Last week I was where??

I can't believe that one week ago today, we were sitting in Trastevere, Rome enjoying an amazing Margherita pizza, which I learned is made to honour the Italian flag with it's red tomatoes, green basil, and white mozzarella cheese.




We'll need to have homemade pizza tonight to commemorate the day. Just looking at that pizza is making my mouth water.

Creative Human Power

Something amazing which I forgot to mention earlier, was that when we were in Lucca, Italy about 3 weeks ago (Wow, it seems like ages more!!) there was an old world crafts market celebrating human powered creativity. It was so cool to see.


Shoes whittled by hand

Baskets woven

Tools sharpened with leg power

Corn Brooms being tied and sewn

Textiles woven with foot power

There was also an artist using a hand cranked drill to create useful things out of copper, several more artisans weaving baskets, and two women exhibiting their talents in embroidery and other stitchery. Everything was purposeful and beautifully made. It just made me think about how much you can accomplish with the power of your own 2 hands (and feet!) and how our idea of "need" has been so altered by the consumerist world we live in - but that is a blog for another day...

So, speaking of human powered creativity, a treadle or foot powered sewing machine has been on my wish list for a long time. I used to see them all the time in thrift shops. When I do see one now, which is rare, they are quite costly. From what I have read though, if you are able to find a Singer treadle it is worth the buy as they are still regularly used in Amish communities, making parts and maintenance information still available. I am sure that special machine is looking for me too and it's going to be very soon, I can feel it. Here's hoping when I find it that it doesn't join our table soccer in being a drying rack for clothing!

On a final note, a couple of books I would love to mention that relate to old world crafts, and creating a handmade life for yourself are :
Made From Scratch: The Pleasures of a Handmade Life - by Jenna Woginrich
Lost Crafts - by Una McGovern
Country Living Handbook - by Carla Emery

Power To The People! xo

Open Top Bus!

{this moment} Inspired by Soulemama-"A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."

A Few Tidbits

Real Men Don't Wear Shorts
You can tell a tourist by his shorts. Really. Local males do not wear shorts and that seems to be true of most countries outside of North America, Aus, and NZ. In East Africa it was thought to be a habit of only boys, and I think the Italians would agree.
Seeing as locals can likely spot a tourist from a mile away anyhow, it's your call when you're sweatin' it in 35 degrees C.

Big Man in Vatican
The pope spoke to us. Well, us along with several thousand others. We just happened to walk up as it was all happening, and as a matter of fact we were kind of excited about it despite the fact that we couldn't understand a single word.
Our apartment is very near the Vatican, so we pass through Piazza San Pietro everytime we head out. Always busy with loiterers, snapshot takers, and the reverent, the piazza is a great spot to people watch.



In Awe
Yesterday we paid a visit to The Sistine Chapel. It is on the top of my list for things I have seen, ever. When I had a chance to pass the babe to my hub and really stand and take it all in I, in fact, became very emotional. It is massive, first of all. I can't even imagine the dedication involved in this 4 year undertaking. I can't even imagine how it only took 4 years!?
You feel like God himself had his hand on Michaelangelo's brush.


Change of Food Scenery
So, it happened. We finally tired of cheese, panini, pizza, and pasta. For one evening we dipped in to a rare Japanese restaurant for a little break from tomatoes and basil. It was tasty and enjoyable, but I admit there was a slight twinge of eater's remorse afterward as we passed little restaurants with the most amazing looking food.
It isn't that I have tired of the food entirely but sometimes, for the good of my health, I gotta have a salad that isn't a ball of cheese with oil on it! How do Italians stay so thin??

Eating Light
They eat dinner very late in Italy. Most restaurants close for the afternoon and re-open at 7pm. This doesn't always work well with a baby. In Positano, we went looking for an open restaurant at around 5pm and found only one. The waiter said to us "I am sorry but Restaurant is closed. If you like I can make you a light snack?". Curious at what was available and knowing it was likely our only option to fill the voids in our bellies, we inquired. "Light snack" options were lasagna, panini, salads, or pizza. Lasagna and pizza, a light snack?? hmmm... Again, how so thin?!? We were stuffed! And beautifully, for once we didn't get an eyebrow raise for ordering pasta as our meal instead of our starter course.


"The Italian's Spinach" or "How to grow hair on your baby's chest"

Ostrich meat? Possibly. Horse? I don't think so.

