and now...to Italy.

Two things. One, on an entirely unrelated note, for those of you who may not have tried it just yet, I you all to know that apricot rosemary ice cream is seriously delicious. Mmmmmmm, Mövenpick. You must have some when you come visit.

Two, I have, to my great shame, done a terrible job in remembering what we ate in Italy. I have to apologize profusely: I firmly believe that Italian food, whatever region it's from, is some of the BEST FOOD OUT THERE, and I will do it no justice here.

And now...to Italy. One of the things I love most about living in central Europe is that we can be in four different countries in just a few hours, and so, a few weeks ago, Mike, Jen, Dave, and I rented a car and drove south, through the Gotthard tunnel and into northern Italy (in about 3 hours!). We were headed little Varenna, on the eastern shore of Lake Como. I've ever had We got a bit of a late start and realized a little too late that we were going to have to take a ferry across the lake, but we were lucky enough to catch the last ferry from Menaggio and found dinner at Ristorante del Sole, the only place still open in a town that small at 11:00 at night. They weren't the best pizzas we'd ever had, but they were certainly better than no pizzas. The next day--beautiful, sunny, WARM, unlike our last visit!--we got up and had some fantastic espresso at the only actual coffee shop in Varenna, meandered around town a little bit, and caught another ferry over to Bellagio. FULL of tourists, but not as bad as I imagine it is now! Had lunch at Trattoria S. Giacomo, and it was quite lovely. (We all split a cheese/salumi plate and a green salad with parmesan; Mike had spaghetti bolognese, Jen had ricotta ravioli in a butter sage sauce, I can't remember what Dave had, and I had fresh lake trout with salad. YUM.) Strolled through Bellagio, had some gelato, saw some ducklings, bought some truly fantastic wine, then headed back to Varenna for snacks on our hotel's terrace (a little prosecco and the best spicy salami and goat cheese I've ever had, with a little prosciutto on the side). Finally, dinner at Osteria Quattro Pass, and here's where my utter inability to remember the food kicks in. Sadly, and unfortunately for everyone, 'cause this place puts on a good meal. (We ate there last fall when we first found Varenna, and had to go back. SO good.) What I do remember is that Mike and Dave had this amazing lobster pasta, each with an entire half lobster, and that I had ricotta ravioli with some sort of super mild lake fish in it, in a cream sauce. I suspect Jen may have had lasagna. I had panna cotta for dessert, and then Mike and Dave ordered espresso, which they served with these tiny little fresh-baked homemade double-chocolate-chip shortbread cookies. WOW. Unbelievably tasty. Jen told the waiter that we loved them, and he brought us more. WHAT A FANTASTIC MEAL. Too bad I can't remember anything else about it! (Note to self: must start writing these things down.) Anyway. Had more delicious coffee the next morning, then drove back home over the Gotthard Pass, where we stopped, took some pictures, and ate more salami picante, prosciutto, goat cheese, and some other cheese I don't remember. Tasty, anyhow.

To the photos!

Varenna, from our hotel's terrace.

The terrace.

Looking south from Varenna.

Church on the main square in Varenna.

Yessssssssss.

Bellagio, from the ferry.

Bellagio is purty.

Bellagio.

More Bellagio.

Lake Como.

Strolling through Varenna.

The "do not panic" instructions in the lifts up to our hotel rooms. We were WAY above the lake. I, personally, am not a fan of rickety old "inclinators" that take one way up the side of a mountain and come with instructions on what to do should said inclinator get stuck, hanging out over the side of said mountain, with the potential to go crashing back down at any second. But that's just me. 

View from one of the hotels in Varenna.

Nearing St. Gotthard Pass.

A rare moment in which I allow myself to be photographed.

At the top of the pass.

Lunch on the pass. BEST. GOAT CHEESE. EVER. (Note Dave's trusty Swiss Army knife, as well.)

So. St. Gotthard was also apparently used as a fort and had these weird little buildings scattered up the side of the mountain. Mike and Dave were compelled to go and check this one out.

Very sneakily camouflaged door into the mountain.

Lovely, lovely trip. I can't wait to take the bike back down there and ride through all of the little villages along the lakes. Italy is awesome, Europe is awesome, the bike is awesome, etc., etc.  :)

What I'm reading: finished up Water for Elephants...meh. I don't see what all the fuss was about. The portrayal of life in a traveling circus during the Depression Era was somewhat interesting, but the love story was formulaic and predictable at best, and not terribly well developed. Blahhhh. Also finished In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson and completely, utterly LOVED it. It's sort of a travelogue/history book, and just a fascinating description of his road trips around Australia. What I love about this book is his absolute and unbridled glee at discovering all sorts of strange little bits of history and natural wonders, and his pure enthusiasm for the country and its people. This is not to say that it's an imbalanced portrait, merely that he loves the place, and makes me want to go there and love it as well. I highly recommend this book: hilarious, interesting, and a really good read. Next up: I think I'm going to stick with nonfiction and read The Monuments Men, about Allied soldiers attempting to recover art stolen by the Nazis during WWII. Is it my fault that it's hard to find good fiction these days? I submit that it is not.

And next time: the Black Forest and Germany.  :)

another day, another German test.

Once again, I'm pretty sure I didn't fail. Yaaaay...?

In other news, I was supposed to go to Paris tomorrow or Friday to meet Mike, who is on his way there, right now, to help with the office there...but that fell through. So. Because I'm feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to subject you to 8 or 10 million photos of things other than our recent trip to Italy. I'll post those when I'm good and ready and not resentful or irritated. Here we go.

