Category Archives: Landscape

Castles, Family Stories, Food and Drink, History, Humor, Landscape, Photography, Quotes, Restaurants, Scotland, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Europe

Scotland – Where Real Men Wear Skirts

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No, I didn’t wear one myself, but only because we were already half-way through our trip before I came across a store that sold them.  Real men also eat haggis (sheep’s heart, liver and lungs encased in it’s own stomach) – I did do that!  Of course, so did my two-year old daughter… and she probably had more than all of us combined.

A scenic shot of the River Dee in the Scottish Highlands

Since living abroad, we’ve been able to get in touch with most of Jen’s roots.  Her father is Italian (hence us living in Italy) and we’ve gone to many of the places where he has or had family.  Since he grew up in Africa, we still have that left to do.  Jen’s mother grew up in Ohio, and having crossed that off the list multiple times – it was time to go a bit further.  Diane’s lineage is a mixture of Irish (we went to Dublin in March, HERE) and Scottish.  Now, it was finally time to go to Scotland!  And since Jen’s parents and sister were here visiting us, we would all embark on this adventure together. Continue reading Scotland – Where Real Men Wear Skirts →

Abruzzo, Beaches, Family Stories, Friends, Landscape, Photography, Restaurants, Travel - Italy, Wine

Beaches, Wine and Pasta Making – What a Vacation

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Recently, Jen’s family came to visit (HERE) and since we’re not the type of family that does well sitting still, we planned a couple trips within their trip.  One of these week-long sojourns was an impromptu visit to Civitella in the Abruzzo region- Jen’s nonna’s (grandma’s) hometown.  The official name of this gem of a village is actually, Civitella Messer Raimondo which is home to less than 900 residents. Jennifer and Jessica grew up going to visit their nonna and family friends in Civatella during many of their summers abroad.  Since I had never been to see such an important part of my wife’s family history – I was excited to go.

Civitella Messer Raimondo – the place where it all started!

Continue reading Beaches, Wine and Pasta Making – What a Vacation →

Como, Family Stories, Food and Drink, Landscape, Recipes, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy

Keeping It In The Family

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I don’t know who was more excited… Jen to see her parents or Jen’s parents to see their granddaughter.  It was close, but judging by the suitcase of presents exclusively for Julia, I would give the edge to Jen’s mom, Diane.  Of course, this suitcase (along with the 42 other suitcases Jen’s mom, dad and sister brought) got lost somewhere over the Atlantic and didn’t arrive for another two days (the airline had to hire a Mack truck to deliver everything in one trip).

Julia playing with Nonna on Day One
As you’ve no doubt surmised from above, Jen’s family came to visit recently.  They wanted to see the country they love, their second home that has been overtaken by three squatters, their kids and their granddaughter (not necessarily in that order).  And we were thrilled to see all of them.  Since the timing was right with their work schedules and nursing school (Jen’s sister, Jessica had just graduated), they were able to stay a full month.  We had plenty of down time relaxing and plenty of time on the go-go-go.  Since so much happened during this month, the story of their visit will most definitely be broken into a few posts.
“I LOVE the view up here!” 
Julia chilling with Jess by Lake Como

Continue reading Keeping It In The Family →

Castles, Family Stories, Food and Drink, France, History, Landscape, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Europe, UNESCO, Wine

Fin

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Since I’ll never be a movie producer, I finally have another outlet to satisfy my life-long dream to wrap something up with the simple phrase…

I think this is a fitting title to end our trip in France, which you can read about HERE, HERE and HERE.

Our little family recently journeyed into France for a visit with some wonderful friends, Michel and Shirley (read his blog HERE).  We spent a few days with them in their home in Sablet, France.  They were wonderful tour guides, packing in many activities that they knew we would enjoy.  After a day spent touring some of the most beautiful villages in France, we had a serious thirst to quench.  So the next day, we took advantage of our prime location in the Côté du Rhône region of France (arguably one of the most well-known wine producing regions in the world) and drank our way throughout the area.

Cool street art just outside of Sablet

Continue reading Fin →

Beaches, Family Stories, France, Friends, Humor, Julia, Landscape, Markets, Photography, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Europe, Wine

What’s the French Riviera Without a Gold Yacht?

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It’s been a long time since I completed a blog post.  So long, that for some reason – I’m a bit nervous (strange, my friends will tell you that I love to talk about myself).  So I’ve been procrastinating.  I have organized my DVD drawer.  I carefully tended to the plants (I’ve discovered I love gardening…in small doses).  And the past few days, I have been playing Mr. Mom while Jen is in California for work.  I have done just about everything to avoid writing on the blog for the past month… and the only thing I’ve come to realize is that I now have a mountain of work ahead of me.

