Tales of Me and the Husband

day 1 in rome.

today steve played tour guide (this is where a large chunk of his work will take place… which is, in part, seeing various sights to develop a future class… more on that later!). we were up and at ’em early… take away cappuccinos, and apples and peanuts and yogurts packed and thrown under the stroller for the low blood sugar times. as well as extra diapers and sweatshirts and hats, all of which were shed when the temperatures rose later on in the day. the kids were so good. anders drifted in and out of naps, content in the stroller most of the day with cuddles here and there when he came out for nursing or diaper changes. it really couldn’t have been such a successful day without their good spirits, thank you kids! meanwhile parker sometimes rode in the stroller, other times was on foot. when he got tired of being on foot, i’d distract him with song: “parker parker bo barker fanana fanna fo farker…” you’d be surprised at how well it worked. william and lindsey got to climb the scala sancta on their knees–what an experience! (read up on it. very interesting.) i think some teenagers would be all bored at this point, but they’re both being good sports about being carted all around italy. it helps that they’re not in regular monday through friday classes like the rest of their friends back home perhaps but we’ll take it… anyway, we got to three different churches, an ancient aqueduct, and food without any meltdowns. hunts win today! high fives all around!
oh, and we ended the day with gelato from the frigidarium. good suggestion you guys. i got the frigidarium flavor. YUM.
more to come on the details of the day. probably a better post for steve to write! for now… bed!

some thoughts.

travel does weird things to time. it feels like eons ago that we were in lake como, or that we were packing our bags and driving to jfk. i don’t understand. my mom and dad left today, and i’m bummed. we still have a lot of adventure left, and i’m looking forward to it, but man was it nice having them here. and not just for the extra set of hands or the morning coffee! i just like being around them, and no matter how old you are, there’s something comforting about having mom and dad near. why don’t you guys turn around and come back???
florence was amazing. that city is so, so great. orvieto was so wonderful and after spending as much time there as we did, we so became part of the local scene, recognized faces, had our little routines, but it is a slow and somewhat sleepy pace so arriving in florence had me energized and ready to discover. it was only a few days (wish it were longer) but i feel like we got a lot accomplished (especially for having kids in tow!). 
we also made friends (you remember jora?! i forever miss her blog.) and what a welcome surprise it was. first we got together for a big lunch as a family, and then upon hitting it off, we hung out every day until we left. she is even lovelier in person, and i already miss her and her sweet family. they’re keepers and i can’t wait to see them again.
we’re in rome now ready to take it all in, but is it okay to say i’m tired and hitting the sack tonight extra early? we arrived, i went to get groceries, came home and got in the bath with parker and anders (yes, all three of us) and didn’t leave the apartment again. it’s terrible, i know, but sometimes i need a slow day, even though we just arrived. i think the kids need that too. i sometimes wonder if all of this is a lot for parker, and if he needs tastes of home. slow mornings where he just can flip through a book, eat his apple slices dipped in peanut butter, race his cars around. since we’ve been here, there hasn’t been as much of that as he’s used to. i don’t want him to get lost in the rat race of travel. there’s always tomorrow.
now it’s time for me to go to bed. more to come on florence with some of my recommendations. and if you’ve got some for rome, please let me know! (i especially welcome the gastronomy-centered ones. i’m not a seeeerious museum-goer but cafe and restaurant-goer, indeed.)

Assisi.







Assisi is spectacular. It’s bathed in pink, the local stone that was used to build the majority of the city is the lightest shade of the color, so it is bright and beautiful and glows even more as the sun goes down. It’s sprawling, on a sort of hill, so you’re almost always going up or going down, which made me whip out the cheesiest of jokes: “Can’t be a sissy when you’re in Assisi.” I bet I’m not the first to use that stupid line, though I should be the last.

We parked at the bottom of the city (town?), and walked up the street passing shops all along the way. We grabbed some paninos and fresh juices on our way up, pausing for a few moments to eat them. Grilled zucchini, pomodoro, stracchino cheese, and rucola on mine (some of that was Italian, some was English; I whip it out only when convenient and when I absolutely know that I know the word. Even so, I’ll bet I’m getting some wrong). A crunchy focaccia outside, and she grilled it before giving it to me. It hit the spot, then up we went.

There are churches to pop in, shops to browse, and of course the enormous and beautiful basilica. Go downstairs and you can see St. Francis’ garb, chalice, tomb. Walk around the city, and you’re bound to pass his followers, in the same sort of robe you saw in the basilica only moments earlier. You get the sense that people come here with purpose, religious or otherwise.

