Another agritourism website find, instead this time was an absolute SCORE in every way. We stayed a gorgeous B&B which was a two story little cottage attached to a larger home; where the farmer, his wife & their children live. Their property is covered with grape vines and olive trees & has a beautiful view of the entire area.
We spent five days here, so we used it as a base to explore the entire region. We ventured south to a recommended beach on the coast (Claudia, the owner of the guesthouse, was full of lovely suggestions, but this was a bust). Perhaps living in Sydney has ruined our enjoyment of average beaches, but I can't recall the name of this place - it's really not worth remembering. We ventured north to the Cinque Terre and this was really as special as special gets. This literally means "five lands" but it really translates into "five picturesque, quaint Italian towns squeezed between magnificent ocean cliffs and grapevines" or more simply "heaven." We only spent a few hours here, but could easily spend a week or more. There is a pathway between all five cities and also a train.
Besides, the Cinque Terra, the loveliest part of this region was our little B&B itself and the charming town of Peccoli. This little town is quite dead with only 4 or so options for dinner. One of Claudia's brilliant recommendations was a "family style" restaurant which is a better way of saying "affordable enough that you can bring the whole family." It was miles more than affordable, it was comfortable but still elegant and absolutely charming & delish!
Our breakfasts at the B&B included homemade jam with bread, usually a homemade breakfast cake, tea & coffee, and very cloudy apple juice (my favorite). We were given a lovely tour about how they harvest their organic grapes into wine. They produce three types of wine: a basic white and two reds, one lighter and one heavier. After our tour, we had a lovely dinner overlooking the sunsetting property – the meal was all antipasto including fresh cheeses, meats, and jams; and of course, a sampling of their beautiful wines. “Sampling” is really an understatement, it included all three full bottles, which we shared with one German who didn’t drink at all and one lovely light-weight Asian lady. It also included a “sampling” of grappa which is a really highly alcoholic wine that tastes like rubbing alcohol. The combination of all of the above led to a not-so-romantic end of the evening. I slept with the toilet instead of my new husband, but I honestly have no regrets.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Parma (Simplicity)
We chose to visit Parma because Italy's agritourism websites listed it as being within our budget and within a short enough distance to the city center. Also, the B&B had a free bikes for use to it's occupants. I had a vision of me and my husband biking through the city center of a small italian town in between stops to eat local parmesan cheese. ;) It didn't turn out exactly like that, but it was still a wonderful stop indeed.
We took a bus from the train station. Our Italian ignorance enabled us to get a free ride or perhaps it's because the bus driver felt sorry for us. You see, we were asking him to drop us off in front of a prison (the name of our stop was "carcerie.") What the charming photos/descriptions of our B&B cleverly "forgot" to mention was that it was directly adjacent to what seemed to be a fairly important prison. The owner did a good (well, as best he could) job of growing bushes and hedges to mask the prison, but it was still uncomfortably close. What was lost in the proximity to the prison was made up in the charm of the place. Our room was lovely with exposed beams in the bedroom and cold, stone tiles in the bathroom. The best part of the entire house was a perfect little breakfast room with a slanted ceiling. The breakfast was less than desirable however with only packaged pastries and some cereal/milk.
It was raining when we arrived so we decided to do what we do: we ventured out to purchase a bottle of wine to accompany our card playing lazy afternoon. The owner told of us a small pub down the road (well, down the grass pathway) operated by an older gentlemen. He sells beer (mostly to other old men) and wine and also, if we request it before 5 pm or so - he will make dinner. So we ventured to this restaurant/bar/hangout and found said man. He was the picture of Italian - so vibrant and lovely. We purchased a bottle of wine from him and also managed in our pseudo sign language/pseudo broken italian to request to have a meal around 8 PM. He was delighted.
We returned for our dinner, which was among the best and the cheapest of all we had in Italy. We returned the next night as well. The decor of this place is something like a legion's club (white walls with ten year old birthday signs hanging about), but he put a special table aside for us and covered it with a table cloth. We were his guests.
