And Then There Was Paris

After a week in Italy, we spent a little over 60 hours in Paris.  If you remember, January 2018 was one of the wettest that Paris had seen in a long time.  Our first day was really spent travelling and other than that little town we were staying in, we didn't see much. 

But we did wander around town, figured out how to go the train to go into the City and had a wonderful dinner.

Since I'm basically blogging this vacation day - by - day - well that's all for today :) 

Pat, Krystle & JB ate snails.  Eleanor, Jessica & I refused.  I think we were right - I mean, what's the green stuff?!

I just really liked the way this log looked with the mushrooms growing on it.  I thought it was so pretty and textural.  This is something I'd print in black and white, frame and put in my house - would you?  

Orvieto

The one thing I couldn't get over in Italy was

• how clean everything is
• how beautiful all the building are 
• how old everything is

So, that's 3 - sue me.  

One of the places that the kids had gone on their honeymoon and really wanted to get back to was a little town called Orvieto.  It was within an hour's drive of where we were staying - so we made half- day out of it.  We went to Orvieto in the afternoon after our cooking class. 

Our first stop was at this charming old stone house that housed a winery.  While they were tasting wine, I went outside and took some photos.  It was just as the sun was setting. 

Also, I may have a thing for bare trees.  Especially against a beautiful sky. 

Then we went into town.  After finding a place to park, we walked around for awhile.  It seems the entire time we were in Italy, our timing was off just that much.  We'd all be ready for dinner and the restaurants were still closed for mid-day.  But we managed to make it work. 

The cathedral was set in the center of the town.  And it was huge and amazing and beautiful and clean.  The detail in the building was just incredible.  I have many photos of the detail carved into the outside of the building. 

We had dinner in Orvieto and then we headed back home to bed.  I believe this was our last day in Italy.  Thanks for joining me as a looked back over a year ago to a wonderful family trip.

Italian Gardens

What I really enjoyed the most about being in the Italian Countryside in January was the lack of other tourists.  Often we were the only people in a particular garden - allowing us to run, play, take fun photos and have a good time - without interrupting anyone else.

On this day, after stopping for most of the fam to do a wine tasting (Pat, Eleanor & I don't drink wine) we headed to Villa Lante to see the formal gardens.  The day started out drizzly, but ended up being quite nice.

When we got to Villa Lante, we went in around the outside.  Walking past this beautiful fountain.  Formal Italian Gardens are filled with boxwoods and lots and lots of fountains.  

One of two identical buildings.  They were closed up and not in use, but were amazing.  I can only imagine living in one.

Looking down over one of the fountains.

From the top looking back down over the entire garden.  Isn't it spectacular?

This grotto was at the very top of the garden. 

Another water feature.

Some of the formal boxwoods and the designs created.

Why Not Take a Class?

Have I mentioned yet that Krystle & Pat when to Italy on their honeymoon?  So, this wasn't their first choice for a family vacation, but they were game and went along.  One of the things that was important for them was to take a cooking class.  Luckily for us, our hotel was offering a class where you learned to make bread/rolls, pasta and fresh ricotta.  So - with the exception of JB, we were all in!  JB - or Gramps - got the fun of spending the morning with Eleanor - all to himself.  I think there may have been chocolate croissants involved!

Our day started with making bread dough. While that rested we had a lovely espresso.  Then we made the dough into pizza.  In Italy, pizza is baked on a cookie sheet and it's rectangular - I don't think I saw a single round pizza.  The dough was spread out edge to edge on the cookie sheet, topped with olive oil and then the tomato sauce and set aside to rest and rise again.  We then played with the bread dough - dividing it into 4 and making 4 different types of rolls - as well as baguette.  The rolls were:  panchetta, olive, caraway & plain.

Before making pasta, we learned how to make ricotta.  It seemed pretty easy, but finding the special ingredients might make it a bit harder to do.

Then it was pasta time!  We had so much fun making the pasta.  Gramps & Eleanor arrived just in time for lunch of our pizza and fresh ricotta.  It was a good day!  Recently a friend loaned me her pasta machine so I can try making fresh pasta again.

