French chateaus

For the final Euro-vacation wrap-up post, I’ll share some pics of the French chateaus we visited. On the suggestion of my good friend Deb who had studied in the Loire region of France while in college, Alexis and I added this stop to our itinerary. From Paris, we took a train to a town called Blois (doesn’t roll of an American tongue as easily as a French one, pronounced “blwah”). There are lots of beautiful chateaus in the Loire region, but Blois seemed to be the easiest place to base ourselves out of to hit some of the more well-known ones.

The city of Blois itself has a chateau that has sections built in each of the major architectural styles- Gothic (13th century), Flamboyant (15th century), Renaissance (16th century), and Classicism (17th century). Here, we got our first taste of the huge, winding staircases that seemed to be in all the chateaus we would visit.

The next chateau we visited was Chambord (picture with Andy & Alexis in it). The common theme in all the chateaus was that they all seemed to have started off as hunting lodges! Chambord was huge and included 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces, and 426 rooms (according to the English language pamphlet!). We only visited a small section of the estate, but it was quite impressive. As luck would have it, there was a hunting exposition going on right on the grounds, so our visit was serenaded by constant gunfire while we were there (fitting, I guess, since it started out as a hunting lodge!). There must still be good hunting on the massive grounds because there were lots of recent photos of hunters and their kills in one of the rooms. There was even a replica of a deer stand from back in the day, complete with a chandelier!

The most down-to-earth chateau we visited was Cheverny. It was built by the Hurault family whose decendants lived in the Chateau until the 1980s. It was really cool to see the typical old paintings of men with wigs and stockings right next to a wedding picture from the 1980s! This chateau is said to have started what is now known as the “French Style” of architecture in the 17th century.

After all this sightseeing, Andy ended up getting sick. He stayed in bed on our final day in Blois as Alexis and I took the train to the neighboring town of Ambois. We set out to see the famous Chateau Clos Luse, but we ended up touring the Amboise Chateau (the picture with the river). Little did we know that the Mansion of Clos Luse (we thought it was a chateau, though I have no idea what the difference is) is only 500 meters from the Amboise Chateau and is connected by an underground tunnel. But, as it turns out, the biggest and grander of the two is actually the Chateau, so we came out on the winning end of that one, Alexis!! Although Leonardo da Vinci lived his final years at the Mansion of Clos Luce, he is buried beneath a chapel at the Amboise Chateau. I’m not one for seeking out graves of famous people, but it was kind of cool to see da Vinci’s final resting place! This chateau was huge and even sported a stairwell big enough for military horses and wagons to use!

So, unless Andy or Alexis have anything to add later, this concludes the Euro-vacation wrap-up (doesn’t that sound so official?!). I’ll be going to Australia on business from July 8-15, so I’ll try to do a few posts from down under!

And the stomache rumbles!

Hope yall don’t mind, but I’m gonna back up to the Euro-vacation again! This is going to be the food post I promised!

When my mom and I were in Paris about 10 years ago, I distinctly remember being quite enamored with the food. I thought everything tasted wonderful and was masterfully presented. Perhaps because this was a different kind of traveling (hotels & sit-down restaurants back then versus hostels and bar food on this trip), but I wasn’t very impressed with the food this go round. Perhaps also because it wasn’t very long ago that I dined on Italian cuisine for two months. Don’t get me wrong, there were some standout items like chocolate, pastries, and ice cream, but the entrees were nothing to write home about. It goes without saying that breakfast is just not a big deal in Europe, in fact an afterthought at best. Poor Andy was so sick of cappuccino and croissant for breakfast I think he was craving waffle house! He made up for it by having ice cream twice a day, everyday!

