Tales of Me and the Husband

Part V: Rome… and the last portion of my trip. Boo hoo.

{the Vatican}
{St. Peter’s Basilica}
{Victor Emmanuel II Monument}
{St. Peter’s in the distance, from the Spanish Steps}
{Pantheon}
{Trevi Fountain}
Our first view of Rome was a whirlwind tour, mostly of the Vatican, before we headed towards the Amalfi Coast.  It was hot.  It was crowded.  It was hot.  I already said that.  But, still, seeing the Colosseum for the first time, the Forum, the ruins that are almost everywhere you turn, was just amazing.  I imagined what life looked like here when the quote rang true: all roads lead to Rome.  What was less amazing was the price of a Coke and hot dog from one of the many vendors that run along the road by the Colosseum.  Needless to say, I did not partake in a Roman hot dog.  Anyway, as someone who grew up Catholic–altar girl and all–seeing the Vatican was among my number one things-to-do-while-in-Rome.  The Sistine Chapel… wowzas.  The Basilica… HUGE!  I am convinced that every single church in Italy–even their most meager and mundane–trump our churches.  But anyway, we headed towards Positano, then came back for a night in Rome before we left the next morning.  Rome during the day?  Yes, it was nice but as I said… hot and crowded.  Rome at night however… heaven.  We loved it.  The monuments light up, the crowds dissipate, the cafes are brimming with wine and sweet nothings in Italian (sounds romantic, doesn’t it?) and the place is just lovely.  We loved Rome at night.  Especially, but not limited to, the Trevi Fountain.  There, I could stay forever (mixed with some of Italy’s coast, please.).

Part IV: Positano also known otherwise as heaven on earth

{our hotel’s terrace, Albergo California}
{Le Sirenuse hotel where Only You was filmed}
{heading towards Capri for the day}

Positano was nothing short of spectacular.  We felt a bit like we were in a fairy tale there.  In fact, I’ve said to my husband a few times since arriving home, “Did it all really happen?”  We were in Rome (that’s for tomorrow!) shortly, than left for Positano.  Getting to Positano feels a bit like the movie title Planes, Trains, and Automobiles… we took a train from Rome to Naples, a subway from Naples to Sorrento, and a bus from Sorrento to Positano.  It was about ten o’clock at night when we were trudging down their main street, Via Cristoforo Colombo, past restaurant-goers with our huge backpacks on.  But, alas, we had arrived at Albergo California (which we just discovered is in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun!).  We unpacked quickly, showered, and headed out for my favorite gelato of the whole trip: peach (which, in Italian is pesca; I was suspicious of fish-flavored gelato).  Then we spent three amazing days loving life and… the coast of Italy.  We took a boat ride to Capri, checked out all the amazing boats in their marina, ate, had too-expensive gelato at J.K. Place Capri (but appreciated their fiiiine interior decorating) and walked around.  Back to Positano, ate, swam, got stung by jellyfish (just me… whatever jellyfish, whatever!), ate, walked, slept, ate, walk, swam.  You get the picture.  It was ridonkulous.  

Part III: Cinque Terre…otherwise known as heaven on earth

{the first view of coastline on the train from Firenze to Vernazza}
{a weary traveler I picked up on the train…totally vulnerable}



{Al Castello restaurant where we ended up eating every night}
{my favorite Italian meal of the entire trip: lasagne al pesto}

