Wow! It’s been well over 2 months since I blogged last so I have a lot of catching up to do. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and are looking forward to springtime.
Well, since we last spoke, Artichoke Heart and I have done some traveling. As reported in my last blog, we went to Bratislava, Slovakia before Christmas to rescue Anastasia, Randu, and Grey Bear (picture of Grey Bear just below) from their exile. A 7-hour train ride up and back
(Hangar Brat – Europe by Rail has really come in handy!) Bratislava is a nice enough town but nothing to really write home about. Actually it was quite nice but Anastasia had a really bad attitude about it and I'm sure that colored my opinion a little. There was a nice Christmas market in the town square and we ate some very good Spanish tapas. We went to Vienna a couple of times – beautiful city, nice architecture, nice cathedral, good food, etc. Note: I really hope we can do some sightseeing during warm weather; this traveling in the wintertime is getting old. I can’t really get excited about relaying our adventures when most of what I remember is how cold it was. But I recommend Vienna to anyone going to Austria. The coffee was the best I’ve had in Europe, not to mention the Sacher Cake at the Hotel Sacher. Would have loved to do the Sound of Music tour but that was in Salzburg and too far away for our limited time. We wanted to visit Prague and Budapest but Prague was a 5-hour train ride and Hungary was having a transportation strike (they must be related to the Italians who strike probably once a month – nothing major, just a little disruption to let everyone know they’re there I guess). All in all a fun trip but if we ever get to Prague it will be in the summertime!
We spent Christmas here in Rovigo and ate pizza at the Queen Elizabeth restaurant. For a town where most restaurants are closed most of the time, there was a surprising number of places open on Christmas night. And sorry to disappoint you Italian food fans – again – the pizza here leaves much to be desired. You might as well eat it with a fork and knife because when you pick up a piece, it’s so flimsy the sparse toppings slide right off. I have begun carrying crushed red peppers in my purse to add a little flavor.
After Christmas we flew to Charlotte (famous as the birthplace of Ashley) to visit Button, Miss Ellie, W, Betty, Al & Rose, and Lois. Had a fantastic time! Betty was kind enough to take us shopping everyday. We went to Walmart, the grocery store, and a real mall. And I got my hair cut and colored by a person that spoke English. A real treat! I may come back with hair down to the middle of my back because after Artichoke’s latest haircut, I’m really scared to go back to anyone here. We had proper food every single day in Charlotte and it was sheer heaven.
We came back to Rovigo to a snow-covered ‘wonderland’ and it stayed cold for the entire month of January. But things are looking up, we’ve had sun for about 3 weeks now and the ground is drying up from the months of rain. For some reason meteorologists are wildly inaccurate here. Romeo says if the forecast is gloomy, plan a picnic because that’s when the weather turns out to be the best.
Mid-January we traveled south to Ravenna, known as the mosaic city, to see the 5th & 6th century Byzantine churches/basilicas (picture of one on right) and Dante’s tomb. It’s 2 hours away by car or train – a nice town, much bigger than Rovigo and looked to have some nice shopping. The mosaics are really a must see, except for the one that Lonely Planet says is a must see. Part of the problem with sightseeing in Italy is they nickel and dime (more like 5 or 10 euro) you to death. The ‘must see’ cost 3 euros to get in and yes, it had pretty mosaics but after seeing all the others earlier, it just felt like a rip-off. I can’t report on the food because we waited until after 2 in the afternoon to look for a restaurant. When will we learn! So we headed to Ferrara, another town between Rovigo and Bologna. I may have reported in a past blog that we toured the town castle which is very much in tact and has a moat. But this time we walked around the town, visited the cathedral, which I must say is one of the nicest in the area, and tooled around until the Indian restaurant opened at 7:30 p.m. Ferrara proved to be much more than the castle, lots of people milling around, outdoor market/souvenir stands and a fabulous chocolate drink at La Bottega del Cioccolato. It reminds me of when Mama would try to make fudge. It’s a touch thinner version of the fudge right after it comes off the stove. Muy delicioso and served with a spoon!
