A Week in Venice

I have been very, very bad at running In the Wabe for the last few months. This blog is photo-based and I’m just exasperated with my camera! Hopefully when I get a better lens I’ll be more inspired to post here, but I feel I’ve hit a wall.

Things have also been really busy! We haven’t taken any trips since our vacation to Disney World but are trying to plan something now. I did spend a week in Venice (commuting 3-4 hours every day) for a literature class called Expatriate Writers in Venice. After visiting Venice so much I was beginning to tire of it, but this trip has renewed my love for the city! It was nice getting to explore more suburban areas and seeing how many artists were inspired by it.

I was a bit shy with my camera, which I’m regretting now.

This is my class! A few of us live here, but most of the class flew in from elsewhere in Europe. I’m second from the left.

A gondolier’s workshop in Venice. It was strange walking up on this–if you haven’t been to Venice you wouldn’t know that there’s absolutely no wooden buildings there! Everything is so close together that that’s just too dangerous. This workshop felt very out of place.

The Gritti hotel, a frequent in Hemingway’s Across the River and Into the Trees

Venetian cookies, flavored with lemon.

One night we had a literary salon where we dressed as the characters and authors we studied. I went as a horrible rendition of Ernest Hemingway! I’m about as far from Hemingway as you could get, but I like him and couldn’t resist.
Photo by my classmate Karla

Our wonderful professor, Dr. Toni Sepeda! She lives nearby but also has an incredible house in Venice as well as one in Turkey. There are a few wonderful articles about her travels you can easily find online. Her novel about Venice, Brunetti’s Venice, is available for less than $12 on Amazon. I’m very excited to be taking another class with her this semester (this one is not a field study but is just as much fun).

One of the beautiful hand-painted masks I bought as a Christmas present (I can say who for, though!)

How did I end up with pictures showing nearly no water? Here’s a photo of Venice I took a few years ago to rectify that:

Novels that take place in Venice:
The Aspern Papers by Henry James
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway
Many of Donna Leon’s modern crime novels
Don’t Look Now, a short story by  Daphne du Maurier
Italian Hours by Henry James, a travel journal

Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is one of my all-time favorites (and is far superior to Across the River…), but this does not take place in Venice.  Much of it does, however, take place very close to where I live!  I think it’s a wonderful novel to read for people who live here, especially those of us here with the military.

Disney World & Co.

Apologies for my month of absence. I know that’s been happening a lot lately, but I haven’t cooked many things I’ve really enjoyed. I hate when a blog I like recommends bad recipes just because they took nice photos of it, so I only post things I absolutely love! I’ve been very frustrated with my camera’s lens lately, so I haven’t even been taking many photos of the recipes I do enjoy.

Joseph and I just returned from a week to Orlando, where we also planned a long layover in New York City. It was a wonderful trip, despite the 24 hour journey there and then another 28 hours on the way home! Neither of us had been to the US in a year and a half, so it was wonderful to feel a bit at home again. I’d forgotten how nice Americans are! I can’t believe people will move out of your way when you’re trying to get through, apologize for bumping into you, and smile when you cross them on the street. I really miss that living here.
We visited all four Walk Disney World parks, the two Universal Studios parks, and Busch Gardens (in Tampa). It is the perfect time of year–we hardly had to wait in line at all! The only time we had to use our Fastpasses at Disney World was for the Toy Story Mania ride, which had a three hour wait since it only just opened.

We got a wonderful flight, hotel, and rental car package through Expendia, so we were able to stay in the beautiful Peabody Orlando! It is a fantastic hotel, and we did get to see the famous ducks. My photo kind of looks like an illustration, doesn’t it?

Of course we went to Magic Kingdom our first day. I thought it would be a bit kitschy, but it wasn’t at all! I was also surprised by the number of single couples there–it seemed like they were all older couples or couple our age (many of who were on their honeymoons).

Cinderalla’s castle was still beautiful, even after I’ve seen real castles, including the one it’s modeled after!

Main Street, USA is pretty much my ideal town!

We had breakfast at the adorable Main Street Bakery. I had a very good cinnamon roll–I liked it much more than the Cinnabon one I had at Universal Studios later in the week.

Joseph on the Magic Carpet ride.

It’s a Small World has always been my favorite ride! Naturally my entire family can’t stand it from my having to ride it over and over again. Joseph said he wouldn’t ride it, but he compromised when I agreed to do the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (which I had said I wouldn’t do after I got ZERO points next to my five year old sister last time I went–I then made my mom take me on it again and STILL got no points!)