A mountain in Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, not completely unlike my mountain of work

It’s not that I’ve just been procrastinating.  We’ve been busy.  I mean, very busy.  Albeit, busy doing more of the same (traveling, eating, drinking, etc.) – but still always experiencing something new.  So, please grant me the excuse of allowing the experience to get in the way of the blog – just this one time! In the coming days and weeks, you will hear of our wonderful trip to visit our good friends in France; the visit from Jen’s family and the upcoming visit with my parents.  I’ll toss in a few food posts and hopefully a feature on where we’ve been living (which has been in the pipeline since I started this blog).  So let’s get this party started… no more delays.  And so, it begins with a trip to France… Continue reading What’s the French Riviera Without a Gold Yacht? →

Agriturismo, Family Stories, Food and Drink, Humor, Julia, Landscape, Photography, Restaurants, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy, Tuscany, Videos, Wine

The Tallest Man in Italy

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I have no proof that when my sister, Michelle came to visit with her husband and daughter (David and Elsa) that he was the tallest man in all of Italy… but I’d say there’s a good shot!  When I picked them up at the airport, I simply looked for the tallest/shortest couple combo possible (he’s a hair over 6’8″ and she’s a modest 5’2″).  I spotted them instantly and helped them get some caffeine before taking them home for our big Italian lunch.
David, Elsa and Michelle – he’s crouching down to make it in the frame

Julia’s younger cousin, Elsa was her newest obsession and she had been excited all week leading up to their visit.  She would wake up every day and scroll to some of the video’s or pictures we had on our iPad and scream “ELSA!”  When the real thing walked (or rather, crawled) through the door – she was like a kid on Christmas.  She couldn’t stop hugging and kissing her.  Although, she had an awkward way of pulling her in by the neck – so much so that we dubbed Julia the, “Scranton Strangler” (you “Office” fans will get the reference).

The girls all reunited – Julia just wanted to kiss Elsa all the time
“Is my cousin trying to strangle me?!”

Michelle and David have a high-paced, action-packed lifestyle in Chicago and they were looking forward to a couple weeks of unplugging from their demanding jobs that they both do so well.  We were happy to accommodate and show them a slow-paced trip filled with lots of good food and wine.  We spent a couple days in the area, taking it easy.  We visited the local park with the girls, we walked around downtown Como, we drove through many of the smaller lake towns.  I showed David my favorite 5k loop and we went running together nearly every morning.  Michelle cracked up one day after her privacy was invaded by our little Julia, somewhere in the beginning stages of potty training.  She barged in and saw Michelle on the “potty” and declared to her, “Michelle… potty… YAHHH!” Continue reading The Tallest Man in Italy →

Food and Drink, Landscape, Photography, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy, Tuscany

Edward and Bella – We’re Here!

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Well, we didn’t run into Edward Cullen, Bella Swan or that creepy little girl that can induce pain in people’s mind (I suppose the world’s largest and most powerful coven of vampires was in hiding) during our visit to Volterra in Tuscany.
Now this is Tuscany!

For the Tibetan monk that has been living in isolation in Bhutan… and my sister, the only two people in the world that haven’t a clue who Edward or Bella are – I am making a playful reference to the Twilight Series.  Buddhist monk and Michelle, listen up – the premise of the fictional story is simple. Girl falls in love with boy.  Boy happens to be a blood-sucking vampire.  Girl also falls in love with another boy.  Boy happens to be a shape-shifting werewolf.  Love triangle ensues.  They all get in trouble when the Volturi (fictional Vampire royalty from the non-fictional town of Volterra, Italy) get involved.  Giant battle rages.  Extend story over five books.  Produce six movies and collect hundreds of millions of non-fictional dollars.  You know – your classic love story. Continue reading Edward and Bella – We’re Here! →

Cooking, Family Stories, Food and Drink, Holidays, Humor, Landscape, Photography, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy, Tuscany

Facebook Brought Us To Tuscany

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Facebook is great for a lot of things.  First of all, it’s a wonderful time killer.  It is a spectacular medium for sharing funny videos about cats.  The site is also great for shameless self-promotion of your unimportant blog (ahem).  Facebook keeps me and Jen apprised of popular youtube videos and trending pop-culture stories we would have otherwise missed living in another country.  But perhaps best of all – it helps reconnect people after many, many years.

This is how you “like” a post on Italian Facebook

This was recently the case when my wife re-connected with a high school friend of ours, now living in Tuscana (Tuscany).   Continue reading Facebook Brought Us To Tuscany →

Castles, Food and Drink, Humor, Landscape, Photography, Restaurants, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Europe

The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of… Julia

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Apparently I’m the only person in the world to forget that, “The Sound of Music” took place in Salzburg, Austria.  I base this observation on the countless number of tour operators and tourists we observed visiting and posing at key movie locations.  However, thanks to a quick iTunes movie download in the hotel, we were quickly singing our doe-ray-me’s along with the rest of the cheese balls.

Not only was this classic movie set and shot here, but a fairly famous musician was also born and raised in the city.  Perhaps you’ve heard of him… Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.   Salzburg is an amazing city filled with a rich history and jaw-dropping beauty.  We left northern Italy for Austria on a whim two days prior.  We continued riding that whim and drove further into Austria to see Salzburg on the suggestion of family.  Since our expectations of the city were nonexistent, they were easy to surpass – but I would think this city could have easily leapt the most lofty of them all.
Julia taking in the sights
Castles, Family Stories, Humor, Landscape, Travel - Europe

"G’day Mate" from Innsbruck, Austria

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Strange… not only do they not say, “g’day mate” in Austria – they speak German!  Oh well, what’re you gonna do?!

Innsbruck, Austria

After we spent four wonderful days in the Dolomiti mountains (which you can read about HERE and HERE), we planned an impromptu trip to Austria.  The Dolomites span across the northern end of the Italy, just south of Austria.  A quick google search confirmed that we could arrive in Innsbruck in under three hours and the opportunity was too good to pass up.  Once we explained our plan to visit Innsbruck to Claudia’s cousin, Angelo – he suggested we also stop by Salzburg.  Well, what’s another couple hours drive and another day or two?  After all, we didn’t think we’d be back in Austria anytime soon. Continue reading "G’day Mate" from Innsbruck, Austria →