Europe 2011: Day 15

This day it was my FIL's birthday and I didn't do much more than go for a run, eat, and go to bed really early.




My favorite cheese. Not just in Poland, anywhere.




We ate dinner in a building first constructed somewhere in the 8th century, which has been standing in some form or another since then. They think it's been used as a silo, a castle, a nunnery, and a few other. Now it's a restaurant. The menu offerings had my mouth watering!




The food blog has pictures of what we ate. I came back from dinner stuffed with an aching head. I think I went to bed at like 7:30 or something? It felt so nice.

Europe 2011: Day 14

I build up expectations about reunions. Right before our wedding TH and I spent several weeks apart and I was so sure I knew exactly how it would go, and that it would be a story to tell for generations that would make our kids swoon. Ha! It was kind of awful and frankly made me a bit nervous about the entire wedding weekend.

Same thing with our reunion with T1. This is the longest we've ever been away from him, about 12 days. He doesn't say mama or dada or see particularly attached, but he and I spend like all day every day together which has to count for something, right?

Wrong.

When we walked in the room he wasn't excited in the least. In fact he cried a little bit and rushed to his Polish grandpa to be held. He stared at us for several minutes and when I took him in my arms he sat there very stiff, as you imagine he would act with any stranger.

I struggled not to overanalyze this. Wouldn't a good parent have a child excited to see them again? I realize it is ridiculous to apply adult rationale to a toddler. He's the least rational creature I've ever experienced.

It took him a few hours, but I think he is warming up to us again.







That's an apple he is holding. He is SOOOO happy here. It truly is paradise for him.







Thanks to my in-laws for getting him these shoes. They're adorable!

Before lunch, he showed me a new favorite thing:




He loves this little Polish Teletubbies TV show




My MIL's mother lives in the same house as my MIL and FIL and she just can't get enough of T1





Interesting side note:
Poland, not so much with the political correctness




I'm not sure what to think of that (it isn't a word in Polish according to TH).

T1 has these banana squirt guns that he loves to chase people around with. Actually his favorite target is the cat.




I don't know if these are raspberries (they taste slightly different IMo), but these are my favorite. I want to come back this time of year every year so I can keep eating them.




Later in the afternoon we went on a shopping spree in the nearest mall. The mall is huge and by now quite familiar to me. I have my favorite shoe store where I love to browse, all made in Italy, which I realize is kind of silly since we were just in Italy but we didn't have the suitcase space to bring anything home.


Bongs!

Pinterest introduced me to yet another new easy updo which I'm loving. It's called the Gibson Tuck, and it's so easy that I can't believe I didn't think of it myself.




(This is not the best rendition, I had been lying down on this one while blogging, google it to see some better pictures)

I passed up this cardigan at the mall and now I'm not sure it was the best choice? I kind of want to go back and get it.




And my new shoes!




They are brown. I'm instituting a "no new black shoes (unless they are boots)" rule until I build up a better supply of alternative options.

Europe 2011: Day 13

Today I woke up ready to see my son again. And ready to be done living out of a suitcase. And I was over our indulgent diet (though fun while it lasted). 10 days is just right for a vacation for me.

We packed up and left Garda, drove down to Modena and ate at the fanciest restaurant we've ever been in, Osteria Francescana, and made it down to Forli for our flight (an accident on the road had us worried we weren't going to make it!) The very expensive lunch we had was a wonderful way to end our trip (bad meals? Who can remember them when the most exquisite chocolate cake you've ever tasted is sliding over your tongue?)




My FIL was waiting at the airport, dependable as usual, and I noticed I'm doing much better with the kisses. Sadly, the baby was already in bed. I was so excited to see him!

Europe 2011: Day 11 and 12

Saturday and Sunday were very laid back, although Saturday Sid have one very interesting development.

