the first one to speak doesn't get to choose the gelato flavor (Firenze and Siena)

We spent a whirlwind 24 hours in Firenze, which was beautiful as ever, but full of tourists and a little bit hectic for our moods. At night, Mum was on the hunt for a disco tech... and at one point angry with us for not planning our ladies-night-out-on-the-town better. Stef and I thought she was kidding the first 2-3 times she brought it up, and by the time we realized how serious she was, it was too late (meaning Stef and I hadn't done our disco tech research and were already too tired / too full of wine to correct the mistake). Rookie error. We should know Paula Tocco better than that, and I only hope she forgives us one day for robbing her of the chance to experience Firenze's late night dance scene.

I brought Stef and Mum to Siena so that things might slow down a bit and allow us to relax. Siena is a gorgeous, small citta in Tuscany. The center of town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and I came here once before to visit my friend Kate while she was studying abroad here. Long story, short: we picked the wrong week for a peaceful, Tuscan vacation. This week is Il Palio, a medieval horserace in Il Campo (the town center, where you see the photo with the hordes of people). As Stefanie put it, its sort of like being a naive tourist in Washington, D.C. coincidentally on the 4th of July. Everywhere you look, Sienese citizens are wearing their neighborhood flags draped around their necks, or participating in parades. As I type now (in the calm, hidden backyard of our B&B), I can hear young men singing Sienese songs loudly in the not-so-far distance. Yesterday, we escaped Siena and drove to the small town of Montepulciano and to a vineyard along the way for a wine tasting. I finally got a dose of the fields of sunflowers that I have been yearning to see -- and the drive between towns was almost as enjoyable as the visits themselves.

A few hours ago, Mum and Stef left to head back to Switzerland and fly to Boston. It was hard to see them go (i almost asked them to smuggle me in their suitcases so i could have a 4th of July at the lake), but we certainly had a long 10 days together. Last night, as we strolled around town after dinner, Stefanie suggested we play a game called: "the first one to speak doesn't get to choose the gelato we buy". Mum tried to escape and experience some time in the city without us, but she realized after storming away that we were holding all the cash and she was stuck with us a little longer. It seemed (the whole trip) that our lowest moments were often followed by 5 minutes of bowling over with laughter, unable to catch our breath.

contentissima (Tonino, Gino, Zia Lella)

Lately, I feel like I'm living in a Jane Austennovel. I think that its a combination of the fact that I am "summering in Europe" and also that I don't have a cell phone. In France, we stayed at a beautiful little bed and breakfast with a large garden area in the back. The morning we planned to leave, we had a surprise visit from two of Mum's cousins: Tonino and Gino (brothers). We "received" them in our living room for tea, and then spent the morning with them and their family, looking at old photos. The woman in the flowery dress is Ana, mum's cousin, probably about 40 years ago. The other black&white photo is my grandmother....adorable.

Then, we got to meet the final aunt on this trip: Zia Lella! She is mini, like Nonna, but very quiet. At our first dinner together (with cousin Sabrina, her husband Gianni, and their son Nicolo), my mother was in the middle of telling a story about how in France I had accidentally spilled a plate of lentils, breaking a wine glass and spraying lentils all over the table (true story)...when SHE knocked a wine glass to the floor, breaking it. We were all mortified (but overtired and slightly drunk) and used all our energy to hold in our laughter until we noticed that quiet, reserved Zia Lella had burst into laughter while watching the 3 of us. For the record, we haven't broken anything since then. (the cute little boy is Lucca -- their 4 year old neighbor that managed to sneak over and get a seat at the table for each of our dinners).

We took a day-trip to Venice yesterday together, which was absolutely lovely but really full of tourists... and we said goodbye this morning. We're in Firenze now, trying to see it all (its Stef's first time here) but also trying to chill out a little bit after a very intense week.

Sorry, I hate formatting photos on google-blogger. I can't seem to make them look right and I dont have the time to spend on playing around with it.

tavola internazionale (zia elvira and family)

Stef, Mum and I had a warm welcome and 2 very full days in Mulhouse, France. Lots of lots of things: laughter, stories, hot dogs, hugs, tears. Stefanie spends a lot of her time nodding, smiling and giving a "thumbs up" sign; my italian is improving and i am tired but grateful for it more each hour. We met Zia Elvira and her husband and 3 of their 4 children: Aldo, Claudio and Antoniette (the 4th is in America and organized the visit for us!). Stef and I used the opportunity to make a family tree and start collecting email addresses.

I'm too tired tonight for full sentences! Highlights of the last couple of days:

-stories of Nonna's dramatic engagement to a Belgian man, which she broke to marry my grandfather;

-a personal tour of the cutting-edge fire station, where Aldo is head honcho (see photo of Stef and Mum pretending to save the town of Mulhouse while Aldo smiles unknowingly);

-a day trip with Zia Elvira and cousin Claudio to Colmar, a quaint french town about a half hour from Mulhouse, where

I ate many bread-type items with various forms of chocolate and sugar;

-13 of us squeezed around a dinner table, communicating in various combinations of Italian, English, French, Spanish and German and translating for each other;

-Ethan (our french-speaking cousin), wooing Stef with drawings, euro's, kisses, and blackberries....and eventually telling his mother that he'd like to marry her. He's 5 years old -- but watch out Matt! He's just about the cutest little thing I ever saw.