We learned to make different shapes with the pasta dough. The bow ties are basically cut with a pinking rotary cutter.  :D

Finally - learning to use the pasta machine.  It's a 2 person job!

All in all - I was so glad that I spent a fun day with the kids learning to make bread.  Now to find Italian flour here and try my hand at pasta!  

Firenze!

Of all the places we went in Italy, I think Florence was my favorite.  I've said it before in these posts - but I'm not one to spend all day wandering around a museum.  Although - we did go see David.  But honestly - I enjoyed looking at the other statues and the amazing tapestries more.

After a good nights sleep, we grabbed a quick breakfast of espresso and pastries (as you do) with a bit of bacon for Eleanor because babies don't run on coffee and bread.  Then we hoped into the car and headed to Florence.  The drive was a little over an hour.  After parking, we wandered our way into the city and made the museum our first stop. 

Next - we had to find lunch!  We stumbled into a little cafe where we literally had the best food ever!  I had carbonara because it's what I do.  I mean, can you go wrong with bacon & egg pasta?  Sadly, all of my pictures of the food are blury. But they did have the most beautiful homemade pasta in the front. 

After eating, we wandered all around the City, stopping at the carousel, Ponte Vecchio to watch the sun set, and then heading back to the Duomo, where JB & Patrick tried to climb to the top of the dome, but we were just a tad too late. 

I cannot get over how beautiful and remarkable the details on the buildings are.  And everything is so clean - there wasn't trash just thrown around. 

Knitting Bags for Vacation 2018

In 2017 one of my instagram friends from Seattle sent me a pattern she'd designed for bags.  It's a darling bucket bag and I made a few of them for Christmas gifts in 2017.  But then - I got inspired - see both of my girls knit.  I, personally, never get on an airplane or in the car for a long trip without at least 2 projects with me.  Seriously! 

So - I did what any self-respecting sewist would do 2 days before leaving on vacation - I decided to cut out and make 3 uptown bags!  I had shrunk the pattern just a little bit so it was the perfect size for a single skein shawl project or a pair of socks.  While there is no way to close this bag, it's also big enough to drop your phone & wallet into so you only need one bag with you. 

The outside of the bags are all the same, black background with knitting sheep on it.  The inside of two of them are pink and the third one is red.  The openings are bound with premade bias binding in red, pink or white. 

The girls had no idea they were getting these bags - which are great scrap busters (the lining - or reverse side, because they are totally reversible - is scraps from Christmas pants 2015).  Jessica chose her bag first and she picked the red lining - you can see her beautiful shawl coming out of the bag.  Krystle then picked the bag with pink lining and pink binding - she was busy knitting Eleanor's first birthday sweater!  My bag is in the middle and I was working on a pair of socks for the Christmas box - Christmas 2018 that is! 

I love that this is a hobby we share.  I also love having a knitting bag that is in so many of my holiday photos.  I think of the vacation when ever I pick the bag up to work on something - I hope that my girls have the same vacation memories when they use their knitting bags.  

Apparently - I'm into the behind the scenes photos right now!

Italy & France - Days 3 & 4

Half of the family woke up before dawn on Monday morning to watch the sunrise from above the villa we were staying at.  I was in the half that slept in.  After a quick cup of coffee in our rooms, we walked into town for some fresh pastry and another coffee.  I know why Europeans can eat all those pastries - they walk everywhere and it's hilly!!

Then we pilled into the car and headed to the Monster Garden.  What a fun day - even if it was raining!  We spent hours wandering around the statues, many of which were in ruins.

Before leaving - we attempted to get a family photo in front of another monster sculpture.  The outtakes from this are my favorite.

From Bomarzo (where the monster park is) we headed to Viterbo to find dinner.  This was the first time we actually realized that everything closes in the middle of the day!  Eleanor was starving and the rest of us were hungry.  We got lost trying to navigate the underground of Viterbo, but we found a young lady from Baltimore who was going to college there!  She helped us find the place we were looking for.

For some reason - there aren't a lot of photos from Viterbo, but here's a couple.