January has been a total twister of activity. It’s a very good thing that we had such a decent break over the silly season, because when I got back to work on 5th January, I felt like a house had landed on my head, which is actually quite an appropriate use of simile because it’s…
Category: Italy
Patronage at a Venetian Palazzo – The Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Once upon a time in Venice, I was a museum intern, and once upon that long time ago I fell in love with this dreamy little metropolis of canals and palaces and chilled glasses of sgroppini and steaming plates of fresh spaghetti alle vongole. How can one not fall for a place where you wake…
Living in the Casa della Signora – Venice revisited
Reluctantly leaving the toasty interior of Taverna San Trovaso behind, Monsieur and I headed for the Collezione Guggenheim, or Guggenheim Collection. This is where I had served as a museum intern, many a moon ago, in the days before every kid had a mobile phone and when we all wrote snail mail, not e-mail, to…
Getting our feet wet in Venice
Monsieur and I slumbered long, that first night in Venice. In fact, we somehow slept through our alarms before finally falling out of bed at an embarrassing 11am. That was stupid. Now we’d have to move fast to make up the time. Our lateness didn’t escape the attention of the hotel receptionist. A man exuding…
Osso Buco, by Billy Collins
(Photo from Politicook.com. I’m afraid I didn’t have any of my own photos to use and this one shows the bones very well.) Pat of Singleforareason sent me a link to a poem today. It relates to my Rome-ing in the Rain post, where Monsieur warms up with a hearty Ossobucco (which can be spelled…
Rome-ing in the Rain
For the previous post, From Gladiators to Gondolas… click here. Marcus Agrippa’s Pantheon is a remarkable, cylindrical structure that never dates. Its pediment proudly states: ‘Agrippa me fecit’, or ‘Agrippa made me’, and it’s little wonder that this Roman General had his name emblazoned across this building. Initially constructed in 27AD and rebuilt by Hadrian in…
From Gladiators to Gondolas: to Venice via Rome
I couldn’t believe it when Monsieur confessed he’d never been to Venice. I just about fell out of my (imaginary) gondola, before formulating an emergency itinerary and agreeing travel dates to introduce him to this dreamy city without delay. He needed little persuading. The only problem was that we’d be visiting Venice in winter, so there’d be a…
Algiubagio in Venice
I’ve been reviewing a lot for Qype recently – a site where real people review what’s hot and what’s not in their hometown or in places they visit. I’m having a lot of fun remembering some of my best (and worst) meals, and learning a lot more about what’s going on in this hectic city; don’t…
The link between nutrition and heart disease…
Here’s a foodie joke that popped into my in-box this morning. I like it… THE FINAL WORD ON NUTRITION After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here’s the final word on nutrition and health.: 1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat…
My big thing for little cars
I have a big thing for little cars. I don’t know what that says about me, but wherever I go in the world, there always seems to be one that takes my fancy. There I am, in a foreign country, dreaming about taking the little car on an Epic adventure. No itineraries. No Monsieur. Just…
Epic postcard moments 3
This is another fantastic place for sunsets – The Bay of Naples. Monsieur and I had been to Capri that day and decided to overnight in Sorrento. We hadn’t booked anything so called a few hotels in the guidebook. I was scared that with my bad Italian I’d misunderstood the hotel manager who said she…
Taverna San Trovaso, Venice, Italy
The Taverna San Trovaso has been a mainstay of Venetian dining for a great many years, with a faithful following that includes Yours Truly. When I was an intern in Venice (many years ago), this restaurant served as a home from home for our group of foreign students. Its warming atmosphere exuded from everything – the staff, the rustic decor and, naturally,…
Epicurienne 