Driving to Vicenza (Italia) tomorrow to meet Zia Lella and her family. Buonanotte!

for mikey and ana (zia gina video!)

So this is 5 minutes after Stef and Mum arrived, and I was keeping the camera hidden at my waist so that she wouldn't stop talking. The basics of the story she is telling: Zia Gina was visiting Nonna and Nonno in the US after not seeing Nonno for 11 years and she decided to play a joke on him. She went to the bakery straight from the airport, and Nonna and Mum hid while Zia Gina went to the counter, and talked to Nonno for a while before he figured out who she was. It went as far as him telling her that he was expecting a visitor (his sister in law) from Switzerland...and her asking him: what does she look like? And he described her to herself for a while before figuring out the joke.

bel-iss-ee-ma (zia gina)

When I walked into Zia Gina's apartment, she promptly smacked me on the arm, took a big step backwards (as big as her little legs would allow), put a sassy hand on her hip, checked me out from head to toe and said "Bell-ee-see-ma" (bellissima). Ha! I was immediately at ease. She's exactly the way I remember her from about 8 years ago, the last time she visited us in the US.

When Stef and Mum arrived later that day (yesterday), they jumped out of the car and came running to greet Roberta, Zia Gina and I. They both burst into tears the second they saw Zia Gina -- she is a spitting image of Nonna. She is also brutal, like Nonna, and HILARIOUS. She doesn't speak any english (she speaks German and Italian)...she loves that I speak Italian, but she corrects everything I say in the harshest way. She speaks slowly to me, and she repeatedly tells me that she is speaking slowly so that I might learn from her. When Stef and I aren't listening to her, she grabs us by the arm and pulls us whereshe wants. 'Stef-ahh-neee", she yells, squeezing her hand "per amore."

Mikey and Ana, I'm going to try to post a video for you because you're going to flip out when you see her in action.

We spent today with Roberta, Markus, Luana and Mauro exploring the area. Stef and I felt like we were living in the Sound of Music movie-set! Last night, Roberta and Markus made us a traditional Swiss dinner (raclette!), slabs of cheese, topped with various vegetables and pancetta, melted under a tabletop oven-type contraption and served over boiled potatoes. And tonight: pizza! Tomorrow we spend the morning with Zia Gina and then head to France with her to see the next round of siblings/cousins/family.

food rules and arrival in Zurich!

When I put on my jeans a couple of days ago and they were alarmingly snug, I made a new food rule for myself. Don't worry, I still plan to eat anything and everything that I want... but the rule is: if i want to eat something, i have to be hungry first. It sounds simple (it is simple), but i think its already working its magic on my waistline. I also try to incorporate greens into my meal by ordering pizza with arugula as often as possible. That counts, right? If only i were joking...

I made lots of friends in Cinque Terre, in the end.

And of course, as soon as I had some friends I started actively avoiding them (i chuckle even as i write this, because i'm so predictable). I ate at Pizzeria La Smorfia (see photo) 3 of my 4 nights in Cinque Terre because I loved it so much. My favorite pizza there: pesto, ricotta, mozzarella and pine nuts. One night I made some friends there (the absurdly stereotypical italian looking Andrea and his wife, Sonia), who invited me to join them at the end of the meal for dessert: a nutella pizza (it was absolutely amazing, if you were wondering).

I arrived in Zurich last night after a long train ride and lots (more) of nutella. It is so wonderful to be here with my cousin, Roberta, and her family. The last time I saw her was about 14 years ago, but she hasn't changed a bit! I want to post pictures of her beautiful face (faccia bella!) or her beautiful children, but I was so excited last night that I failed to take any photos. So, for now, I will settle to post pictures of their gorgeous home about a 1/2 hour outside of Zurich. I feel like I'm in a Crate & Barrel advertisement, or another classier store that I don't know about.

One new development: from the moment i got into the car with Roberta, I suddenly felt capable of communicating in Italian. Everything that I wanted to say, I could (in simple ways)! And everything she said, I understood. Roberta speaks Italian and German, and a little bit of English. Her kids and husband (Marcus) speak German,

but (lucky for me) the kids are learning English in school so our communication has turned into lessons for them.

Stef and my Mum are arriving in a few hours; I can't wait to see them. I spoke with my Zia Gina on the phone (she speaks Italian and German), and the first thing she said: that she is so happy that I speak italian! That one sentence made the year of courses and verb workbooks worth it -- a thousand times over. After lunch we're going to pick her up...let the family visits begin!

extra pictures!

