Friday, May 1, 2015

Egyptian Musuem Torino

Before I was back at work, I would love to take random day trips.  One morning I decided to hop the train to Torino and check out the Egyptian Museum.  If you ever get and chance and you love Egyptian artifacts, it is a wonderful experience! Here are a few pictures from the day....













Roma Round 3

It has been way too long since I have worked on the blog!  But I am back to being a working girl (yay!!!) instead of a stay at home dog mom soaking up the Italian life so I have a lot less time on my hands.  ;-)  Ok, onwards to the important stuff, let's talk about Rome.....

Matt has not had the chance to see Rome yet.  Yeah, I know, we have now lived in Italy over a year and I have heard so many times "How has he not been to Rome yet?!"  Well, we do a lot of hiking, skiing, and our interests have been more towards the smaller, less known towns of this beautiful country.


In February (yup this proves how far behind I am!) we hopped the train in Arona to Milan Centrale then to Rome with our friend Dustin.  We had a jam packed 3 day weekend scheduled, which started off with a full day bicycle tour with a company called "The Red Bicycle."  The morning began with a full tour of Rome so we rode past the colosseum, Trevi fountain (which is still under construction), Jewish Ghetto, etc.  The afternoon was a great countryside tour of the ancient Roman Road and the catacombs.  Even though this is my third time to Rome, there is so much to see and do, that this trip allowed me to incorporate several things I haven't had a chance to see yet such as the Jewish Ghetto. And what better way to see it then on a bike?

Matt and Dustin in front of the Pantheon

View of the Forum from above

View of the Forum from the outside

Matt, me, and Dustin in front of the Catacombs

Matt and me in front of the Catacombs
Biking near the acquaducts






Saturday morning we were up bright and early for a 7:30 AM Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basicalla tour, which by the way is completely worth it!  It is nice to view the Sistine Chapel without being elbow to elbow with people.  We were told there were 7 million visitors last year! Wow!!  I have a lot of pictures from my previous trips, but there were just a few I couldn't resist taking this time.


What i like about this one, is it is an old map of Italy and it has our town, Arona on it! So cool...


You know you aren't supposed to actually touch anything at the Vatican, right? Right, Matt? Matt?....


Saturday afternoon was spent viewing the Forum and Palatine Hill. 
Sunday morning we took an underground tour of the Colosseum (again I recommend this!) and we took the steps up to Emmanuel Vittoria monument for beautiful views of the city before we headed back home on the train. 






Ciao, Ciao, Roma!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The start of French Pastry lessons with Madeleines!

My latest adventure in cooking is about to begin with French Pastries!  Wednesday afternoon I had my first taste of Madeleines (a shell sponge cake). I can't wait for the eclaires, croissants, tartes,.....

Just out of the oven!


Perfect with a spot of tea!

Bon Appetit!!

Friday, February 13, 2015

Temu, a week of skiing at New Years

Skiing at New Years in Italy is tough on the wallet!  I searched high and low for a ski resort town that was either a little less known or a hotel that was reasonable (most famous places were about 350-500 Euro a night and definitely not in our budget!).  I came across a small town, Temu, Northeast of us that actually had some very reasonably priced hotel rooms so off we went with our friends Ashely, Steve, Melissa, and Brian for a week long trip at New Years Eve.

Matt and Me

Steve, Brian, Me, and Matt
 I love this group photo on the 6 person ski lift!  Great job Steve (I hope it is ok I stole your photo).


Matt got a new toy for his birthday so I put together a quick GoPro video:














For dinner, we participated in Raclette, which is a block of cheese next to a heating element and you scrap the cheese onto your plate when it is ready.  They bring you plates of meats you grill yourself on a hot stone and breads to eat with the cheese. It is kind of like fondue without the pot.  Bellisimo!



New Years eve was spent playing a little Cards Against Humanity and partaking in a few beverages.


It is very common in Italy to light paper lanterns on New Years Eve and send them floating off in the sky.


Matt, Sasha, and I on a hike!  Quick Sasha update for those of you who know her, she is still doing great 6 months later and it is unbelievable!  She still struggles with the stairs a bit, but she still loves traveling with us.  We don't take her on strenuous hikes anymore, but we still try to bring her as much happiness as we can, while we can.  Thanks to Ashely and Melissa for letting me stay out to ski while you took Sasha out midday for potty breaks! :-)



Across the street from our hotel, was a great museum about World War 1 from the perspective of Northern Italy, which they called the "White War", because it was fought from the mountain tops that line the country.  It was fascinating to see their struggles with getting large equipment, such as cannons, to the top of the mountain.  Some of the men fighting were from the south so they had to learn how to hike in the snow, because it was their first experience with snow.


Pulley system created to bring sick animals, food, etc. up and down the mountain





Some of the old barracks are still intact on the mountain and this one was disassembled and reassembled in the museum to show what life was like on the mountain top:

museum front






Happy New Year, Everyone!  May 2015 be filled with new, exciting adventures!