This was, of course, our most memorable experience in Parma. We did ride our bikes through Parma, but it rained a good bit and the town was mid-sized, not the small quaintness that I had imagined. We didn't get to take a cheese tour (we didn't book in time), but we did find a small market to purchase the locally made cheese. It was delightful! We ate SOOOO much cheese on this trip. I won't tell you that it turned our "movements" much darker and pastier causing them to horribly stain the toilet each time - 'cause that would be going way too far. ;)
We really enjoyed a relaxing time in Parma. The little Italian chef really made it wonderful - we got what we were looking for: the localiest (?) possible food. ;)
We took a bus from the train station. Our Italian ignorance enabled us to get a free ride or perhaps it's because the bus driver felt sorry for us. You see, we were asking him to drop us off in front of a prison (the name of our stop was "carcerie.") What the charming photos/descriptions of our B&B cleverly "forgot" to mention was that it was directly adjacent to what seemed to be a fairly important prison. The owner did a good (well, as best he could) job of growing bushes and hedges to mask the prison, but it was still uncomfortably close. What was lost in the proximity to the prison was made up in the charm of the place. Our room was lovely with exposed beams in the bedroom and cold, stone tiles in the bathroom. The best part of the entire house was a perfect little breakfast room with a slanted ceiling. The breakfast was less than desirable however with only packaged pastries and some cereal/milk.
It was raining when we arrived so we decided to do what we do: we ventured out to purchase a bottle of wine to accompany our card playing lazy afternoon. The owner told of us a small pub down the road (well, down the grass pathway) operated by an older gentlemen. He sells beer (mostly to other old men) and wine and also, if we request it before 5 pm or so - he will make dinner. So we ventured to this restaurant/bar/hangout and found said man. He was the picture of Italian - so vibrant and lovely. We purchased a bottle of wine from him and also managed in our pseudo sign language/pseudo broken italian to request to have a meal around 8 PM. He was delighted.
We returned for our dinner, which was among the best and the cheapest of all we had in Italy. We returned the next night as well. The decor of this place is something like a legion's club (white walls with ten year old birthday signs hanging about), but he put a special table aside for us and covered it with a table cloth. We were his guests.
This was, of course, our most memorable experience in Parma. We did ride our bikes through Parma, but it rained a good bit and the town was mid-sized, not the small quaintness that I had imagined. We didn't get to take a cheese tour (we didn't book in time), but we did find a small market to purchase the locally made cheese. It was delightful! We ate SOOOO much cheese on this trip. I won't tell you that it turned our "movements" much darker and pastier causing them to horribly stain the toilet each time - 'cause that would be going way too far. ;)
We really enjoyed a relaxing time in Parma. The little Italian chef really made it wonderful - we got what we were looking for: the localiest (?) possible food. ;)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
brain's waves and heart's pieces
I lost my Voice.
but Roaming Rumors Remain:
That she has been calculating brain's waves
of humans (& trolls) in Norway
I may have heard her on their news lines
full of fear in an oil drenched desert
She could have married the great Mr. Young
& have been long nesting in Ontario
Or perhaps she sailed back to Nusa
(that place we always promised to share)
But she's likely somewhere in australia
where my tiny heart's p.i.e.c.e.s will dwell
Maybe she's waiting at all those places I long to be or
Maybe she's lying in my bed right beside me.
but Roaming Rumors Remain:
That she has been calculating brain's waves
of humans (& trolls) in Norway
I may have heard her on their news lines
full of fear in an oil drenched desert
She could have married the great Mr. Young
& have been long nesting in Ontario
Or perhaps she sailed back to Nusa
(that place we always promised to share)
But she's likely somewhere in australia
where my tiny heart's p.i.e.c.e.s will dwell
Maybe she's waiting at all those places I long to be or
Maybe she's lying in my bed right beside me.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Florence (Normalcy)
I found this to be the most normal Italian city. There were far less tourists (though it did seem to be a hot spot for American students to do an exchange), which was nice and not heaps of "must see" places. A few things actually stand out in my memory, the rest is really a blur of romance & relaxation.