The food in Bayeau was really good, especially the Croque-monsieurs (pretty much a grilled ham & cheese sandwich with more cheese melted on top). I think the cheese was Gruyere, but I had one with some kind of goat cheese that was out of this world. Another standout was the crepes in Blois. We stumbled upon a great little Creperie in the “old town” even though town as a whole has history all the way back to the 9th century! There we had dinner and dessert crepes. We were walking by and wasn’t sure about the menu we were reading in the window (it was all in French), so the owner recognized our confusion and summoned us inside. There he prepared a plain crepe and got the idea across that he put different ingredients inside. He was so accommodating, we decided to try it out for dinner. I wasn’t sure what oeuf was, so one of the patrons sitting next to us acted out a chicken laying an egg as a translation! The picture is of a Crepe Normandie which contained ham, crushed tomato, mushrooms, and an overeasy egg yolk for good measure!

Call me crazy, but I’ll choose my momma’s crawfish etouffee any day over anything we ate on this trip. OK, maybe I’d want some of those fruit tarts for dessert!!

A little relaxation and Paris

I’ll backtrack a bit here and show a few pictures of us relaxing! Yes, it was quite hectic trying to get in all the sights we wanted to see in two weeks, but we did actually stop and just hang out a couple of times. The day we left London for Portsmouth to take the ferry across to France, we had almost a whole day to kill before our train left, so we hung out in St. James Park. With our big backpacks on, it’s not so enjoyable to do a lot of walking and sightseeing! As luck would have it, it was a beautiful day and there just happen to be a “practice parade” happening right on the street in front of us (a rehearsal for the Queen’s birthday parade a week later). We seemed to have good parade-karma because Alexis and I would stumble upon another parade a week later in Ambois, France! At any rate, we spent the whole afternoon hanging out reading or listening to IPODs (Andy and Alexis). It’s a good thing we rested up, because as you can see in the next picture, Alexis and Andy fell sound asleep in a parking lot after our all-night ferry ride to France! I don’t think Andy was prepared for how physically demanding this vacation would be - carrying 35lb backpacks, walking miles every day, bicycling hilly countryside, staying up late and getting up early, climbing endless stairs, etc.).

We saw lots of cool things while we were in Paris. We spent a good amount of time exploring the palace and gardens of Vasaille (picture is of the well-manicured gardens) and two major museums- Musee D’Orsay and the Louvre. We all really enjoyed the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism art at the Musee D’Orsay. Andy liked the colors in Gauguin paintings and we all stood in awe in front of Van Gogh’s works. The Louvre proved to be a full day with each of us taking away our own favorites in our minds. It’s hard to justify spending all our time in museums, however, when most of the architecture in Paris could qualify as art in and upon itself. Case in point- Notre Dame Cathedral. Although there wasn’t a very sacred feeling with the throngs of tourist bustling about inside and outside (quite loudly sometimes), it’s impossible to not stand with mouths agape in front of the stained glass windows. Alexis really liked the gargoyles all around the building and we all got a chuckle out of some of the statues along the entryway.

Hope you’re enjoying the “catch-up” of our trip; I’ll try to do a couple more very soon.

Stateside once again!

We’re all safe and sound back at our respective homes. As time marches on, our vacation will become a distant memory. But, until then, I wanted to fill in the gaps from when I wasn’t able to post or to download pictures. Andy and Alexis were both quite excited about completing their trip with four stamps in their shiny new passports (UK, France, UK, USA)!

I really wanted to post a couple of pictures from Normandy. This picture shows just a few of the 9387 tombstones marking the remains of servicemen and women (4 women are interred) at the American Cemetery. The graves of three Medal of Honor recipients are engraved in gold lettering and the corresponding citations are on display in the information center- pretty amazing stuff. The other picture is of me walking on Gold beach out in front of the D-Day Landing Museum at Arromanches. You can see a remnant of the artificial harbor in the background. I was really surprised by how wide the beaches were here (at low tide)- great while sunbathing, not so great while trying to avoid enemy fire. We toured Utah Beach, Omaha Beach and the Pointe du Hoc Rangers Memorial, the American Cemetery, Gold Beach and the D-Day Landing Museum, and the German battery at Longues sur Mer. It was a long, but memorable day.

