After Ca' Bondi

The Morning After

2010-04-03T20:43:00.006-04:00

So we moved in, then right away went to stay somewhere else to dog sit for a week, then I went to Chicago for work... So we reunited at last at our apartment for what felt like our first night here!. We woke up to find a light-drenched living room, unfortunately I'm not set up yet to use my good camera and these photo do not do it justice. No reason not to post anyway!

So here are we, slowly putting the place together, with lots of ideas still just in our back pockets...

This room was YELLOW when I took this picture. Oh well.

Here is the island in action as it was intended to be used. And there is the computer with the NY Times real estate section up, hey, we want to know how good our investment is - pretty much on daily basis.

We now have a little foyer table for keys and mail, and change. Yes!

We have so many shelves, that some are even in their original packaging. I guess you CAN have too many shelves.

The dining area is getting no love yet, we'll get there sweets! Don't you worry.

We are IN!!!!!!

2010-03-24T17:18:00.004-04:00

It has been a long, short road to where we are today. I have to say that everyday, we both can't wait to just go back home and spend time in our new apartment. I have to keep the closet door next to me open during the night just so that I feel more closed in, because the bedroom feels very large! I'll get used to it! We attended our first shareholder's meeting last night, it was an experience. Anyway, here are the pictures that detail the completed work, albeit our myriad boxes scattered everywhere. We'll get to those too...

It was a race to the finish as our contractor was finishing to install the counter top and faucet as the movers were starting to bring in the boxes and furniture!

Here is the finished product! This view is from the window at the end of the kitchen looking toward the island which sits where the wall that we removed used to be!

Here is the right side of the island. Check out our pantry...this may look familiar to some people. It used to be our coat closet in our old apartment! We integrated it into the design and it works really well!

Here is the left side of the kitchen. Here you can kind of see where the sink is (which is enormoujs!) and our new faucet! AND, our dishwasher - I still have to learn how to use it.

View of the kitchen from the island! We are already congregating here more than in any other part of the apartment!

For those of you who have been diligently following this blog (Bular? Crickets?), you may remember that the bathtub and sink were a horrible maroon color. We had them reglazed for the time being while we muster up the courage, and the money, to upgrade the bathroom. We are now terrified of dropping anything near them for fear of cracking the glaze (which is too easy to do)

Here is the front area taken from the living room. At this point we are just showing off our mess of boxes!

And here is the living room, which will be the last room we unpack!

Almost done!

2010-03-17T16:46:00.005-04:00

I can't believe we are almost done! Here are the latest picture which show that nearly everything has been installed and how well the apartment has been "sewn" back together. The last THREE (yes just three!) things to be done are: 1. Refinish the floors (happening today and tomorrow) , 2. Glazing of the bathroom sink and tub (happening right now!), and 3. installation of the kitchen and island countertop, sink and faucet which will happen on Friday and possibly Saturday. Saturday is moving day!

Here is the kitchen again, now you can see that it is nearly complete, just anxiously awaiting the counter top and sink.

Here is the kitchen again from a different angle. I can't wait to hang out at the island!

Here is the bedroom - you can still see all the dust on the floors. New ceiling fan too!

View from the front door to the bedroom - again so much dust!

View from front door to living room

View from living room looking toward the front door and island. One of the features we are most proud of is that we made every single light in the apartment dimmable! Something we've always wanted, yeah!

Living room! Check out our new fan!

So close...and yet still a little bit away.

2010-03-16T22:53:00.004-04:00

A little more progress, AND the apartment is finally painted!

Here is a view from the living room. You can see the dark blue of the living room (the other living room color is light-blue) looking into the kitchen (light yellow with a splash of orange)

Kitchen closer up

Here is a close up of the cabinets, now with handles!

Dishwasher is in!

Here is the foyer, now a light green.

and here is our range over, hanging out in the living room!

The next post will show all the appliances in!

Infestation!

2010-03-13T10:53:00.005-05:00

Not exactly an infestation, but just a quick detour a few blocks away to Rachel's parents' house who are fostering 9 irresistible puppies and their mom. They are so tiny and stinky, but oh soooooo cute.

Look at that face.

After a little puppy play we headed over to our apartment to check on progress. IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED, THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION IN 6 WEEKS! As you can see, they come in black too!

The island is in! Here it is now, installed and ready for the countertop.

Here you can see the island from the living room.

Back to the kitchen, the pantry doors are in and we can finally see the room take shape.

That board on top of the cabinets is actually the template for the countertop. This board is then taken to the countertop provider and is used as the guide for the cuts.

The details are really showing now with the wall colors going up and fresh coat of white paint on the ceiling and moldings!

Here now is a picture of the island with the painted living room in the background.

The rest of the apartment has been painted - more pictures to come! We also bought the light fixtures and ceiling fans and the appliances are going in today. YES!

Slowly Coming to Life

2010-03-08T22:34:00.007-05:00

All this writing on walls is pretty awesome. Now I completely understand kids using writing utensils wherever they please. So here are our color choices, tile choices, and where they need to go. Luckily, our contractor will pick up all the gallons of paint! It's hard to see here, but you can also see our counter stone choice! yeah!

Choosing tiles, countertop and wall colors is EXHAUSTING. Here we are on the last leg. After spending over four hours looking at granite slabs and an abundance of tiles, we spent the next day agonizing over paint color to go with the countertop, tiles, cabinetry, pantry....and on and ON. We decided to test our taste. At the paint store, we pulled every paint chip they had. Once at the apartment, we made our kitchen color choices. THEN, we invited Rachel's parents to come over and asked her mom to make her color suggestions. We did not discuss what we had chosen and TADA....she picked the exact same colors we did! With our courage back, and with more of her color expertise, we decided on the colors for the rest of the apartment and concretized our choices by pasting them to the kitchen wall. We then wrote out how the tiles should be layed out. It seems that we have to hold off on the tile for now - apparently glass tiles are hard to cut... who knew!

Here we are at the tile store, at the fourth hour, finally making a decision...which in the end we may not be able to implement. Ah well. Anyway, that IS our countertop, that is not changing!

We were undecided about three different countertop choices so Robert from Mondial Tile (who is great!) had all three slabs brought out to be shown to us. Pretty cool! they used this truck to bring them out...The man in the background is cleaning off one of our options which I really liked.

Here is that same slab as well as the creamy one to it's right, that I also loved. However, we ended up going with a more uniform look, with a slab that is shades of gray, blue, and black.

Here is the view from the front door. Archways gone and wall is now plastered!

Still so many tools in the living room!

And here is the kitchen that is finally coming together! Cabinets are IN!

More cabinets...

and so is the pantry...

Pantry doors are waiting patiently in the bedroom.