1. The ultimate bike gang: Everyone in Florence has a bike, not a five speed newbie, but a very old, very charming & colorful bike. I assumed that it was because people living in Florence had impeccable style, but it is actually because they are so often stolen that there is really no reason to buy a nicer, newer one. I thought they were perfect and I had to drag Warren away many times (he insisted on photographing every interesting bike he saw, which took up much of our time spent outside of the hotel).
2. The David: After waiting for nearly two hours to get into the Vatican museum, we woke up early enough to be waiting at the door when David woke up. I'm not one to typically need to see these sorts of attractions while traveling, but I'm really glad I did. Michelangelo is one impressive fellow - David is flawless and attractive and really demands a few minutes of starring at, which is completely appropriate for people of all ages, because this is art, folks. He (and his accompaniments) are larger than life!!
3. The greatest meal: This trip was about local food for me (and of course romancing). I read up on what was special for each region we visited and in Tuscany (where Florence resides) one of the more interesting specialties is combining pear with cheese. I spotted this interesting combo on a menu (pear & cheese ravioli) and ordered it, of course. It is no understatement that I can't recall something tastier that I have ever put into my mouth. To make it better, Warren's meal was also divine (penne with truffle, blue cheese & artichoke). We were food drunk and drunk drunk & if I were ever in the vicinity of Italy, I would seriously consider making a special trip to do this meal all over again!
1. The ultimate bike gang: Everyone in Florence has a bike, not a five speed newbie, but a very old, very charming & colorful bike. I assumed that it was because people living in Florence had impeccable style, but it is actually because they are so often stolen that there is really no reason to buy a nicer, newer one. I thought they were perfect and I had to drag Warren away many times (he insisted on photographing every interesting bike he saw, which took up much of our time spent outside of the hotel).
2. The David: After waiting for nearly two hours to get into the Vatican museum, we woke up early enough to be waiting at the door when David woke up. I'm not one to typically need to see these sorts of attractions while traveling, but I'm really glad I did. Michelangelo is one impressive fellow - David is flawless and attractive and really demands a few minutes of starring at, which is completely appropriate for people of all ages, because this is art, folks. He (and his accompaniments) are larger than life!!
3. The greatest meal: This trip was about local food for me (and of course romancing). I read up on what was special for each region we visited and in Tuscany (where Florence resides) one of the more interesting specialties is combining pear with cheese. I spotted this interesting combo on a menu (pear & cheese ravioli) and ordered it, of course. It is no understatement that I can't recall something tastier that I have ever put into my mouth. To make it better, Warren's meal was also divine (penne with truffle, blue cheese & artichoke). We were food drunk and drunk drunk & if I were ever in the vicinity of Italy, I would seriously consider making a special trip to do this meal all over again!
Venice (Romance)
We arrived in Venice around 2AM - we grossly miscalculated the procedures for reserving/checking in at Rome's Termini train station. We were under the impression that we could just hop on/hop off with our Eurorail ticket, but alas, you must actually make reservations...errrr. So we rode the sloooowest possible train from Rome to Venice (it took about 8 hours). We arrived at the Venice train station and caught a cab to our hotel?? Think again - the cab driver drops you off right next to the Grand Canal at the edge of Venice. The rest must be done on foot or via public waterbus or water taxi (perhaps we should have read over the guidebooks more?). We managed to find our way onto a public waterbus and then Warren somehow managed to navigate the world's most confusing city grid. We arrive to our hotel shortly after 3 AM.....whew.
There are few days that stand out as much as the beginning of this one. We woke up in time to catch our free continental breakfast, even though we were pretty exhausted. If the view from the room + the prospect of Venice wasn't already enough motivation, there promised to be coffee at the breakfast. The continental breakfast at our hotel in Venice was quite similar to all the other hotels we stayed at. Continental breakfast Italian style generally included: bread (with accompaniments for toast), pastries (usually always croissants), salami, ham, prosciutto, a couple types of cheeses (!!!!), fruit, coffee/tea. We spent two days in Venice. It's one of the world's neatest cities, but I can say..you don't need to stay too long. It's really quite small.