I think we all agreed that Normandy made the top of our favorites list. The WWII history certainly made this area one of the most memorable, but the region itself was also a favorite. We based ourselves out of a town called Bayeax. It had a grand cathedral, an original tapestry 70 meters long in pristine condition dating back to the 11th or 12th century, and some of the best food we had on the whole trip (more about food in another post!). The hostel we stayed in was clean, cheap, and had lots of charm (a Bourbon Street style lamp post in the middle of our huge room!). I would quickly choose a return trip here over any of the big cities we visited.

But, onto the big cities we went! As much as I dislike big cities, some have to be visited at least once for their architecture and museums. Paris was no exception. Our first excursion upon entering the city (after finding a hostel and securing 3-day metro passes), was to climb the Eiffel Tower. Actually, you can’t climb all the way up to the third floor of the Tower, you have to take the lift (elevator). And man, can they pack some people into those lifts! The view from the top was spectacular and worth every smelly minute of the elevator ride. After descending from the Tower, we hung out in the Parc du Champ de Mars (Martial Field) between the tower and the Military School. It was a beautiful day, so we took the opportunity to lounge around the park and take in the magnitude and beauty of the Eiffel Tower.
I’ll pick up with our other excursions later this week. I’d like to say I’d do it tomorrow, but tomorrow is my first day back to work after being off the office internet and phone grid for two weeks, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll have. As always, thanks for following along!

Winding down

Sorry about not being able to post for a while. Never take for granted how good we have it to have our own computers back in the States! Since the last post, we went down to the city of Blois and visited some chateuxs then made our way back up to London where we are right now. We are on our way out to the airport for the flight back across the pond today. Once I'm a little settled in back home, I'll continue the story of our trip and post some pictures. Maybe I can convince Andy and Alexis to each to a post summarizing their experiences also!

Louvre is huge, Mono Lisa is tiny!

That pretty much sums up the reactions of Andy and Alexis as we hit the Louvre Museum first thing this morning. Although it had been 10 years since I had last been there, I knew that I should take them to the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo sculpture right off the bat before the crowds got rediculous. Just like everyone else that sees the Mona Lisa for the first time, they couldn't believe how small the painting actually is. We split up after that and toured the sections of the Louvre that interested each of us. I've always had an attraction to Greek and Roman sculptures as well as Italian and Spanish paintings, so that's where I spent the majority of my time. I actually got the audo guide this time and learned so much more about my favorite pieces than I'd ever read. We were at the museum from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., so it was a full on day!

After the Louvre, we headed down the river to Notre Dame cathedral. Once again, I was awestruck by the stained glass windows as were Alexis and Andy. We took tons of pictures, but I'm on the internet in the hostel that doesn't allow me to access pictures. I hope my commentary isn't too boring without visuals! Alexis has posted a comment on one of the previous posts, so go back and check those out.

After Notre Dame, I thought it would be cool to show them Monte Marte. I remembered it to be a cool, Bohemian feeling part of town with mimes and a circus atmosphere. So, we took the metro to the closest stop I could identify on our map. I started getting uneasy when I noticed all the graffiti in the metro stop, but we pressed on and headed up to the street. I thought that the neighborhood was a little sketchy just because we were so close to the metro stop and there was a huge open air market going on. So, we walked a few blocks and tried to figure out where the Monte Marte Bascillica was located. My stomach started knotting up as I realized I had just brought two 18 year olds to the ghetto of Paris! OK, let's turn around and get back on the metro. I was thinking a couple of stops later we'd be where we wanted to be, but that stop was just as sketchy, so we scrapped the whole idea and went back to the river front for dinner. Alexis wanted to know why I had turned us around so quickly and left and I replied with This is where you're parents were worried I might bring yall! So, not to worry parents at home. . . we experienced the bad parts of town and made it out OK!!! With that part over with, we're home free now!!!

Tomorrow, we leave paris and head for the Loire region. Hopefully, we'll get internet acces with photo downloading there!