Classy
Italy really is a classy place in every sense of the word. I mean, I walk in front of a guy on his scooter and completely cut him off causing a slight teeter, and he says "oh Signora!" to me in a way that is intended to reprimand but feels more like a kiss with words. No kidding!

...And then, you get...

Anyone in need of an apron?


What would Michaelangelo have to say about this??
(That is an image of his statue of David in case you didn't know).


So, Ta ta for now! Last full day in Italy tomorrow :(
xo

Enemies of the stroller...

Italy has not been a very stroller-friendly country, but sometimes you just need to grin and bear it, so you can see the sights and your little one can squeeze in a couple semi-normal naps.

Here are just a few of our most recent encounters:



Sidewalk or is it?


Well, we definitely can't take the stairs, but...

maybe we could take the ramp??

Are they trying to tell us something?

I believe Venice was the worst. Speaking to our host, we were told that older residents who need a wheelchair and live anywhere past the very main strip are forced to move. I can definitely see why. We really worked our triceps and biceps on that island carrying the stroller up and down flights of stairs.
My arms need way more than 3 days there though...

Sign, sign, everyhwere a sign...

A photo blog of Roman signage

Granita!!

{this moment} Inspired by Soulemama- "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."

When Life Gives You Lemons...

ADD ZUCCHERO!


Is that like an inch of pith??





What a courageous guy, tackling that lemon without any zucchero to tame that sting!
That enormous head sized lemon scented our entire room! Just awesome.
Next we will try lemons in the locals favourite form - homemade limoncello!
xo

FINALLY!

TROUBLE
What a couple of days. A missed train...a missed opportunity...lost duckets...and 3 sick travelers.
It is all too easy when you are traveling and a couple of things go sour, to start grouping all the crappiness together into one great big mess of negativity. We started down that path yesterday morning and had to take a serious moment to re-group, have a "caffe", and just breathe.
In the end, it turned out to be a really great day. And to top it off, the missing 90euro (my fault) ended up being only a missing 40 after Jim noticed the washing machine wasn't draining properly and discovered a 50 euro note had been clogging it up! Yay! The machine is still clogged, so I hope our hostess enjoys that extra 40 big ones.
Also the little D seems the picture of health and the 2 big D's are on their way up!

GELATO
Could we be any luckier than to land ourselves in Florence,Italy during a gelato FESTIVAL!?!
L's first encounter with gelato (vanilla) was rather blasé. He didn't care for it much, and looked like we could have just as easily been serving him green beans.
The second encounter (melon & pink grapefruit) was a different story indeed!
Eyes wide, legs bouncing, hands shaking, little squeals, and a smile so big I'm sure even the people 486 steps (Jimbo's #) above in the Duomo could spot his two pearly whites.

CAFFE
In Italy, coffee is a whole other cup of ...well, coffee. There are no take-aways.
Here is a quick comparison:
A typical morning at a Tim Hortons-
Snarling, ass-kicking consumer, teeth barred, toonie in hand, awaiting their first of several extra large cups of coffee (think "Dawn of the Dead").

A typical morning in any Italian cafe-
Effortlessly well put together, smooth talking patron, casually leaning on bar (no matter the rush it seems), taking a few moments out of their day to sip a shot of espresso and chat with their classy bartender.

Anyway, typically I avoid caffeine, but I am thoroughly enjoying my daily indulgence while here and our current favourite are cappuccino's which immediately stamps us "Tourist" (cause nothing else does...hehe). A cappuccino here is reserved for mornings, and since we don't partake until well after noon it becomes an eyebrow raising order. A simple espresso would be far more respectable, and we have tried but it just isn't our cup of... you know.

CONCRETE JUNGLE
There are very few grassy areas here which becomes all the more noticeable when you have a little one who is well on the move and ALL you need is a little spot for him to crawl around and get a taste of freedom after being carried or strollered about town. Considering the huge number of pigeons, so far in every place we have been, the wide open concrete spaces aren't all that crawler friendly either. Even most parks are cemented over. The grassy areas we have come across tend toward unruliness, and our presence on them has felt a little naughty sitting on the wrong side of a chain link rope next to the "do not walk on grass" sign. We can't even plead ignorance since the sign is in english as well as Italian!

ATTENTION!
They love, love, love babies here! Everyone goes out of their way to help out when you have a little one. The locals are all so sweet and maternal, you cannot even find it in you to object to their reaching out and cuddling your youngin'.