To me, the perfect day in Venice looks something like this:
9AM: Continental breakfast and perhaps two cups of coffee if you arrived late and didn't sleep in.
10AM: Camera in hand, husband on arm - begin to roam. Following the crowds at first and
admiring the Grand Canal, along with it's abundance of shops and restaurants. Look over every s.i.n.g.l.e. menu you pass in preparation for making the most challenging decision of the day: which amazing looking restaurants will you choose for lunch and dinner. Warning: this will start to annoy the piss out of your man, but you won't care much.
11AM: Continue waltzing around Venice, feet on the ground/head in the air; you'll probably
take 200 photos before noon because every single place you look presents a postcard worthy
shot. You'll probably also kiss your new husband 100 times because this must all be a dream. ;)
12Noon: You'll be hungry or at least dying to try one of the 100 restaurants you just passed. You
choose a restaurant with no menu posted outside only to learn that there is actually NO
menu. So, you use hand gestures to point out which of the gorgeous displayed food choices you would like. You have a delicious homemade style meal with a liter of white wine. You are certain you made the right decision when a handful of gondoliers sit down at the table next to you. ;)
130PM: Begin to drag yourself around Venice some more (you'll be 10 pounds heavier now). This time, you try to steer away from the crowds and wander alone the back canals of the city, not knowing where you are and not particularly concerned.
300 PM: You actually do get lost and need to ask for directions. This is guaranteed to happen at
least once per day on your visit to Venice. This is really the most important thing to do in
Venice. If you haven't been lost, you haven't been here.
400 PM: Head back to your hotel. You really did overeat (& drink) at lunch and must rest some before strolling and eating again.
700PM: Wander out into Venice again. The mood is brilliant - you are dressed nicely and ready for a big night out. Gondoliers are romantically roaming along the canals. Venice at night is
possibly even more spectacular than Venice in the day. The city is full of water, as you know, so
the moon and lights from all the streets and restaurants bounce off the water and give the city
the perfect romantic ambiance - it simply glows.
800PM: Choose a small restaurants along a tiny canal. Also, choose a seat a little bit away from the canal because (unfortunately, the slightly unromantic side of Venice) sometimes the canal has a slight fishy stench. But that's what we're here to eat, anyway. Venice is famous for it's seafood, and you know what they say, when in Venice....? You eat a beautiful Venetian meal with polenta & codfish for starters, lasagna and the famous cuttlefish ink spaghetti (basically looks like black ink poured over spaghetti noodles and stains your teeth that way) - all with red wine, of course.
1030PM: Crawl back to your hotel. Don't forget to take a few romantic, wine kissed photos on the way home. You may never be here again.
There are few days that stand out as much as the beginning of this one. We woke up in time to catch our free continental breakfast, even though we were pretty exhausted. If the view from the room + the prospect of Venice wasn't already enough motivation, there promised to be coffee at the breakfast. The continental breakfast at our hotel in Venice was quite similar to all the other hotels we stayed at. Continental breakfast Italian style generally included: bread (with accompaniments for toast), pastries (usually always croissants), salami, ham, prosciutto, a couple types of cheeses (!!!!), fruit, coffee/tea. We spent two days in Venice. It's one of the world's neatest cities, but I can say..you don't need to stay too long. It's really quite small.
To me, the perfect day in Venice looks something like this:
9AM: Continental breakfast and perhaps two cups of coffee if you arrived late and didn't sleep in.
10AM: Camera in hand, husband on arm - begin to roam. Following the crowds at first and
admiring the Grand Canal, along with it's abundance of shops and restaurants. Look over every s.i.n.g.l.e. menu you pass in preparation for making the most challenging decision of the day: which amazing looking restaurants will you choose for lunch and dinner. Warning: this will start to annoy the piss out of your man, but you won't care much.
