I'm back from Italy!

Hello everyone!  I'm back from Italy! 

Here is a photo of my house before I left in September:

Here it is today:

It looks kind of bleak.  But that’s just because it’s Massachusetts and IT”S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

Here are ten things that are great about Massachusetts, in no particular order:

1. The water.  It has a great coppery taste that I have been craving for MONTHS. 
2. The air.  It is really clean!
3. The Christmas music.  I tried to explain to Gene how you have to listen to all the old tacky Christmas hits that are on the radio between Thanksgiving and Christmasthis to Gene, but he just didn’t get it.  The first American thing to happen to me when I got into the airport in Boston was hearing that George Michael Christmas song in the airplane restroom.
4. My room.  It has lots of colors and my bed has at least six blankets on it!

5. My cats.  Above is Squeaky.  Here she is again:

She also answers to "Tiny Hiney".

Here is Winnie:

"Fuzzywump"

And here is Zackie:

"Pokeypants"

 

6. My Christmas tree.  I put it up Wednesday and I decorated it yesterday.  It is fake.

The magic of Christmas

It has lots of wonderful Christmas tree ornaments (the fragile ones are at the top).

7. My Christmas stocking.  Santa goes in the little chimney.  Thanks, Gram!

8. McIntosh apples.  They are truly the best tasting fruit EVER.  I did not see a single one in Italy, but I have eaten at least eight since I’ve been home.

9. My nativity.  It has a CAMEL.  And look at the cats and the emu/ostrich/flamingo!

10. My warm fluffy coat and boots.  They are just right for this freezing cold weather.

Here is my mother with the Lindt chocolate ball I brought home for here birthday:

 

My cats are very happy.  Here are Pookypaws, His Highness, and Princessface eating their din-din:

"Om nom nom!"

Gonna fly now!

In a few ore (hours) I will be leaving on a jet plane to Boston, where everyone speaks inglese.  It is very cold there and I will have to dress like this:

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget!

Last day in Italia for me, Bridget!

Oggi I went for a long run up and down three big colline.  It was freddo (cold) out, and there was a lot of neve (snow) at the tops of the colline.  Then, we went out to pranzo at a ristorante in the neve.  Annie Cate wanted to show me the bathroom, so here is some of it:

And here is the vista out the bathroom finestra:

They gave us this zucca/formaggio/tartufo thing because they like us:

Polenta con funghi porcini (polenta with porcini mushrooms)

More cibi (foods):



Vitello con funghi porcini e polenta (veal with porcini mushrooms and polenta)

Crema Catalana

Later, Obi ate some tacchino leftovers from Thanksgiving. 

Then he found a cozy place in the garage:

Tara and I went to the centro commerciale (mall) to get some stuff done.  We were "terrorized" by these cani (dogs) in the parcheggio (parking lot):

At the centro commerciale, we saw many things that filled us with wonder and awe.  Here are some products catering to the Italian obsession with presepi (nativities):

 

We also saw lots of giocattoli:

We poked through the aisles full of things that are bad for you:

Here is some panettone, the Italian Christmas torta (cake):

More Italian cibi:

"Acciughe" are anchovies.

 

"Strozzapreti" are "priest stranglers".

"Rigate" means "striped".

After the centro commerciale, we stopped in Costozza.  First, we admired the giant presepe:

Then, we visited the tiny Christmas craft market nearby:

And here is a lovely foto of Zoe the Christmas Cat for your entertainment:

Acqua Alta in Venice!

Tara and I stayed at an albergo (hotel) in Venezia (Venice) last notte.  Our albergo was on the Grand Canal.  Here is a vista of our room from across the canale, with our finestra (window) circled:

We were right next to a traghetto station, which is where you go if you want to take a little boat (traghetto) across the water quickly.  Across the canale, there was the fish market.  Here is the vista from our finestra:

The uccelli on the building next door were fake.

We went up to the roof but it was too scuro (dark) to get a good picture.  But here is the stairwell:

And look!  It's our ceiling:

We headed out to explore.  We found a used bookstore that had gondole (gondolas) everywhere:

In Italy, people like to set up elaborate presepi (creche scenes).  We found a stall where you could buy things to outfit your presepe.  See the little man roasting maroni?

Some of the streets were all lit up:

We ate at a little osteria:

Some cibi (foods):



Verdure miste (mixed vegetables)

Gnocchi alla gorgonzola

Spaghetti alla seppia nera (squid ink)

Later, we had cioccolata calda here:

These were on the walls...

...and these were on the counter:

We walked around a little bit.  Here is the Ponte di Rialto at night:

And some more of the Grand Canal:

Questa mattina (this morning), we were planning on going running, but we got outside and the way we had meant to run was allagato (flooded).  Then we ran in the other direction and it turned out that that was allagato too.  We ran for a minute in a different direction and gave up because of all the stinky puddles.  It turned out that the alley beneath our finestra was also allagato:

On the bright side, Tara found this faccia in the bathtub:

We took the traghetto across the canale...

...to the fish market:

Venice was in aqcua alta (high water).  Everyone was wearing stivali (boots).  Some were big and ugly like these:

We went to la Piazza di San Marco (St. Mark's Square).  Here are some foto of acqua alta there:

The piccioni were bedraggled:

There was acqua alta near the Rialto as well:

 Here is a short video of more acqua alta:

Here is a leone di San Marco:

Here's another one:

Here are more foto di Venezia:

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget!