Farewell Cena

Tonight we had our closing "ceremony," and farewell cena (dinner). It was delicious - lasagna, rosemary grilled chicken, grilled peppers, and - of course - tiramisu! We have had dolce the past three nights - I will miss it terribly. Here are some shots of dinner, bacio candies, tiramisu and the amazing room where I have ate for the past three months (top).

Morning Fog

We are in our last week of Villa life. The weather is cooler - although we are certainly lacking the same frigidity as home - when the sun came out today it was almost warm enough not to wear a jacket. And this morning, the fog was thick on our way to breakfast. It's hard to believe that it is almost time to leave - times has flown so quickly, and yet we have done so much that I feel as if I've been gone for much longer.

Although I will be sad to leave this wonderful place, I am looking forward to some of the comforts of home - my family, my friends, my bed, and of course cooking. I have had some Tuscan inspired gluten-free recipes brewing in my mind for the past few months, and it is time to put them to the test! I hope to post more about those in the future, as I continue my adventures in the final semester of grad school and beyond. That's all for now, more soon. Ciao.

Thanksgiving (after the fact)

Well, after many questions of whether or not we celebrated Thanksgiving in Italy, I decided to answer the question with a post. Yes - we celebrated Thanksgiving after class in the morning. And the cooking staff outdid themselves. I am 99% sure the Italians think we are crazy for having a day where we give thanks by stuffing our faces and then watching American football / sleeping. None-the-less, Nino and Lucia prepared an absolutely amazing traditional meal of roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, and the most amazing stuffing I've ever had (Dad, I'm working on a gluten-free version!).

The meal was even topped off by homemade pumpkin pie and whipped cream.


The dining room was decorated so beautifully, and they truly made it a special day for us even though we are very far from home.

And, in true American fashion, we watched many episodes of Arrested Development (no TV here), and then took long naps. Grazie di tutto!

Barcelona or bust!

Yum. That's my first thought of Barcelona - delicious food intermixed into a delicious culture (represented by the beans above, from the market). This weekend, a group of six archies went to Barcelona - and it (very quickly) climbed to the top of my favorite-places-ever list. Barcelona is constantly alive - day or night, people of all ages are out in the streets. The gothic quarter was my particular favorite, especially at night with the boardwalk a close second.

There was also a plethora of Antoni Gaudi to see- Guell Park (high up above Barcelona, with its caverns & intricate mosaics), Casa Mila, and his (ever) unfinished work Sagrada Familia.

At first glance, this temple (image above), looks like it was inspired by melted cheese, but upon closer inspection, sculptures emerge from every nook and cranny on the exterior, finished off with a beautiful light-filled interior. The top of the towers (while inducing high volumes of vertigo, experienced by yours truly), provide amazing views of the city.

Brian, Nicole and I also rushed to see the Barcelona Pavilion before the sun set, although the interior is under renovation (big bummer), we did get to see the exterior. Pretty neat, hats off to Mr. van der Rohe.

We also happened upon this monster of a building - very impressive, with fountains trailing all the way down the hill. A few of us visited the Picasso museum in the evening, which has an amazing collection including an extensive sampling of Picasso's blue phase (a new personal favorite). We also walked and walked and walked, with intermittent subway stints. The food was also spectacular - both nights we made dinner out of tapas (small plates), sangria and/or wine. It was exactly my kind of dinner because I could have a little bit of everything (including dessert). I love Barcelona!

When in Rome...

This past Thursday through Saturday, we took a Villa-wide trip to Rome. We walked (and walked), per usual to most of the main attractions. It also rained pretty badly on Thursday and Friday, but today was gorgeous - making up for the soaked jeans, socks, shoes and cold bodies.

Being my second time visiting Rome - the first, two years ago with my Mom and sister, I found looking back at my pictures, that instead of trying to photograph everything in sight like last time, I was able to step-back, look harder, and take pictures of things that were particularly interesting to me. My apologies if you were expecting the large range of typical monuments. Here goes: Rome from a second look.

The Colosseum (of course).


A small monastery with a strikingly simple, yet beautiful courtyard & well.


THE Laocoon (need I say more Art Historians?).


The angels always watch you - especially in the Vatican.

The coiffured ceiling of my (favorite) building - the Pantheon.


The approach to the Vatican.

If you stand on this point, the Vatican colonnade aligns perfectly in perspective (see below).Molto (molto) bene!

Fiesole

I am in the middle of preparing my thesis research (due in one week!), but I will post a few pictures about our day trip to Fiesole yesterday, which is a hill town on the outskirts of Florence and home to a large area of Etruscan & Roman ruins including baths and a roman theater that is still used during the summer months.
To get there, just take the #7 bus allll the way to the top/end, and there you are! It actually overlooks Florence, and has some spectacular views (see opening image at top). You can even see Il Duomo off to the left to give you some scale. Oh, and Fiesole also contains lions, and tigers, and architects - oh my!
I topped off the day with, what I thought, was a simple mussel soup. Turns out, it was a whole lotta mussels (say 40 or so with a pool of broth at the bottom for them to be dunked!). Delicious! Later this week, it's off to Rome!

