Venezia: View from the Campanile (Bell Tower)

I paid my 6 euro to go to the top of this 96m brick bell tower on the corner of Piazza San Marco, and was rewarded with absolutely breathtaking views of the city. And to complete the whole bell tower experience, the bells started to ring. It was pretty awesome to see and hear the six huge bells swinging away.

It's Snowing!!

Saturday, November 26th, noon: It's snowing in Milan!! This does not happen very often here, maybe once a year and in January. Wow, what an incredible sight outside my window. I remember the first time I saw snow. I was a wide-eyed 9 year old in Seoul, Korea. I'm still the wide-eyed girl here. ;-)

Venezia

Some architectural details...

This is Venice

Wow, I took so many pictures in a short 1.5 day visit that I don't even know where to start. Venezia was more beautiful than I could ever imagine. The weather was absolutely wonderful despite the cool temperature. It was sunny with blue skies, probably the best weather I've seen since I arrived in Italy 6 weeks ago. I loved wandering around around this city where no cars or even motorbikes are allowed. It's amazing what a huge difference to the air and noise pollution that makes. The only forms of transport is via the canal pathways, on a water bus, water taxi or gondola.
Piazza San Marco, where people and pigeons crowd. At the end of the piazza is the Basilica di San Marco. This church is covered inside and out with intricate gold and marble mosaics.The gondolas are still alive, thanks to the hordes of tourists. I've yet to meet a real Italian who has actually been on a gondola ride. It is fun to watch the gondoliers at work. It's all man-powered. They actually have to paddle and steer the boat.

Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate... perfect after being outside all day in the cold. Italian hot chocolate... that's something else altogether. Firstly, it's served in a bowl. With a spoon. Why?? Because it's thick, thick, thick. Yup, it's pure melted chocolate. Ok, I have to admit it. Chocolate lover as I am, I actually preferred the watered down American version topped with a marshmallow. I know, this is the real deal... but hot chocolate to me is a beverage. Enough said.

The Office

This is where I go to work every day. Maxim's Milan Design Center is on the 3rd and 4th floors (you can see where the windows are open) of Building R3 in the Milanofiori office complex. There are like 15 other buildings that look identical to this. I still get confused sometimes.

Marron Glace

The marron glace is a delicious autumn treat that is made of fresh chestnuts, coated in sugar syrup to make a candied nut. It is really sweet, but so good... the chestnut inside is soft and blends so well in the soft sugar coating. It's hard to stop eating them.And since we are on the theme of autumn sweets, here is a pear dessert that I had at the La Madernassa restaurant in Piemonte.

Fiera Del Tartufo Bianco D'Alba

I managed to catch the last day of the annual white truffle festival in the city of Alba that weekend in Piemonte. It was a rainy Sunday, but lots of people were out and about to visit the exhibition and stalls featuring this luxury food. The white truffles of Alba are valued for their powerful yet extraordinarily delicate aroma. They are expensive because production is highly limited. They grow solely in the wild and fluctuations in weather conditions can play havoc with their reproduction and growth.

Well, I had my first taste of the white truffle at the festival, a tiny sample of a tartufo cream spread on a cracker. The smell and taste was... really strong and... intoxicating almost. I think it's impossible to describe it without actually tasting it yourself. Actually, the strong smell reminded me of our tropical King of Fruit - the Durian. Well, not quite the same, but supposedly you can perfume uncooked rice just by storing the truffle in a bag of rice.

The festival itself was quite interesting. There were a bunch of truffle hunters in the middle of the floor, displaying their own prized findings. They all looked really serious about the whole deal.

Then I tried to take a picture of a truffle. The vendor insisted that I hold it in my hand for size comparison. I declined... especially since he had just pointed out that this particular nugget was worth 750 euro! Hmm, I wanted to avoid and pricey 'accidents'. I did end up getting the picture, but with the vendor holding it instead.It was a very interesting day, seeing first hand the obsession with this unique mushroom.

And here is a quote that I found, which is probably quite true...
"There are two types of people who eat truffles: those who think truffles are good because they are dear and those who know they are dear because they are good."J.L. Vaudoyer

Langhe, Piemonte

This is the way to the towns that produce some of Italy's best wines. Picture gently rolling hills lined with vines in various shades of yellow, purple and orange. Many of the hills are topped with ancient castles and villages. The scenery was magical, even in the rain.

What Did I Eat in Liguria?

Focaccia, lots of it!!!

I had... focaccia with cheese as a snack in Santa Margherita.
Focaccia, plain, slathered with Nutella for breakfast.
Focaccia with potato and rosemary for lunch in Manorola.
And when I thought it was finally over, a focaccia with Nutella dessert after a pizza dinner in La Spezia.

Well, you guessed it, focaccia is a cheap and good regional specialty. ;-)

I also had a pasta with pesto (another regional specialty) but it wasn't quite up to standard, I thought.

