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Published: August 15th 2007
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Will's birthday gondola ride August 14, 2007
Sunday Dinner -Vernazza, Italy
Will spent his 7th birthday in Venice. Unlike most 7 year old birthday parties, his included a tiramisu cake from an authentic Venetian bakery, pasta with clams fresh from the Adriatic Sea and a gondola ride down the Grand Canal with a gondolier named Thomaso. While he is looking forward to a make-up party at home in California when he returns he had a great time. We really loved Venice. The city has this really great energy and strolling the streets away from the tourists was such a joy.
We stayed in central Venice near the Rialto Bridge. We couldn’t have had a better location. We have tried to adopt the Italian lifestyle of getting up sight-seeing, big lunch, siesta, and out again at night. This worked great in Venice as the tourists on day trips and cruise ship excursions are out in force during the siesta time while we were relaxing in our apartment. While the historical sites of Venice are dramatic and breath-taking the best part of the city is getting lost. We walked and walked and continued to get lost on the winding streets, over bridges and canals
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The boys with Thomaso...the gondolier discovering great little campos and cafes. It also provided lots of shopping opportunities for Will. The last day in Venice, Justin and I slipped out right after our siesta and avoided the crowds at St. Mark’s Basilica. It was really gorgeous and we practically had the place to ourselves. All the cruise boat must have called back their patrons, allowing us to sit in this ancient church and revel in the wealth and splendor of the power of the Venetian Empire’s former glory.
After leaving Venice, we couldn’t have picked a more distant location to visit, the Cinque Terre. This is a series of five small sea side village connected by hiking trails. The Cinque Terre is on the opposite coast of Northern Italy from Venice….that meant a 5 hour car ride. Justin and Will have gotten use to these long rides but every now and then there is a moment that just doesn’t work for them…or me for that matter. We had that moment on this car trip on the way to Cinque Terre. Justin proceeded to whine to me how we have ruined his life. He hasn’t seen any of his friends, it is so boring in
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The darling town of Vernazza Italy (and the whole trip BTW), we were the meanest parents ever. We also ruined Will’s birthday…coming remember from Justin not Will. I managed to film it for posterity.
The village we stayed in at the Cinque Terre was Vernazza. It was a darling little Italian village with a sandy beach. Suddenly, Italy was soooo fun…and isn’t it great to be here. Boy the difference a couple hours make. The village is filled with local people, many senior citizens that sit in the harbor playing cards and I believe counting the money coming in from all the tourists. We hiked and hiked….much to the displeasure of Will. The day we hiked between the towns he cried that he was hot. Another moment I saved on tape for posterity. We ended up taking the train back to our village to avoid more tears. On our third day we just spend it at the beach building sand castle and playing cards like the locals.
In Vernazza we had a little kitchen in our apartment. We try to do dinner in when we can to save money. The Cinque Terre region is the home of pesto. Basil loves the climate of
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We love Cinque Terre this region and olive trees grow like weeds. Pesto is every where and it is so delicious. I grew up eating pesto regularly. Every Sunday night while I was little we went to Grandma Vicki’s for Sunday dinner. We had a feast that always included pasta with pesto. So this Sunday night I was going to prepare pasta with pesto for my family at the source. I bought fresh pesto from the vendor at the market…and while making it couldn’t help dipping my fresh focaccia bread in the container while cooking. It took me like 20 minutes to figure out how to light the gas. I felt the tears welling up when finally, Scott came to my rescue and turned on the gas tank under the stove. Oh…..this is proving to be fun! The water came to a full boil and in went the pasta…and I went to stir it…no spoon, no forks, no knives, no utensils of any kind…other than a cheese grater. I stirred the pasta with the cheese grater and Scott went to ask our landlady where the silverware was. She of course was no where to be found. (There was every other kitchen item in this
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Sand castle galore! place besides the silverware, pots, pans, baking dishes, mixing bowls, china, tea pots, Champaign glasses, tea cups….but not one spoon!) He returned with a full set of plastic silverware. So I strained my noodles and mixed in the pesto with a plastic teaspoon and served it up. It was just like the Sunday dinners of my childhood…though Grandma Vicki would have died before the use plastic silverware. Boy…am I learning to live on the road in both cooking and laundry! I never appreciated my Dacor appliances more than at the moment that gas wouldn’t light! J
PS: Anyone planning a trip to Venice should ask me about the place we stayed. It had a great location…and was gorgeous. Three bedroom, 2 living rooms and 2 bathrooms, laundry, gourmet kitchen, marble floors and the nicest owner in the world! He met us and explained every detail and called the night before we left to say “arrivederci.” All for 120 euros a night based on staying a week. This is a great price for Venice….not to mention the location and accommodation. In Venice even the rattiest hotel goes for more in high season. I found this place on www.vrbo.com, which
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Help!! next to Rick Steves and Pam and Jim from New Zealand, has been my best source for places at great prices.
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