As you leave the city you might be lucky to catch a sunset as we did. It was beautiful. Skip the cannoli (pictured above). While beautiful, it wasn’t good. Grab some wine or gelato instead! Enjoy Assisi. It’s magic.

weekend links.

Buon giorno! We’re off to Florence this morning. Tell me any of your tips! (Il Mercato Centrale sounds like a must.)

A pretty great fall jacket.

I love this month of family meals in calendar form.

This cover album is interesting, very interesting. (Normally I love Ryan Adams, but after hearing some clips I’m not sure how I feel about this one.) Even so, further proof Taylor rules the world.

Lunar eclipse AND supermoon this Sunday!

Move over PSL, introducing the Toasted Graham Latte. Will you try it? (I, for one, love the cup doodles.)

A really terrible story where abuse is overlooked in favor of a common goal.

A judge rules: Happy birthday is public domain! (I never realized it wasn’t!)

Toms are getting better all the time.

Have a good weekend!

Amalfi Coast.


click to see + read more (a lot more)!!

Picture overload. I could’ve continued, of course. Is there anything that begs (no, demands!) you to get your camera out and continuously snap away than the Amalfi Coast? If there is, I’m not sure I know the place yet. Santorini? The fjords in Norway? We probably won’t agree on the place so let’s carry on. Here’s my whittled down Amalfi Coast post, all pictures taken before Anders came down with his fever. I’m going to do my best to remember various details but I think they might be a bit fuzzy since my mind was entirely occupied with him the second half of the trip.
We stayed in Praiano. Airbnbs there are significantly less expensive than their Positano counterparts, and with the numbers of people we had (had to sleep 8, if you include Anders; my Mom and Dad were joining us for this.), we thought we’d skip the Positano crowds and prices, and stay in Praiano. Praiano is sort of spread out over a piece of coast that bumps out into the sea, so there’s areas of Praiano that face Positano and areas that don’t (here’s a visual). We were more on the side that faces Conca dei Marini. No matter where you are, you’re getting a view of the sea, and probably a significant one. But, if you opt for Praiano, it’s nice to know that you can also get a view of Positano should you want one. I had someone ask me on Instagram if I would choose Positano or Praiano. Here’s what I’ll say: if we had all the money in the world, I’d probably opt for Positano nine times out of ten. There’s just more happening there, more restaurants, less “off the beaten path.” With that said, my parents really liked avoiding the crowds of Positano, so, when we did Positano for the day, they were glad to get back to Praiano. You decide. There’s a SITA bus that will get you to Positano in about 15-25 minutes depending on where in Praiano you are, and it has plenty of pick-up times, so your options for getting into Positano are fairly simple. 
The beaches of Praiano are totally different. La Praia (I instagrammed it here.) is Praiano’s main beach, and is really, really cool. I wouldn’t miss it, no matter where I was staying. It is a significant walk to get there (downhill there, uphill back; skip the stroller as there are many steps) so it’s not for the faint of heart, particularly in summer heat. But strap on the baby, as we did, and it’s entirely doable. Once there, if you haven’t brought enough snacks for the day, venture into Da Armandino. You can sit on their patio, right off the beach, or you can go in the back and order big square slices of pizza, cut with scissors, to go. Plop down on the rocky beach and eat up. At 5 euros a piece, they were huge, and it was a great snack to fuel up for the climb home. Since La Praia is in a canyon of sorts, there’s always a shady place to sit should you want to stay out of the sun! The kids could’ve sat there for hours, dipping their feet in the water, finding sea glass (it’s a-plenty!), and jumping off of rocks into the water. Their is a hotel directly behind the beach too, the name of which is escaping me, but it had a delicious dish of spaghetti with pomodoro (tomato sauce), the simplest of dishes. I ordered it for Parker and of course tried some. It was delicious. 