View of kitchen looking out. Enlarged doorway is now plastered and finished!

Ceiling holes patched up!

Our faucet arrived! The sink was delivered and we'll bring it over to the apartment during the week!

new fridge also waiting patiently

Island cabinets still in the box (but rumor has it they were installed today!)

Oven+Range still in the box...

The packing is proceeding according to plan. We will be moving on March 20th! We can't wait!

Who needs a kitchen doorway anyway?

2010-02-24T22:18:00.018-05:00

Part of our grand master plan involved opening the kitchen doorway as much as we could. We were met with obstacles from the very start- from the engineer saying we could only take it so far, to the contractor who is careful with his promises. We have been pleasantly surprised at how much this doorway is being opened!

Here is the kitchen doorway - on it's way to being widened.

And here it is - opened on from both sides!

Kitchen doorway framing going in.

Yeah! kitchen open to living area. Whoohoo!

Kitchen sink piping exposed, ready to extended moved 12 inches to the right

Sometimes, electrical just likes to hang out.

Wall bags have become a wall pyramid.

Metal column was the boundary of the wall that came down.

Framing going in where the wall came down to create some sense of separation between foyer and living room.

Sub sub floor showing

Hole in the ceiling for lighting, done!

Electrical outlets in bedroom going in!

Bed-side tables outlets in! yeah!

And bottom of molding was cut out to be replaced as well.

Somebody's happy!

Before the work!

2010-02-18T17:51:00.012-05:00

We finally achieved the dream of buying an apartment in New York, and the first thing we did, before even ever living there, was to demolish it. Ok that is dramatic, how I pictured it in my mind and how it actually looks while it's happening could not be further apart from each other.

Here are the three culprits. These three pictures were take by the broker and this is what she posted on the new york times real estate website which ultimately played the part of our prey.

In actuality these pictures do a nice job of showing "the wall" (seen in the first picture) which from the moment we walked in decided that it just had to go, that it would make all our dreams come true, that would allow me to sit at the still fictional island and allow me to work on the laptop and still hang out as the cooking was happening.

The kitchen in this picture is the opening showing just in front of the wall, to the right of the left window.

Here is a closer look at the wall which will come down, bordering the right side of this photo.

Here is another view of the wall which is now on the left side of the picture. This picture was taken from the bedroom door, looking at the front door. We are also going to be opening up the doorway to the kitchen and making it larger.

Here is the reverse of the picture above, taken from the front door now looking toward the bedroom. The wall to come down is on the right and the kitchen doorway also coming down is on the left.

This is the kitchen, equipped with the oldest and most caked on paint I have ever seen. The only thing we are keeping is the sink basin which we'll have refinished and placed on a new cabinet. We ordered the new cabinets and appliances, and they will arrive within two weeks! Thank you Sears for carrying two year old new appliances! And a place in Brooklyn with the most carefree and unrushed yet very pleasant cabinet lady ever.

Another look at the kitchen and old cabinetry that is coming out, as well as a better look at the doorway which will be enlarged, mostly by taking back the wall on the left.

Hope you enjoyed a look at the calm before the storm!

The storm begins!

2010-02-18T17:45:00.012-05:00

The infamous wall is on it's way down - we are already sleeping better, finally seeing it come down!

Cabinets have come down!

More cabinets, down!

Check out the wall that's coming down and the visibility beginning to happen from the kitchen!

The front door has been cover to keep the dust from entering the hallway.

The arch is down! and there is now a big whole in the ceiling, not sure why! oh well!

The bedroom is being used to cut some wood, or something.

Bags full of wall!

More of the arch, which we are removing.

Here is the view again from the front door, looking toward the bedroom which shows the wall on the right coming down.

The kitchen entryway was enlarged today, those pictures will be posted very soon!

Dad's birthday bash!

2010-01-22T17:13:00.013-05:00

My father turned an unmentionable age. Actually, it's just seventy and frankly, he's the best looking, most active, and muscular seventy-year old I have ever met. In fact, I can only wish to have a pair of legs like that when I turn seventy.

So here we are celebrating at my parent's house. My mom wins the "Most Sneaky" award by 1. Enlarging 7 of his most amazing photographs (he is quite the photographer and there are uber-albums to show for it) and hanging them up just before the party (I sneaked back in to help her while dad and I were shoveling snow - actually we were breaking up a really thick sheet of ice on the road), and 2. inviting a barber-shop group to come and sing during the festivities (led by my father's golf partner, Ron, and as it turns out, fellow course whiskey drinker).

So here are some photos and a video from the evening, enjoy!

Everyone is greatly enjoying the singing! Mom and Dad, you have to click on the little ">" to see the video!

Yeah!

Mom pensively enjoying the show - and perhaps calculating how long ago it was that she listened to these songs?

These two are having a good time!

Enjoying the singing!

Posers!

My parents think I'm taking a picture, little do they know I'm actually taking a video. And there is Chris saying something hilarious in his Italian accent which he used all night long and which my mom was convinced was him trying to sound like Borat! Now that is funny.

Paolo, what are you doing, why are you cutting it like THAAAAT! haha.

The morning after, my father was busy at work piecing back together his favorite shoes. Yes, that's right. The sole was in a million pieces, but he had the determination necessary for such a feat.

And of course, he had an audience.

Alex sulking after he realized that he locked his keys in his car on Christmas Eve. HAHAHA.

2008-12-03T23:37:00.012-05:00

I think it was the unwillingness to admit that the Italian adventure had ended that prevented me from updating the final "after" photos of the house. I can't believe that my time in Italy has already come and gone, and I am now back to daydreaming about Fridays like the rest of the hard-working work force. Oh Fridays, what glorious days they are. Alright, enough about that. It is now time to look back and see a job well done by a very determined machine man and his daughter. Some of the pictures will look familiar, but I needed to repost them in order to show the "before" and "after" shots in the same post. Enjoy!

As you can see behind me to your left, the walls of the house were severely damaged. I did not do a good enough job of documenting exactly how bad they were, but take this as an example and imagine it repeated throughout the house.

Here is another example. To the right of my working station, the command center as I called it, is another big gash in the cement wall. Again, this was the case in most of the downstairs.

And here now is that same wall (of the photo with me in it) where we cemented over the cracks and repainted.

More fixed walls

And more.

Ok last shot of fixed walls!

Here is a photo detailing the damage to the out side wall.

More damage, this time it's on the wall on the right side of the house.

Here is the work in progress, this is a first layer of cement that is being applied to the wall. In the most damaged areas of the wall we had to apply many layers. So, we would have to apply the cement, wait for it to dry and do it all over again. Often, this was done up to four times.

Another work in progress shot. This part had the deepest gashes, and where we applied the most cement.

Here is the front wall - also work in progress.