I really don’t like Disney and Joseph had to argue with me a bit to actually get me on this trip, but Beauty and the Beast is one of the only princess movies I liked growing up. Disney ruins books! I’m pretty passionate about children’s literature, so this kind of kills me!

I love Minnie’s house!

Minnie’s living room

Minnie’s gazebo!

The fireworks show was really wonderful! I didn’t realize the music and fireworks would line up so well.

Our next day was Animal Kingdom. I didn’t really want to go because I remembered it as being boring, but I enjoyed it a lot! We saw Finding Nemo: The Musical, and it was truly incredible. Don’t skip out if you’re heading to Animal Kingdom! The show is amazing and I enjoyed it much more than The Lion King.

Expedition: Everest was a great ride! We love roller coasters and had been craving a serious ride after all the easy ones at Magic Kingdom. We had no idea this one would be so intense.

All of Disney is so detailed! And clean. Everything is so well-organized and I’m overall just amazed at the parks, especially after going to Universal Studios later in the week.

Spaceship Earth

“Norway” at EPCOT’s World Showcase

Disapproving of fake Venice in Epcot!

Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which will always be “MGM” in my mind. I wish there had been more attractions about older films. I can’t believe there is nothing about even Wizard of Oz!

Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster (real prints cost min $19 at Disney World!). I love how calm the little girl behind me is!

50’s Prime Time Cafe, where the staff plays up being your “Aunt Susan” or “Cousin Ricky.” Some of the waiters and waitresses were hilarious! I was so looking forward to this restaurant, but unfortunately our waiter was kind of a dud.

I had never been to Universal Studios before this trip

The Simpsons outside of a store built to look like the Kwik-E-Mart. I enjoyed The Simprons Ride a lot. I came in a bit angry that they had gotten ride of the Back to the Future ride but quickly got over that.

Curious George play area and one of my favorite photos from the trip

World’s smartest!

Then Curious George came to entertain us as we waited in line for this:

The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit just opened a few weeks ago. Naturally, the wait was incredibly long–an average of about three hours! Thankfully we were there on a Tuesday so we only had to wait an hour. When you sit down you get to select a song to listen to as it moves, and it’s perfectly aligned to the ride. Yes, that is a 90-degree lift!

I was so excited to visit Suess Landing! Everything looked like it was made of taffy

The Cat in the Hat choked Joseph a little

So exciting! I sneaked a view of what looks like it’s going to be Hogsmeade through a fence–it looks wonderful!

That night we saw Cinque du Soleil’s La Nouba at Downtown Disney. It was absolutely incredible! I highly recommend it.

On our last day we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa, which feels like a zoo with a few huge roller coasters spread throughout.

A sleeping tiger!

Aldergators!

Joseph next to a napping hyena. I wanted him to crouch down closer to it, but he got out of there pretty quickly. The hyena wasn’t fully asleep, and the glass looked thin!

We planned a long layover in New York City so we could get out and explore. All I’d ever really wanted to go to NYC for was the shows, but we didn’t have time for that this time. We just walked around Manhattan for a few hours and plan to go back again some time

I’d been wanting to go to Magnolia Bakery for years! I was afraid it was a bit overhyped, but the red velvet cupcake I had was absolutely incredible! It makes me never want to bake again!

Times Square. I don’t really get what the big to-do is about!

Joseph in Central Park.

Italy With Friends

Sorry for my absence–my internet was down at home for a few weeks. Shortly before I left I gave In the Wabe a bit of a facelift. What do you think?

One of my best friends Aly recently visited with her sister Maddy and we had a blast traveling around together. Aly & I have been friends since third grade but hadn’t seen each other in over a year. She and Maddy are both over six foot and play volleyball at Trinity University in San Antonio.

They spent a few days in Venice, and I picked them up at the train station there. We spent three days around the area before I sent them off to Verona and then Innsbruck, Austria. Then we met up in Milan and they headed to Monaco alone before leaving from Venice.

We picnicked at Lake Barcis, which I posted about a couple months ago–swiss cheese, mortadella, salami, and cantaloupe.

Maddy and Aly.

Aly’s gelato at one of my favorite gelaterias. Hers was vanilla cream ice cream, whipped cream, fruit, nuts, and chocolate sauce.

One day we headed to nearby town of Sacile. I’d never been but a lot of Americans I know live there. It is such a cute and picturesque little town and even has a river running through it!

Maddy and Aly. Aly was standing a step above her in the photo.

How have I gone three years without any photos of bikes leaning against buildings?