We went down to eat breakfast and a girl somewhat shyly stopped by our table to ask if I wrote for Weddingbee. Turns out she was the wedding planner for Miss (that day turning Mrs!) Carousel from Weddingbee. I was shocked to hear that Carousel was staying in the room right next to ours, and dropped by just before she got dressed to say hello and surprise her (she didn't know we were staying there). She is the one responsible for our vacation itinerary because I emailed her and asked for advice, and it was so fun to thank her in person. We ended up going to her cocktail hour later in the afternoon. She looked gorgeous in a dress handmade in Germany!

I also visited the Gardaqua center, did some swimming, and indulged in a 30 minute massage. All vacations should include a massage.

Saturday night we watched the sunset on the pier. Tres romantic.




Sunday we decided not to go to Venice for church, as we had originally planned. I was tired of overdone tourist places, and it was just too painful to watch TH limp around to want to do any exploring.

We ate a nice lunch and I took a nap, and then had my favorite part d the day, sitting on the pier at sunset again, reading a talk from General Conference on service and discussing how we as a couple can chart a course toward living lives that are more service oriented. I just loved this evening together. It is really our conversations that define the good parts of our vacation and make things so memorable.

Europe 2011: Day 10

I did it! I got myself out of bed on vacation and beat the sunrise to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately it wasn't the fiery burst of magnificence I was hoping for, but I didn't regret it.
















We left behind our new favorite place and drove off to Portofino/Cinque Terre for the day, with a final destination of Lake Garda in mind.

Things did not got as planned. Still good, just different than we wanted. That Husband woke up with a sore leg (he has Achilles tendon inflammation) and so we weren't able to see nearly as much as we hoped. Most of our time was spent moving at an excruciatingly slow pace while he limped around. It was so sad to watch :(

We went to Portofino because of a picture I saw on Pinterest, and I was able to dash over and find the exact spot, and then we decided to drive over to one of the Cinque Terre cities.

I chose Vernazza cities due to some quick googling on extremely slow Internet, and I think we chose wrong. The drive in had great views, but it was a bit terrifying on the tiny roads. Then it took TH an HOUR to limp 1 km to the beach front and the view was just kind of okay. We were able to catch a bus back to the parking lot thankfully.

The drive back out was at sunset, which we loved, but I would definitely recommend training between the cities. And visiting them all because one was just kinda cool, not mind blowing like we were hoping. Although I think the hurt leg really put a damper on things.

Also I peed at the train station by squatting over a hole. Literally squatting. It felt very Asian (based on what I know about traveling in rural parts of Asia). And the door wouldn't lock which was definitely the opposite of awesome.

Europe 2011: Day 9

So beautiful!

Thursday was a really nice, relaxing day. I got up and did a little photo walk, we found out that breakfast here is just as delightful as dinner, went for a hike, and spent several hours in the afternoon sitting by the pool reading.

Just before dinner we drove off the property to photograph this beautiful stone bridge, the prettiest bridge I've ever seen in my life. Unfortunately the light wasn't as good as it was the day before (I'm still kicking myself for not stopping to photograph it when the light was so golden and perfect) and I went back to the Agriturismo a little sad. Until we ate our delicious dinner which cheered me right up.

After that? Bed. I had plans to wake up at 6 am to replicate our hike at sunrise and see what kind of pictures I could take. It's torturing me to wait until the end of our vacation to see all the photos because I don't have a computer to view them on!

Europe 2011: Day 8

I'm writing this on Sunday, the day before we leave, and there is so much to catch up on that I know I'll never get to it all. I want to try to remember the little details that made this trip something to remember though.

Wednesday was the day we were scheduled to leave Florence, and we decided to spend half of it in Florence and leave for the Agriturismo later in the afternoon.

I got up and went for a short run, and then we went down and ate a breakfast that we were thoroughly unimpressed with.

TH went to finish up the rental car preparations while I packed up our suitcase and checked out. We had heard that some tourist attractions were closed because Italy was having some strikes, so we asked the front desk which locations would be open. We never saw David, because the hotel did a crap job of getting back to ms about reservations before we left, and then when we got there they said it was closed because of the strikes.