City of Basel

November 1 - November 3

The drive from Vals to Basel took about 4 sleepy hours, but over the next few days, Basel became one of my favorite cities - I could live here, easily. The disposition of the Swiss is so kind, and accommodating - the city seems to be family/kid/young adult/elderly/bike and accessibly friendly. Not only that, but the city houses a very large selection of great architecture - both modern and classical. Our focus, was mainly on the modern - but I loved the mix of the city. It was also very easy to traverse by foot, tram, bicycle or bus. In fact, there seemed to be very few cars.

Our hostel, Basel Backpackers, was located in a renovated warehouse district, which had great character to it with artisans, rock climbing, restaurants, etc. all within the small district. And, best of all, our hostel had an authentic Thai restaurant in it - so delicious, and spicy!
The location of Basel is interesting, in that it lies on the border of both France and Germany. On Friday, we took advantage of that, and spent the day in Ronchamp, France seeing Le Corbusier's famous Notre Dame du Haute (Our Lady of the Height). It was a bit of a hike, but had amazing views of the valley. I couldn't believe I was visiting this church - it was something that I had learned so much about, but was not prepared for the amazing experience of the interior. The light quality inside was so unique, and breathtaking. It was hard not to take pictures (we got a few), but the atmosphere of the place cannot be captured in a photo.
There was not much to do in the town of Ronchamp (read, nothing), and we were stuck there for some time due to the train schedules. We were very happy to get back to Basel, just in time for our 9:00 dinner reservation at Blindekuh, just around the corner from our hostel.

Let me just state, that this was perhaps the most amazing dining experience I have yet to have in my life. It is a restaurant where you eat in complete darkness - and by darkness, I mean pitch black - it doesn't matter if your eyes are closed, or open. Nothing. You are even led to your table in darkness. Why? Because Blindekuh is run by a foundation for the blind, in an effort to promote an understanding between the seeing and the visually impaired. All of the waitstaff is blind. Our waiter, Olivier, was fantastic and such a joy to talk to. At first, I admit the experience was a bit daunting - but after a while, we learned how to feel around the table for food, listen to each other intently, and savor the taste of each course with intensity. It is one of the best meals I have ever had!

Our last day in Basel consisted of cramming in as many architectural sites as we could - we needed so many more days there to see it all. I decided to start the day with a cafe and a pretzel man. Yum.
We saw works by Mario Botta, sculpture by Serra, and many Herzog & De Meuron buildings (outstanding...wonder if I can work for them in Basel?).
In the afternoon we were able to hope over to Germany and see the Vitra design museum. The building is by Frank Gehry, and there was a great exhibit on Le Corbusier - The Art of Architecture - which had some of his original models and drawings. Whoa.
We saw so many amazing things, it would be difficult to describe them all. I hope that the few pictures I have included begin to help describe the our travels (check my flickr site for more).

Finally, it was time to hop a night train from Basel to Florence. The train was a sleeper, although it was a strange sort of moving sleep (in fact, I still feel like I am on the train, and it has been many hours since we returned). This trip across France & Switzerland was so amazing, fun and influential to my own work/life. I couldn't have asked for better travel buddies - Scott, Amanda and Nicole. Merci and Danke!

Vals Therme

October 31 - November 1

Happy Halloween! Although they do seem to celebrate Halloween in Europe, we certainly did nothing of the sort. We drove "straight" across the Swiss Alps in our hatch-back Alpha Romeo (okay, Scott drove through the winding Alps - us girls were mere assistants on the trip, with Nicole as the trusty navigator), which turned out to be a great decision. We were able to take our time, and experience the spectacular mountain scenery around us. We took a few mountain passes which close in November, in fact it was starting to snow a bit when we were up there - just in time!

We finally made it to Vals Therme in the afternoon. Vals is a small mountain town in Switzerland which holds a famous natural springs bath house by the architect, Peter Zumthor (one of my favorites). This is what the exterior looks like, followed by some interior shots of the lobby & dining room.

It was more amazing then I had even imagined - not only for the architecture, but for the experience of the baths. We spent all afternoon bathing our cares away in the hot baths, cool baths, flower baths, indoor baths, (and my personal favorite) the outdoor bath which had a stupendous view of the snow-capped mountains. Nicole and I shared a beautiful room overlooking the same mountains, and we even got big fluffy robes and slippers to walk to the baths. Ta da!

At night, we had hotel-guests-only access to the baths, for bathing in complete silence - it was an experience of utter serenity and relaxation. I slept so well that night, in the Swiss down-comforter wrap. Nicole and I woke up early the next morning to the sound of sheep's bells, and a frosty view of the mountains, followed by a sauna & soak before breakfast. (And oh what a breakfast it was - food galore, and a great selection of tea!)
This was the perfect place to relax in the middle of our trip and soak our cares away! No more sinus headaches, or feet and back aches. We didn't want to leave - I will certainly be going back again someday! I did not include interior pictures of the baths, well for obvious reasons (wet and camera do not mix), but there are some fantastic images on the Vals Therme spa website. We bid adieu to this warm cozy place for our last stop of Basel, Switzerland.