Waiting in a security line to enter the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michaelangelo's statue of "David" (which, by the way, floored me far more than I expected it to), where bags and people are being checked and scanned. The guard notices our little guy, reaches out, taking him from me and starts hugging him and showing him to all his co-workers laughing and talking to L in breakneck speed Italian. He then waved us around the scanners and detectors with our daily mass of baggage, all the while staring at L, making baby noises, and saying "Ciao,Ciao! Ciao,Ciao!".
Anyway, it's really and truly going to his head. Now, when he tries to get someone's attention and they don't give it to him (which is rare, but does happen) he gets quite aggravated. Uh-oh, Italy is creating a monster! ;)

FINAL NOTE
Only blurbs tonight, no photos. Just no time after that novel. It's been nearly 10 days since we left home and we have kept incredibly busy (in the relaxed wanderer sense). That was just my excuse for no contact. I must say though going off-grid is very refreshing once in a while. The computer can become sort of a ball and chain at home (in a way that I sort of like...), so to get away from it is definitely healthy.
When last night I was ready, nay, desperate for contact and I took the tram to the center all ready for a little email, blog, and browse only to learn about the Italian law that you must check-in with id to use the computer I was more than a little miffed.
..but, home I went to cuddle my little one to sleep, eat a very big chocolatey biscuit, and sip a glass (yes just one glass) of Tuscan white wine. And all was right in my world again.

So finally here I sit at 10pm while my poor hubby packs our things and puts bub to bed (what a tolerant dude) and I get all this out of my system, give you a glimpse into things so far, and wonder what we have thought nearly every day - Why can't we travel forever??
I think we are getting too greedy for this sweet life...
xo

Last little bits (yesterdays post)

Ran out of time to post this yesterday:
We are basically packed and ready to go. It seems that one can never be totally packed until the last hour when suddenly you start running around remembering things that for some reason or other you couldn't think of - until the last hour!

It's been a busy day already. L has been up since 6:30am. A tad early for him. There has already been a decent size bump on his eyebrow from the coffee table, a small dose of arnica, and lots of cuddles. Poor guy. :(

Yesterday did not go according to plan (as they never do), and not even a tiny stitch happened. I suppose that project will need to wait until we get back.

I feel surprisingly relaxed about our trip. Usually we are fairly disorganized which leads to feeling overwhelmed and tense. There is definitely something to be said for packing ahead.

Travel is such a great time to get away from the things that sometimes tend to crowd our lives more than they should, therefore we will be leaving the laptop and cell phone behind. I will visit internet cafe's as regularly as possible, but they seem to be quite pricey in Italy (5-8 Euro per hour). In Asia it cost, generally, 25 to 30 baht per hour which is less than a dollar! It is hard not to compare prices once you have been somewhere so inexpensive. I will post here at least weekly.

Ciao!



So here we are in Milan, Italy! An extremely long day yesterday,but last night wasn,t even too bad (the keyboard is different and I can,t quite grasp it in case you haven,t noticed). Levi slept on and off through the day. He woke from a "nap" at about 1am where he was fully ready for playing! He played for about an hour and a half and then back to bed until 9am this morning. Since that is technically 3am at home he is a little out of sorts today, and sadly there seems to be a cold brewing. We,re off to find something to ward it off for him before it gets out of hand. We had some Coryzale, a homeopathic remedy, (spelled right??) but are fresh out.

Breakfast at the hostel consisted of coffee and various packaged waffles & croissants with flavoured, sugary creams in the centre. I think this is a pretty average breakfast here.

Last night we had the greatest pizza ever, and we aren,t even in Naples which is the "home" of pizza. I figured pizza was pizza, but seriously not the case! The basil was the freshest tasting basil in the world,I am sure. It is funny all the small nuances that you can,t find information about, but know you aren,t doing right. We just sensed that we were inappropriate about something at dinner- Maybe eating too much of the bread at the table, maybe sharing a pizza instead of having one each as seems to be the way, maybe we ate too quickly and didn,t linger long enough as tends to be more the custom at home(to "eat and run").There was definitely something. We,ll need to really observe locals while we,re out.

L is LOVING all the attention and total strangers keep reaching out to hold him. The woman who runs our hostel gave him a toy this morning. Everyone stops to talk to him. He,ll be speaking Italian before we know it!

We,re heading to see the "The Last Supper" right now and then boarding a train to Venice!