Ferries, Beaches, & Towers

A few apologies right off the bat. . . excuse the spelling (French keyboards have letters in different places!), excuse the tardiness (haven,t had internet access in a while and it's costing 5 dollars for 30 minutes right now), and for all that money, I can't post pictures!

From where we left off. . . we took an overnight ferry from Portsmouth, England to Caen, France. The ferry ride was great; the room was tiny, but we had our own cabin with a bathroom (most luxurious ferry accomodations I've ever had!). Therewas a full moon and the xater was perfectly calm. Alexis and I got up at 4:00 am and watched the sun rise over the English channel. Boyh Andy and Alexis were dumbfounded over the size of the ferry (there were several shops and a couple of restaurants in addition to all the 18 wheelers we saw drive on before we left).

Once we arrived in port in France, the adventure really began. Specifically, Andy and Alexis made it through customs fine, but I was detqined by French authorities! No, they didn't have records from my Navy days, they just didn't like my passport. On a similar backpacking trip I8 made alone in 1997, I was robbed at a trainstation and relieved of my passport. The temporary one I was issued at the American embassy in the Czeck ,Republic got extended by the Navy and has been my permanent passport for the last 9 years. My unusual looking passport has caused delays before, but not even the Chinese detained me! After sufficient posturing by the French authorities and adequate tongue holding by me, I was finally stamped into France with an admonishment to replace the passport ASAP.

D Day Beaches. We stayed in a great little town called Bayeux where we based ourselves to explore the beaches and museums. We saw an original 11th century tapestry and Andy had what he's deemed "the best ice cream and sandwiches he's ever had"! The only word I can use to describe the experience of standing on the beach at Normandy is INTENSE. I'm not gonna lie and say I did't shed a tear at the Americazn cemetary at Omaha beach. I took off my shoes and waded into the waters at that infamous beach. I did it not just because I am always drawn to large bodies of water, but also because I needed a sensory connection with the men who fought and died on those beaches. It was unsettling to see a handful of sunbathers on the beach; it just didn't seem right to be recreating on such sacred ground.

Paris. I thought Alexis was going to jump out of her skin during the 2.5 hour train ride from Bayeux to Paris! Andy had no particular destinations in mind as we planned this trip, but Alexis had been waiting to see Paris for several years. As we pulled into the train station, I wish I could've had my camera ready when she looked at me and asked with some trepidation, "This is Paris?" After having pulled into many different train stations in many different cities, it has been my experience that they are all pretty much the same from the tracks; graffiti and gargage strewn. It was worth it though to see her face absolutly light up when she got her first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower loomong over the ,Seine River as our metro carried us to the center of the city. We've been non stop ever since. I introduced them both to chocolate Nutella crepes (remember those Mom?!). We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, xatched the cracy traffic go round the Arc d'Triumph, toured the palaces of Versaille, and took in some Impressionist masterpieces at thr Museum d'Orsay. So tonight, we had xashed down steak with red wine and are calling it an early evening. We're gearing up for a big day at the Louve tomorrow!

Time starts here

Friday was a day of education. We started off at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. This is where the problem of maritime navigation was largely solved. From this observatory, the constellations were meticulously recorded and mapped for mariners to use in determining longitude. The prime meridian, 0 degrees longitude, runs right through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. We actually stood over the prime meridian with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the western hemisphere! This is also where Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or Zulu time for my militry friends, starts. The museum was packed with astrology and chronography history and exhibits.

Our next stop of the day was the Natural History Museum. We were awestruck by the building as we were approaching it from the underground system. The first picture is of the inside of the Museum. We spent several hours exploring interactive exhibits and enjoying the diversity of so many collections. After the museum, we went in search of the ultimate English meal- fish and chips! We found it at the Cambridge Pub and Restaurant. The green stuff next to the fish and chips is mashed green peas. I thought it was yummy, but Alexis was not impressed! Andy ate "sausage & mash" which was large breakfast sausages over mashed potatos swimming in a brown gravy. Not to worry, parents of my travel companions, that beer next to the plate is mine!