First, plants and garden-related items.

Back around Easter: this beautiful little church yard full of flowers. The ground looked like it had rained pink from of all of the flower petals fallen from tree. It's kinda blurry and tilted 'cause it was dusk and we took it with Mike's phone. But really beautiful.

These should look familiar: columbines! They have quite a few colors here that we don't in the Southwest. And the ones here are a little less elegant. Still, though, a taste of home.

Ahhh, gentian, how I love you. Reminds me of climbing mountains.

And now, to the Botanic Garden! They have there SO many things that I've never seen! This weird little trailing plant, which looked like some cross between an evergreen and a succulent, suddenly had these CRAZY crab-claw-shaped flowers on it. Neat.

Slightly more colorful than the last photos I posted of this place.

Foxglove almost as tall as me. Amazing.

The carnivorous plant enclosure. I can only presume that they're locked in here to prevent them from eating small people and/or animals.

GIANT pitcher plant. Who knew they had actual flowers...?

Sundews. This photo is terrible 'cause it's through glass, but I love how you can see the teeny little sticky hairs on the plant leaves. Take that, bugs.

Of course...Venus Flytraps. I didn't know they produced flowers, either. So pretty!

The little guys in the foreground are a type of Pinguicula, or butterwort. Basically a succulent with sticky leaves. And also pretty flowers.

Maybe also some other sort of sundew? This little guy was actually outside the cage. Joggers, beware.

No idea what these were, but I love them. I think because they look like candy to me, and I love anything edible, and anything resembling something edible.

This was about the size of my palm, and there were TONS of them on this tree.  

The Swiss flag, planted in verbena and Edelweiss. Nice touch.

Roses that look like they've been attacked with pinking shears. Finally. Someone went ahead and did what I'd been thinking.

This photos is for my sister, Grace. Super deep purple irises.  :)

Maybe my favorite flower ever. Giant blue poppies. Saw them at Longwood and thought they were unique to the conservatory, but no. Here they are. Sigh.

This cat has a collar and is therefore someone's, but I've seen him roaming the gardens now at least 3 times. Garden kitteh.

I love the pond with the frogs.

And I'm guessing this is why the tadpoles were suddenly and drastically reduced in numbers over a week or so...

More blue flowers. I'm a sucker for blue flowers.

These poppies were fantastic because A) they had fancy edges; and B) they were larger than my entire hand. WOW.

And now, assorted miscellanea.

I saw this driving on the sidewalk one day on my way to German class. So awesome.

HA, HA. I love this sign. Some people have a scenario, but these guys have a salad.

Our friends Sarah, Tom, and Ian. This was Tom's and Sarah's goodbye picnic: they have just moved to the San Francisco area. Note that Tom is drinking out of Sarah's shoe, and this is early in the evening. We didn't get a chance to get to know them very well, but we will certainly miss them!

No, your eyes do not deceive you. This is, in fact, a gas station/high-end kitchen store combo. Awesome.

Ha, ha. Toi toi. Isn't that what you call it when you're potty-training children...?

This is what 9:30 at night looks like, in late May, when you're this far north. It's downright weird. Will post again during the summer solstice!

Ned and Stewie on the new cat tree. It's official: we're those cat people now.

View over the Limmat River from the Lindenhof. Old-town Zurich: love it.

The Grand Dolder hotel. This thing is GIANT and is near the top of the mountain east of our street. We had no idea it was there.

I've seen lots of these, and I can only assume one thing: they're fire escapes. I might just take my chances with the fire, thank you.

Our living room, as it stands now. Yaaaaaaaaay, purple carpet!

My wee balcony garden, before I maybe possibly did my best to kill the hydrangea. At least the jade is still happy.

And last, but certainly not least, my super-dignified cat, Stewart. Napping with style since March 2011.

What I'm reading: just finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which was maybe the longest book I've ever read. Or at least, it felt that way. It was super long, and much darker and more melodramatic than I was expecting, and, once again, mostly nothing like the movie, but still a pretty good read, especially once Dantes started revealing his true identity to his friends and/or victims. That was the good stuff. 

Next, finished Bossypants--Tina Fey's book--in two nights. Also a good read, but not quite what I was expecting... I think it was maybe because I was expecting NBC-grade Liz Lemon, and got the R-rated version instead. But she is, in fact, 100% Liz Lemon, and her storytelling skills are pretty fantastic. (I especially love any story involving Amy Poehler, who is my current hero. In real life, he's married to G.O.B., for crying out loud!) 

Next on tap: Water for Elephants. I held out as long as I could, but when I saw the movie preview set to that song Cosmic Love (by Florence and the Machine--no idea why, but I am a sucker for that song!!), I kinda broke down and decided to read the darn thing. It's gotten fantastic reviews, anyway, so we'll see how it goes.

Oh yeah: and one more teensy little thing. Mike's new baby is here.

It's not the best photo, 'cause I took it in the dark, but you get the idea. We love our Bimmer bikes.  :)  And don't worry, Mom: we'll be as safe as always. We have temporary gear now, and will bring our regular stuff  back with us in August.

And that's a wrap, for tonight. When I'm not feeling so petty, I'll post Italy photos. Sorry, kids, but I gotta wallow in a little self-pity, for now. It'll all be better tomorrow when I can go out and buy chocolate. TTFN.