And last but not least, we went to Venice to experience Carnivale (aka Mardi Gras). Given that it’s in Italy, people (Italians) taut it as the best in the world. Although it’s always nice to be in Venice and if any of you do come to Italy, Venice is a definite ‘must see’, Carnivale in the daytime was pretty tame compared to New Orleans. There were a lot of people walking around in Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) dressed up in pretty fabulous costumes - colorful, ornate, creative, beautiful. But their whole purpo
se was to pose for tourists taking pictures (see picture of Grey Bear in his Carnivale mask with a very colorful duck!). I’m sure it would have been fun to stay for the evening festivities but after 5 or 6 hours of walking around, we decided to head back to Rovigo before nightfall. Had we stayed we would have seen the Drag Queen Parade which was really the only thing on the schedule that caught my eye. I’m sure it was something to see.
Since Christmas we’ve had the pleasure of Anastasia, Randu, and Grey Bear here to entertain us and share our Italian experience. They have now left for Ismit, Turkey, just a little south of Istanbul and we wish them the best and really miss them. We also wish them to get a seaside resort apartment for when we visit them! If you want to read more about our Italian experiences in the words of Anastasia and Grey Bear, visit http://thegreybear.blogspot.com or http://thiscatsabroad.blogspot.com
Artichoke Heart and I are Grey Bear’s god bi-pedal attendants whom (or who?) he mentions with fondness on occasion.
Well, I’m going to finish now so you know we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Artichoke Heart is cooking hamburgers tonight and I just opened the bag of buns we found at the grocery store. We were pleasantly surprised to even find hamburger buns and unbelievably, with sesame seeds! When I opened the bag to toast the buns, I found that I had to cut them in two. It’s always something – although this was pretty minor. This week we are supposed to move into a new place. We haven’t signed anything yet so it’s not definite but 99% sure. I’ll write about the ‘finding a place to live’ experience in my next blog – remember, we will have been here 5 months and are just now able to find a suitable place to hang our hats…..
Ciao & Hasta Luego!
Well, since we last spoke, Artichoke Heart and I have done some traveling. As reported in my last blog, we went to Bratislava, Slovakia before Christmas to rescue Anastasia, Randu, and Grey Bear (picture of Grey Bear just below) from their exile. A 7-hour train ride up and back
(Hangar Brat – Europe by Rail has really come in handy!) Bratislava is a nice enough town but nothing to really write home about. Actually it was quite nice but Anastasia had a really bad attitude about it and I'm sure that colored my opinion a little. There was a nice Christmas market in the town square and we ate some very good Spanish tapas. We went to Vienna a couple of times – beautiful city, nice architecture, nice cathedral, good food, etc. Note: I really hope we can do some sightseeing during warm weather; this traveling in the wintertime is getting old. I can’t really get excited about relaying our adventures when most of what I remember is how cold it was. But I recommend Vienna to anyone going to Austria. The coffee was the best I’ve had in Europe, not to mention the Sacher Cake at the Hotel Sacher. Would have loved to do the Sound of Music tour but that was in Salzburg and too far away for our limited time. We wanted to visit Prague and Budapest but Prague was a 5-hour train ride and Hungary was having a transportation strike (they must be related to the Italians who strike probably once a month – nothing major, just a little disruption to let everyone know they’re there I guess). All in all a fun trip but if we ever get to Prague it will be in the summertime!We spent Christmas here in Rovigo and ate pizza at the Queen Elizabeth restaurant. For a town where most restaurants are closed most of the time, there was a surprising number of places open on Christmas night. And sorry to disappoint you Italian food fans – again – the pizza here leaves much to be desired. You might as well eat it with a fork and knife because when you pick up a piece, it’s so flimsy the sparse toppings slide right off. I have begun carrying crushed red peppers in my purse to add a little flavor.
After Christmas we flew to Charlotte (famous as the birthplace of Ashley) to visit Button, Miss Ellie, W, Betty, Al & Rose, and Lois. Had a fantastic time! Betty was kind enough to take us shopping everyday. We went to Walmart, the grocery store, and a real mall. And I got my hair cut and colored by a person that spoke English. A real treat! I may come back with hair down to the middle of my back because after Artichoke’s latest haircut, I’m really scared to go back to anyone here. We had proper food every single day in Charlotte and it was sheer heaven.