And here is the side of the house all fixed! (or as best as we could based on our scrappy abilities!)

And here is the ceiling of the Portico, quite a bit damaged!

And here it is all fixed! Whoohoo!

Soccer! And Alex's Last Day.

2008-09-15T19:05:00.006-04:00

Alex left a day before us, but the day he left we managed to go to a Bologna soccer game! Bologna recently entered Serie A and we were very excited to see them live...or at all. They played against Atalanta and, while Atalanta proved to be the better team, we enjoyed the commotion of the Italian spectators around us. We heard obcenities that i had not uttered or heard in years! It was fantastic! Italians certainly have a way with words.

A little pre-game shooting.

Pezzo di merda! (piece of shit); Testa di cazzo (dick head); Va a cagare! (go take a shit); Va fa' un bagno (go take a bath); Ma va a fa'un culo; (fuck you, kind of); Cretino! (cretin); and much much more!

The game begins! Bologna ends up playing terribly and losing 1-0, but it was so much fun just being there!

Immediately after the game we put Alex on a train to Milan where he will spend the night in a hotel and flight back the states in the morning. Bye Alex!!!

With Danila and Simona

2008-09-15T18:54:00.007-04:00

I was able to see Danila a lot this trip which made me very happy. She is extremely accomodating and even though they both work full time and have three very active kids, whenever she had time she had me over.

Here is Alex as he is driving us to her house.

Here is Alex as he is driving us to her house. It is a beautiful drive from Ca Bondi because she also lives in the hills of Bologna and the entire drive is up and down these hills with a beautiful view from each peak. These picture does not do it justice.

Here is her house one night just before dinner (we ate there, under the porch).

Simona and her husband Maurizio and the kids were there too. Here I am with Alice!

I was also able to see Simona a couple of times, here she is at Ca Bondi Sunday morning when she came to visit us with her kids Alice and Amanda.

Me with Alice and Amanda.

The Greatest Great Aunt and other fun down south

2008-09-15T17:35:00.017-04:00

Zia Loredana (Zia means Aunt) is actually my great aunt. She is the greatest great aunt to have ever lived. She is 92, she has spunk, likes a stiff drink, but is one of the softest and most generous people I have ever known. She lives in Civitanova Marche, which is about 3 hours south of Bologna on the adriatic coast. We were to proceed to Pompei (just outside of Naples) after visiting her, but once we saw the color of the ocean and her face, we decided to stay at the beach and enjoy the paradise we had just entered. So, we found a shop that was still open and each bought a bathing suit (I bought and wore a bikini, a first for me and although a success, it was not documented by way of photography. heck no!). We also went looking for cheap towels and the cheapest we found donned suggestive photos of scantily dressed women. PERFECT! We bought them immediately and headed for the beach.

The #1 great aunt! Here we are enjoying a stroll on the "boardwalk" on the day we arrive. Just 10 minutes after this shot was taken my family makes the final decision that we are staying put and saying, "do we really have to go to Naples???"

Being very fashion forward.

My great aunt can't walk very much, so she insisted we drop her off at home for a while and go out enjoying the area. So we decided to go visit a nearby city, Ascoli Picena, or as the locals say it "Ashcoli". It turned out to be a beautiful city!

My camera was dying but I was able to quickly pull of this picture in the Piazza, resulting in my father's lack of preparation.

Here we are enjoying a cocktail at the famous Meletti bar where Annis licquor was first concocted.

My handsom brother.

And my special self.

I really liked this shot and had to wait for a lady to exit the frame before taking it. However, I snapped a picture as she was still walking thinking it was such a fitting image and that it would probably look great with some added contrast...

Here is the same shot in black and white with more contrast.

A nice Ascoli street.

Brother and sister

Corinthian columns from the Roman era (around 100 bc) that were incorporated into this church about 200 years ago.

The main duomo.

Italian men getting together to chat in the piazza.

A sea horse as a fountain.

You must drink from me now.

Building next to the duomo, both built on roman ruins in travertine.

The duomo.

near the piazza

Now this is a nice piazza, eh?

Danila and family and more eating and drinking!

2008-09-10T20:33:00.005-04:00

Friends came over to Ca Bondi again, this time they were anxious to hear about our overnight hiking excursion and to just spend more time together...eating and drinking of course. My very good friend Danila came as well even though she still had a lot of work to do (she had an hour and a half presentation the next morning!). But she came because she is AWESOME. Her husband Gabriele (who is responsible for telling me about the particular course in the alps which my brother and I ended up doing... thank you Gabri!) and her three fantastic kids: Rachele, Samuele, and Madalena.

Here I am with Danila!!!

With Rachele!! She is so GREAT!

Here is Mariangela (Danila's mom) with Madalena. I took this picture about 6 times because Maddy kept eating an olive (she LOVES olives) and / or closing her eyes every time I took the picture. So, this time, she was very careful to keep her eyes very open and to not put anything in her mouth as I was taking the shot!

Here is Samuele, who just yesterday scored a goal on a 12 year old!!!

Here are Gabriele and Danila, the A+ couple! O Gabri, ce l'hai fatta nel blog!

More eating and drinking at Ca' Bondi!

Back to my father's land

2008-09-10T20:25:00.003-04:00

Hello again from Veneto!

Yes, we went back to Veneto (on the way back from the Alps, again) and back to Marco's house to see even more family! Marco cooked up a storm and we ate and drank and watched the Formula One race (like good Italians).

Here is the whole group with a self-timer shot.

Here is the tiny, innocent television that caused an uproar when everyone jumped up in protest when very near the end of the race the Mclaren car passed the Ferrari. We were PISSED.

Alex and Lucia, our, hmm, third cousin?

Alex and Eugenio who got along famously. Also, I think secretly Eugenio enjoys speaking Italian with an American accent. He spoke like that every chance he had, just to poke fun at us "americans".

Alpine adventure

2008-09-10T18:57:00.016-04:00

We went back to the Alps with the rest of my family. This time however, my brother and I packed a couple of backpacks and headed into the mountains, not to return until the next day at noon at lake Misurina. It was an incredible experience, one that we will both cherish forever. Hiking while being utterly wet and cold, then sleeping in a room with 20 other people is not something that is easily forgettable. Actually, the truth is that even in the hardest moments, we were still ecstatic to be doing the hike and to be experiencing it as we were.

And off we go. When my parents dropped us off, there was an unquestionable, and unspoken, concern about the weather and lack of clothing. Alas, we are young and nothing will get in our way!

We have to reach two "rifugi" (mountain lodges that provide lodging and food for hikers), before we reach the Locatelli, which is the third one and where we will be spending the night. Here is a little sactuary for the Virgin Mary on the way to the first.

Hey, this isn't so bad. Sure it's a little wet but the sun looks like it wants to come out.

