My Verona

Flipping through my pictures just now, I'm reminded of how absolutely adorable Verona is. So far, it ranks as one of my favorite Italian towns. The classical, romantic, historic and just plain tranquil feeling Verona has is well worth a trip. The arena in the center of Verona is the third largest in Italy and offers some lovely views from the top. From there we went to Juliet's house and took pictures with Juliet's statue. I opted out of grabbing her chest - I think it's supposed to be good luck or something - but was amazed at the number of people getting so up close and personal with a bronze statue that thousands of people manhandle each day ... GermX anyone? Apparently you can no longer write letters to Juliet and place them in the wall (only in mailboxes), but you can scribble messages in the dark little tunnel that leads into the courtyard - ah, yes, romance lives on. We grabbed lunch at a cute little Trattoria that served several dishes with donkey in them. I did try the donkey ravioli and will have to put that experience in the 'Done it once - no need to do it again' column. They definitely use a good amount of spices with the donkey meat ... I'm just not sure if they are trying to cover up some kind of heinous flavor or not. We did find a fantastic gelato place (line out the door to prove it) on the river before heading back to the train station. All in all, a wonderful place to visit.

Juliet's Balcony

Little messages of love ... aka graffiti

The arena

Looking down on the market in the center from the arena

Some fantastically costumed street performers

Along the river ...

Locks on one of the bridges. I believe the reasoning is that two lovers place a lock on a bridge to show how enduring their feelings for each other are - I just wonder who keeps the key on the off chance that things don't work out ...

Many of the churches in Verona use alternating layers of white stone and brick. I also love the painted ceilings you see everywhere in Italy.

Juliet

On to the Cinque Terre!

After Florence, we hopped a train (or two) over to Cinque Terre. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy on the ride there until we passed through a long tunnel and came out into sunshine and blue water! We stayed at a little hotel in Monterosso which meant we got to take the train through the other four Terre on the way down. The weather was pretty rainy most of the time there, but we did manage to hike the trail between Monterosso and Vernazza before it closed - che bello! You walk through some of the world's most vertical vineyards and see amazing views of the coastal towns and ocean. We grabbed some lunch in Vernazza (octopus stew!) before taking the train to Corniglia. I have to say that the zig-zagging hike up to Corniglia from the train station gets the heart pumping but doesn't really take you anywhere that interesting. Corniglia is a quaint little town, but the best part of this stop would have to be hiking down the other side of the town and finding a lovely little dock where the waves were crashing against the rocks and the water was a beautiful shade of turquoise. Since it was starting to rain again, we returned to Monterossa for the night.

Items checked off the 'To Do' list:

• Anchiovies on bruschetta - not bad but way too salty (even for me ;) )
• Delicious octopus stew which Kris said looked like hot dogs
• Sciacchetrà - a dessert wine made from dried grapes. Quite strong and reminds me of a port
• Limoncello - definitely does not taste like a Lemon Drop; more like straight vodka with some lemon and sugar
• Pesto Pesto Pesto - this region, by far, has the best pesto I have ever tasted. I wish I had stocked up! I believe they grow their own type of basil (like the Genovese Basil we can grow at home) and have a particularly great environment to grow it in. Simply delizioso.
• Red Pepper Pasta - yummm. I love spicy food and found pasta that actually had red pepper in it so the pasta itself is spicy. Fantastic.
  
  

Firenze - The city of Gelaterias

During the couple day break between my Intensive Italian class and the beginning of 'real' grad school courses, we decided to spend a night in Firenze (aka Florence) before heading over to Cinque Terre.  Just a short hour or so train ride from Bologna, Firenze is definitely worth a visit.  We plan to go back during the off season to check out the fantastic museums and spend a little more time at the Duomo.  The line to get into the Uffizi Gallery was insanely long and did not seem to let up as the day moved on so I would suggest purchasing tickets in advance. Since we only had a day, we just took in the more accessible sights like Ponte Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens. It's true what HGTV always says ... everything is better with a water feature :) The river and bridges were a nice change of scenery.  Rick Steves travel guide recommended a cute little sandwich shop near the Uffizi that gives you a free glass of wine with your purchase - fantastic! As the title indicates, Firenze must have more gelato shops per square foot than any other city I've been in. Not that it's a bad thing, just different. They also seem to have more tourists (aka English speakers) than anywhere else, too. It's like being back in the States but with much more history and art. Firenze also happens to be located in Tuscany - the land of beautiful rolling hills, vineyards, and vino.  I am very much looking forward to the next trip.

Found a cat sleeping under the bench at the gardens.

The Duomo

The line to get into Boboli Gardens - thankfully I found a super secret alternate way in.