We climbed the tower next to the Duomo for 6 euros each. The stairs were very narrow, and each level had us panting. I was really glad I spend so much time exercising because even though I was sweating and breathing hard, I wasn't about to pass out. The view from the top was beautiful, and I'm actually glad we didn't climb the Duomo because it was fun to see it from the top.

After our climb we made stops at places we had been before, first the Mozzarella bar Obika, and next the chocolate shop Arte Del Cioccolota (spelling?). We bought some chocolate treats to eat on our drive.

I prepared for our drive by taking screenshots of the google maps directions, which turned out very handy for us later on. We dragged our broken suitcase over to the car rental place (I think it's something like 80 lbs now and TH had to carry it several blocks). TH had rented a SmartCar and he is in love with them. He'll probably post about it on That Wife, he loves it so much. It feels a little like driving around in a pimped out golf cart LOL. After a few wrong turns we made it out of Florence and onto the Autostrada.







Overall driving in Italy isn't so bad as long as you aren't in the big towns. I actually liked driving through the countryside and getting a view of the beautiful scenery. In Pisa it all goes by so fast that you aren't really able to take it in.







A few hours later, we were navigating our way up the hill to our Agriturismo. If you didn't know, an Agriturismo is a working farm with hotel rooms available for guests.

The view outside our front door looked like this:





I felt like this:






I loved it so much, I wanted to take pictures of every single thing right then and there. The light was stunning too.













TH and I sat and watched the sunset before dinner.

















Then we went inside and had our minds blown by the food available at this little place. Dinner was served by the owner, who acts as innkeeper/farmer/waiter and someone found a brilliant chef to prepare the meals. I want everyone to come here and experience the pure joy we felt at this little spot.







The food blog has pictures of the food. After we were done we waddled back to our room and collapsed into bed. Our only regret? That we were only planning to stay for two nights total!

Europe 2011: Day 7

My outfit for today. This angle is deceptive because I've seen myself in several mirrors and pictures now and I do not look this good in real life. My trainer is going to be so sad when we start working out together again!

One of my 4 euro shirts from Pull and Bear.


We slept in today, which is the kind of thing you think you love until you actually do it, and then you feel like the first half of the day is wasted. Plus we missed out on breakfast at our fancy hotel!

We got ourselves ready and ended up having a hard time catching a taxi to the Automobile Club of Italia to find out about getting our licenses translated (we're still trying to figure out the rental car thing) and our taxi driver revealed Italy is a little screwy right now due to the strikes.

On our way back we finally, finally, had a good meal. It was at The Oil Shoppe, packed with American tourists, a full English menu, and exactly the kind of place I would normally avoid. Justine on Twitter said she lived in Florence for 5 months and loved it though, and now we understand why all the college kids go there. Delicious paninis with interesting flavors.

More gelato of course, this time at a little chocolate shop where I picked up a little surprise for someone. Very, very good. The chocolate shops make my favorite gelato thus far because they are little artisan places that make it themselves.

We had an afternoon break while TH worked on car rental stuff and I mapped out the restaurants and gellaterias we wanted to visit during our time in Florence. I stepped outside and took this picture on our private balcony.


We made our way to the camera store, where I bought my second charger of the trip, this one was Canon brand so it actually worked, unlike the other. Forgetting my camera battery charger at home was a very expensive mistake.

Next, it was some treats at Arte del Cioccolato. Oh my goodness, this pricy little place is a must visit. So worth it as a spurge (I mean, it wasn't insane, just 1 euro more than most for a piccolo gelato).

We walked around the duomo, in hopes we could climb the tower but it was about to close. Another great picture-of-the-two-of-us photo op experience though! Thank you to the kind girl who took several pictures of us and really got into it, even squatting down a little to get a better angle :)

We were making our way to a place called Club Paradiso (recommended to us by the same girl who told us about the awesome lunch place we ate at), when I spotted a trendy looking restaurant that called itself a mozzarella bar. Typical Italian? Certainly not. But we've realized we aren't typical Italian food kind of people.

