Apology

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. We had our internet connection worked on a couple of weeks ago, and now I am unable to upload pictures to Blogger! I am not sure when, but eventually we will get this fixed. I am still able to upload to Facebook, so there are pictures there, just not with the narrative detail that I reserve for the blog.

Cinque Terre

I wrote this post last May, but was unable to upload the pictures that went with it. Here it finally is!


I realized that, though I posted pictures on Facebook, I never blogged about our trip to Cinque Terre! The last weekend of April we went to Cinque Terre, on the west coast of Italy. The primary reason for going was that my cousin Beth and her husband Scott were going to be there on their 10th Anniversary trip, but we had also heard great things about the area and wanted to see it. The name Cinque Terre (chinkway terray) literally means Five Lands, and refers to five towns built into the hilly coastline on the Ligurian Sea. The area is a National Park and has a bunch of hiking trails between the towns and up into the hills.We drove over on Friday, April 24, to Levanto, which is not technically part of the Cinque Terre, but is right next door. Levanto has a larger, nicer beach than the other towns, and accomodations are a bit cheaper there. It is a 5-15 minute train ride from Levanto to any of the Cinque Terre towns. We spent the afternoon at the beach, and Emily had a fabulous time playing in the sand and water. We also had some delicious gelato just off the beach. I was pleased to find raspberry, which I had not seen before, but it was wonderful!

The beach at Levanto
Emily enjoying the beach at Levanto
Sunset at the beach in Levanto

On Saturday, we took the train over to Vernazza, where Beth and Scott were staying, and met up with them. We decided to take the boat over to Riomaggiore and hike back to Manarola on the easy hiking trail called the Via dell'Amore (Way of Love). We followed Rick Steves' advice in Manarola for a lunch place and had some delicious pasta with homemade pesto sauce. After lunch, we took Emily to the playground with the spectacular view. Then, the train back to Vernazza to rest for a bit in Beth and Scott's room with a view. We ran into some friends from Ferrara in Vernazza on the way to dinner, enjoying the 3 day weekend like we were. Dinner in Vernazza was good. Emily tried fried anchovies and loved them! Anchovies are a specialty of the area, apparently. Finally, we caught the train back to Levanto (just within the 6 hour validity of our tickets) and got to bed.The water in VernazzaView of Riomaggiore from the waterJeff and me on the Via dell'Amore

Emily on the Via dell'Amore

Beth at the playground with a view

Jeff looking down at Manarola

Jeff and Scott at the playground with a view

The view from Beth & Scott's room

Beth in the hotel room

View down to the water in Vernazza

Unfortunately, it was raining when we got up on Sunday, so we didn't make it back to the beach like we had hoped. But, it was a lovely trip, and we had a great visit with Beth and Scott!

Piadine

I met some friends downtown today to walk around and visit. We walked through the market and just around town for a couple of hours. For lunch, we stopped at a mobile food vendor for the regional specialty, piadine. A piadina is a type of sandwich which is popular in our particular region of Italy. It is made with a flat bread (similar to pita, but without the pocket) that is grilled and wrapped around whatever toppings you like. The one I had today was one of the specials the vendor was advertising. It was made with Fontina cheese and Zia, which my Italian friend informs me is a local salami made with garlic. I also had grilled vegetables on mine: zucchini, onion, eggplant, and bell peppers. It was delicious!

Belly Bulletin #2

Here is the latest belly picture at 18 weeks.

The bean is becoming a noticeable bump now, but not really obvious yet.

Of course, Hamlet didn't want to be left out, so he had to have a picture taken of his tummy, too!

Buona Pasqua!

For Easter, several families got together for a picnic and Easter egg hunt. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful, and we had a great time!

Emily and her friend Grace all dolled up for Easter.

The guys enjoying beer and fellowship.

The hunt is on!

Watching the hunt.

Checking out the loot.

After the hunt.

In Italy, rather than put out Easter baskets for the Easter Bunny, the children are given large, hollow chocolate eggs with prizes and toys inside. They range from about 6-9 inches high, to really enormous ones 3-4 feet high! The eggs are usually wrapped in fancy paper, and I have seen some wrapped in clear cellophane with writing in icing on the outside.

Emily with her Italian Easter egg. I neglected to take a picture of it before she unwrapped it, but it was a Disney Princess egg, and had a Belle comb inside. The eggs are very similar to the Kinder eggs that Emily enjoys all year round. Kinder eggs are hollow chocolate eggs about 3 inches high with little toys inside. Emily has a very large collection of Kinder egg toys.