It's amazing how easily we skoot around this city. Andy had the underground (subway) system figured out as soon as we got on it. Alexis is getting more confident by the day on getting us from point A to point B and has a really good sense of direction. Hostel living isn't always conducive to a good nights sleep, but both of them have been enjoying everything about this adventure. It's been great watching them start to recognize and appreciate the differences between here and the U.S. I don't think either one of them will ever take water for granted again- there are no public water fountains, and pretty much no free water. If you want it, you have to pay a good bit for bottled water (tap water is mostly safe, but tastes aweful).

Today we leave London. We're taking a train down to the harbor town of Portsmouth and taking an overnight ferry across the English channel to Caen. My next post should be from France!

Cycling in the English countryside

After a decent cup of coffee (not as good as Ravens Nest though), we took off for Salisbury. It's a town about a 1.5 hour train ride away. The train ride was nice, our first glimpse of the English countryside. As we glided along the tracks, we talked and dozed. I opened my eyes and looked out the window to see at which terminal we were stopped. Wake up, this is our stop! We jumped off and headed towards the center of town. We found a bike shop that rented mountain bikes and started our 9km bike ride through rolling English countryside to Stonehenge. Everyone told us that the hype was much more moving than the actual rocks, but it's one of those things you've got to see for yourself. After seeing the 5000 year old rock arrangement, we all agreed that in this case, the journey was just as good as the destination. We really enjoyed the scenic ride and were very happy we did it. We hadn't gotten to the bike rental shop until just around lunch and we have to have the bikes back by 5:00 p.m., so we had to pick up the pace a bit on the way back. We rolled into the bike shop at 4:55 p.m! I hate being on a deadline when I'm on vacation!

So, today's a new day and we're off to see a little more of London itself. We're not sure how much longer we'll stay in England, we'll see how today goes and if we are moved to head towards France yet or not.

Hey, they speak English!

Wow, what a trip so far! I'm using the internet in our hostel, but I can't download pictures on it, so you'll just have to be satisfied with my commentary. I wanted Alexis and Andy to add a few comments of their own, but they're both still sleeping right now (it's 8:00 a.m.). The first day is always a struggle since I can't sleep on a plane because of my neck (I know, I'm gettiing old!) and the first whole day is spent battling fatigue since you don't want to fall asleep before a decent bedtime on the new time zone. Andy and Alexis have been great travel partners so far. All day long, even though we were all a little cranky from lack of sleep, we all seemed to be on the same page about what we wanted to see and do.

As soon as we arrived in downtown London after a 45 minute metro ride from the airport, we got coffees and evaluated our next move. I think the lady sitting next to Alexis on the flight got her nervous that we wouldn't be able to find a place to sleep since we didn't already have reservations, so our first move was to find some lodging for the next few nights. While waiting for the Information Office (the European version of a tourist office) to open, we strolled along St. James Park over to Bukdingham palace. This was where the real test of our packing skills came into play because we still were sporting our full-sized backpacks while strolling around!

Buckingham Palace is spectacular from the outside, but we couldn't tour inside the gates since it's only open from July to September. We couldn't try our hand at distracting the guards since they were inside the gates! Back at the Information Office, we found a youth hostel without an age limit (they usually cap "youths" at 35 years old!) at which to stay for the next 3 nights. London is rediculously expensive ($100 = £55) and it cost £19 a night for a bunk bed in a room of four people with a bathroom down the hall. We lucked out though, and it's only the 3 of us in our room.

We rounded off our first day in London by checking out Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliment, Big Bend, Shakespear's Globe Theater, and London and Tower Bridges. We spent much of the day exploring the banks of the River Thames, so we stopped by Waterloo Pier where the huge ferris wheel is (I forgot the official name of it). It's gigantic, and looked like great fun to ride, but it cost £30 to ride (over $60 US), so we passed on it. Alexis and Andy made it through the first half of the Shakespearean play Titus Andronicus at the Globe Theater, but I was falling asleep standing up, so I went outside and visited with one of the theater volunteers. It's not too hard to stay awake when you're moving around, it's when you stop that the struggle with exhaustion gets fierce! If our first day in London was any indication of how our trip will flow, we're in for a great vacation. Even after being awake for well over 24 hours, we all got along very well and were willing to roll with the punches!