Ponte Vecchio

Arno River

Yes, it is a toilet in the shower. This is what happens when you book at the last minute. Also be warned that Florence has a massive mosquito problem. We spent a good 30 minutes trying to kill the swarm infesting our room. Ick.

I love this statue. A little kung-fu, a little 'shh, I have a secret', a lot of fun :)

Still waiting for my free jewelry ...

The Alps

Okay, so it's been a little over a month since my first post so I will try to play a bit of catch up with the next few. We are settled into our apartment now - just in time for the real classes to start up at school. I've learned a few general things about Italy that were somewhat surprising ... 1. The bread is, unfortunately, not that great. We have been searching for decent whole grain (or at least whole wheat) bread, but can only find the plain white and generally not so tasty bread. Ah well. We'll survive until we can fit in a trip to Germany, France, or Austria where I hear the bread is delicious. 2. We probably do eat gelato more than we should. Let's face it, though, if we were home we'd likely have a carton or two of Breyer's in the freezer so it all balances out in the end. Plus the flavor are so tempting and unique over here; you have to try them all ... repeatedly. 3. They definitely have better yogurt flavors (walnut, kiwi, pineapple to name a few). Unfortunately, yogurt, soap and just about any other semi-liquid substance seems a bit runny over here compared to the thicker US counterpart. More on the country comparisons later. Our first trip outside Bologna was to the Alps. More specifically to a town near Bolzano named Trafoi. I absolutely love the mountains. The views were stunning - much grander and sharper than the mountains at home. Although we were still in Italy, everyone spoke German and were even seen sporting some lederhosen. The food we had at a little Italian place the second night was delectable. I would give almost anything to get the recipe for the zucchini soup we had - so smooth yet complex with layers of flavors I can only begin to guess at. Enough talk. Here are some pictures to back up my claims ...


Trautsmandorf Gardens - definitely worth a visit.






Flower box on top of a mountain.


Our hotel ...

Bologna, Italy!

My attempt at a gardening blog is going to take a 9 month hiatus while I study at Johns Hopkins Bologna Campus. We officially arrived on Wednesday, August 25th. After three days in town, we have an apartment (sans A/C), found a few plants for the balconies, tried our hand at shopping for groceries, and will hopefully have internet hooked up by the end of next week. Foodwise, we have tried a pizzeria (small pizza + free soda for 5 euro - not bad), an 'appetizer buffet' at a bar (pay for a drink and eat all you want from the app buffet), an Italian restaurant, and some gelato, of course. We haven't quite found the best places to eat yet, but hopefully will soon. The lack of A/C has been less than fun. We were psyched to see the apartment had a fan, then found out it was broken. Bought another fan from the hardware store (with lots of pointing and gesturing), which proceeded to stop working in the middle of the night. *sigh* We're on fan number three now and really hoping it's going to stick with us for the long haul. Italian lessons start on Monday - hooray! Hopefully the days of sporting the deer in headlights look when anyone talks to me will be over soon. More to come soon.

In the garden in March ...

So, I opened the back door today and noticed the crocuses have bloomed! I had thought the frozen shade they suffered through all winter had done them in, but they are here and very happy - like me!


Of course, this was just the chance I had been waiting for to break out the new camera and try my luck with the rest of the garden. Here's what's digging out in the garden today ...



Buds on the Sunshine Blue blueberry shrubs - always a great thing to see!



This was actually an area I just threw all my 'dead' or rubbish plants/dirt, but it looks to be doing quite well on its own.


The tulips are starting to peek through ... I've forgotten exactly what I planted and where, so it should be a pleasant surprise in a week or two.



Here is some rue that I bought as a host plant for some Swallowtail butterflies last year and it looks to be making an enthusiastic return as well.


Ah, the little violas (Johnny Jump Ups) I started from seed seem to be peeking around the corner to check out the ornamental kale that made it through the snow.


My first euphorbia (Tiny Tim) bought at Atlantic Garden and Orchid fared quite well. Now I just need to track down another one so I'll have a matching pair (and will feel much better about my garden aesthetic :) ). I loved the precious little green 'flowers' the plant had in early summer. During the fall/winter, it seems to turn darker green and add some pretty (and festive) red touches to the foilage. Not too bad for my first foray into a non-traditional flowering plant.



I can almost see the daffodils now! I am trying a few new kinds this year so hopefully there will be some fantastic pics to come.

This little leaf was a wonderful surprise to me the other day. I had a small delphinium planted in this pot last year with zero expectation of it coming back. I cannot wait for the blue blooms to return! On a side note ... I did discover a wonderful new favorite plant last year - the butterfly blue delphinium - which gave me tons of seeds to save. I've started planting a few and they are coming up (hooray). Now I just hope they bloom true to what they were last year.