We made it to Lavaredo, our first stop on the way to Locatelli. We are so optimistic! (and so naive).

This pair of photos really sums up the course from Lavaredo to Cengia (the second stop). As you can see, the view was less than desireable.

Despite the "nubi" (low clouds), the beauty of the dolomites is undeniable and each moment that the sun broke through they dominated our attention.

We had a map, but it's always nice to see some signage.

Still on the way to Cengia. We are cold and wet. We stopped to have lunch (prosciutto and cheese sandwiches my mom prepared for us, some fruit, and a snack consisting of a spunge cake encased in a thin chocolate coating with a layer of alcohol inside). Hey, we may be cold and wet but we are not barbarians! Actually we are just Italian, there is never a good reason to have a bad meal.

Take it from the top.

Almost there...

And there it is! Our penultimate stop before Locatelli!

We stop in Cengia to warm up a bit and re-energize before our last track of the day. Alex looks pretty beat here eh? I have some hot tea, Alex has a Fanta, and we share a dessert. We have a nice conversation with an Italian couple because we sat at their table but also because everyone else was German. In fact for the entire trip 99% of the people we encountered were german.

This is easy!

We exit Cengia ready for the next phase of the hike. Our optimism is back! Locatelli is within our reach!

It's really hard to see here, but there it is, that speck of white in the top(ish) center is where we will be spending the night!

Breathtaking views continue.

Getting closer.

Taking a short break

And back to work.

We are so close now!

We made it! Locatelli is fairly large lodge that has a dormitory (where Alex and I slept) as well as smaller rooms. After hiking solitarily for a hours, entering Locatelli was like stepping into a tiny city made of transient inhabitants. No one here stays more than one night, everyone is tired and hungry, and every person has a story to share. And so, immediately upon arrival, Alex was quite literally accosted by an American couple who had heard him speak a few words to me in English. We ended up eating, drinking, and chatting with them for the rest of the evening.

After we arrived, we immediately went to the dormitory to change and drop off our stuff on our side by side top bunks.

We had an hour before dinner, so we took a short hike up behind Locatelli to check out some caves (from WWI) that we could see from the lodge.

And here is Locatelli from the caves.

We also fraternized with a group of Germans who'd left their wives and kids at home for a week to hike and drink in the alps. They were a ball and we all got along famously.

Here I am with the Germans (who are drinking red wine by the pitcher).

And here is Alex actually donning one of their group hats. As Drunk #1 (that's how he introduced himself) was putting the hat on Alex he remarked "You haves too much hairz on your head!" Yes, Alex has a solid head of hair.

And here is the view that we woke up to from our dormitory!

The next day was sunny and gorgeous, we were ready to go! We had only a two hour moderate hike ahead of us! Whoppie!!!!

Yup, still good!

We came from "over there".

Alex decided to hike in his PJs.

We are nearly there! We arrived at Auronzo (shortly after I took this shot). From here we caught the bus that would take us back to lake Misurina where our parents were picking us up! What an amazing trip and advenure! We had an amazing time and most of all, we learned what we should have packed for the next time.

The Masos hit Bologna

2008-09-08T20:02:00.009-04:00

The day after my mother and brother arrived, we went to downtown Bologna. My parents had to go to the bank, we all had to get an espresso, and my mom had to retrace the steps she used to take everyday when she worked here. So we went to the main piazza, Piazza Maggiore. We had fun with a statue, we revisited my mom's old office door, went to our favorite bar (by bar I mean cafe. Here bars are cafe's and pubs are american style bars- where you drink alcohol), and much much more.

Here is the beloved Nettuno. From this angle it's all very innocent.

But from this angle, well, let's just say it'a not so innocent and he has a hand in this trick. My dad loves to point this out everytime we come here.

And here is my mom pointing to the window to her old office. See, there she is pointing.

Located just beneath the window are these to sculptures. One of them was made by a very famous and important artist, the other was not. My mother can't remember which is the important one and who the artist was.

During medieval times, this piazza housed the main market of Bologna. Like any medieval market, I'm pretty sure you could by anything here...livestock, food, supplies, etc. This section of the wall that you see here was actually used to measure cloth, and other such measureable merchandise, in the selling process. These were very standard measurements, the names and lengths of which I do not know, but these were used back then and here they still are today.

So much happened in this Piazza. It was the heart of the town, you would see everyone here, and here is my mom and her ex-colleague Maria who was just passing by while we were taking in the view. An hour later we ran into Avanzi's son, Andres, just steps away from the Piazza.

Another nice view of the Piazza.

We then proceeded to walk around some more (mainly because I wanted to find the street where you can still see a canal and a medieval bathroom. And here it is.) Bologna used to have many canals running through it that have since been covered. But here you can still see one. Also, those half-rooms sticking out from the buildings on the right are actually old medieval bathrooms. That's right, they used to just drop their business right into the canal!

A great distinguishing factor for Bologna is its beloved porticos. How did these porticos come about you ask? Well, the University of Bologna is the oldest university in Europe (possibly the world) and thus it grew quite large at a very early age. Residents of Bologna (being as smart as they tend to be) began to build wooden additions to their apartments to create an extra room to then rent out to students of the University. Here is an example of one such addition. These additions became so common that they eventually changed the architectural style of the buildings of the city.

Here is one of these very first Porticos

Here is another that is a bit more integrated into the architecture

And here is a modern one!

Bologna, at one time, boasted many many towers throughout the city. Here is one that has been converted to residential use, probably many years ago.

Arrival of reinforcements and friends

2008-09-04T03:55:00.012-04:00

The rest of my family finally arrived. My father went to pick up my mother and brother from the airport while I enjoyed a quiet read under the portico (this is how Ca' Bondi is supposed to be enjoyed) with the sound of the stream (Olivetta) and the wind hitting the leaves on the branches up above.

Once they arrived, my brother got to work immediately. The beauty about Ca' Bondi is that you can do anything you want. You want to repaint the house? Go for it. You want to landscape? Don't let me stop you! You want to free a tree from Ivy? Let me help you do it! So my brother eyed this mad walnut tree (it's mad, the walnuts are not edible) and decided to free it from the ivy that had grown around it.

He was doing well, until he stumbled across a stubborn ivy branch.

So he decided he needed some help in pulling it.

All the while my mom (Floretta) and I sharing a bit of Italian news.

The same day they arrived, our friends the Mongardis and Guidicinis came over for dinner, they could wait to see my mother and brother. So we enjoyed a festive dinner of steak, sausage, and salad. Mariangela brought a cake and a firecracker of a candle for my mom's arrival. Lulu and Mariangela also brought her a present, a beautiful necklace that can also be used as a bracelet by an Italian jewelery designer.