Ancorra Venezia

On Thursday, April 9, Daddy, Jeff, Emily, and I took the train to Venice. Venice was also crowded with Spring tourists. The funny thing about Venice is, if you move 1 or 2 streets off the main tourist thoroughfares, there are almost no tourists at all. If you are lost, just look for the throngs of people - they will be on the main route between San Marco and the Rialto Bridge! Of course, we hit both of those spots. We did the tour of San Marco and the Treasures of San Marco, but did not go up in the belltower or on the upper walkway outside the Basilica itself.

The Basilica di San Marco.

The Basilica from the side, in front of the Doges' Palace.


The view from our hotel room. That is San Marco, just over those buildings.

The view from the hotel room, looking down.

Thursday evening, Daddy took Emily to see some Opera selections that were being performed at a local theatre by artists in 18th century Venetian costumes. They had a great time. Jeff and I had a date night, exploring Venezia on our own and enjoying a nice dinner. We, too, had a wonderful time.

On Friday, we attempted to go see the Jewish Museum, but it was closed because of Passover. We did find a museum of decorative arts and costume that was very interesting, and toured the Accademia Galleries as well.

This was just a building that I saw while we were waiting for the water bus, and particularly liked.

Jeff, Emily, and I took the train back to Ferrara Friday evening, and Daddy flew back to Atlanta from Venice on Saturday morning. We had a very nice visit, but, of course, it was too short!

Firenze in April

On Monday, April 6, Daddy and I went to Florence. We had a little trouble getting there, as the train we had planned to take was full. So, we took a regional train to Bologna and caught another Eurostar to Firenze. It delayed us about an hour, but not too bad. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm.

Monday afternoon we went over to the cathedral of Santa Croce to look around.

The front of Santa Croce. Note the abundance of tourists. Tourist season has definitely started now. There were many American high school and college kids on Spring Break.


The wooden ceiling inside Santa Croce.

The ceiling outside in the cloisters of Santa Croce.

We took a nice, leisurely tour, so it took most of the afternoon, and we didn't see much else on Monday. Tuesday morning, we walked over to the Duomo, but were deterred from going inside by the throngs of people in line. The Duomo is closed on Mondays, so apparently everyone tries to hit it first thing Tuesday morning.


The front of the Duomo and the masses of people milling around in the Piazza.

The back of the Duomo. They are in process of cleaning the outside of the building. Compare this picture with the one above. The front has been cleaned, and the back has not.

The Neptune fountain and other buildings on the Piazza della Signoria.

After our walk around the Duomo, Daddy went to tour the Galleria Accademia and see the David, and I went to the Duomo museum to see Michelangelo's unfinished Pieta and other works that have been removed from the Duomo itself. Daddy had booked the same tours that we took in February to see the David and the Uffizi Galleries. I met him for lunch and took the train back to Ferrara Tuesday afternoon. He took the tour of the Uffizi that evening, and went to an exhibit on Galileo at the Strozzi Palace on Wednesday before heading back to Ferrara.

To be continued...

A day at the beach

On April 2, my dad came for a visit. I picked him up at the airport and we just hung out that day because he was very tired. On Friday we walked around Ferrara, checked out the market, the Duomo, and the Castello Estense. Saturday was a rainy, dreary day, so we didn't do much, though that night we went out to one of our favorite local restaurants, Via Vai. After dinner, I took Emily home, and Daddy and Jeff went to have a glass of wine at Al Brindisi, a local wine bar, which is supposed to be the oldest wine bar in the world. It was apparently well known by the 15th century.

On Sunday, the weather was finally nice, and we went over to Porto Garibaldi to enjoy the beach. It was warm and sunny, and not too crowded, so we had a lovely walk and enjoyed picking up shells.

Emily showing Grandpa her shells.


Amy, Jeff, and Emily.

Amy and Jeff


One of several crabs we found and observed.

A visit with friends

In the middle of March, some friends of ours came down for a visit from their home in Germany. Monica had always wanted to go to San Marino, so we drove over one day while they were here. San Marino is an independent republic, completely surrounded by Italy. It is high up on a mountain, and only about 20 minutes from the beach. It is a very ancient republic, with documentation of its founding in 301 A.D. It is in an ideal location for defense, since it commands a wide view of the terrain on all sides. There are 3 fortresses on three separate peaks in San Marino. We went up into one of them.