11AM: Continue waltzing around Venice, feet on the ground/head in the air; you'll probably
take 200 photos before noon because every single place you look presents a postcard worthy
shot. You'll probably also kiss your new husband 100 times because this must all be a dream. ;)
12Noon: You'll be hungry or at least dying to try one of the 100 restaurants you just passed. You
choose a restaurant with no menu posted outside only to learn that there is actually NO
menu. So, you use hand gestures to point out which of the gorgeous displayed food choices you would like. You have a delicious homemade style meal with a liter of white wine. You are certain you made the right decision when a handful of gondoliers sit down at the table next to you. ;)
130PM: Begin to drag yourself around Venice some more (you'll be 10 pounds heavier now). This time, you try to steer away from the crowds and wander alone the back canals of the city, not knowing where you are and not particularly concerned.
300 PM: You actually do get lost and need to ask for directions. This is guaranteed to happen at
least once per day on your visit to Venice. This is really the most important thing to do in
Venice. If you haven't been lost, you haven't been here.
400 PM: Head back to your hotel. You really did overeat (& drink) at lunch and must rest some before strolling and eating again.
700PM: Wander out into Venice again. The mood is brilliant - you are dressed nicely and ready for a big night out. Gondoliers are romantically roaming along the canals. Venice at night is
possibly even more spectacular than Venice in the day. The city is full of water, as you know, so
the moon and lights from all the streets and restaurants bounce off the water and give the city
the perfect romantic ambiance - it simply glows.
800PM: Choose a small restaurants along a tiny canal. Also, choose a seat a little bit away from the canal because (unfortunately, the slightly unromantic side of Venice) sometimes the canal has a slight fishy stench. But that's what we're here to eat, anyway. Venice is famous for it's seafood, and you know what they say, when in Venice....? You eat a beautiful Venetian meal with polenta & codfish for starters, lasagna and the famous cuttlefish ink spaghetti (basically looks like black ink poured over spaghetti noodles and stains your teeth that way) - all with red wine, of course.
1030PM: Crawl back to your hotel. Don't forget to take a few romantic, wine kissed photos on the way home. You may never be here again.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Rome (Opulence)
Indonesia marked the first trip where Warren and I indulged in any real luxuries (eating all meals at restaurants, massages, no camping, etc.) but Italy marked the first trip where we had every single night booked prior to departure -whoa! It was our honeymoon, after all, and we wanted to spend every spare second romancing. ;)
We arrived in Rome at 8 AM and cleared customs?!? Italian customs are a joke really. I felt really ripped off when the customs officer pretended to glance over at my passport and DID NOT stamp it! I don't particularly enjoy clearing customs, nor do like that feeling of wondering if they'll let you in (even though you know there is no reason they shouldn't), but the reward is typically (well, always unless your going to Italy) a nice fat stamp on your passport. It's much more of a process for me to enter my own country. Well, we took our luggage and our unstamped passports to our hotel, then proceeded to find some food, duh. I'll be honest that I don't remember much about this first meal, but some of my life's most memorable meals were in Rome.
Rome is a great place to begin an Italian adventure. For starters, we dove straight in to the very iconic-historic-monumental sites. It was really great to see all of these Roman sites first because it made the rest of the trip that much more meaningful, to know where Italy really began. St. Peter's Basilica, which is the largest church in the world, is really mind-blowing. It was larger than life and surprisingly full of so many dark, mysterious creatures and so much wonderful symbolism. I have a particular fascination with keys (really old fashion ones) and St. Peter's famous saintly symbol is a key. Legend has it that Jesus gave St. Peter the keys to heaven (how's that for responsibility?)
Of course, we also visited the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel doesn't feel much like a chapel and it is jam packed with visitors all day long. The voting of each new pope occurs in this chapel and a few other ceremonies, but the majority of the time it functions to shuffle tourists in-and-out so that we can see something iconic. I don't usually buy into this sort of travel mindset, but the SC was actually worth the two hour wait. If you can squeeze yourself into a corner and find a moderately comfortable position with your neck arched back, it's quite fascinating to look over and over. It would have been quite cool to meet Michelangelo and chat over a cup of coffee.
