Best Books of 2012

At Christmas last year my mom bought me a Kindle. I was so excited to use it to read books I wouldn't be able to find in print in English here in Italy.

I joined Shelfari and started reading right away. I set a goal for myself on the site to read 50 books in 2012. In October, I had met that goal and I increased it to 60. I really like to finish things, so I was really motivated by the goal I had set. It sounds funny to say, but I am so proud of myself for meeting this goal.

So, during 2012, I read 60 books. #61 is underway now.

And I wanted to share some of my favorite books I read this year.

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

This is quite a story. Walls' memoir grabs you from the beginning and keeps you turning the pages. I loved the story and hated the life that the Walls children were forced to live growing up. As a teacher, I found the story to be an inside window into the lives some of our students are forced to lead.




The Daughter of Siena by Marina Fiorato

I loved this book. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it since it was set in the 1700s, but with the twists and turns in the plot, there were surprises in every page.




Hunger Games (Book 1) by Suzanne Collins

Ok, I must admit, this was so addicting. Started it one night and couldn't put it down. Loved the storyline, with an element of societal control flashing back to The Giver and 1984. Even though the ending was predictable, I enjoyed every minute of it!




The Divorce Party by Laura Dave

So fun! A few great twists along the way to keep you interested.








The White Masai by Corinne Hoffman

Great book! True story of a Swiss woman's love affair with a Masai warrior in Kenya. Read it in 24 hours- couldn't put it down!



Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich
Ten Big Ones

So, I'm up to number 15 of these books, but number ten has been my favorite! Stephanie and Lula's adventures are a sure fire way to laugh so hard you'll cry.


Suggestions for books to read in 2013? Leave your favorite books in the comments!

#lucky?

The other day someone mentioned how lucky I was...

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by JD Hancock:
http://flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/7175331883/

Lucky to live in Italy? Travel around Europe so regularly?

I've been thinking about this for a few days now. 

I don't think the life I currently live has much to do with luck. 

The life I live is possible because of the choices I made and the hard work that led up to it. 

Lucky to have these opportunities? Perhaps. But only because I worked hard to make them happen. 

“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” 
― Thomas Jefferson

Christmas Cheer!

sunrise at school last week

There was one long weekend left before the Christmas break and I wanted to get another taste of the Christmas markets. Last year, I spend several days in Munich checking out the markets there. This year, I flew back to Munich, but spent my days in nearby cities- Nuremberg and Salzburg.

Nuremberg was a nice mix of old and new. There was an old European feel, with a modern vibe and shops. It was cold, and somewhat windy. I didn't get a chance to see much of the historic elements that Nuremberg is known for...perhaps another time around.

church in Nuremberg

market goodies

I also went to Salzburg, Austria. It's just a train ride away from Munich. It was really cold in Salzburg. And it snowed the entire time I was there. Which was beautiful and annoying all at the same time! I'd like to go back to Salzburg when the temperatures are warmer and do the whole "Sound of Music" sightseeing thing. It seems like a beautiful city, but I was just too cold to try and really see the sights.

Salzburg markets

from a square looking up at the castle

Today, it's been snowing here in Opera and we were lucky enough to have a snow day! It's almost three o'clock and I'm still in my pajamas! I love it! Just the kind of day you're supposed to have with the weather the way it is! Soup's on the stove and I've been having a film fest! 

I'm back in the US in one week!

The trees looked so nice this morning!

Thanksgiving in Prague

Another Turkey Day away from the States.

It's sad not to be with my family, eating some favorite Thanksgiving trimmings, but since I can't be there I'm happy that there is always a great travel destination a plane ride away.

This year I traveled to Prague, with some of our new teachers that arrived in August. I had heard that Prague had Starbucks and bagels, so this made Prague an excellent destination. I was not disappointed. I had bagels for breakfast most mornings and Starbucks lattes multiple times. Yum!

Enjoying my first Toffee Nut Latte
of the trip!

Twice while in Prague I ate traditional beef goulash with dumplings. It was pretty delicious. The beef was made with my favorite "stringy beef" and I was happy to try the traditional food.

Goulash #2- these dumplings were better than the 1st!

Another highlight of visiting Prague was getting to see Breaking Dawn 2 in English. The theaters in Milan have been showing it in Italian but my Italian is still pretty rough. In Prague, it played in English with Czech subtitles. I was so happy to get to see it before heading back to the States.