{the best woman in all of Vernazza: Monica Lercari}
{Monterosso’s beach}
Cinque Terre was amazing.  I mean took-my-breath-away amazing.  After being in very hot Firenze all day, seeing that first stretch of coastline from the train as we zoomed our way towards Vernazza was unreal.  Those who come to Italy and skip its coast are craaay-zay–sorry if that’s any of you…you will just have to go back.  Anyway, when arriving in Vernazza, you are at the top of the town with a 3-minute walk towards the beach.  The town, full of alleyways and winding steps connecting front door to front door, is so unique and unlike anything we’d seen before.  It was one of those places where you almost feel a bit of anxiety as you wonder (or demand to know) when you will be able to return.  We stayed at the R. Steves recommended Monica Lercari rooms.  Monica also owns Al Castello restaurant so we went to find her at the restaurant so she could bring us to our room.  She might be the most charming woman there ever was.  You want water?  “I get it for you immediately.”  Checking out of your room?  “Stay as long as you need.”  She was undoubtedly the hostess-with-the-mostest.  If you are staying in one of her rooms, she has a seperate little section at her restaurant along the cliff edge where you get to eat.  You’ll feel pampered.  We sort of fell in love with Monica. Please, if you ever venture to Vernazza, find her.  At the very least, eat at her delicious restaurant.  The lasagne al pesto, which I ordered two nights in a row, is mouthwatering (literally, my mouth is watering as I think about it).  
Anyway, we took a hike between Vernazza and Corniglia–to a beach between the two–and then took a train to Monterroso one day.   But beyond that, we stayed put in Vernazza.  So charming, so, so charming.  Cinque Terre is the greatest.  But especially Vernazza and especially Monica.  I think I’ve made myself clear.  Do not tarry.  Book your room today.  

Part II: Florence or Firenze as you have to call it once you’ve been.

{Palazzo Vecchio with lots of statues including the fake David}
{the colorful Ponte Vecchio}
{more food, on the Arno, with Rick Steves to guide us along}
{Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens… those Medicis had mooooney}
We spent a lovely day in Florence after leaving Orvieto, on our way to Cinque Terre (that, however, has to wait until tomorrow… I need to keep up my readership and if I divulge all of Italy now, I know you’ll all abandon me… not to mention, this is such rich blog-post information and I need to spread it out before I run out of ideas.).  Florence, or Firenze which it really seems chic to say if you’ve been (so I guess now I have to be a name-dropper and go with Firenze) was awesome.  I loved it.  So much art, so much history, the place was just rich with the past.  It was hot… really, really hot… but with a few sufficient airing-outs of the pits, the arm pits that is, we had a lovely day (that included a purchase of a strapless dress, hence the costume change, so that the pits could be free… they needed it.).  We climbed the clock tower just next to the Duomo, ate at Open Bar right on the Arno River with the perfect view of Ponte Vecchio, and people and statue-watched.  It was a Monday, so unfortunately the Accademia and Uffizi were closed.  I am not a huge art-buff but would have really liked to have seen the real David.  Unfortunately, that will have to wait until visit numero due (DO-ay)… and there will be one.  Indeed.  

Part I: Orvieto

{view from Old Orvieto: a city on a cliff}
{sunset on Lake Bolsena}
{sipping our share of cappucinos in Orvieto}

{husband’s first caprese salad of many}
{view from the clock tower in Orvieto}

{Orvieto’s market: Italy knows their way around good tomatoes}

{Orvieto’s duomo}
{Orvieto from afar}
{on the way to the next place… saving that for Part 2}
Looking back on these pictures, it seems in some ways like forever ago when we were there.  What is it about travel that does that?  Have you ever experienced that?  Anyway, we flew into Rome then went straight on up to Orvieto.  Orvieto was a good place to relax and get accustomed to the Italian siesta, small alleyways, pizza, and yes, gelato.  There, we stayed in a monastery, got on Italy’s sleep schedule, walked almost every little street, pet lots of stray cats, went to mass in the Duomo, drank an early afternoon crodino, learned more about the long-ago Etruscans, discovered that Thomas Aquinas lived in Orvieto for a time, and drank white wine.  Orvieto was a nice place to start our Italian holiday.

We are back.

We are back from Italy and I am awake at an ungodly hour because to me, it is lunch time.  Alas, traveling will do that to you.  Italy was amazing.  A-maz-ing.  To sum it up–we sweat, ate pasta, pesto and pizza, drank cappucinos and wine, saw history, swam, kissed, took pictures, laid on the beach, walked, and walked, and walked, sweat (did I mention that already?), laughed, ate more, imagined what our next trip to Italy will look like, took trains everywhere (some hot, some not so hot), and savored.  Plain old savored… all of it.  Except maybe the one super hot train ride from Rome to Naples.  A 2ish hour train ride at 90+ degrees of still air is not to be savored.  But wow, I can see what you all love about that place.  Thanks again for your recommendations.  With all your advice plus a lot of Rick’s (after referencing his book for the last two weeks I feel as though we are on a first name basis), we had the best time.