Aly and Maddy

After their two days in Verona and Innsbruck we met up and spent three days in Milan, the first at Lake Como.

It took us almost three hours to get to Bellagio on the ferry! We were expecting it to be around 90 minutes, so that really put a damper on the trip. All in all I didn’t really like Lake Como much. Maybe I’m jaded because I’ve lived here too long, but it felt too touristy and just was not very interesting.

Me, Aly, and Maddy at the top of the Milan Duomo. This cathedral is one of my favorite buildings in the world! The first time we went Joseph and I spent about three hours staring at its intricacies.

This photo is from when I took my family to Milan in December.

Maddy and Aly

Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, photo from December

Maddy and me

Inside of the La Scala opera house

My birthday was July 23 and Joseph gave me this beautiful necklace! It’s the “Journey necklace” which I think is pretty popular in the US right now. I’ve worn it nearly every day because it matches everything!

There are seven diamonds. Joseph bought it so that when I wear it I’ll be wearing 21 diamonds total, with the 14 in my wedding rings. 21 diamonds for my 21st birthday! What a romantic :p

Venice and Verona with Ellen

My friend and sort-of-cousin is making her way around Europe and visited me for a week. We became friends one summer before we realized we share a cousin. I hadn’t seen her in three or four years be we got along very well while she was here!

Her first day here we went to Venice. Ellen’s photo

Later in the week I took her to Verona, which is only about two hours away by train. I had been to Verona twice, but each time was on a tour so that I’d only spent a couple hours in the city alone. This day we were there for six and a half hours and really got to sight-see!

The Verona Arena, a Roman amphitheater.  In the summer the arena holds operas!  We saw La Boheme a couple years ago and are planning on going back in August, though we haven’t decided yet which performance to see.

The first stop was of course “Juliet’s balcony,” which is a balcony attached to a wall. It definitely never belonged to the Capulet’s, and as far as I know the balcony wasn’t even attached until the 1930’s. The first time I went to Verona, in February 2007, we saw the “real” Capulet and Montague castles–side-by-side on separate hills, they were over an hour’s car ride away from the city where the balcony is located. Something about that isn’t right.

In Juliet’s courtyard under her balcony there is a statue of her; you’re supposed to stroke her right breast for good luck.

Castelvechhio Bridge

Ellen hangin’ out in Castelvecchio

Me on a small drawbridge that was right next to a large drawbridge

We had to ask some French tourists to take this photo so we could send it to our parents! Ellen’s photo

More on the outfit in the above photos?

Note: this photo was on a separate day!
Dress from H&M, cardigan from J. Crew, t-strap flats from Anthropologie

The links in the right toolbar suddenly aren’t appearing!  I’m not sure what happened–one day I looked and they were gone.

Wonderful Paris, France!

Warning: this is going to be a pretty big post.

I recently took the greatest trip I have so far–I spent four days in beautiful Paris! It was lovely and wonderful, and I can’t wait to go back again! The city is huge, but in four days I got to see nearly everything I wanted.

April 4

One of the first things we saw in the city:

How adorable is this hotel? I’m not normally the “take-a-photo-of-your-Best-Wester-suite” type of gal, but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this cute French room. Much better than a Best Western, in my opinion!

The Arc de Triomphe–this was much bigger than I anticipated. I guess I was expecting it to be around the same size as the arches I’ve seen in Rome, but of course Napoleon went all out on this one!

Every time I walked through gravel my nice leather boots looked hilarious! My husband thankfully found a rag to clean them off–but not until our second day.

Another shot of the Louvre with the glass pyramid in front.

And then from inside the pyramid! I actually thought the pyramid looked pretty ugly and out of place, but it does take nice photos.

Our first day there I just had to see the Eiffel Tower! I’ve always thought it was beautiful, but I never expected it to be so big! Pictures can not adequately describe how gigantic it is.

We sat in the grass as we watched the sun set while the Eiffel Tower gradually lit up.

By the time the sky was dark, the tower was a solid orange color. In person it looked like it had completely transformed into an orange that looked perfect with the blue sky–as if the metal had actually changed colors.

April 5

The perfect way to do breakfast in France!

A corner (a very small corner–the palace is enormous) of the palace of Versailles

The palace itself is huge, but it’s dwarfed by the actual gardens. You could easily get lost there–now I can understand how Marie Antoinette wondered around for days on these grounds.

My favorite photo from the trip–looking from the Apollo Fountain onto the palace.

The grass was so bright his shirt was so blue that I tried to coax Joseph into portraits (somewhat unsuccessfully).