Breaking Dawn poster in Czech

So, onto things actually related to the city of Prague! We spent Friday and Saturday touring the city and its various quarters. The "Old Town" area was very nice. We wandered through those streets several times. There were a lot of souvenir shops! It felt harder to find handcrafted gifts here than in other places, but I did have a lead on a jewelry store where I could buy Bohemian garnets, so a few people are getting this under the tree this year!

Prague still shows evidence of it's communist past. Many of the buildings were cold and stark and felt very industrial. It wasn't a city that was warm and friendly like some other European cities seem to be. I wonder if my opinion would vary if I visited during the warmer months.

My favorite thing about Prague was that it was in the Czech Republic and everything says CZ! I bought stickers and magnets with my initials, which aren't always the easiest to come by!

A Trip to Scandinavia!

When I first moved to Europe over a year ago now, I never realized exactly how much traveling I would be lucky enough to do. I'm up to 15 countries that I've visited during my thirty five years. This trip to Scandinavia added two more. 

Copenhagen is only a two hour direct flight from Milan, so it was easy enough to make a journey here for our first long weekend of the year! (Waiting until November 1 for that took a really long time!) We rented an apartment through the AirBNB website. It had a pretty good location because it was within just a few minutes walk to a metro station and we navigated around the city fairly easily. There was a nice bakery on the way from the apartment to the metro that we stopped at each morning. The Danish had a better selection of "danish" to choose from than we see in Italy- surprise! So delicious!

Eating Danish in the metro station! Our morning routine!

The money in Copenhagen was difficult to adjust to because the amount are so much larger. One euro was worth about 7 kroner, so I spent my week dividing everything roughly by that number to guesstimate how much it really costs. Out one evening for drinks, the bill totaled 140 dkk! Thank goodness that wasn't in euros, since it was only three drinks! Denmark was much friendlier towards credit and debit cards than Italy is and that helped out a lot!

Danish kroner

The local brewery, Carlsberg, produces Christmas beers each year. While we were in Copenhagen the seasonal beers were released. The bars have parties to celebrate and a lot of people over indulge. We sampled the Tuborg and Jacobsen version and enjoyed a few glasses. It was great to experience a local event like that!

Christmas beer!

Since Malmo is only a 30 minute train ride away we were able to add Sweden to the countries visited list. We went on Saturday only to discover that it was a Swedish holiday and most shops were closed. Note to self- always check for local holidays when traveling! We wandered around for a bit, took some photographic evidence of having been there, had a great lunch, and headed back to Denmark. The girls almost left me behind when my credit card and debit card options all failed to work in the ticket machine to get back to Copenhagen. Thankfully, Kate came to my rescue and helped by my ticket!

Overall, Copenhagen was a great place to visit. The hardest part for us seemed to be finding places to eat- it was all seemingly expensive or too nice a place in your sightseeing clothes or take out- so that required a little navigating. While Copenhagen is a budding scene for major foodies, eating weird ingredients is not part of my regular dietary plan, so I like to stick to most of what I can identify! The best part of Copenhagen also involved food. Kate and I found this great market on Sunday afternoon that was very reminiscent of Madrid's Mercado di San Miguel, where each vendor serves and sells different things and you can buy portions of any size. We wandered through here that afternoon and indulged in some hummus for our lunch! So good! 

A favorite picture of Copenhagen, edited in Instagram.
Rosenborg Slot

If I get another opportunity to travel to the Scandinavian region, I want to go during the summer! While the weather wasn't terrible, it was a bit cold and rainy and gray! I like seeing the sun more!

The sun did come out on our last day! A view of Copenhagen from the Round Tower.

Today Kate and I are going to Florence for the night and I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving in Prague. I've heard it's a great city! And, of course, the countdown is on for Christmas break! We're under five weeks now!

Absolut Love.

During my recent trip to Verona, I happened upon this button. It seems so appropriate for the city in which Shakespeare's love story, Romeo and Juliet, is based.

Verona is a great city. It's like a smaller version of Rome. It has an arena, reminiscent of Rome's Colosseum and the overall feel of the city is similar too. We hadn't planned on spending our Sunday here but a train strike kept us from traveling from Verona to Vicenza. The joys of strikes in Italy...I swear they happen ALL the TIME!

I took one of my favorite photos in Verona. Lately, I've been taking pictures with only my iPhone and playing with the light using the ProCamera app. This picture I edited in Instagram. I posted one version to Facebook, but here's another.

Verona...on a drizzly Sunday morning

This iPhoneography fun is causing me some problems. I take so many versions of the same shot I can't decide which to use. The solution has become not to decide, which results in a lack of blog posts and photo sharing on Facebook. Here is one I like from later in the day.

