it is obsolete or just evolving naturally.

During the day, it felt like some kind of crazy outdoor museum, but it was easier to see the real past lives of the place during the less crowded evening ("lives" plural is correct in my mind considering the wide-ranging history of the place). Once the tourists dwindled and the heat lifted, it felt less like a museum. Locals and visitors were relaxing at cafes, and personal boats were buzzing around the waterways... it finally felt like a "real" place where these same things have been going on for centuries.

As for the pictures, they are not all pictures of particularly famous places within Venice, they are all simply pictures of what all of Venice looks like. Every corner we turned led to something intriguing and beautiful. Click on the image below to see the slideshow. Click pause if you want to click through manually.

Firenze!

We began our little whirlwind weekend adventure in Florence, then headed to Venice (report on that later).

What can I say? Florence was as beautiful and intriguing as one would expect. It sounds cliche and also inadequate to say it was "beautiful" - but it was!! We really loved it! Peter and I are both too impatient and intolerant of standing in the heat to wait in line for the usual tourist spots, so we did a lot of leisurely wandering. Besides having only 24 hours in the city, this is also the way we both prefer to experience a new, wonderful place like Florence, so it works out well for us. Also, Peter has a knack for finding inexpensive, clean, and comfortable accommodations right near all the major "stuff" when we visit new places (try www.bookings.com!). The Hotel Golf served us well (except for the absolutely ruined coffee, bleh!) and was within a ten minute walk to the historic town center.

And here it is! The "official" historic center of Florence:

All of the streets looked pretty much like this. Narrow, cobbled, and winding in all sorts of crazy directions (quote of the evening: "well, they are definitely not on a grid"). They were also lined with tons of shops, including lots of fancy labels like Gucci and Prada nestled in what appeared to us as no street in particular. One Gucci shop was just the children's label. I did not know that kids wore Gucci, but now I do.

This is not a picture of Something, it is simply a picture of what so much of the streets look like. They all look special to me, but, in such a classic Italian city, it's just any ol' street.

Many buildings look like a castle out of a fairy tale!

...Or like a scene from Assassin's Creed. (Moms, it's a really cool video game set in 15th century Florence and Venice). Peter wanted to climb all over everything like Ezio, particularly up this wall.

This looks like Something, but I don't know what. And sometimes a statue is just a statue...

We visited Luisa's jeweler to get my beautiful Florentine cameo earrings adjusted. His studio was hidden within the maze of narrow streets, up four stories of steps, and simply classic. The studio could be described as a work shop, but what they make is too lovely to call it that. I really wish I'd taken a picture, but I felt awkward for some reason. They had a huge, well-worn work table surrounded by chairs, work lamps, magnifying glasses, delicate tools, bits of gold and gems laying around... a well-seasoned work space for true Florentine artisans. The original Massai is retired, but his three sons have taken over the 50 year old business, continuing to create unique jewelry in the traditional Florentine style. They are truly artists and happy, nice guys!

Speaking of Luisa!

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Add this to our collection of self portraits in front of landmarks! Maybe we should have taken the time to venture up to the top of the famous dome, but, as I mentioned, lines aren't our thing. And it was mega HOT!

The texture of the exterior is made up of ornate sculptures, each with their own history and symbolism. Every inch of this cathedral is a piece of art in and of itself. I find it beautifully overwhelming, and it's a common feature in Italy.

I just love the fact that someone lives here! What a cool veranda! And right in the center of Florence. I like picking out "my apartment" in amazing places we visit.

Unfortunately, I did not make note of the name of this piazza, but it's practically next to the Basilica. We are big fans of the panoramic function on my little point-and-shoot, as you may have noticed.

This quote was posted on a museum. Apparently, the Medicis are pretty darn classy peeps! And, the times, they keep a changin'!

Most of the buildings had an overhang like this one. Note the intricate details on the building. This type of detail is virtually everywhere.

Approaching the Ponte Vecchio ("old bridge"). 

Self portrait from the Ponte Vecchio. Our aperitivo-break spot is just over Peter's shoulder to the right.

Most of these shops were selling jewelry. And most of that was gold. Very touristy, though.

Awesome door on the Ponte Vecchio.

The view of the Ponte Vecchio from where we took our aperitivo break. People lived (and it appears still do!) on this bridge. See the apartments built on the side? And note the guy in the kayak. He was just going back and forth for a while, training. Again, I love to remember: people actually live here!

The sun sets over Florence. View from atop the Westin Excelsior (in front of which were parked two Ferrari's).

Duty calls: Peter on a conference call... watching the sun set over Florence... ;)

 The next day, we headed to Venice. Stay tuned for those pics!

Zurich

We drove to Zurich at the end of last week because Peter had a business meeting. We stayed two nights so we could check out the city a little. The drive was almost 6 hours, but much of the view along the road was absolutely breathtaking. I even drove for a while on the auto strada among those crazy Europeans (ahem, Italians)! While Peter was at the office, I toured around the lake and central areas. Then we found a great pub to watch Italy beat Germany in the Euro Cup semi-finals. Although Italy lost (dramatically and horribly) to Spain in the finals last night, the celebration in Zurich after the semi-final win was really fun. People were honking and hooting through the streets for hours after the game. It turns out the southern part of Switzerland is Italian-speaking (even the road signs), and Italian is among their four official languages.

The border

we named this section the "indoor highway"

The San Gotardo Pass

This is the same little train we took on our honeymoon

One of many crazy bicyclists

I don't even think this massive rock is famous because the terrain everywhere is just that intense

Lake Zurich has these great boardwalks and paths

Look how clear the water is! You can drink right from the lake, and it's next to a huge city

I kind of messed up using the panoramic feature on my camera here, but it's still cool

Snow-capped Alps in the distance... and it was HOT around the lake.

I had a nice lunch at the little cafe in the distance

Students (presumably) sunning and swimming. (No lewd comments regarding a particular "view"! lol)

"Let's add a happy little swan right here..."

The Promenade area, just to the right in the pic above

Viva Italia! At Le Calvados right after the match. My pics of the huge crowd in the square outside did not come out, but it was so crowded and fun! Note my sweet new Team Italia shirt:)