Oof. There it is. The sound of us bumping up against the wall.
Palms to foreheads, weary at the edge of “too much of a good thing.”
We called retreat.
Destinations, Featured Partners, Italy, Walks of Italy
Our Italian Job: Escaping Disneyland Venice
June 18, 2012Ted and I watched The Italian Job on a date night back when it was in theaters. I bought the DVD and would turn it on it during college procrastination sessions. There’s that scene at the beginning: magical morning mist, a burst of pigeons rising in unison from St. Mark’s Square, and soon after, a speedboat chase shattering the calm of idyllic Venetian canals.
We were in Italy for a month, surely we could visit Venice, fall in love with the ambience, flirt with cliche, and make it out unhindered by the logjam of 15 million visitors who arrive each year.
Not forty five minutes in, though, and we were ready to call it a mistake. Such a shame, we thought, considering the city’s magical reputation.
We’d taken the train in from Verona, hoping to see the highlights before bidding Italy “Arrivederci!” later in the week. True to warning, sluggish crowds gawking at fake murano glass and glittered Venetian masks clogged the zigzagged streets. Shop windows, mobile stalls, sweaty bodies, pushy people, narrow walkways, dead ends, crowded footbridges and kitschy gondoliers wordlessly taunted us, “Suckers! You’re in for it now!” Continue Reading…
This week was splendid. As you may remember, we’re staying with our friend Jodi here in Lebanon. After fairly brisk pace the last couple of months, we are sitting still (mostly) and getting some R&R.
Turns out, we picked the right city, but not for the reasons you might think. Beirut is a distressed city, a city very recently war torn, a place where many people-groups live at odds and in close quarters, a place where it’s easy to spot buildings still wearing machine-gun bullet holes on their walls.
But in part because of Beirut’s history of unrest, it has developed a culture of “oasis,” where there are countless places of rest, food, drink, and relaxation behind the rather disorderly store front streets. Thanks to Jodi and several other new-found friends, we have been introduced to delicious mezze, carrot cake perfection, and beer from the only micro-brewery in the Middle East. Continue Reading…
Featured Partners, Italy, Walks of Italy
Milan in a Day: Visiting Da Vinci’s Masterpiece
June 16, 2012That Mona Lisa moment.
If you’ve been to the Louvre in Paris, maybe you know it?
Awe and a twinge of disillusionment in the same breath.
Entering the gallery to see a tiny little painted woman smirking back across the room honestly underwhelmed me after a teenager’s lifetime of seeing reproductions plastered across canvas, t-shirts, and tapestries.
Then there are moments when reality exceeds expectations.
It’s possible to find hidden adventures in Pisa after visiting the Leaning Tower.
The trick is finding a friend who knows the secret escapes.
Destinations, Featured Partners, Italy, Photography, Walks of Italy
Paying Pisa a Savvy Visit Part I
June 13, 2012Confession: at times on our independent trip around the world, we are absolutely, unabashedly tourists.
“We’re foodies. We’re fans of great design. I love taking pictures. Ted loves drinking coffee. We play the tourist part, signing up for guided treks, sailing the seas on a cruise ship, and snapping cliched shots at guidebook hotspots…”
–Writing Honestly From the Road
When the opportunity to visit Pisa and see the monumental sights presented itself, we penciled out our itinerary excitedly as adventures began falling into place.
Destinations, Featured Partners, Featured Places, Food in Italy, Italy, Walks of Italy
Traditions of the Land: Food in Italy Part V
June 11, 2012A Farmhouse Family Feast: Private Cooking Class and Farmhouse Visit with Walks of Italy
There’s an unmistakable aroma in the air when you visit a working farmhouse. Like a wild yeast grown from spirited spores dancing through the air, the scent is unique and recognizable all at once; a mystery capable of leavening age-old family traditions and responsible for flavoring a one-of-a-kind slice of life.
Golden farmstead-harvested-saffron infused risotto made during private cooking lessons with Walks of Italy at Il Fontanaro Agritourismo in rural Italy.
Chores of the seasons. Stories of family. Pride of a job well done. Joy of a meal shared around a huge table. Characteristics of farmhouse living recognizable from my own growing up years on a family farm, working the summer harvest alongside my siblings and cousins, cooking dinners with mom and dad, carrying the pride of eighth-generation-Oregon heritage.
To me, the ultimate treat in visiting another country is discovering true and beautiful strains of family living and farm production, making friends and celebrating the familiar and unique. Continue Reading…
Hello from sunny Beirut, Lebanon!
It’s been a quiet week on the blog and anything-but in real life.
Due both to lack of consistent wifi and an intentional choice to put priority on in-the-moment living, I skipped posting entries this past week (aside from Monday’s Portland/Bologna piece).
If you follow our updates in the Daily Travel Journal or read our flying tweets, you probably have a pretty accurate up to the moment sense of our location. Since the end of May, we ferried east from Italy, spent time in a quiet corner of Croatia, over-landed through a slice of Bosnia on our way to Montenegro, peeked at Kosovo out the window on our night ride to Macedonia, and hopped by plane from northeastern Greece to Cyprus en route to our June destination, Lebanon. Continue Reading…
Destinations, Emilia Romagna Tourism Board, Featured Partners, Italy, Portland
Portland, Meet Your Sister {City}
June 4, 2012You know how everyone talks about traveling to Italy to connect with distant family? We’re not Italian, but it turns out we had a long lost relative waiting to surprise us with a welcome.
You should’ve seen the look of bewilderment on our faces.
Like that scene from The Parent Trap: Hayley Mills, meet Hayley Mills.
Portland meet Bologna.
We blinked twice.
Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. and Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy were declared sister cities on June 5th, 2003. It’s nearly our ninth birthday.
Where have we been all of each others’ lives?! Continue Reading…
Paying a visit to the World Wildlife Foundation’s Nature Reserve near Orvieto, Umbria, Italy.
