Welcome To My Blog!

Adventures--how do you define one? My life has been full of adventures of all kinds-some exciting, some stressful, some funny, some exhilarating--this blog will share some of them with you.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Italy!

It only took one day for me to fall in love with Italy! I went the first time with my son, his wife and my mother. We had traveled in Eastern Europe by boat and train and took a train to Milan to begin our adventure in Italy. My son struck up an acquaintance with the conductor, and he treated us royally. He opened up our compartments during the day so we could have a suite and then made it into separate compartment at night. Early the morning of our arrival he served us cappuccino and a croissant for breakfast. We had dinner our first day in Italy at a local restaurant just outside of Milan. We were the only tourists there-it was filled with people from the neighborhood. It was a fun crowd and the food was wonderful. That place gets my vote for the best ravioli. I especially remember the cheese we had for dessert. I can't remember what kind it was, but they cut it from a huge slab. We rented a car and traveled to Topino, a restored hamlet. It was to be our "home away from home".

Topina

What a beautiful place. I had my first dinner in Tuscany at Osteria Nastasi, a restaurant in Lornano, just down the road from our hamlet. I had for my main course petto di pollo rosolato al radicchio con patate bollite aceto balsamico, a chicken dish. For me, it was just what I had envisioned food to taste like in Tuscany. Heavenly! A delicious sauce! I do believe it was the best meal I had the entire visit, even though I never had a bad meal in all of Italy.  We ate outside under the trees. The weather was perfect.  For dessert I had a scooped out lemon filled with  lemon sorbet. This was just the first night and I was already in love with Tuscany.

A note about eating in Italy. Be prepared to relax and take your time and be prepared to eat a lot. You will walk it off!! . Every single place we ate (even the tiny restaurants by the side of the road) had tablecloths, cloth napkins and flowers. The service was outstanding. Meals are served in courses, and they never rush you. Obviously the Italians take great pride in their cooking. I never had a bad meal the entire visit. However, I do have to say that the best cappuccino I ever tasted  was  in Gdansk, Poland at a Greek restaurant!

Italy is a beautiful country! The scenery is outstanding. We toured around Tuscany--the only problem was finding a place to pull over on the narrow roads so we could take photographs. One of  the prettiest views was from our little hamlet. 

View from our hamlet


One of the houses in our hamlet


We spent the week touring all around Tuscany. In my next post, I'll tell you about some of my favorite places and also about one of my adventures! I have more photographs on my web site: www.notecardsandmore.com. Stay tuned!!







Bluebird Update

Newest baby waiting to be fed


My second batch of babies are almost ready to fly. The mama and papa bluebirds and also the first batch of fledglings are busy feeding them all day. Lots of activity! I hope this time I get to see them fly for the first time. Meanwhile, the parents are getting less and less fearful of me. I am lucky--I have bluebirds everywhere on my place. I turned on the sprinkler in front of my porch the other afternoon and I had 5 bluebirds playing in the puddles. When I go out in the pasture, they light on the fence right next to me. What fun!!  I plan to put up more houses next Spring and make a bluebird trail around my property. Does anyone know if they have more than 2 crops? I thought I say a pair trying to mate again the other day.



Thursday, June 3, 2010

Lazienki Park, Warsaw, Poland

Upon our return to Warsaw, we discovered there was more to see and do in Warsaw. My daughter-in-law, Dawn, served as our tour guide. We went to Lazienki Royal Park. It is an absolutely enchanting park, 73 hectares of tree shaded wide paths, beautiful palaces, a rose garden and lakes. Beautful! The park  is well known for Belvedere Palace, the former residence of King Stanislaw August Poniatowski. However, my favorite building was Myslewick Palace, built in the baroque style for his nephew Josef Poniatowski. It was built in three stages from 1775-1784. It is one of the few buildings that didn't have severe damage during World War II.
Myslewick Palace
Another beautiful feature of the park is the rose garden. It is the setting for a monument of Chopin. Concerts are held there in the summer. We found it a very relaxing place to take a break.


 Chopin's Monument

The woods along one of the paths




What a beautiful place to visit, relax and imagine what it must have been like to live there! 

Stay tuned for our next stop--Polish pottery!