Verona...the weather having improved

We also did the tourist thing and checked out Juliet's house. We went early so that it wouldn't be too crowded and checked out the balcony, wall of locks, and, of course, the gift shop!

From the courtyard of Juliet's house

This weekend trip in early October began in Mantova, a town about an hour south of Verona. This town is famous for its zucca (pumpkin) dishes, so I was desperate to feast on these delights. Mantova was a nice small town. Kate and I wandered through churches and markets. We happened upon a vendor, who I'm convinced must do "As Seen on TV" advertising. He would be perfect. What do you think?

Kate, considering the kitchen tool that would make her zucchini into spaghetti!

So, back to the zucca. In Mantova, we ate at a busy place that was along a touristy street. It was probably not our best decision. We ordered a cheese plate that I'm pretty sure came from the local grocery store, nothing worth remembering. And, we each had the tortelli di zucca in a butter and sage sauce. It was rather disappointing overall. Perhaps, I'm becoming too selective in my zucca preferences.

The zucca in Mantova...only okay, unfortunately.

While in Verona we ate at a restaurant that also had tortelli di zucca on the menu. So. Much. Better.

The zucca in Verona...looks way more homemade than the Mantova version!

Arrivederci tutti! I promise to work on my pictures from Copenhagen and post about last weekend's trip soon!

A Day in Milano

Today I decided was the day to cross off a long awaited item on the "Must Do While Living in Milan" to-do list...

I climbed the Duomo...you know, the huge, monstrous, gothic cathedral in the heart of Milan.

 Some rights reserved by ci_polla

It never gets old, every time you set foot in the piazza, the sheer amazement you feel looking at this church.

Here are some shots from the day!

After the Duomo, tried out the Luini's Panzerotti shop. Holy cow! It's like a Bella's breadstick stuffed with pizza sauce and mozzarella! Yum!

And, finally, a stop at the SuperPolo grocery store for some of my favorite and most necessary baking ingredients!

So, now, a challenge! Anyone want to guess what these five cans cost here in Euros? I'll look for  your guesses in the comments!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on a post a few weeks ago! Love when everyone does!

Happy Fall Y'all!

One of these things is not like the other...

Time to catch everyone up on two recent events!

Last Tuesday, I went to La Scala for the first time. La Scala is a world-renowned opera house that has been around since the late 1700's. We went to hear the La Scala Symphony Orchestra play Robert Schumann's Symphony n. 4 and Johannes Brahms' Symphony n. 1. Of course, I know nothing about symphonies or classical music and kept wishing there were visuals to go along with the music. Since there were not, I was forced to notice the following things about some of the musicians...

• There was a handsome bass player, who looked to be the inspiration for Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.
• One of the French horn players appeared to wear one of those glasses, nose and mustache get-ups. Except I don't think he was wearing any of it as a joke. This guy was also dumping spit out of his instrument constantly!
• Brahms clearly didn't write enough notes for the trombone players in his piece...they looked incredibly bored! 

Here are some images from the night.

what we were there to hear-

Kate and I in our "box"

There are seats on the floor and then boxes all around

the chandelier and ceiling

more boxes; the really fancy one had only one person in it

the orchestra and guest conductor

In complete contrast to the regal and prim feel of La Scala was my weekend trip to Oktoberfest. My friend,. Elizabeth, from the Boston job fair lives in Munich and was gracious enough to put me up on her couch for the weekend. Saturday morning we got up super early and arrived at the festival grounds by 7:30 AM. We waited in line outside the Ox tent until about 8:30 when they started letting everyone in. Everyone seemed to behave well while waiting in line, though as soon as they allowed anyone in the line became a can of sardines in which we were all packed too tightly! But, once in the tent, we snagged a table for our group of 15 and sat down. It seems that if you want a table, this is the only way to go about things. Pretzels are being sold as you sit, and the first beers arrived by 9 AM. As you see in the pictures, everything was giant- the pretzels and the beer. This tent served ox, and while I was hesitant to try it, I just went with it and it was just like eating roast beef. It was served with the most delicious German potato salad, and, of course, washed down with a liter of German beer. 

After awhile a band started playing and people started standing on the benches and singing along. It was a lot of fun, especially when the tunes were American songs that I had heard before! Listening to a room full of Europeans singing Sweet Home Alabama is something else! 

Here are some of the best pics of the day!

9 AM= beer thirty!

the OX tent- the had ox on the spit

ox and German potato salad

Elizabeth and me

cookies for sale!

me- sporting a dirndl!