Street Art of Florence

I've been to Florence a couple of times now, and I've noticed various street art signs there and throughout Europe. But, this trip spotting the redesigned street signs became a bit of an obsession for Caitlin and me.

Most of these signs are "hacked" by street artist Clet Abraham, a French artist based in Italy.

Here is some of what we found, just in Florence. I'm on the lookout for others!

And, what would Florence in December be without a picture of the Duomo and a beautiful Christmas tree.

Florence's Duomo in December

Stockholm...in December...Brrrrrr!

Early in December, I packed up all my winter gear and prepared for the freezing temperatures of Stockholm. I had been invited to attend the Google Teacher Academy, so the timing of this trip was not my personal choice. But, I was thrilled to be part of this small, selective group.

a beautiful view of the city

I arrived in Stockholm after 15 hours of travel. I'm quite sure I could have made it all the way to the States in the amount of time it took me to travel from Milan to Stockholm, but at least I made it on that first day. I had allowed only one day for sightseeing in Stockholm and losing that would have been truly disappointing.

On Monday, my roommate for the few days, Stephanie, and I headed out to check out the major sites and do some shopping. Stephanie and I had "met" on Twitter and I asked her to share the hotel room I had reserved. She had arrived earlier than I had and was able to show me some of the places she had checked out already. We found lots of great places to shop and spend all our money since Sweden is definitely not cheap. I found it comparable to Zurich, which also stood out as above standard European expenses.

checked out the Christmas markets in the Old Town

the Royal Palace

Brrr! But it wasn't as cold as I expected it to be!

Please notice that it's 3:30 and the moon is fully visible. 

The 2nd and 3rd days of my trip were spent in Google Stockholm. I met a lot of great people and was able to make some new connections with people in jobs similar to mine. At the end of our long first day (about 12 hours) a large group of us headed to the Ice Bar. I had never been to a bar like this before and felt like this was an appropriate location to have this experience. It was cold! And cool! And only necessary for one drink.

Now one of about 1,400 in the world!

celebrating at the Ice Bar with Stephanie and Anne

The Fiera. It's a Monstrous Thing.

I heard about the Fiera when first moving to Milan. I was told it was a big festival filled with food and gifts from all over the world.

I was thinking something along the lines of Christmas Made in the South, but I was really not even close.

You have to multiply that by 10-- and then you might have the right idea.

The Fiera is held just outside of Milan in Rho for 10 days right at the beginning of December. It's convenient that you can take the red Metro line straight out there. But, beware, a regular urban ticket won't cut it! You must buy the ticket for Rho, and it's €2.50 each way.

This year I was able to go twice. Caitlin and I went once mainly to eat and snack on delicious foods that are difficult to find here on a regular basis. We had a dinner of German pretzels and beer and snacked on English cheddar cheese. Mmmmmmmm....

Yum!

Cheddar cheese: does not exist in Italy.

I went again on Saturday with the intent of doing a little shopping. The venue gets so crowded that you really have to map out a plan and strategy to avoid being overwhelmed. The last two years I've learned that the European and Italian sections have the best stuff. There is a US section, which seems to indicate that every American is a cowboy and most of the Asian and African stuff is cheap and doesn't feel well made.

But there is good food to be had and fun presents to be bought. Many people come with a suitcase or trolley cart to load up all their purchases. And this year they sold a trolley for €3. It's really unbelievable. There's also live music in different halls.

a Scottish band that was pretty great!

beer garden

salsiccia!

pretzel and strudel

the Hungarian section

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Bar...Bar...Barcelona!

Thanksgiving seemed to fall sooooooooooooo late this year. But, I guess that the perk of that is now it's already December and I can start counting the days until I get to return to the States and visit my family.

15 days!!!!!!!!!!!

However, the Thanksgiving holiday gave me a four day weekend and I was off to Barcelona. Thankfully, my key to my apartment jammed on Tuesday (and not Wednesday) and gave me time to have it fixed long before I had to jet off to the airport. Thankfully, my landlords are pretty great in that they took over figuring things about getting the whole situation straightened out but it did mean I was locked out of my apartment for about 19 hours. Argh. Thankfully, Caitlin came through and fed me dinner and let me sleep over so that I wasn't stuck outside. This was definitely one occurrence that reminds you that expat life isn't always easy.

Anyways, on to Barcelona!

We arrived easily by AeroBus (€10.80 or so round trip) to Placa de Catalunya and took the metro out to our hotel. I've always heard that Barcelona is notorious for pick pocketing and simple thieves. We hadn't been in town for more than two minutes when some guy tried to open the top section of my backpack. I felt something brush against me and turned and looked around to see some creepy guy a little too close for comfort. He moved away and I got on the metro. Stacia checked out my bag and said the top portion was open. I keep my iPhone there, so I'm happy to report that the thief was unable to ruin my weekend, because my iPhone was safe and sound!!! What a relief!!!