That's our first day in a nutshell. If I can find another computer later that will allow me to post pictures, I'll add some. We'll see what Day 2 brings now!

Cinque Terre

In the north western part of Italy, the land meets the Mediterranean in a coastal region known as Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre (Five Lands) is actually five cliffside villages along the coast between two major promontories (points of land that jut out into the sea). The villages are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. I had come here after the Torino Olympic meetings in May, but after being land-locked for so long and having just lived in a major, polluted metropolis for the last month, I decided I needed to see the sea! The weather wasn’t cooperating much when we first arrived in Manarola (where we stayed in a hostel), but cleared up after a storm passed through during the night. Although the exact date of establishment of the villages isn’t known, the church in Manarola dates back to the 1300s.

We woke up to a slightly chilly, but clear blue day and started hiking from village to village. The trail from Manarola to Riomaggiore is pretty much a stone sidewalk hanging over the water and is an easy 20 minute stroll. Parts of the walkway are covered and you can see amazing views of the water through arch shaped openings. This walkway is called Via Del’ Amore (Lovers’ Pathway) and has benches all along it for sitting and gazing out over the sea. The trails between all the other villages are a little more rugged, so one section was closed off due to the potential for landslides. The others were open once the sun came out, so we hiked the two remaining trails.

The trails twist, turn, climb and descend through olive and lemon orchards and family vineyards and vegetable crops. Some parts are literally along residents’ “backyards.” All along the hills are fasce, narrow strips of land on the hillside for terraced cultivation. Boundaries and stabilization are established by 2 meter high stone walls called muretti. This network of stone walls are 11,000 km long (about 6800 miles) and requires constant maintenance. I can’t imagine the amount of effort it’s taken over the years to establish this type of farming in such an inhospitable landscape and how much work it takes now to keep it going. It’s comforting to know that there is a certain amount of hard-headedness required to live along coastal areas, no matter where in the world they are!

At the end of our day of hiking, we made the 4.5 hour train journey back up to Torino. This seaside stop did wonders for my disposition, but didn’t do much for my desire to return to the city. Now that I’m back though, it’s good to be here to get things rolling for the Paralympics.

Siena

Amid cold and rainy weather, we traveled by bus from Perugia to another hillside town in Umbria called Siena. It’s a well-preserved, medieval city in the Tuscany region. The Piazza del Campo is a novelty in Italy – it’s a shell-shaped piazza (plaza). On one side of the piazza is a 289-foot bell tower, the Torre di Mangia. I’m writing this post 3 days after climbing to the very top of the bell tower and my calves are still sore, but the climb was so worth the view! After taking in the city from this bird’s eye view, we went back down to the piazza and hung out for a bit eating gelato and admiring the Fonte Gaia (Fountain of Joy). All around the piazza are restaurants and pottery shops. Several regions in Italy have their own trademark style of pottery painting and one of my favorites is of bright yellow lemons that is common to the Tuscan region. They also paint lots of sunshines too! The Duomo in Siena is an enormous black and white stone cathedral that construction begun on in 1150. Unfortunately, they still aren’t quite done yet and the cathedral was wrapped in canvas and scaffolding.

The hilly region of land between Siena and Florence is known as Chianti. For those of you who are red wine lovers, this is the Garden of Eden! Some of the best wines of Italy are produced in the Chianti region and bear the same name. I had a so-so dinner in Siena that was more than made up for by the excellent Chianti Classico that accompanied it. Maybe I was just being too hard on the restaurant since I had just experienced Tita and Nonie’s cooking! The olive oils and wines in this region make a simple afternoon ritual of a drink and snack before dinner a dining experience all its own, so dinner itself wasn’t a total loss.