Laura and the girls drinking their wine.

The guys sharing their news.

Alex about to enjoy a beer after a hard day with Ivy.

Salute!

Cake and presents!

More cheer!

The Maso Family at work.

It's all fun and games until you have to cement.

But a job well done is worth documenting!

Here is mom at work, tackling the painting job after all the cementing has been done.

And again mom, from another angle. She was getting really annoyed with me photographing her. What can I say, I couldn't stop enjoying that thing on her head.

Me and Alex enjoying a short break while cementing the terrace (yes the terrace still!).

Alex was hot and tired after all the work and he wanted to take a dip in l'Olivetta. So he cleared himself a path and made it possible.

Mission accomplished!!

The Great Fire

2008-09-04T02:51:00.011-04:00

I returned from Edinburgh feeling completely OVER the work ahead of me. Not exactly what you would hope for when coming back from a mini vacation from work during your sabbatical. In any case, I came back to find that my father had completely enslaved himself during the week I was gone. He took care of the whole inside of the house, going around patching up walls and painting, he did another layer of cement on the terrace wall, and he stripped and painted the ceiling of the portico. This is my father, he is not human. In any case, he was very excited to have me back because also during this week he never left Ca' Bondi. He was anxious to have a conversation that did not involve swearing at an innocent mound of cement having fallen not where it was intended. So here we are back at work and here is some of the awesome repair work my father completed as well as the great fire.

Kitchen entry walls, done!

Wall by fireplace, done!

Steps and wall, done!!

Wall by main entrance, done!

I also have been doing my own laundry.

Portico ceiling, done!

Here is the mud room, clean and useful as it is intended to be. Yes, we used to bottle wine...and make nocino which is a liquor made from wall nuts, it is delicious.

Our very own plum tree. My dad and I ate the majority but we left mom three. We are very generous.

Dead tree, now gone!

Look at what we cleared!

For hours we battled against the overgrown weeds that had turned into trees! Dead trees, brush, Ortiche which is the Italian version of Poison Ivy (it is SO mean, so mean), and basically tried to bring the landscaping at the front part of the property back to some semblance of what it once was. So we began accumulating the cut weeds and trees in the flat driveway area so that we could then eliminate it by way of fire. My father gets very excited by fire. He makes the best fires known to mankind. This man knows how to build a fire in any fireplace. He also likes to be a bit risky.

Here is the accumulated mass of brush.

Once many years ago at our friend Avanzi's country house my father was doing some yard work and then decided to burn the accumulation of what he had gathered. It was a bit windy that day. And, well, the fire spread and he started a major fire mainly on the surrounding fields which were used to grow corn, etc. The fire department was called and they worked all day to put this fire out. Once it was out, because we are Italian, they invited all the firemen to stay for a feast of a meal under his giant portico. Much of this was filmed by Avanzi and it is a wonderful thing to watch...after the fact.

SO, knowing this, and knowing that I was not going to get out of making this fire, I was TERRIFIED. For the entire day, the hours leading up to the fire, anytime my dad was not looking, I was hosing down the surrounding brush, trees, the house, the grass around the patch, everything. And every time he caught me his response was always, "Franci, don't worry, I'm telling you, this stuff will hardly burn, it's still green, we're just going to see a lot of smoke and that's it...I know fire." OMG. I kept watering the surroundings. I had visions of Ca' Bondi burning down, of the fire department coming but their truck not being able to fit on the bridge, I was thinking of every possible scenario.

I knew that we were close to starting the fire when he had us make these "fascine" to then put under the pile of brush to help the fire take. I made my two a bit smaller.

So we lit the fire and here is my father enticing it was a lump of dried grass.

And here I am, now finally calm because the fire has died down. At the end of it all my father commented, "well, I'm surprised, I didn't realized it would burn so well, I thought that it wouldn't catch so well being that it was so green. HELLO!" Let me also state for the record that kerosene was involved.

Lock Ness! and the great adventure

2008-09-02T06:15:00.010-04:00

We took a day trip to Loch Ness to try our luck at a picture of the monster and the 1 Million BP reward. What we got instead was a monster free boat ride on a beautiful lake and an adventure when our bus broke down 2.5 hours from Edinburgh on the trip home. But that's ok because being good people that enjoy good food and drink we immediately made a few friends. We had some drinks at the local pub where we broke down and then bought a bottle of whiskey with our four new compadres and drank all the way home when our replacement bus arrived. Fun is detailed below!

The way up to Loch Ness was absolutely beautiful. We drove through the highlands that have an amazing mountenous landscape of greenery, heather, and lakes. It was also quite wet and cold, but the beauty of the area and the weather were really a perfect match.

Jacob is really trying to keep Meghan warm, it was so cold!

Beautiful highlands landcape

Landscape silhouette.

Taken from the bus.

Also taken from the bus.

Beautiful landscapes continue.
And more...

Loch Ness beer, it was only right to drink in her honor.

We both thought so.

Loch Ness

More Loch Ness. Where is old Nessie!

The English and Scottish are soooo wordy.

An accurate depiction of what Nessie looks like, in case we saw her.

This bus and an "irresistable" urge to break down.

The bus broke down in Dalwhinnie and of course, there was whiskey distillary there. Too bad it closed at 4pm and we arrived at 5;30. Still, we took some photos and thought of what might have been.

Then, as luck would have it, or as the scottish have ensured over centuries of living under tough weather conditions, every town, and I mean EVERY town, no matter its size, has a local pub. So we found this wonderful establishment that was not only a pub but a great restaurant at a size perfect for a stranded group of people. Not only that, but as Jacob and I were discussing on the 15 minute walk to the pub..." wouldn't it be great if we found a pub that was open and also had a television with some sort of sporting event going on?". Well, we walked in, surveyed the beers available on tap and, in the back, we immediately noticed a flat screen TV with a motorcross show on. AWESOME. So, we didn't end up watching it but for sports lovers all over the world, sometimes it's just nice to know it's there.

Here we are on the bus enjoying our whiskey.

Meghan is a happy bus rider.

We elected Helena (from Berlin) to keep the empty and signed whiskey bottle.

Scott the other Loch Ness friend. Once back in Edinburgh, we decided to go out altogether.

Below ground in Edinburgh are the 1st and 2nd floors of old apartment buildings that are now used as foundations. Some bars are actually using these areas as areas of the establishment. These can seem quite scary at times on an off night when the bar is empty. So we had some fun with our Loch Ness friends!!!!

Jacob and I were having some fun below ground.

and then some orbs showed up and we quickly vacated this room.

And came back with the whole group.

All in all, the bus break down was a great adventure!