Stacia and me!

We wandered around Thursday night a bit, checking out the area where we were staying and hopping the metro back in to the main part of the city. We tried some tapas at a little joint near the hotel and then headed towards a recommendation from Angela. Oddly enough, we made our way to the place and then ran into Angela! So funny!

Barcelona...under the lights!

On Friday, we started our day at Starbucks (of course!). We decided to check out the Sandeman's Free Tour of the city. While the tour was good, I had a hard time connecting with the history of Barcelona so I spent the time taking pictures and enjoying the sites. We met up with Angela again and she gave us a back alley tour of her old neighborhood. The Gothic Quarter is a really cool section of the city. We indulged in some more tapas and shopped around. Before we went back to the hotel, we had another round of tapas, which quite frankly intimidated us since we couldn't identify anything!

so cute!

Saturday we went to Sagrada Familia. I had booked tickets for the entrance, audio guide and a tower tour in advance. That was the best decision since we didn't wait in any lines at all! Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. It was so unique and so intricate. I loved that it was meaningful and yet playful all at the same time. I mean there is fruit on the top of some pillars, curved staircases and lines, and so many unique touches.

Passion Facade
cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by Martin Pilát:
http://flickr.com/photos/martinpilat/4930300304/

close up of one element of the Passion Facade

fruit, from part of the Passion tower...of course, this place is always under construction

from the tower you could see all the way to the sea!

We also took a stroll past the Block of Disorder, a set of houses designed by Gaudi and others, in the same modernistic design. I really loved the house of his design. Next we moved on to La Rambla and took a stroll down to the Columbus monument and the port of Barcelona. I also went out to Parc Guell to see more Gaudi design.

La Pedrera

kind of love this one...

at the port

Barcelona was a great city and I hope to make it back again. There's so much more to see and do that I didn't get to this time around.

On another note, my favorite sister had a birthday this week! Wishing her the best of days!

Happy Birthday Cece!

Have you been to Barcelona? What's your favorite thing to do in the city? 

The Day to Day

It's always amazing how fast time flies by and I feel like I can't quite believe the holidays are upon us once again. Thanksgiving is really late this year and is the beginning of a very busy few weeks of travel for me. I know, I can hear all the violins playing.

We have a four day weekend for our Thanksgiving Break and I'm off to explore Barcelona. I've wanted to visit there since '92 when our high school Spanish trip dropped it from the itinerary due to the Olympics. We get back to Milan in time for the start of the Fiera, a huge festival of goods from all over the world. For those of you in Savannah, think Christmas in the South times 10. It's really that big. And living in the city means I can go more than once!

After the Fiera, I'll be heading to Stockholm, Sweden for the Google Teacher Academy. I applied in October and was one of only 26 chosen for this group. When finished with the two day workshop I'll be a Google Certified Teacher and this, I think, is super exciting!

You can see my video application here.

Finally, Caitlin and I are making a quick run to Florence for some last minute shopping. I'm taking gift requests...seriously! It's such a shame most of my immediate family lives where scarves at not necessary because otherwise they would each have one in every color.

Anyways, back to the here and now.

I've been collecting some pictures of some odds and ends in recent weeks and thought I would share them!

In early November I was offered a chance to attend a cooking class with Clara, who owns and operates Cook In Milano. Several of us from school met at her place on a Monday night and made gnocchi, a vegetable tort, and a chocolate lava cake. Clara was so nice and welcoming and if you visit Milan I would recommend her cooking classes.

Clara and Jill discussing something important!

Olivier practices his gnocchi rolling skills

Ali gets the lava cake ready to bake...yum!

Found this little gem in Clara's kitchen--

Now that I've settled in to my new place, I've been trying to make it feel like I actually live here and am not just passing through. As I travel, I'm always on the look out for cool things made by locals and have been buying a fair bit of art. So, I set out to take my collection and put it up on the wall of my living room. 

You may have seen on Facebook a few weeks back that I took my Guernica poster to a local frame shop and navigated that whole experience in Italian. It felt like such an accomplishment. I started planning around that large Picasso work by using paper the size of each frame. This way, I was able to rearrange several times before committing! 

My project in action--

Clockwise from the bottom- Verona; San Raphael, France; two of Rome; Venice; Kronborg Castle in Denmark; Amsterdam; London; Siena; and, of course, Picasso's Guernica in the middle

And now, a really random one. On the tram Thursday night I stood by this guy...with his extravagant outfit and winged shoes. I promise I tried to get a good picture of the shoes in action as I stalked him down the street, but no such luck; it was too dark and he was too fast!

His shoes had wings. I was so enthralled by them.
August Alderman, I think you need a pair. 

This morning, Caitlin and I went for breakfast at a place that advertises its "American-ness." This is never a good idea for us, as our expectations are way too high for what we're realistically going to get. But, nonetheless, we tried it out.