In Positano, meander down all the walkways. Check out all the white, flowy tops at Antica Sartoria, and order a cappuccino (or, if you want something that more resembles American coffee, I’ve found a “cafe latte” is similar–both are delicious!). Go uptown, and you’ll find some great places to shop too. This one place had beautiful clothes, all sort of taupe-colored linens, including children’s. Again, what was the name of it? If you are needing a break from all of your pasta, make reservations at the tiny Casa e Bottega. I wish we’d have eaten here. It’s bright and airy, and looks like you’re right in their kitchen while they cook at the island in the middle of the restaurant. Fresh smoothies, salads, produce everywhere. Really beautiful dishes for sale too. Someone on the beach told me it was the best chicken he’d ever had and the chef is the best pastry chef on the whole Amalfi Coast. The desserts were on display and looked amazing (though I was more eager to try their salads and smoothies!). I’ll get my chance, however, as I heard she’s opening a restaurant in NYC?
Once you’re at the bottom of Positano, Spiaggia Grande (the big, main beach), you’ll see lots of restaurants dotting the sidewalks there. Chez Black is supposed to be good, though I don’t know from experience! It’s to your right if you’re facing the water. What I do suggest is that you hug the coast to the right, all the way around the bend (a five-minute walk, at most; don’t be fooled that you need to rent a boat to get there.), and find yourself at Spiaggia del Fornillo (most of the above beach pictures). It’s a bit less busy, and a lot prettier, I think. Cheaper chaise rentals too. And plentiful restaurants. Go to family-run, barefoot-waitered Da Ferdinando and order the bruschetta! Take in the local scene. We had so much food and drink there, and it was 90 euros. Looking at the table positively covered in plates, I would’ve thought it more. Another option for lunch is Da Adolfo, but you’ll need a boat from the main beach to get there (and perhaps reservations, though I’ve heard they’re hard to come by). It’s a favorite among many. Fish and mussels and pasta and local white wine with peaches. 
At dusk, wander onto the patio of Le Sirenuse (above picture of Parker looking out through the white railing). We had drinks there last time we were in Positano and the views were gorgeous. Drinks and a little snack are a splurge, but in my opinion, well worth it for a romantic stop. (Two other hotels that I would’ve checked if traveling with only Steve would be il San Pietro and Villa Treville–eye candy and a vino on the terrace for two, per favore!). 
For activity, rent a boat! It’ll cost you but it’s the best way to see the Amalfi Coast for sure. Positano is beautiful when you’re on land, yes, but the view of it from the water cannot be missed. Of course, a boat to Capri, or Salerno, or any number of places can also get you the view as you pull out of Positano harbor, but an actual boat rental for the day is a well worth-it splurge. Everyone agreed it was their favorite day. There are many boat rental options, picking you up at your beach around 10 and dropping you somewhere between 3 and 6 pm and costing roughly 400 euros. You’ll have the option to go to Capri or do the Amalfi Coast. We toured the Amalfi Coast, seeing Furore, Conca dei Marini, Amalfi, etc. from the water. We pulled up captain-recommended to Da Teresa for lunch. It was one of those accessible-only-by-boat sort of beaches, which are so fun to go to. If possible, get a guide who can speak a good amount of English and you might have an even better tour. As it was, ours spoke very little English, we speak very little Italian, but still it was great and he pointed out Sophia Loren’s house so, celebrity tid-bit for the win.
If you do nothing else but laze around all day, moving only from chaise lounge to water, chaise lounge to water (interrupting this cycle only for some food), consider it time well spent on the Amalfi Coast. Time best spent, really. Positano is a place to relax, stroll, and eat. Enjoying la dolce vita! If you don’t get to “do it all” then there’s something to bring you back because chances are, one Positano trip in a lifetime is not enough.