I also tried a sweet bread, panettone, baked the Genovese way, more flat and dense with bits of sweet fruit. Yummy.

Cinque Terre (Five Lands)

Cinque Terre consists of five fishing villages that cling on to the steep cliffs, seemingly unreachable. It's hard to believe how farmers and fishermen chose to live and work here centuries ago. And then as I start hiking through the trail that connects all the towns, I take in the beautiful surroundings, breathe in the warm, moist air and understand why. The first and smallest Cinque Terre town from the south is Riomaggiore. All the houses were painted in bright pastel colors, a trademark of all five towns.I bought the Cinque Terre Pass that included the entrance fee to the hiking trail (since it is a National Park) and also unlimited train rides between the towns. At first I was wondering where the train tracks and stations could be. The cliffs were so steep! And there it was, down close to the water at 'town level', connecting the towns through tunnels cut into the cliffs. The trails pass through terraced hillsides of olive groves and vineyards. I saw an old couple harvesting olives from their trees. Here is the town of Manarola.Below is a view of Manarola on the way to the next town, Corniglia.
A view of Corniglia on the hike over to Vernazza. You can barely see Manarola in the distance.The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza got me hot and sweaty. My jeans were not a good choice, but at least I had on good shoes. There were ladies on the trail that were wearing heels! The climate here is quite moderate, despite it being in the north of Italy and almost November. I noticed that the vegetation was really lush. I even saw a hibiscus plant growing in someone's yard. And finally Vernazza comes into view...And my reward, a delicious gelato, enjoyed while looking at the colorful buildings and boats on Vernazza's waterfront.

The last town was Monteresso, which I did not visit. It was getting late and it looked nice enough from a distance.

Agriturismo Costa d'Orsola

Stayed here for one night before visiting Cinque Terre the next day. This place is actually of group of old stone farmhouses built on top of a hill in the Tuscan countryside. It's hard to see, but the small little white animals by the farmhouse below are actually fuzzy sheep.And this sweet and lazy dog keeps watch over the place.

Santa Margherita Ligure

This weekend, I visited the Ligurian coast (also known as the Italian Riviera), which stretches 350km along the Mediterranean Sea between France and Tuscany. I was at the town of Santa Margherita, which was really popular with Italian tourists. It is less than 2 hours drive from Milan, so many of the richer residents of Milan own beach properties here. I noticed that all the buildings here were very well preserved, a reflection of the money in this town. The buildings were all painted in different shades of pastel pink, yellow and orange. Many had elaborate painted-on decorations on the exterior walls. It looked unreal, almost Disneyland-like to me!
And here is a view of the coast at sunset, from the docks of Santa Margherita.

Mercato Comunale

Another few blocks away is the Mercato Comunale, which is a building that houses a collection of vendors selling cheese, fish, meat, poultry, and produce. I just love going in there to look at the different kinds of produce available. There were lots of people shopping on a Saturday afternoon, probably buying food for dinner that night. One thing I noticed is that the refridgerators in most Italian kitchens are really tiny. There are what Americans would call personal-sized, while here, it is for the whole family. This is because Italians prefer to get their produce and groceries fresh, rather than stocking up for the whole week American style. Look at this display of fresh produce. Notice that everything is labeled with its origin. For example, the carciofi (artichokes) in the front center is from Sardegna. Also, I've been told that you cannot select and handle your own produce at small stores like this, but instead tell the shopkeeper what you want. At the supermarket where I usually shop, I have to put on a disposable plastic glove to select my fruit, to avoid contaminating all the produce with my (dirty) hands. Well, I suppose the fruit I take home is 'clean'! The cheese and ham counters were really popular here. Look at the huge legs of ham hanging above the counter. And the cheese counter probably had hundreds of different cheeses.

Last but not least, this store that sells mushrooms and more mushrooms caught my attention. The entire store is dedicated to mushrooms and all things related. (They don't seem cheap either at 34euro/kg. They sure mean business when it comes to food!

And finally, a Happy Halloween to everyone from the pumpkin vendor!

Cenacolo and Cinese food

Today, I caught up on some housework and then took some time to walk around and explore my neighborhood. Corso Vechelli is really busy on a Saturday afternoon! The sidewalks were packed with shoppers. Less than 10 minutes walk from my apartment is the Chiesa di Santa Maria Delle Grazie, home to Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. I will see the artwork in a few weeks. I bought tickets to view it the first week I arrived in October, and the first available reservation was a whole 8 weeks out! Some people were curious to know if there were any Chinese restaurants out here. Of course! I've spotted quite a few 'Ristorante Cinese' around Milan and even in the smaller cities. This one is just around the corner from me. I picked up a Take Away menu and the prices are really cheap, although the menu items look rather dubious to me. Do we have any 'ravioli' and 'omelette' dishes in our cuisine? I haven't heard too many good reviews about Chinese food here either. I just might have to order some to go one of these nights. As an 'experiment'!