Tattoo and fun in Edinburgh

2008-09-02T05:42:00.004-04:00

The Tattoo, as a wrote in an earlier post, is a performance put on by different countries that involves synchronized marching, playing of instruments, and which possesses a military flair. Meghan and Jacob volunteered to work each show (30 straight days) in order to meet some locals in their new city. They were able to sneak me in the very last night and it was wonderful to see such a great display of country pride at such a great price. A ticket would have been about 43 Pounds (about $90). So, they outfitted me in one of their red Usher jackets and on we went, passing by the crowds queued up to get in, other volunteers, and the miliarty police. I immediately felt very authoritative and had to fight the urge to order people around, nevermind that I had no idea where the bathroom was when a patron asked me. But after that, I learned where it was and I was armed with knowledge, I was ready!

It was the centennial of the Tattoo. Check out the 100 spelled out by the performents. Meghan told me what the T A stood for but I have since forgotten.

Because it was the last performance, many fireworks were used.

Us enjoying the show. Oh did I mention that it was freezing and ungodly windy?

A shower of fireworks at the end of the show.

A shot of me in a "close" which is what they call an "alley". All the closes here have names.

Playing around.

Drinking around.

Watching other people playing around.

The Advocates close

A cafe very close to their apartment where we had breakfast one morning.

A shot from the top of the Royal Mile (from near the castle) down to the water.

Would you rather be remembered witha statue that birds like to use as a bathroom or with no statue at all?

Lieth in Edinburgh

2008-09-02T05:08:00.005-04:00

No I'm not still in Edinburgh! In my effort to try to keep this blog chronological, I'm still posting about Edinburgh. However, I am now back in Bologna and the rest of my family has arrived! The great thing about having two more people here is that my father is now distracted and working with my brother and my mother is busying herself in the house, cleaning up and generally making it more comfortable since we lived like ANIMALS while they were not here. No we didn't. It just feels that way when you see your mother cleaning sheets, cleaning up, rearranging things that are so obvious you wonder how you ever survived here without her. But the great thing is that I can sneak away to update the blog because I am SEVERLY behind and it's due in part to the dial up connection and to the fact that it was just my father and I for four weeks.

Alright, so one day we took a walk to lovely Leith which is by the water (not sure of the spelling). We walked along Leith Walk (the street name) which on the way to this area boasts many restaurants and bars of different ethnicities. It is a great area, still a bit grungy and not yet taken over by the Edinburgh yuppies. I loved it and so did Meghan, we spent the rest of the day trying to convince Jacob that they should move there.

The happy couple on the way to Leith.

A lovely cemetary!

Cute gate with garden.

We had a lot of fun with these dragon sculptures...

More fun with dragons.

ROAR!

Lovely shot once we arrived to Leith of canal that lead to open water.

A great reward of seafood chowder and muscles! delicious! Oh and some chips of course.

The Fringe Festival

2008-08-29T14:50:00.004-04:00

I wrote earlier about the Fringe Festival and how it is an amazing gathering of artists from all over world. Their talents cover all walks of life and the festival houses thousands of shows. While Meghan and Jacob were working, I managed to catch five shows. Four were comedy shows and the fifth was an autobiographical one-woman show that just took my breath away. More on that later!

Here is just one example of the many venues that were being used around the city.

The performers also acted short bits of their shows in order to entice spectators to purchase tickets for their show.

An urban beach! This was the location of yet another Fringe Festival venue.

This is one of the largest venues of the festival. Because this particular location housed many stages, it made it easier to just show up and find show to go see.

My first few days in Edinburgh, Scotland

2008-08-29T13:53:00.009-04:00

Jacob met me at the airport when I arrived in Edinburgh because Meghan was suffering from food poisoning. Poor Meghan! So we went to the apartment to see her and hang out a bit. Then I left with Jacob so that he could go to work and I could go off exploring the Fringe Festival. However, on the way to his job we ran into someone he knew. This person was on way to a beer crawl and that's how it happened that I went on beer crawl with 10 people I had never met before. Turned out to be a great night and Jacob met up with us after he got off work. Here we are at the third pub, and here is the group of people I followed around and drank with for five hours.

Here we are at pub #3, a bar with karaoke. No, I did not partake.

While they went on to hit two more locations, Jacob and I sneaked away to a quiet pub to enjoy a pint and a bit of rugby.

ahh, my love.

I did quite a bit of exploring around Edinburgh and here are the pictures to prove it! Notice the Scottish flag. i have never met a people with more country pride.

It was quite tricky to pull off a shot with no one in it.

Edinburgh city streets

Skyline

The Edinburgh Castle. This is where the Tattoo was being held. Pictures of that later.

Castle again.

A random pub.

Exact location where inhabitants of the city used to come to watch public executions. Lovely!

A zippy looking Smart Car.

From one Midlothian to another. Meghan and I met at Midlothian High School in Virginia, and years later, here she is moving to another Midlothian.

More lovely street shots

I stopped in at the Whiskey Museum and perused the premises. Here is a menu of the whiskeys they were currently selling, separated as blends, single malts, and by location (mainland, islands, highlands, etc).

Back to work. The WALL.

2008-08-29T13:26:00.005-04:00

Here we are on the terrace, putting a layer of cement on the inside wall.

The Dream Team in action

Taking a break to observe and document progress. Not bad!

My cement mixing station. Cement, Sand, Chair, Water...All essential elements for successful cement mixing.

Me, doing a self portrait with progress behind me.The terrace is larger than it seems when you are cementing its entire perimeter!

Progress

More progress

In progress

After a hard day's work.

Lago di Garda

2008-08-29T12:02:00.010-04:00

I know what you are thinking, is there any work being done? YES! This is what happened. We were cementing the main outside walls and we did a great job (pics coming next) but I overused my right wrist muscle in mixing cement all day, and my father scraped his hand quite a bit. So, we HAD to take a day off work and go to Lago di Garda. This is one of the largest lakes in Italy, it is beautiful, and I had never seen it. So we decided to drive up for the day. Here are the pictures!

Cool alley leading down to the water

Me, by the water, taking-in our day off.

Il lago.

Me, next to some beautiful flowers my dad loves.

Hello, me again.

and again, me.

Flowers, water, mountains. Awesome!

Man walking his bike in another nice alley.

Inside Ca' Bondi

2008-08-29T11:25:00.006-04:00

I thought I would take a moment to post a few photos of the inside of Ca' Bondi. When I took the shots, I was actually pointedly trying to keep the damaged areas outside of the frame. So it's not easy to see the work we have done since. Anyway, here goes....Oh and it's worth mentioning that while I'm doing this, my father is slaughtering the overgrown areas in the nearest part of the garden with a chainsaw.

My command center. This is where all the magic happens, and where I waste hours of time waiting for photos to upload. Luckily, there is always something to do (or that I should do) while the uploading is happening.