a little update.

ciao! 
i began writing this post a week ago, then had to walk away from it multiple times because i just wasn’t ready to write it, read it, post it. we’re back in orvieto now–after a week on the amalfi coast–and have been for a little over a week. it was beautiful. the amalfi coast! it doesn’t get much more beautiful in fact. i wish i could stop there and then post a bunch of beautiful pictures of positano from the water, undoubtedly one of the must beautiful vistas on earth, but our trip ended rather intensely. before you go any further, everything is okay now! now you can go on. 
on thursday evening, i felt anders’ head as we went to bed and it felt a little warm. then, in the middle of the night, warmer. sure enough, he woke a bit out of it with a fever. that lasted about two days, with him continuing to nurse a lot and sleep a bit more than usual. nothing too out of the ordinary though sick babies tend to put me on high alert in the best of circumstances…and in a foreign country? even more so. on the third day, the day of check out and travel back to orvieto, he became very lethargic, was vomiting, and would not nurse at all. here we are on a bus to positano to catch a boat to salerno to catch a train to orvieto (several hours of travel altogether) and my baby was really sick. my fear was growing by the second as he continued vomiting and being nearly unresponsive. i began to feel so out of my comfort zone, so scared and desperate. experiencing all of this while on vacation so far away was really nightmarish. steve and i made the decision to go to a hospital in salerno with anders and send the rest of the family north on the already booked train back to orvieto. that was really emotional. we arrived at the salerno hospital by taxi and within a few hours had bloodwork done for him and an iv for fluids. he was hardly responsive upon arrival. add to that, we speak so little italian (our fault!) and the main doctor spoke so little english and, without going into too much detail, the hospital was nothing like what we expected or are accustomed to. it felt like nothing was happening fast enough, that everyone was calmer than they should be based on anders’ condition (if they hadn’t been calm, no doubt that would’ve made it much worse!), that i was in some awful nightmare, and how incredibly stupid and selfish it was of me to take my baby abroad when we have a hospital so close to us at home where i could find proper help for him immediately. it felt very surreal, even in the midst of it, and it felt like i was just floating through it all.
finally, an older doctor whose name i’ll never forget walked in and had the most comforting presence, spoke great english, and hugged me as i stood there, fear all over my face. i said, “i’m really scared,” he said, “of course. you are a mother.” he was nothing short of an angel to us. i will be forever grateful to him. he was not overly concerned, he assured me that he will recover, and he gave the most wonderful eye contact as we spoke. we got a room in the hospital, while anders remained receiving fluids, and waited on results. 
in the end it seems to have just been a really wicked virus that he was having a hard time fighting. it was all made so much more intense and terrifying with the language barrier (even having to figure out his temperature equivalent in celsius–things you don’t consider!), without working phones or wifi (a side note: they were working for a month–a must for me when abroad for this long–and then stopped working on september 1 when i had explained (i thought) that i needed them working through october.  we didn’t have access to the WIND store in the big cities to get them working again and the hospital would absolutely not give access to their wifi.), with our family traveling north with no way to get in touch with them, with steve being told he would need to leave to find a place to sleep (there were zero hotels near the hospital, he checked! finally they allowed him to spend the night and after the three of us attempted to sleep in one child-sized bed, he slept on the floor on a blanket, bless him.), with the conditions of the hospital, without knowing how or when we were going to get home. words fail entirely to do justice to how scared we were. it was terrible. now here we are, over a week later, and anders is himself again. oh how i longed for him to be his crazy, energetic self again. i am so grateful.
i am leaving out so much. there’s really no way to explain it all. the most important detail is that everything is okay now. i need to remind myself of that over and over again as i continue to go back to that day. i am incredibly grateful to the doctors who took care of anders and knew just what he needed. i’ve since emailed with the kind, older doctor (some blood results and such) and he has assured me, “your baby is good. his immune system is perfect. be happy.” i will try to leave this behind me and take his good advice. not before i thank him a million more times though. 

weekend links (a day early).

On the go with my Rebekah Gough Jewelry.

Now I will rethink all future Instagrams because of this amazing account.

The most beautiful puffy blanket.

Oh the places you’ll go. One Father’s graduation present to his daughter. Sweetest.

This. The whole outfit. (Add a black hat, beanie or otherwise, and I’m set.)

The Modern Family cast recreates shots from our favorite shows. I love the I Dream of Jeannie one.

Jimmy Fallon and Ariana Grande do musical impersonations. They are so good. (The Aaron Neville one, LOL.)

And THIS DRESS (the rainbow one!).

This DIY headboard is amazing.

I like this food artwork. I think the soft pretzel one is my favorite. Or the kitchen strawberry pie.

Have you ever gone digging through some of the essays on this blog? They’re really great.

As an aside, thanks for reading and following along. I’m always so glad to check in with you all! Hope you’re well.

italy in ten.









1. none of this is actually our living quarters while we are in italy. that would just be silly. this is our friends’ home (and where the locanda is; i’ve mentioned it before!). if we managed a three month trip abroad and this was our digs would you stop reading? i wouldn’t blame you. i would stop reading and it’s my blog.
2. more to the point is that these friends have taken pity on us pathetic americans who roam the streets of orvieto every day, and invited us into their home, and pool (more than once now) because they are kind and gracious people.
2. we’ve all now eaten fresh figs from their tree (as seen above) and they’re delicious despite parker looking really angry while eating them. hopefully we’ve left enough figs for sylvia and lodovico to eat too.
3. steve is quickly becoming really accustomed to his afternoon wine by the pool overlooking the umbrian countryside and he may never return back to work again. work trip? huh?
4. meanwhile, i’m taking up wine making and art on the side.
5. only some of the above is true.
6. for some truth-telling? italy is so, so beautiful but has also presented its share of challenges.
7. without naming any names sibling. fighting. is. reeeeeal. (and so is parenting!!!!)
8. so is having a just beginning to crawl all the time baby in only semi child-proofed places. insert that emoji with the big teethy “oh shit” smile.
9. none of this is really a surprise to us, or, if it is, shouldn’t have been. if so, jokes on us!
10. is this one of my more random posts? i’m really, really, really tired (been a rough few days, more on that later!). suffice it to say, we love it here, but traveling is also a true undertaking and my hat is sooo off to those who make a life of it!

that’s all for now.

to market, to market!