It was definitely worth an afternoon looking at the Colosseum and the ancient Roman ruins, but a great bit of imagination is required, because there isn't too much left of them. I expected that they would be my favorite, but suprisingly the Vatican City had the most of offer me, besides the restaurants. ;)
Italy is a locavore's heaven. Each part of the country offers different types of foods, depending on proximity to the ocean, which cheeses/wines/veggies/animals are locally produced/grown, and what is historically eaten in that region. In Rome, we began to stretch our stomachs for our eating tour of Italy. Italians typically eat three courses at each meal (it's rude really to eat less than two): a starter, a first plate (almost always pasta and usually meatless - unless the meat is cooked in the sauce), a second plate (usually meat, with a side of veg) and dessert/after dinner drinks/coffee (usually all of the above). Eating dinner typically takes at least two hours or more and lunch doesn't take much less time. We tried to make a 8:00 reservation for dinner our first night in Rome and were told that no reservation is needed before 8:30.
Rome is a great place to begin eating your way through Italy because it offers a sampling of the country's cuisine. The spaghetti carbonara (which I will likely spend the rest of my life attemping to recreate) was my favorite Roman dish. It is so deliciously simple pasta-pig-pepper meal and I think it's the dish which can hold the maximum amount of cracked pepper without overdoing it. That much cracked pepper in ANY other meal would really be absurd. Also, on the top of the list were creamy artichoke lasagna, battered and fried zucchini flowers, a ham/salami/egg!/mushroom calzone, and our first Italian pizzas. It's possible that I never ate at the right pizza joint. I can't rave about the pizza in Italy, but nearly everything else I put in my mouth was perfection (and that's really an understatement).
After three days in Rome, we were already eating more than is really natural in one sitting and ordering wine by liter. We settled into Italy nicely.
We arrived in Rome at 8 AM and cleared customs?!? Italian customs are a joke really. I felt really ripped off when the customs officer pretended to glance over at my passport and DID NOT stamp it! I don't particularly enjoy clearing customs, nor do like that feeling of wondering if they'll let you in (even though you know there is no reason they shouldn't), but the reward is typically (well, always unless your going to Italy) a nice fat stamp on your passport. It's much more of a process for me to enter my own country. Well, we took our luggage and our unstamped passports to our hotel, then proceeded to find some food, duh. I'll be honest that I don't remember much about this first meal, but some of my life's most memorable meals were in Rome.
Rome is a great place to begin an Italian adventure. For starters, we dove straight in to the very iconic-historic-monumental sites. It was really great to see all of these Roman sites first because it made the rest of the trip that much more meaningful, to know where Italy really began. St. Peter's Basilica, which is the largest church in the world, is really mind-blowing. It was larger than life and surprisingly full of so many dark, mysterious creatures and so much wonderful symbolism. I have a particular fascination with keys (really old fashion ones) and St. Peter's famous saintly symbol is a key. Legend has it that Jesus gave St. Peter the keys to heaven (how's that for responsibility?)
Of course, we also visited the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel doesn't feel much like a chapel and it is jam packed with visitors all day long. The voting of each new pope occurs in this chapel and a few other ceremonies, but the majority of the time it functions to shuffle tourists in-and-out so that we can see something iconic. I don't usually buy into this sort of travel mindset, but the SC was actually worth the two hour wait. If you can squeeze yourself into a corner and find a moderately comfortable position with your neck arched back, it's quite fascinating to look over and over. It would have been quite cool to meet Michelangelo and chat over a cup of coffee.
It was definitely worth an afternoon looking at the Colosseum and the ancient Roman ruins, but a great bit of imagination is required, because there isn't too much left of them. I expected that they would be my favorite, but suprisingly the Vatican City had the most of offer me, besides the restaurants. ;)
Italy is a locavore's heaven. Each part of the country offers different types of foods, depending on proximity to the ocean, which cheeses/wines/veggies/animals are locally produced/grown, and what is historically eaten in that region. In Rome, we began to stretch our stomachs for our eating tour of Italy. Italians typically eat three courses at each meal (it's rude really to eat less than two): a starter, a first plate (almost always pasta and usually meatless - unless the meat is cooked in the sauce), a second plate (usually meat, with a side of veg) and dessert/after dinner drinks/coffee (usually all of the above). Eating dinner typically takes at least two hours or more and lunch doesn't take much less time. We tried to make a 8:00 reservation for dinner our first night in Rome and were told that no reservation is needed before 8:30.
