Scenes of Venice

Venice, Italy Like the saying, "You are what you eat" goes, we are often influenced by the people around us.  Having now spent time with Sherry Ott in three different and iconic Italian cities, I felt challenged (in a good way) to get off my hiney and step up my photo game a bit. This …

Murano Glassblowing in Venice

Venice, Italy On my first visit to Venice I was with a tour group for part of the time.  One of the things they organized was a glassblowing demonstration, since nearby Murano is so famous for glassworks. I can’t swear to it, but I think anyone can walk into Dogi’s Murano Art and see the …

Rantypants: working overseas

Outside of the US Dear Universe, Sometimes I need to know that the door which just closed did so because another, much better one, is opening. You have my number.  Thanks. Sincerely, Rantypants   Every bed of roses has its thorn.  That smells.  Or something.   Usually my blog is my happy place.  Aside from …

Sweet, frosted Colosseum!

Rome, Italy I generally prefer chocolate frosting, though an occasional cream cheese-based confection will really get me.  And while I have been slowly introducing Dario's family to some of my favorite American foods – stuffed chicken, pancakes, creamy salad dressing – we still haven't mastered frosting. Part of the problem is that zucchero a velo …

Face-stuffing in Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain Diving headlong into local dining experiences is one of the preferred activities of many travelers.  The same is true for me and Dario.  However, we don't limit ourselves to local cuisine, as we have several favorites in which we cannot always indulge depending on our living and travel situation.  We may have gone …

Meanwhile, in Spain…

Rome, Italy Dario and I decided to spend some time with the family back in Italy, both for the pleasure of being together for the holidays and to skip out on some of the cold, dark, Irish winter.  Unfortunately, we seem to have brought the weather with us!   (Click to enlarge.) On a clear …

Beach Flashbacks

Today's post is written by Dario!  He's been promising me a guest post for some time, so when Silvia from Trippando told me about a contest she and Travel – Moments in Time were having for writing about beaches, I thought this would be the perfect moment to nudge him into action.   Having nearly …

Natale: la tavola (the table)

Rome, Italy When people think of Italy, inevitably one of the first subjects to come up is the food.  It's a year 'round event here, to be sure, but holidays bring an extra level of showmanship to the table.  Natale (Christmas) is one of the biggest eating holidays of all – it lasts 2 or …