Umbrian Cooking Class

In typical Karen travel fashion, I decided a couple of days before jumping on a train that I wanted to take a cooking class in a smaller, hill-side Italian city. Robyn was a good sport in this spontaneous travel planning and trusted that things would work out. And man, did it work out! I called the number on the UmbriaCooks4U website to see if they would give a class for only 2 people and on only 2 days notice. I was a little worried that communication would be a problem when a very Italian voice answered the phone “Pronto.”. . . "Um, do you speak English?" Instantly, the voice changes to the Bronx-laden English of Nonie, half owner of this cooking experience endeavor. "Only 2 people? And day after tomorrow? Let me check with the chef, but I think it’ll be OK." A couple of phone calls later, we’re all set. On the train to Perugia, Robyn asks what we’ll be cooking. “You know- typical Umbrian food” I answer kind of vaguely. In other words, I have no idea!

Nonie calls us the night before to make sure we know where she’ll pick us up. Perugia is full of one-way streets and no-traffic, pedestrian throughways, so she makes us do a run through so we can call her ahead of time if we have any problems. The next day, she picks us up in her yellow Panda (not the yellow Honda we were looking for) and whisks us away to Tita’s hillside home surrounded by olive trees (we used olive oil from these trees during our cooking) and one of the biggest Rosemary bushes I’ve ever seen! It was winter and she was having some work done to the outside of the house and wasn’t happy that we would see her home that way. The house and the view were unbelievable, renovations and everything.

So, before I launch into the play-by-play of our cooking class, let me give you some background on Nonie and Tita’s friendship. Nonie, a native New Yorker, came to Perugia in the 70s to study Italian language (Aunt Ruth, I could totally see you in her stories!). In the process she met her future husband and became fast friends with Tita. Although Nonie went back to the States for a few years to finish school, she’s basically lived, and raised her family, in Perugia ever since. Tita is the chef and didn’t speak much English (though I think she understood every word said!) and Nonie is the interpreter/story-teller/dishwasher. The duration and depth of their friendship throughout love, life, and kids is apparent and deepens the whole cooking experience.

I guess I should tell yall what we cooked, huh?

Antipasti (Hors d'oeuvre)
Torta al Testo con Proscuitto Nostrale
(Flat bread with Umbrian ham)

Torta al Testo con Stracchino e rucola
(Flat bread with soft cheese and rucola)

Bruschette al Pecorino con olive all' orancia fatte in casa
(Sheeps' milk cheese bruschetta and olives seasoned with orange peels)

Cestino di Parmigiano alle Pere
(Parmesan cheese baskets with pears)

Primi (First Course)
Pasta e Ceci Tiepida
(Chickpea soup with pasta)

Carbonara di Zucchini
(Egg sauce with zucchini [over tortollini])

Secondi (Meat)
Straccetti all' alloro
(Veal strips with laural [bayleaf]

Fagiolini in forma
(Baked stringbeans [in Béchamel sauce])

Dolci (Dessert)
Torini Fondenti al Cioccolato
(Melting chocolate mold)

Gelato
(Tita's yummy homemade icecream!)

Frutta di stagione
(Seasonal fruits)

Vino (Wine)
Vini rossi e bianchi tipici DOC Umri
(Red and white Umbrian DOC wines)

Vino Passito
(Sweet wine)

Caffe' (Coffee)
(Espresso)



So, we set out looking for an authentic Italian cooking experience and that’s exactly what we got. We cooked in Tita’s home kitchen. It was definitely a chef’s kitchen, but not an industrial one. Her son was home from school and taking a nap while we were cooking and came out later to see what we were cooking and to chat for a bit. At the end of dinner, Tita’s husband came home from work and contributed to the lively table discussion. By the end of the whole experience, we had Tita and Nonie showing us photos from when they first became friends and some of the family vacations they’ve taken together over the years. We got more than an authentic Umbrian cooking class, we got two wonderful, talented women opening their homes and lives to us in a way that made us feel more like friends than cooking students. I can honestly say - this day was the highlight of my stay in Italy.