Same shot, zoomed back. This is the dining room and where we have most of the memories at Ca' Bondi. We spent thousands of hours at this table with my family, grandparents, and friends.

This area is actually in the same room as the dining room, it's just behind it. The couch, lamp, and coffee table are from our apartment in Bologna. The chair in the lower right corner was in my bedroom, which I shared with my older brother, in our apartment.

My grandfather, Bonando, was the champion of Italy in Greco-Roman Wrestling. He was a strong guy! He also appeared at the Olympics but could not compete because of an injury to his elbow. Here is a small collection of his plaques, medals, and other memorabilia. I'm very proud!

Here I am showing off our very high-tech radio and only form of electronic entertainment. This furniture piece was also from our apartment. There is also so Red Label whiskey in the background and it is delicious.

Same shot, zoomed out. On the left side is the kitchen (and the bathroom)and on the right are the stairs that lead to the bedrooms and terrace on the second floor.

Stairs, and more wrestling stuff.

Old faithful. This is the best fireplace in the history of fireplaces. There I said it.

Bathroom. We are back in style with the 60s tile.

The bathroom is the shower, the shower is the bathroom

Kitchen. No frills there. Awesome tile continues.

Funny Edinburgh

2008-08-23T15:30:00.003-04:00

I'm currently in Edinburgh fully enjoying the complete luck of having come here during the Fringe Festival. The festival is a yearly congregation of performers that come from all over the world. The performances vary from music, to comedy, to dance, to drama, etc. There are over 400 venues being used throughout the city, housing thousands of shows. It would be physically impossible to catch each one. While Meghan and Jacob are off volunteering at the Tattoo (picture a UK army parade that is hours long) each night (tonight is the last night and they are going to try to sneak me in) I have been entertaining myself with comedy. No, not MY comedy, though that would be entirely possible and have been known to do on occasion. No, I have been going to back-to-back standup comedy shows, and well, God loves me right now because I really can't picture a better way to spend my time for the few hours i have on my own.

I have to comment that while i'm typing away, there is a three year old kid at the computer next to me and he has single-handedly inserted money into the machine for Internet access, navigated to You Tube, and is now watching some sort of age-appropriate show. His father just came up to him very tentatively and said "I've ordered you a diet coke, I hope that's ok. Looks like you are going to be there for a while, why don't you make yourself more comfortable and take off your coat?"

Am I sitting next to a genius?!

Alright, off to another show...

More to come

2008-08-20T18:41:00.001-04:00

And now i must go to bed. It is nearly 1am and i have to get up at 5am to fly to Scotland to visit my friend Meghan for a week. Anyway, i have plenty of more photos to upload from the work on the house (yes we got back to work!) and i'm sure i'll have much more after Scotland!

The Italian alps

2008-08-20T16:59:00.011-04:00

After visiting my relatives on my father's side, we continued to drive northeast to the Alps to visit our good friends the Mongardis and the Guidicinis during their august vacations for about five days. We arrived in Venas where the Guidicinis have an apt and got immediately lost on the way there. We ended up on a very narrow uphill winding road. I continued to drive uphill hoping to find somewhere wide enough to turn around, all the while hoping that we would not encounter another car coming in the opposite direction. Immediately after this thought materialized in my mind, a car appeared. God Damn! So, I stop, and the car heading towards us stops and the driver gets out of the car to try to figure out how we can get by each other. And wouldn't you know it, it's Bruno Mongardi! He and Mariangela and Laura (who I call Lulu) are coming back from a hike,while Paolo Guidicini (Laura's husband) is waiting for us at the apt! This was really hilarious. Anyway, clearly we manage to get by each other and follow them to the apt.

Paolo G. immediately presents us with three sleeping options. Either both my father and I stay with them (same room, twin beds) or we both stay with the Mondardi (same room, twin beds) or we separate and each get our own room. Immediately my father and I jumped to option three. The reason is because the night before we slept in the same room, two twin beds, and my father snored all night and I remember falling asleep somewhere around 5am. Separate rooms SOLD!

So, I stayed with Bruno and Mariangela and this is the view from their porch! This is Il Pelmo, as you can see, it looks like an enourmous throne. This mountain is the one I hold dearest from all the times we came here when i was a kid.

This one is viewable from the back of their apartment. This peak is Antelau. The houses shown are typical of the area.

Paolo Guidicini and Paolo Maso on the way up San Marco.

Antelau deserves another look.

And here we are at Lake Misurina. During the winter this lake is completely frozen over and covered with snow.

Here is another shot of the lake. From this angle you can see the chair lift that brings skiers and hikers up to the top, depending on the season.

I couldn't decide which shot I liked more so I decided to include both.

We took a walk around the lake, and here is a picture of the hotel from the other side.

The next day we went to Cristallo, another peak and yet another mountain we used to ski down. We took the chairlift up to this point and then walked down to the lake shown below.

Very nice lake at a very high height.

The brat pack.

Walking up from the lake.

View from where we had lunch. The mountain we are looking at here is Faloria, we used to ski on the trails that you can see on the right side.

Me, with Faloria in the background

Me, with Il Pelmo covered by my head.

That old brat pack again.

Bruno Mongardi, the joker.

On the way down from Cristallo.

Serious climbing was involved. :-)

A margherita.

Here we are hiking up to the Cinque Torri (Five Towers)

Omage to the Virgin Mary on the trail up to the Cinque Torri. Italians love the Virgin Mary. Love her.

Le Cinque Torri!!! (we also used to ski down from here, one of our favorite slopes).

The Italian Alpini trenches used during the first world war against Austria. After the war, Italy made out with quite a few peaks that were a part of Austria. Here, the trenches and cannon holes are all pointed towards the last valley they had to hold and the Austrian alps.

Visting Veneto and my father's relatives.

2008-08-20T16:07:00.006-04:00

After a few days of work, we headed to the Veneto region, in Castelfranco Veneto, where my father grew up. He lived here in this house with his grandparents until the age of 11 when his mother (my grandmother) picked him up and, against his will, brought him to Bologna. When he lived here, only the central part of this house (Villa) was livable. The rest his grandfather used as a stable because he was a horse trader. My father has many fond memories here. As I learned from his cousin Anna, he was referred to as the "solitaire" (Il Solitario) because he loved going off on his own and exploring the woods, his world, for hours and hours at a time. Probably 10 years ago, this mansion was restored (it did NOT look like this when he lived here) and it is now a culinary school. In fact, my second cousin Marco Valletta (below) was the culinary Director there for some time.

Here is my father with his cousin Sergio and Sergio's wife Nives. We stayed with them for one night.