The market in Orvieto is every Thursday and Saturday mornings. I’m not sure what time it begins, nor am I even certain when the earliest I’ve arrived is (being on a different time zone than everyone back home has made me oddly unaware of time altogether). But when we go ambling down one of the many alleys towards Piazza del Popolo on one of these mornings, it’s always there in full force already. 7:30 am? 8:30 am? The Italians are there, as they have been week after week since we’ve arrived. It’ll be hard to imagine the hustle and bustle that takes place here once I’m back in Massachusetts. It’ll hard to imagine all of it, these streets, the cappuccinos being ordered at Montanucci, the boats cruising by Positano, once we’re home. Like some other world we’re living in altogether.
The market here is great. There are farmer’s markets back home, of course, but I don’t go to them hoping to more-than-fill my canvas (of course) bag with organic romaine and cucumbers, tomatoes and string beans. You’ll pay a pretty penny for that. I go for the people watching, the coffee, and maybe a specialty item or two, even if it is a bit of a splurge–some local honey, or a small bag of granola. Here in Orvieto, this is where we buy the majority of our produce, sometimes our cheese, a bag of almonds the size of which I’ve communicated with my hands and maybe added, “five euro?” It’s where, it seems, the whole town gets their fresh produce, even clothes or linens or a random kitchen supply, flowers, potted plants, fish and salami. You’ll see an old man weighing apples with an ancient scale, and you’re pretty certain he’s been here two days a week doing this very thing since the beginning of time. 
The peaches are to-die-for. I don’t leave the market without at least four and then, two days later, when they have the slightest give to them, I cut them up and eat them plain or with yogurt and granola. I wish I could give you all one. Some tomatoes, different sizes, some still on the vine, always make their way home with us usually to be made into a caprese later on. And then salad fixings, apples. I stop by the cheese truck and there’s testers of each kind out in a little plastic dish. I pick a hard and salty pecorino romano and eat it plain with eggs in the morning or with pieces over a vinegary arugula salad. The almonds are perfect for those emergency hunger-is-getting-the-best-of-us-but-we’ve-got-to-catch-this-bus times. The market. We like it there.

Civita di Bagnoregio.

The husband here again…Ciao. Do you have a bucket list? How about a leaky bucket list? If so, put this one in that bucket…Not that YOU are necessarily kicking off any time soon, but this place might be. Civita di Bagnoregio, about 75 miles north of Rome and 15 miles SW of Orvieto. [To get there from Orvieto, grab a ticket for the Cotral bus line at the Cafe in the Train Station at the foot of Orvieto’s funicular. The last bus left around 8 AM, so you’ll need to be prepared to go early (we learned this the hard way when we showed up to go at 8:15 one day). Cost? Our whole family went for 13 Euros round trip. Money well spent.]
The birth-place of St. Bonaventure in the 13th century, Civita is a 2,500 hundred year old cliff town clinging desperately to this patch of volcanic rock which continues to erode from below. (Do you see the archway into the town at the end of the path above? It was cut by the Etruscans 500 years before Julius Caesar was even a twinkle in his daddy’s eye.)
Once in the town, imagine the front of a building and then imagine looking thorough the window or front door and seeing nothing but blue sky (as an example, see the final picture in this post). It almost looks like a movie set. The rest of the house simply gave way to gravity, crumbling down the cliff. More erosion takes place each year, so if you want to see it, pack your bags. If you get here soon enough, we’ll show you around, as we’re heading back in about 3 weeks’ time. 
The town is so small (it’s off the charts in terms of cute and quaint and charming), you can walk the length and breadth of it in about 15 minutes. Of course, there are a number of tiny little alley-ways as well, with a tourist shop here, a restaurant there. Explore. Walk around. Meet the six–SIX!–residents who live there full time (seriously, that’s what we were told when we asked!).

To get there from the larger town of Bagnoregio, you need to pay a small fee to cross the little walking bridge you see above. Since there are no other roads in, this bridge services the entire town. The restaurants bring their food in on Vespas! We did have a small tractor pass by us as we squeezed up against the railing (see the tractor below) and it was loaded down with water bottles, but not much more.