After eating lunch on the grass, we walked to Petit Trianon (a smaller palace), behind which I found the cutest thing I have ever seen–a little faux farming village built for Marie Antoinette, called “Hameau de la reine.”

Apparently this was built simply for fun and because she enjoyed playing dress-up. Joseph joked that if I were a queen I would have the exact same thing built for me.

The front of the same building in the photo above

Can you tell how happy I was to get to see this?

There were even animals! I saw chickens (one that even looked like Marie Antoinette), goats, sheep, cows, and a big fat pig.

Just before leaving and still a very happy girl (with bad posture)–Versailles was very beautiful!

April 6

The famous Sainte-Chapelle, built of 15 ornate stain glass windows

Notre Dame

Notre Dame from across the Sienne–it looks very different from the side.

As a future librarian and lover of the Jazz Age in literature (Fitzgerald is my favorite author), I was excited to see this famous bookstore, which was frequented by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce, to name a few. You may have noticed Hemingway’s mention of it in A Moveable Feast!

Buildings along the Sienne

April 7

We spent our last day in the small neighborhood of Montmartre before we caught our flight back to Venice.

Sacre Coeur

We didn’t see a show but did get a quick view of the outside of the Moulin Rouge

Who would I be if I didn’t take photos of food?

Macarons!

Very delicious creme brulee

Of all the places I’ve been, Paris has been one of my favorites! This was an overall wonderful trip. If you’d like to see more photos, you can look at my Flickr album by clicking here.

Budapest, Hungary & Vienna, Austria

Wow, I am very behind here! I went on a short weekend trip to Budapest and Vienna last weekend and had a great time. I’d never imagined going to Hungary, but it was very beautiful! I only got one day in Vienna, so I am definitely planning on going back.

Budapest, Hungary

I thought this building was so beautiful. It reminds me of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

The streets of downtown Budapest were lined with buildings similar to this one. Very beautiful!

Saint Stephen’s Basilica

The inside of the basilica

Matthias Church

Me in a street in Budapest

Hungary is famous for its lace, so I couldn’t resist this little bit of handmade lace.

Vienna, Austria
The day was rainy, and we only had a few hours to spend in the city. It was beautiful but deserves a redo! Austria is one of my favorite places I’ve traveled to, and I think I need two or three days to fully enjoy Vienna.

The Michael Wing of the Hofburg Palace

Joseph and me in front of the Hofburg Palace

Veal weiner schnitzel–one of my favorite meals!

Apple strudel, to top off my very cliche (but delicious) lunch

My Little Town in Northern Italy

The weather has been perfect around here lately. I love walking around this little town, especially now that I can leave my coat at home and just wear a cardigan!

This is the view from my bedroom window. I love the mountains–living at the foot of the Alps has its perks!

This is one of the main roads in my town. Look at how small the “sidewalk” is! By Italy’s standards, this road is actually pretty big.

Every Italian town is built around a cathedral–if you’re ever in Italy, just follow the signs reading “centro” to find the center of the town. Ours is very simple! There is a line of benches right next to the church where I always see the locals eating gelato.

The clouds were perfect that day!

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Wow, I can’t believe I forgot to blog about this.

My mother-in-law visited last week. She had to do most of her traveling on her own, but we did get to take her to one of our favorite cities, Ljubljana, Slovenia! We went to Ljubljana last winter and were completely unprepared for the cold weather; even though we enjoyed the city, we were miserable! I knew it deserved a re-do and I’m very glad we went back. It’s a beautiful little city to spend the day in and was only a two-hour drive from us.

It was pretty crowded that day, compared to the first time we went. You can see the castle on the hill in the background.

Old Ljubljana. Doesn’t it look perfectly picturesque?

I love these crazy roofs!

We went for a stroll around the castle and found a spot to view the city from.

My husband Joseph and his mother Lezlee.

The little chapel inside the castle. I love that it was nearly empty!

There was a big fruit market on Saturday. Everything looked amazing! We visited Ljubljana on a Sunday last year and saw a huge antique market; we are still regretting not buying a old sewing machine we spotted! I think I will plan a trip to Croatia where we can swing through Ljubljana on a Sunday to visit the market again.

I love owls!

The Slovene Parliament is adorned with naked people!
Off topic: I remember seeing a series of paintings of naked people doing farm work. I believe it was in Austria (maybe Innsbruck?)–would any of you remember what I’m talking about? It has been driving me mad trying to remember where I saw that!