Here I am with my father's aunt Laura, my great aunt. My great grandparents had something like 8 daughters and one son. Laura is the youngest at 82!! Marco, her son lives with her and looks after her. Here he invited us to lunch at their house and he cooked up a storm!

And here I am with Marco, my second cousin who is now a pretty famous chef in Italy! He has written a few cookbooks, had a standing column in a newspaper, and is constantly called-on to prepare meals for special occasions throughout Italy. More importantly we are both "in the life" and he was thrilled to learn that we are on the same team. We commemorated the moment with a celebratory hug and a picture.

This is a required stop anytime my father comes back to the region. Here we are in Bassano on the famous bridge of the Alpini (Ponte Degli Alpini). The Alpini were the elite mountain warfare soldiers of the Italian Army. During the war, they carved out hundreds of trails in the alps that are used to today by avid hikers all over the alps! From Bassano we went directly to the Alps to visit our friends, those pictures are coming up.

Me, on the bridge. Outfitted entirely by Rachel i have to say!

My father looking onto the surrounding buildings from the bridge.

The dream team!

Bologna city center

2008-08-20T15:38:00.002-04:00

After some more work, we headed downtown to breethe in some of that Bologna city air, watch the vespas wiz by, and most importantly, for the thousandth time, observe our very own leaning tower. The history behind this tower is very simple. Unlike Pisa, where the tower started leaning after some time that it was built, this tower began leaning immediately before it was even finished. Thus, in an effort to avert causing damage to the surrounding buildings, the workers that had just finished building it raced to dismantle it to a safe height. And at this height it still rests today, next to it's big sister, Torre Asignelli.

More of the Bologna city center

This fan is actually blowing cool mist on top of us. We are seated below it enjoying an afternoon drink. Also notice the Portico. The bologna city center (which is the area within the medieval city wall - some of the wall is still visible today in some parts) is full of these porticos that cover nearly all the sidewalks in the city. This architectural element allows pedestrians to be able to walk nearly everywhere in the city without being too affected by the weather. Genius!

Here is an apartment building entrance typical in Bologna. Currently under some construction but if you look closely you can see the fresco in the back. Enough said.

Let me state for the record

2008-08-20T13:18:00.003-04:00

I need to clarify...what is Ca' Bondi? Ca' Bondi is a very very rustic house that my grandparents bought in the 60s. It was already named at the time of purchase. When it was bought, it could actually have been considered a ruin. We own the right half. The left half was bought by a couple that was friends with my grandparents. Together, they worked to restore it and separate it. Since my grandparents passed away, the other half has changed hands a few times. It now has bran new owners which we have met in the last few days, they are a very nice, unmarried couple. It seems the "living together" trend has hit Italy and as my father puts it, "no one wants to get married anymore". There you have it. Here is a nice shot that I took from the gate. This picture does a nice job of hiding all the work that needs to be done and which i will detail below.

Arrival

2008-08-20T05:31:00.013-04:00

I'm in Italy now, thus "tomorrow" can easily mean a week and a half later! Here are some pictures detailing my arrival in Bologna and the 7+ hour wait at the airport for my father's arrival.

My first greeting is heaven itself. There, smack in between the Arrivals and the rental car offices is the most delicious sight I could not have dreamed up on my own. A charcuterie shop equipped with hanging prosciuttos, salamis, cheeses, and more. I stopped in at the cafe nearby, took a seat facing this amazing sight, and looked on as I sipped my first of many capuccinos to come in the next weeks.

My very first capuccino

I can cannot conceal my love for food and fast machines. And the Ducati's shop in the airport leads me to believe that I am not the only one that feels this way.

Ferrari store, exhibit B

It's amazing what you are able to experience hanging out at an airport. Here are a pair of Italian Olympians on their way to China. Forza Italia! As you can see, i'm slightly more excited than the kid in the yellow shirt. Maybe he is from France.

I had a photo of my father just upon his arrival, but after 24 hours of travelling I will spare him the cruelty and jump instead, directly to us enjoying a first of many "spritz". This drink is a very popular aperitif now in Italy consisting of Aperol (an Italian bitter), Prosecco (an Italian sparkling wine), a dash of sparkling water, and an orange slice. It is absolutely delectable and I will be making these for everyone upon my return. Mark my words!

We followed up this discovery with an old faithful. In hopes that it would still be open, we walked to V.San Felice to see if our favorite pizzeria, La Bella Napoli, was still open (or if they had shut down for the month of August as all Italians and much of Europe goes on vacation during this month). My father used to come here as a teenager with his friends after their basketball games. Luck was on our side and in near disbelief we entered the familiar locale, sat down, and began ordering. Of course, it had to be pizza with sausage, prociutto (cooked), and mushrooms and a pasta dish with seafood (shown here). I belive that we were briefly transported to heaven.

I have to admit that I jumped ahead slightly. You see, after we arrived and after our first night at the house, we spent an entire day cleaning. The house sits here all alone during the year, except the few times a month that our friends use it to escape the summer heat, cook-out, etc. So it needs a very thorough cleaning. In addition, the humidity is tremendous during the evenings and so we have to take mattresses, etc., and sit them out in the sun for a number of hours. Here they are, drying up while we are cleaning like maniacs!

This is my very serious, no-nonsense, religious bed. The furnishings in this house are a mixture of the furniture we had in our apartment in bologna before we moved to the U.S. and items that could be dated back to my great-grandparents. I'm really not sure and I'm afraid to ask.

This is the master bedroom sans mattress.

Adventures with muriatic acid. That "cloudyness" are actually fumes.

After a hard day of work: Dad with his cigar, his beer is nearby.

Of course, my reward as well.

Here is a record of the work that is waiting for us. The portico wall has severe water damage which we will fix with a generous spread of cement.

More wall to be repaired. Over the wall is the terrace where the entire surrounding wall on the inside also needs to be repaired.

The ceiling of the porch (portico) needs to be repainted once we have fixed the terrace wall above.

Francesca Maso, happy to report for duty.

The insde walls (as you can see to the left of me) also need to be touched up.

Many more pics to come in the next post. Stay tuned!

Just getting started

2008-08-07T16:56:00.002-04:00

First order of business. Neither a laptop or a digital camera with a 300 zoom were purchased. Who am I trying to fool. I got my sweet brother to lend me his laptop and bought a used digital point and shoot camera. Works great!

Next. I've been here for a few days and there are already some items to comment on. Bowing to my love for pictured menus, I'll discuss said items and random acknowledgements alongside visuals. Hey, i'm not out to bore anyone.

OK. Dial up really really is cramping my style here. Going to have to try again tomorrow...

2008-07-08T17:04:00.000-04:00

WAITING
Three days to go. Minutes are moving slowly. Still have to:
- buy a digital camera (point & shoot and an SLR, with 300 zoom!)
- buy laptop - lightweight