Rome is a great place to begin eating your way through Italy because it offers a sampling of the country's cuisine. The spaghetti carbonara (which I will likely spend the rest of my life attemping to recreate) was my favorite Roman dish. It is so deliciously simple pasta-pig-pepper meal and I think it's the dish which can hold the maximum amount of cracked pepper without overdoing it. That much cracked pepper in ANY other meal would really be absurd. Also, on the top of the list were creamy artichoke lasagna, battered and fried zucchini flowers, a ham/salami/egg!/mushroom calzone, and our first Italian pizzas. It's possible that I never ate at the right pizza joint. I can't rave about the pizza in Italy, but nearly everything else I put in my mouth was perfection (and that's really an understatement).
After three days in Rome, we were already eating more than is really natural in one sitting and ordering wine by liter. We settled into Italy nicely.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Somewhere in Australia...
We have decided to move back to the U.S. for many good reasons (maybe I'll share at another time) but there are at least a million things that I'm going to miss about Australia, Sydney in particular. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order of importance.
1. Christmas in the summer - oddly enough, I am also looking forward to Christmas in the winter again (I'm basically bipolar, I know) but there was something so surreal and strange about sparkling Shiraz, oysters, and swimsuits on Christmas day (2010). I think it's also the comraderie of a beach full of people (many expats without mothers or grandmothers to cook their Christmas dinner for them) lounging on the sand and in the grass surrounding Coogee beach. Fortunately for us, we did have family with us (Stewart and Justin Neilson) and good friends (Jocie, Jeff, and Joseph) to sweat out this last Christmas with us. [Christmas 2009 was also in the summer, but even further south on the south island of New Zealand. I think Jesus' Birthday was a warmer day (though summer in N.Z. isn't guaranteed to require swimsuits), but Warren and I spent 90% of the entire day in our hotel room in Christchurch, enoying a bed (a novelty during our 5 week camping trip), and watching random movies, namely The Sound of Music.] Where on earth will we be next Christmas?
2. This brings me to.....The Adventure - I'm going to miss the adventure of living in a foreign country. Every day (especially when we first arrived), you learn these new and strange (and often quite similar) aspects of another culture. I love this sort of passive learning, where you are learning without even noticing...it's just your new life.
3. The Currency - Australian money is just so colorful and incredibly practical. Australians don't have a coin smaller than five cents, so when paying with cash, your bill is rounded to the nearest 5 cent mark. They also don't have any notes (or bills) smaller then 5, but instead there is a $1 and $2 coin. The system works brilliantly and I'm really not looking forward to stale green bills and a pile of useless pennies.
4. The Ocean - We are five minutes walk from the ocean, a lovely warm water ocean complete with sting rays, blue groupers, cafes and many old, fat mean in speedos! I'm not sure if we will ever live this close to the ocean again..at least not for a while. I'm gonna miss it, though I'm sure Warren will miss it more.
5. The Accents - Sydney is very cosmopolitan, so nice thick aussie accents aren't everywhere, but at least every other day you hear a really good one. Everything about this country is embodied in that beautiful accent- so relaxed and at ease and so very friendly. I'm sure I'll always feel warm and fuzzy inside and full of nostalgia whenever I hear one in the future.
6. The Distance - This would also be included in a list of reasons why I want to move back to the U.S. but often the distance has been nice. It has kept me from grabbing my cell phone at every available second to call family or friends. It has allowed me to be ultimately selfish and figure out what I (and we) want out of our lives. The distance is probably what gave us such peace about being closer.
7. The Critters - Though the site of a spider in Australia immediately evokes fear of dying, I will miss the potential of seeing some horribly awful creature on my wall, hearing the sound of a kookaburra while walking down the street, or seeing hundreds of bats flying around at night.
This will certainly be the hardest chapter to close.
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