Ehhhh, the eggs were a little under done and the hashbrowns were a little sad,
but the bacon was just on the right side of floppy. My Aunt Joni will like that one! 

This place sells a few items they've deemed American.

Please note those RIDICULOUS prices! 

They're serving a Thanksgiving meal this coming week too.

Anyone else notice a slight problem?
Venerdi= Friday. Hmmmm.

I had found a store that I wanted to check out, so we headed there after breakfast.

I found my favorite holiday Yankee candle scent! Happy. Girl.

Let's NOT discuss how much Yankee candles cost here. 

And, Caitlin found this amazing knife holder thing-a-ma-jig that I was in desperate need of. And it is so fun. So I must share.

finally, my knives have a home

I'll be home December 20th in the evening. We'll be headed to the Whitemarsh Jalapeno's around 9 if anyone wants to come for a margarita and some cheese dip! I hope to see a bunch of people while I'm home and would love to plan some of those meetings as walks instead of meals! Send me some dates for my calendar!

It's Just Like Riding a Bike

Italy being the good Catholic country that it is meant that last weekend was a long one for us! For the first time since moving here, some friends and I decided to rent a car and drive to an agriturismo outside of Siena. You can learn more about agriturismi by clicking on the embedded link, but generally it's a small, family owned farm that allows guests to come and stay on the property. But, more on the agriturismo in a minute...other exciting parts of this adventure must be detailed first.

Love this city.

Awhile back, Caitlin, Grace, Katie and I started discussing the possibility of this trip. I found the place to stay and Caitlin said she'd take care of renting a car. I said, "Great! I don't want any part of driving, so have at it!"

Fast forward to last Thursday night. I get a text message that says, "No automatics available, so we got a manual car." This is probably a good time to mention that the girls that rented the car do not have any experience driving stick shift cars. How they drove it home that night is beyond me.

Friday morning, three of us met at the car and packed it up and were prepared to head to Opera to pick up Katie. And, then, we stalled, a time or two or three or more! I lost count!! We finally got going, only to be told by a nice Italian man when stalled at a green light, "Metti la prima! Vai!" (basically, put it in first and you go!) Yes, we know that.  Somehow we made it to Opera, picked up Katie and her full mug of tea, and began our road trip.

Caitlin, pre-stalling, Friday morning

A few more stalls later and Katie's mug was no longer full. And, me, the one who didn't want anything to do with the driving, found herself behind the wheel. (Once in a blue moon, like 18 years ago, I was the proud driver of a bare bones Toyota Tercel 5 speed.)

There was a ton of traffic headed out of town, so instead of taking about 4 hours to get to Siena, it took more like 6. We had plans to meet up with my landlord's (Luisa) family to pick olives, but arrived too late to actually pick anything. But, we did arrive in time for the sunset and a lovely time with Luisa and her family. Her parents are just about the cutest people ever.

sunset in Tuscany
view from just outside of Vescovado di Murlo

We headed to Siena for dinner and I was thankfully smart enough not to drive up a huge hill that would have lead into the city. We took a recommendation from a friend of Grace and we enjoyed plenty of freshly made pasta and delicious food.

Our agriturismo was great. It only allowed for a handful of people to stay there, was clean and inviting, and had some amazing homemade bread (among other things) for breakfast.

the view from our room

The next day we taxied back to Siena to spend the day in the town. It's such a beautiful place. We spent our time in the Duomo and then went to an exhibit of photography by Steve McCurry, the photographer made famous for his Afghan girl with the mysterious eyes back in the day. We had sandwiches from a crazy meat shop (boar salami) and dined on them in the middle of Piazza del Campo. It was another one of those moments where I was reminded how the life I'm able to live seems so surreal.

Christmas "balls" were for sale in many shops.
I'm kinda obsessed with this photo.

Siena is probably most famous for it's twice yearly horse race, the Palio. The 17 different neighborhoods, known individually as a contrada (plural- contrade), each have a representative compete in the July and August race. The race takes place right in the heart of the city, in front of the city hall and around Piazza del Campo. Last year I read an amazing book called The Daughter of Siena by Marina Fiorato that had a fictional palio set in the early days of the race as a focus of its plot. It might be a good one to pick up if you're interested in learning more.

handpainted bells, decorated in the colors of different contrade

We had made arrangements to have dinner at the agriturismo that night. The owner gave us a tour of the wine tanks and barrels and talked to us about their wine production each year before dinner. Joining us that night were two American couples and one Italian couple. Dinner was really good and served family style so it was nice to have this experience and share it with others.

family style.

We topped off the night with a few competitive rounds of Sequence, a game that no one except Grace has ever heard of. But, we loved it and I can't wait to play some more!

Sequence. Have you ever played?

Some other great pics from the weekend...

olives in Tuscany

the horse hooks used to hold-- you guessed it-- the horses!

Siena's Duomo

City Hall and the Tower