To keep Parker’s interest in all of our wanderings, we keep coaxing him on with stories of Castles and Knights. Soldiers and police. On this day, on the bridge, we were storming the castle. The bridge, of course, brought back visions of Shrek and donkey…and a dragon, and there was lava beneath! He loves this stuff.

If I’m honest, I’ve probably walked about 350 miles in the last month or so, and a lot of them with Parker on my back, as you see above. The result? Well, see the picture below, taken on the main road through Civita, after we had climbed the hill and when I was too tired to go on. Parker thought this was so funny. (Truth: William has carried Parker a lot too. And he doesn’t get tired. Thanks, William.)

We were struck by all the seats like the one Bridget’s on all over the town. And when you find one like this in the shade, at the end of long hike up hill, in the hot Etruscan sun, you feel like John Candy in “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”, and so you just sit and say “Lovely… Lovely, lovely.”
And here’s Lindsey, all fit and fabulous. She was a trooper, pushing Anders’ stroller every bit of a 1/2 mile straight up a really steep hill, while Parker stood on the glider board too. Her calves were on fire! Thanks, Lindsey! 




You can’t really blame the people who want to take Anders’ picture while he’s sleeping can you? I mean look at those cheeks.

Seriously, Anders is a big hit around here. He gets more pinches and squishes and squeezes than he has a right to. The Italians love him. “Bellissimo, bellissimo…amore”, they say.

You’ll love this–it’s a true story: one of the waitresses that helped us at lunch in this small town could not get over Anders. She kept getting in his face and loving on him. She wanted to eat him, we think. She even grunted–viscerally–when she held him while we ate, nuzzling his neck, kissing his cheeks, squishing his knees. She took him out of his stroller again after she brought out our dessert. Almost without notice, she grabbed a spoon on the table and dipped it in the chocolate mousse we had ordered. Indicating that she wanted to give this bite to Anders, Bridget immediately jumped into action. Motioning to both of her breasts in turn and then repeating the gesture (yes, William, Lindsey, and I found this odd too), Bridget said clearly and slowly in English, “He Only Nurses Right Now, No Chocolate.” Seeming puzzled, the waitress nevertheless stopped and put the spoon down. Whew. Needless to say, we were relieved, believing that Anders had just survived a “near chocolate experience” at 8 months. But not so fast. Evidently thinking that Bridget’s objection was rooted specifically in the spoon she was using, the waitress proceeded to dip her pointer finger DEEP into OUR chocolate dessert and then quickly slipped it into Anders’ mouth. Bridget immediately succumbed to the vapors and passed out. William began to choke on the water he was drinking. Lindsey fell off the back of her chair. Seeing all of this as in slow-motion, my ears ringing, I just sat stunned, motionless, thinking only that this poor waitress had no idea with whom she was dealing. I was quite sure we were only moments away from an international incident. Do I remember reaching for my passport? Meanwhile, Anders was like, “Sky rockets in flight! Afternoon delight!” and reaching for the waitress’s finger in the not so subtle hope of round two.
OK, I embellished that a bit…in the end, and to her credit, Bridget actually remained fairly calm. She did give that “I’m-laughing-and-smiling-but-I’m-still-pretty-uncomfortable-with-all-this-but-I-can’t-tell-you-because-you’re-Italian-and-I-only-speak-English” sort of look, but I was quite proud of her, nevertheless. After all, it was just our baby sucking chocolate mousse off of a stranger’s pointer finger. We all laughed throughout our dessert about the seeming absurdity of the whole thing. And we really did love that waitress! She was great.

The tractor with a pick-up bed that I mentioned above. Honestly, it’s the only vehicle you’ll see in the town. And it needs a muffler.
This is the restaurant we ate at. Alma Civita. We spent 113 Euros for lunch here, our most expensive meal so far. But this included bread, a bottle of white wine, three or four bottles of water (naturale–not frizzante!), two orders of Caprese salads, one order of bean salad (to die for), five main courses (in my opinion, Parker’s chicken was the best!), and a dessert tray with an assortment of desserts, including the aforementioned chocolate mousse. We thought it one of the best meals we’ve eaten in Italy so far and worth every penny. Delizioso. Probably more than anything else it’s the reason we’re going back in September. Well, that and the prospect of fighting the dragon again, if we can get past the molten lava under the bridge, that is! So, while you’re still able, will you go to Civita?

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