A few more pictures while I have internet access for 15 minutes.... including Alessia, biking with me towards the beach (in Pescara) and some more cinque terre hiking photos.

bocce by the sea

I left Pescara on Thursday morning and arrived in Cinque Terre in the afternoon. Cinque Terre is this beautiful strip of the Italian Riviera

that has five small villages along the coast (cinque terre means five lands), connected by a pretty rugged hiking trail. I rented a room of my own, which is small but very clean and in a lovely little house with a shared patio area (see photo). It’s absolutely gorgeous here, and I spent the day hiking alone between 3 of the towns and eating beautiful meals...also alone. Pesto supposedly originates here (or is at least a specialty, because the climate is perfect for basil growth) so I’ve been trying to incorporate it into every meal. It feels like 90% of the tourists here are either on their honeymoon or celebrating their 50th anniversary. This is a real town (Monterosso), but the line between locals and tourists seems very distinct. In any case, I was just about to go a tiny bit crazy from loneliness after dinner as I walked around town with a glass of wine trying to figure out what to do with myself.

Just as I was about to give up and watch episodes of Gossip Girl in my bedroom, I decided to see if there was any action at the town bocce court. There was. I stood at the fence, watching like a puppy for about 20 minutes…until they ASKED ME TO PLAY WITH THEM. The locals! After watching me throw with Maria Louisa for a while, Carlo said that he and I would play against Maria Louisa and her partner. I felt like I was in a dream. I played bocce with the locals for about 2 hours!!! And I held my own. I did not do amazingly well, but I played solidly and it was a very tricky court. It was slightly slanted, so one side was extremely fast and the other was relatively slow.

Lots of old Italian men were watching, and joining in with Carlo as he yelled instructions at me or commended me for a good point. Piano, piano! Piu forte! Corto! Lungha! Alla sinestra, Nicola. Tira bene. Brava! I could hear some of the locals talking about me –-- she’s American, they said, but she plays with her family at home. She’s not bad. Not bad!!! I’ll take that any day from this crowd.

I didn’t want to take out my camera and risk looking like my head wasn’t in the game, but tourists sprinkled by and took lots of pictures of us playing. When I had a spare second I slipped one of them my email address and asked them to send me the photos they took!!

Ha. These pictures of the court are from earlier in the day; if those people send me any photos I’ll be sure to post them with pride.

Carlo and I lost, I’m sorry to say, but the topping on this bocce-cake: when we parted ways, Carlo casually said: domani sera? (tomorrow evening?). I nearly jumped up and down and squealed with delight as I replied: Si, si, si in rapid succession... ci vediamo domani! (we'll see each other tomorrow). Domani sera!! I found friends in Cinque Terre: and there are no friends that I would rather have here than senior citizens that spend their nights playing bocce by the sea.

tiramisu and other adventures

Alessia knows all of the keys to my heart. I could write an entire blog entry about each 3 hour chunk of our days together, and slowly i can feel my italian improving.

Yesterday, we made tiramisu (with Eva's recipe --- get excited, Nancy Scott!!!), and pizzas. I had almost no role in pizza making except watching and eating, and they were absolutely incredible. (they cut the pizza with scissors, just like Nonna used to). I now have a new dough recipe to try at home, and some inspiration for topping combinations. Walnuts, gorgonzola, prosciutto and mozzarella. Fresh tomato, olive oil, arugula. Potatoes sliced very thin, mozzarella, sausage and rosemary. Bellissima!!

Last night I went running with Alessia and her favorite friend of mine, Andrea. I went under the impression that they did 3 or 4 kilometers, but i'm not sure how i got that impression because after 20 minutes of running they informed that it was more like 8-10. I did fine, I am loving running these days and lord knows i need it after the 1 pound of pasta and 5 biscotti per day i

am averaging. The ocean is a straight shot from their apartment and you can turn either way on to a gorgeous promenade that runs along it -- so there was lots to entertain me in addition to their rapid italian conversation.

Mornings are calm and slow, but we manage do a lot before dinner at 8 or 9. Alessia took me to a book store and after an hour practically had to drag me out. I have fallen in love with italian kitchen accessories, so the same happened when I discovered a home goods store. i had to leave without buying anything (the 1st time) because i got so overwhelmed with the number of things i absolutely needed. When i return to the US, how can i possibly survive without 3 different sizes of espresso pots? or a (second) ravioli cutter? Or those beautiful metal pots that you can use to heat up milk or serve hot liquids?

And the finale: today we spent the day in the country with Alessia's Nonna (grandmother), making ravioli! She has a little room adjacent to the house, dedicated solely for pasta making. She has the same exact pasta machine as me, but her ravioli were far superior and i'm excited to try some new tricks when i get home. When Alessia completed her first row of ravioli, her Nonna burst out with the equivalent of: Federico, marry her, she's ready now!! It was a beautiful day, and it made me think of my own Nonna very much -- complete with sassy remarks and a soap opera on the tv during lunch. Love it!

Headed off to aperitivo's now (italian version of happy hour, but more heavy on the food end i think) and tomorrow we're going to spend my last day in Pescara at the beach. So i guess the keys to my heart are: tiramisu, pizza, books, exercise, pasta and large bodies of water. Not too shabby.