We ate at the delicious restaurant Gostilna Sokol–I would highly recommend it! Slovene food is one of my favorites.

The Ljubljanica river at night.

Right now we are planning an April trip to Paris. I’m so excited!

Roman Holiday

Wow, it’s been a while! The holidays have been busy for me–my family visited! My dad had been to Sicily, but no one else had been to Italy, so I had a good time showing them around. We went to Venice, Rome, Vatican City, and Milan. I’d visited all these places multiple times before, but I had fun showing them around and taking photos.

This is my sister, Victoria. She’s 16.

My parents have been married for 36 years now! They were married when they were 18, and they’re definitely a huge inspiration to me.

Milan Duomo, one of my favorite places in the world! I’ve seen this three times now and it’s so huge and beautiful.

Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio

My parents and sister

View of Vatican City from the Vatican Museum

The Sistine Chapel. These photos are against the rules, but I didn’t use flash, so no harm was done!

St. Peter’s Basilica

My sister in front of Palentine Hill. Isn’t that hat cute? She got it at an Italian store here called Oviesse.

My mom and sister throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain, ensuring their return to Rome.

The Colosseum by night. Though I’ve seen it four times now, I am still always amazed by the Colosseum! It was so beautiful light up at night.

The Arch of Constantine, just beside the Colosseum.

The next morning we went to the Colosseum and saw it by daylight!

Me inside the Colosseum

My dad taking a photo of the Colossum

With our matching scarves on their last day here. Can you tell I was falling sick? I’m still recovering

My sister at my favorite gelateria

My grandmother also visited, but she didn’t want to be in many photos! I also have two older brothers who didn’t visit.

I hope you are all having a good new year so far!

Bavaria, Germany

We just got back from our trip to Germany last night. We had a great time–it was a nice vacation and everything was so beautiful covered in snow!

Our itinerary:
Sunday, Dec 7 – Dachau Concentration Camp
Monday, Dec 8 – Neuschwanstein Castle
Tuesday, Dec 9 - Munich
Wednesday, Dec 10 – Linderhof Palace

Sunday, Dec 7:
I didn’t take many pictures of the concentration camp because it was just too upsetting and disturbing. I will only post one photo because I don’t to upset anyone; you can view the rest at my Flickr by clicking here.

Monday, Dec 8:
We made a quick stop at Wieskirche, which is a beautiful cathedral.

My husband Joseph and me. He looks so funny when he is squinting!

The inside; I always prefer light-colored cathedrals over darker ones. I love when there are lots of windows lighting it up!

Next we saw the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, which I’m sure you have all seen photos of before. Walt Disney himself loved the castle so much he had Cinderella’s castle modeled after it.

This is the photo you have probably seen:

(Photo from Wikipedia)

The very eccentric King Ludwig II began building in 1869, and only 1/3 of it was completed before his death 17 years later. Building has never completed, but we did see a tour of the 20 rooms. This castle was only lived in something like 172 days–what a waste!

It had running water (with flushing toilets and everything!), electricity, and even a telephone system. Photos were not allowed inside, but I can tell you it was just as beautiful and as elaborate as you could imagine.

On the way to and from the hike to the castle, we ate Schneeballen, which are little delicious balls of fried cakes. We also drank Gluehwein, which is a hot red wine–it tasted like hot apple cider, except grape and alcoholic!

Of course I always find time for mini-portrait sessions!

Tuesday, Dec 9:

This day we travelled to Munich and enjoyed our time wandering the city.

There was a huge Christmas market! Nutcrackers are my favorite.

Beret from Urban Outfitters and scarf from H&M

We stumbled upon the cathedral Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan. Of all the cathedrals I’ve seen in Europe, this is one of my favorites.

I love the rich golden color and simple design of the outside. It was so pretty against the bright sky. There was a small Christmas tree market set up in front that complimented it well.

Can you see the bits of gold decorating the dome? Besides that this cathedral was nearly completely white on the inside!

Wednesday, Dec 10:

We got to see another of King Ludgwig II’s palaces, which happened to be his favorite. He lived in this one the most, and it was the only one completed before his untimely death. It is my favorite as well!

Linderhof Palace. Again, photographs were not allowed inside, but it was truly beautiful.

Unfortunately the gardens were boarded up for winter! This is normally full of fountains and flowers and was inspired by the gardens of Versailles.

Joseph and me again. Snow is so beautiful! I had never seen snow like this before and I really love it.

That is my trench coat from Gap I bought a few weeks ago. It kept me very warm!

More photos at my Flickr.