That picture is from our balcony in Positano.  Hard to be back, eh?

Who is BCH?

ahn here again. i know, once was enough right? not when you’re good friends with BCH and girlfriend goes on vacay! for those of you who don’t know this, bridge is a highly narcissistic person and has asked me to interview her for your reading pleasure. lie. i asked if i could interview her for your reading pleasure (and i proudly posted all my pictures of her solo). enjoy.

1. let’s start off easy…if you could live anywhere in the USA, besides the temperamental state of Massachusetts, where would you live (you know the correct answer)?  california. the plaza in fact (where ahnika lives); the apartment below, please.

2. who was your first celebrity crush, and who is your current celebrity crush? jonathan taylor thomas. huge crush including teen beat posters on the back of my bedroom door. then it was leonardo dicaprio whom i actually thought i had a chance of marrying, evidence of teenagers being entirely untrustworthy and in their own world entirely. now? i don’t know. i think jake gyllenhall is pretty handsome and brad pitt always and forever. but i also have a crush on paul newman like 30 years ago. yum.

3. what is the best thing about being a mother of 4 at 25 years old? people think i look good for already pushing out four kids! nah, for real… it’s given me major perspective and helped me let go of a lot of my control issues early on (who? me? controlling?? no!).  and kids are fun too, of course.

4. what is the hardest thing about being a mother of 4 at 25 years old?  well… kids aren’t always fun.

5. if you were to perform in the circus, what would you do? eating and breathing fire.

6. as an avid tapper, would you rather dance alongside gene kelly or fred astaire? gene kelly in singing in the rain fo sho.

7. if you could live in any era when would it be? notebook era minus the traditional womanly roles. but the hair, heels, dresses, and red lips… were woman just prettier then? if not that era, then cavewoman. naturally.

8. if you could go on a road trip with any person (dead or alive) who would it be and where would you go? ok… this is really hard. there are a lot of people i would want to go on a roadtrip with!! my sister kate makes me laugh harder than a lot of people, and since humor is my number one, maybe her. she has no filter which is, let’s be honest, quite fun.

9. would you rather fart every time you blink, or diarrhea every time you sneeze? (would your answer change if you struggled with allergies?)  ahnika is a dirty girl. now, to answer the question, diarrhea every time i sneeze because i think sneezes can be avoided. blinking however can not be. if allergies were a problem, then i would have to answer your question with a question. are the farts noisy or silent?

10. who do you wish you had known better in college but are overjoyed to be great friends with now? easy. becca michaelsen.  
*note from interviewer: this is supposed to be funny since becca is my sister, but we all know the real answer is me

america’s got some pretty sweet placez.

i saw this on a blog awhile back (can’t remember where it was–show yourself!) 
and i thought it was pretty fantastic.  
this article on america’s natural swimming holes.  
how cool is that?  i want to visit every single stinking one.
and maybe i just will.

havasu falls, arizona.
kind of looks like you might see an avatar swoop across the falls, huh?
red fish lake, idaho
heaven.  give me a book and some jt tunes and that will be my heaven.
the blue hole, texas
swinging into the water?  yes.
like i said, pretty cool, huh?

5 Days With Martha

Hello Friends!
I feel so honored to be guest posting for Bridget all the way on the other side of the country! Don’t you love modern technology? 
My main squeeze and I love ourselves some good Martha Stewart recipes…especially when it comes in the form of a mini magazine where crafts are NOT included. Just food. You can imagine our delight two years ago when we received our first subscription to Everyday Food. There’s a section called Grocery Bag, which makes shopping for 5 days of meals a cinch. Do yourselves a favor and try it. It’s like eating out for 5 days in a row…but cheaper. Much cheaper. Believe me, I’m Swedish. I like a good deal.
Bon Appetit!

Ahn

ps. be sure to come visit me at Living with Mr. Johnson
Monday: Summer Pasta Salad with Shrimp
Tuesday: Sesame-Chicken Salad
Wednesday: Couscous Salad with Black Beans, Mushrooms, and Corn
Thursday: Steak and Egg Salad
Friday: Tomato Panzanella with Ricotta
*all recipes can be found in the July/August 2010 issue of Everyday Food
Advertise OnTales of Me and the Husband
Get Started