The view down to the valley below.

Don and Monica in front of the municipal building. There were guards with very interesting uniforms, but they were mobbed with schoolchildren, so we couldn't get their picture.

Monica and Amy inside the fortress.

The fortress tower.

Looking across to the fortress on the next peak.

Of course, Jeff had to have his picture taken with the cannons inside the fortress.

During Don and Monica's visit, there were long conversations and much good wine drunk (not by me, of course). Jeff, Don, and Monica also drove down to Montalcino, in Tuscany, where Jeff's favorite wine, Brunello, is made. They bought lots of Brunello and learned even more about the best vintages.

It was a very nice visit, and we hope to get together with them again soon, either here or in Germany.

Belly Bulletin

I'm sure you all have been wondering, but yes, the Bean is beginning to make its presence more obvious. This is me at 14 weeks.

And don't worry, I have many pictures to post very soon from recent trips and events. Just need the time to do it!

Eeeewww!

This totally grossed me out yesterday. I was at the Ipercoop (the Italian version of Walmart) checking out, and the woman in front of me was buying baby food. I looked at the jar, and it was labeled "cavallo" (horse), with a picture of a horse on the outside. Yes, I am aware that many people in the world eat horsemeat, and I have seen it in the meat section at the store and in the sales papers. However, the thought of feeding a baby pureed horsemeat just disgusted me. And with a nice picture of a horse on the jar! I try to keep an open mind about cultural differences, but some things I just cannot reconcile in my mind.

Oberammergau

The first week in March, Emily and I joined Jeff for his work trip to Oberammergau, Germany. This was Emily's and my first trip to Germany, or anywhere outside of Italy, since we've been here. Jeff was going to a class Monday through Friday, but we decided to add an extra day to each end, going up Saturday, 28 February and returning Saturday, March 7. We were told that the trip would take about 4-5 hours. However, due to snow and road construction, traffic and road closings, it took about 9 hours for us to get up to Oberammergau. It was a beautiful trip up, through the mountains in Italy, Austria, and Germany, but very long.

There were about 2 feet of snow on the ground in Oberammergau when we arrived. Emily and I built a snowman and had a snowball fight on Sunday afternoon. You can tell that Emily is a Georgia girl, she had no idea how to build a snowman, and couldn't hit me with a snowball more than once in 10 tries. But we still had fun!


Emily played in the snow most every day while we were there. One day we went to the indoor pool facility just up the road, where Emily met a little Turkish girl that she played with. On Tuesday, we went to "Bavarian night" at the NATO club, where they had a buffet of local foods to try, and even an accordion player. Most every night we went out to local restaurants and enjoyed the German food. We had some excellent meals, but I wouldn't want to eat German food every day - it's much too heavy!

On Wednesday, we went to Neuschwanstein Castle for a tour. On the way to the castle, we stopped at the Wieskirchen (the church in the meadow), which is out in the middle of nowhere, but supposedly on the site of a miracle (a wooden Jesus weeping).

The church is very beautiful, but has no heat, so it was freezing inside!

Then, on to the castle, which was built by King Ludwig of Bavaria in the mid-nineteenth century. The outside is spectacular, but only 18 of the 200 rooms inside were finished, so the inside is not as impressive. The rooms that were finished were quite grand, but there were only a few of them. King Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances after his family found that he was spending all of the family money building these huge castles and such.


And, of course, we just walked around town enjoying the beautiful Alpine scenery.


This peak was visible from the back garden of our hotel. It was huge and rough-looking, but someone had climbed to the top and put up a wooden cross.

On Friday, we went sledding in Garmisch. It was the first time Emily had ever been sledding.

Emily had a few wipeouts.


Jeff got up some good speed!

We all got in on the fun!

It started snowing on Friday and snowed all night. It looked like about another 4-6 inches by Saturday morning. It was a very fluffy wet snow that sat beautifully on the trees and everything else. Below are some pictures of what it looked like as we were leaving.

The roads were open for the trip home, but there was still some road construction and traffic. It took about 6 hours to get back. It was neat to watch the snow disappear on the way back. We left Germany covered in snow, and came down through Austria and Italy, watching the snow retreat to the upper reaches of the mountains. By the time we got back to Ferrara, the weather was springlike! Germany and Oberammergau were beautiful, but after a week, we were ready to come home.