Perugia

My original plan for the Olympic-Paralympic break was to go down to Rome for 4-5 days of art and ruins sightseeing. After a month in the pollution and traffic of Torino, however, I just couldn’t bring myself to go to another city with more than a couple hundred thousand people. The rainy, overcast weather didn’t exactly light a piazza-touring fire in me, so I got on the internet and found a cooking class in an ancient hill-top town called Perugia in Umbria (just below Tuscany). My friend and co-worker, Robyn, is also staying on for the Paralympic Games, so she came with me on my jaunt to central Italy.

We went to Perugia the day before the cooking class was scheduled and explored the ruins of an enormous 16th century citadel. Not only is the city built around this massive structure, it takes advantage of the numerous caverns and corridors within it with a sort of underground shopping/arts center. Being a hillside town, there are never-ending mazes of stairs and steeply inclining walkways (notice the people in the picture by the building for perspective on the stairs). We were beginning to think this must be the most in-shape population we’ve ever encountered if they are able to navigate this landscape everyday- especially carrying groceries. We got suspicious when someone gave us directions using the “escalators” as a landmark. Is that the Italian word for stairs we wondered? As it turns out, the city is also full of outdoor, American mall-type, covered escalators!

On this trip, I introduced Robyn to the joys of backpack traveling by finding us a place to stay at a youth hostel in the middle of the town. OK, I can hear some of you chuckling under your breath from here at the “youth” part of hostel! No, there’s no age limit and they let me stay!! We stayed in a historic old building with frescoed ceilings, a community kitchen, and amazing views of the city and Umbrian hills. You can tell a lot about a person by the guide book in which they are traveling from. If you see someone clutching a Fodor’s, AAA, or Rick Steve’s guidebook, you can be pretty sure they are traveling with roll-type, handled luggage and either rent cars or take taxis most of the time to get where they need to go. There’s nothing wrong with traveling that way, but I myself am a Lonely Planet type of traveler – low maintenance, low budget! This means I don’t mind staying in a hostel, which are places that rent rooms with bunkbeds and house same-gender travelers in the same rooms. They almost always have down-the-hall bathrooms, communal lounges and kitchens, and are always dirt-cheap compared to hotels in the area (15 euros vs 40 euros per person per night)). Levels of cleanliness vary, but for the most part they are always safe and tidy. The major drawback, or benefit depending on how road-weary you are, is that every other English speaking backpacker also has a Lonely Planet guidebook from which they are traveling. It's fun to meet up with Aussies and Brits to hear about their travels, but you're not meeting the locals of the country you're in by doing this.

There’s a good deal of flexibility and patience required with this type of travel (I’m hearing that chuckling again with the word “patience” being used in the same sentence with Karen!). I like the adventurous aspect of this type of travelling. There's a certain amount of personal satisfaction that comes from being able to figure out public transport in a foreign language. For me, taking a taxi is like admitting defeat and that I couldn't figure it out! I suppose at some point I'll outgrow this type of travel and prefer a hotel room with towels and sheets included, but for now (and with the right travel partners!), this is still fun for me. I have to admit though. . . room service sounds pretty good sometimes too!

Also part of the backpacking experience is navigating a city and public transport with your backpack. I try to be as much as a minimalist as possible when I travel, but this is winter traveling! I still managed to stuff a week's worth of winter clothing into a medium-sized backpack. When we arrived in Perugia’s train station and inquired as to the direction of the ostella (hostel), we were told that since it was a 3km, uphill journey, we should take a bus to the center of town. "No, that’s OK, just point us in the direction of the center and we’ll walk". After a few glances of confusion followed by amusement then envy, Robyn and I strolled the mile and a half up-hill to the town center. Who’s chuckling at this 38 year old now?!

That’s it for now, I have to go see how much work piled up while I was away, but I’ll post about my cooking class experience later today!

Back from vacation

It's 10:30 p.m. and I just got back from 5 days of vacation (because you can tell from my posts that my life is all work here!). I'll do a post in the morning when I'm fresh and attempt to bring yall up to date on my latest adventures.