We LOVED our meal and the vacation was dreamy again. Bad food can, and has, ruined trips for me. We plan to go back again for lunch tomorrow, it was that good.

As we walked home I felt so happy I wanted to sing. Unfortunately I couldn't think of the right song. Is there a tune about loving life, loving your lover, loving where you are right in that moment? That's the song I wanted to be singing.

Europe 2011: Day 6

Monday was the first move of our trip. If I were to thing that I found most stressful during the planning of this trip, it was trying to decide how many places we could reasonably visit before we felt like we were being stretched and unable to rest and relax. We arrived on Friday night and were very ready to move to Bologna on Monday morning though.

We ate our last breakfast at the Aemelia hotel and said our goodbyes. We loved this hotel despite the out-of-the way location. We bought a first class ticket to Florence, got on the train on the wrong end, and ended up sitting in second class the entire hour-long trip. What a waste! It went really fast for me though because I was listening to The Hunger Games.

When we arrived at our hotel, extremely conveniently located right next to the train station, we were able to check in early. This hotel is our splurge location of the trip, and it reminds me of the W due to it's modern and quite fancy interior. Wait until you see the "princess chair" in the lobby. It would be a perfect photo prop!

After dropping off our bag and getting settled in, we decided to hop a train to Pisa. How cool is that? It was a one hour train ride and a perfect afternoon trip.

Pisa!



TH and I were both very impressed by the piazza dei miracoli. Doesn't he look good in his new shirt?


We ate at yet another sub-par place, bought some gelato, and walked over to the piazza of miracles. We didn't go inside anything because the wait to climb the tower was hours and hours, but we did take plenty of cheesy tourist style pictures of the two of us holding up the tower :)

We also lucked out with a fellow photographer, who when asked if he would take our picture, walked us over to a spot with awesome light and used the manual settings with ease. Unfortunately I dislike the pictures because they made me realize how bloated I look already. I don't want to undo all the hard work I put in before we left!

After we got back from Pisa I went out for a run. The sidewalks are way too small for there to be runners out (I was constantly stepping into the road to get around people), but it felt so good! Another good thing about staying so close to the train station is that I never have to worry about getting lost and not being able to find my hotel - I just need to ask what direction the train station is and run toward that!

I showered and we headed over to Trattoria I Due G for yet another sad, sad meal. Don't worry though, things started looking up in the food department thanks to Twitter and a little bit of luck!

Europe 2011: Day 5

A few things that caught my eye.

This is how I want to dress my kids all day every day. Heck this is how I want to dress myself.









Wouldn't this cake be awesome for a teacher-themed wedding?


Sunday we woke up and got ready for church. TH called me a martyr for wanting to walk the hour to get there, and I laughed at his teasing until we were both limping with blisters by the time we finished walking the hour and a half to get there. It was stake conference, but happily they still served the sacrament. We stayed for about 15 minutes and then left, because TH couldn't understand any of it, an honestly my comprehension isn't thy great either (I got all Cs and Ds in my Italian classes).

We were so exhausted and beaten down that we gave in and took a taxi back. Taxis are crazy cheap in Bologna, btw.

Then, I indulged in a little time on Pinterest, and then a 3 hour nap. By the time I woke up it was 4:30 and both our stomachs were grumbling. I really wanted to wear my heels, which caused some blisters, but I looked cute so...

We stopped by Bistro 18 to make a reservation and then walked over to San Angelo to check out the churches. Honestly , we were bored, I think we just aren't architecture people. We need some kind of audio guide to help us understand why what we are looking at is important.

Dinner was unfortunately a disappointment. Close to the type of food we like, but so incredibly salty that we couldn't even finish our dishes, which is saying a lot for me since I am a salt fiend. By this point I'm starting to feel pretty discouraged because I had put so much time and effort into trying to find us good places to eat, verifying the reviews on multiple websites, etc. We cheered ourselves up with some gelato from our favorite Bologna gellateria, Venchi.