forks and knives...

Italians stereotypically talk with their hands. Well, I've found this to be true, and if they are holding something, that also becomes a part of the gesture.

At dinner the other night, my host sister was visiting from Milan (with her boyfriend). With a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, my mom, dad, sister, and boyfriend proceeded to have a lively conversation. With forks and knives tightly gripped in hand, they all makes circles, jabs, and gestures, which to an American bystander seemed at a minimum dangerous, and sometimes threatening. At one point, my host dad made a dramatic motion with a large knife in his hand, and my eyeballs almost popped out. My sister saw me and it cracked her up. I feel we had a private moment of understanding, but two moments later she turned back to the conversation, fork and knife in hand.

Cinque Terra

Last weekend went to the Cinque Terra (5 lands) on the coast with a friend. We hiked between a few of these tiny colorful villages, and the views were incredible. It was torture to be so close to the ocean, and not jump in!
Also these towns are famous for their pesto, and it definitely lived up to the rep.

as for the non-water closet, it must have been bad for someone to go to the trouble to paint this door...

ok, so not venice

and not even Italy, but I printed it here and I love it, so here it is:

venice again

venice black and whites

yes, it is...

... a giant glass abacus. glorious.


Found in a tiny town square on the isle of Murano in Venice. Why giant? Why an abacus? Murano is the famous island and home of Venetian glassblowers... so that much almost makes sense. We did get to watch the maestros work their magic in a few demonstrations... it takes them about 2 minutes to make a vase, and 40 years to learn.

Oreficeria

Florence is sprinkled with these stores:


Which always make me laugh! -eria means "store that sells"... a cartoleria sells cards and so on and so forth.
This actually means "goldsmith shop," but sure seems like a place that sells orifices :P

A night at the opera...

Last weekend, we went to the most prestigious opera house in Italy (Teatro alla Scala)! As a thank you gift for the opportunities he had while studying at the Stanford program in Florence, a young-ish grad took us all to the see Cyrano de Bergerac. Helen Bing flew out from New York to accompany us.

And we got to meet Placido Domingo (one of the three tenors; he played Cyrano) thanks to Helen.

The inside of the opera house was sooo beautiful. Plush red velvet was everywhere!
Also, the sets were so very artistic. All in all, a lovely night.

Italian Sunrise