We came back to Rovigo to a snow-covered ‘wonderland’ and it stayed cold for the entire month of January. But things are looking up, we’ve had sun for about 3 weeks now and the ground is drying up from the months of rain. For some reason meteorologists are wildly inaccurate here. Romeo says if the forecast is gloomy, plan a picnic because that’s when the weather turns out to be the best.
Mid-January we traveled south to Ravenna, known as the mosaic city, to see the 5th & 6th century Byzantine churches/basilicas (picture of one on right) and Dante’s tomb. It’s 2 hours away by car or train – a nice town, much bigger than Rovigo and looked to have some nice shopping. The mosaics are really a must see, except for the one that Lonely Planet says is a must see. Part of the problem with sightseeing in Italy is they nickel and dime (more like 5 or 10 euro) you to death. The ‘must see’ cost 3 euros to get in and yes, it had pretty mosaics but after seeing all the others earlier, it just felt like a rip-off. I can’t report on the food because we waited until after 2 in the afternoon to look for a restaurant. When will we learn! So we headed to Ferrara, another town between Rovigo and Bologna. I may have reported in a past blog that we toured the town castle which is very much in tact and has a moat. But this time we walked around the town, visited the cathedral, which I must say is one of the nicest in the area, and tooled around until the Indian restaurant opened at 7:30 p.m. Ferrara proved to be much more than the castle, lots of people milling around, outdoor market/souvenir stands and a fabulous chocolate drink at La Bottega del Cioccolato. It reminds me of when Mama would try to make fudge. It’s a touch thinner version of the fudge right after it comes off the stove. Muy delicioso and served with a spoon!
And last but not least, we went to Venice to experience Carnivale (aka Mardi Gras). Given that it’s in Italy, people (Italians) taut it as the best in the world. Although it’s always nice to be in Venice and if any of you do come to Italy, Venice is a definite ‘must see’, Carnivale in the daytime was pretty tame compared to New Orleans. There were a lot of people walking around in Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) dressed up in pretty fabulous costumes - colorful, ornate, creative, beautiful. But their whole purpo
se was to pose for tourists taking pictures (see picture of Grey Bear in his Carnivale mask with a very colorful duck!). I’m sure it would have been fun to stay for the evening festivities but after 5 or 6 hours of walking around, we decided to head back to Rovigo before nightfall. Had we stayed we would have seen the Drag Queen Parade which was really the only thing on the schedule that caught my eye. I’m sure it was something to see.Since Christmas we’ve had the pleasure of Anastasia, Randu, and Grey Bear here to entertain us and share our Italian experience. They have now left for Ismit, Turkey, just a little south of Istanbul and we wish them the best and really miss them. We also wish them to get a seaside resort apartment for when we visit them! If you want to read more about our Italian experiences in the words of Anastasia and Grey Bear, visit http://thegreybear.blogspot.com or http://thiscatsabroad.blogspot.com
Artichoke Heart and I are Grey Bear’s god bi-pedal attendants whom (or who?) he mentions with fondness on occasion.
Well, I’m going to finish now so you know we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Artichoke Heart is cooking hamburgers tonight and I just opened the bag of buns we found at the grocery store. We were pleasantly surprised to even find hamburger buns and unbelievably, with sesame seeds! When I opened the bag to toast the buns, I found that I had to cut them in two. It’s always something – although this was pretty minor. This week we are supposed to move into a new place. We haven’t signed anything yet so it’s not definite but 99% sure. I’ll write about the ‘finding a place to live’ experience in my next blog – remember, we will have been here 5 months and are just now able to find a suitable place to hang our hats…..
Ciao & Hasta Luego!
Okay ... the biggest thing in your blog: you found hamburger buns AND they had seeds? Amazing!! Next you'll be scooping up bottles of relish.
ReplyDeleteHi Snowflake! I miss you guys so much! I'm sorry that my female bipedal attendant coloured your perception of Bratislava. She's like that. You just need to ignore her most of the time.
ReplyDeletexxx
GB
p.s. Thanks for showing some of my photos!
Hi Snowflake!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say thanks again to you and Artichoke Heart for all of your generosity and company (and compassion) over the past couple of months!!
xx
Randu
p.s - Hamburger buns! Nice score!!!