Italy isn't just Rome! Go northeast...

What do you think of when someone says "Italian vacation"? Tuscany? Rome? Cinque Terra? Florence? Me too.

But thanks to a happenstance home exchange in October, we stayed in the northeast of Italy, smack between the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions. True, Venice was only an hour and a few odd minutes away (and I wrote about it here), but we were stationed in Pordenone, which was sparsely touristed - and within short drives of the sea, the Dolomites and lovely little towns.

Caorle was a seaside gem and a good place to visit even if it's too cold to be beachy. We saw the wind-swept Church of the Blessed Angel and some fascinating rock carvings along the shore, as well as the candy-colored buildings and Cathedral of St. Stephen in the interior. The family we exchanged with were around (they exchange their parents' old home) and gave us a tour of the whole place, with their perfectly coiffed Italian hair and impeccably pressed Italian clothing. It was impossible not to feel frumpy next to them!

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Much to our rumbling stomachs' delight, when we arrived in the fishing settlement of Portogruaro, a Fall festival was happening. Nope, we couldn't understand a thing, but we knew what looked good and indulged in big plates of cheese and sausages, then walked them off whilst our exchange family's son got into a stare-down with a goose. Oh! And we saw a whimsical bicycle covered in tin figurines :)

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Our home base, Pordenone, was an ideal place to camp out at for a week. We visited one particular chocolate shop (aherm) three times while we were there and strolled along the Corso Vittorio Emanuelle II just about every day. The old center is magical with all its medieval palazzos and bistro cafes and weekly junk markets. Another hit was the Enoteca in the belltower; we ate ourselves into a cured meats coma.

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In exploring the base of the Dolomites, we happened upon Caneva, a tiny hamlet with a beautiful church that I can't seem to find the name of. Just above the village were the ruins of the Castello di Caneva, which had a still-functioning cemetery. It was pretty quiet, save for the occasional mountain biker who made his way up the very steep hill. 

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I lumped these two Dolomite goodies together because we went in non-skiing seasons and they were, for lack of a better word, dead. Still stunning, though. Cortina d'Ampezzo was the home of the 1956 Olympics - you can still see the ski jump from the highway. We saw superb mountain views and a pretty cemetery (what is it with us?), and then continued northward to Lago de Misurina, the lake where Olympic speed skating was held for the last time on natural ice. We grabbed a sidewalk table at a restaurant and soaked up the scenery. 

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Would I say to skip Tuscany? Absolutely not. But these were all charming spots within a couple of hours' drive from one another, and we were able to be a bit more "Italian" than "tourist" on our trip. Ciao!

Linking up with Bonnie Rose, Cynthia, Courtney and Yalanda for #Travel Tuesday.

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Czechaches

Howdy! First off, you may have noticed the new blog composition; it was time for an update. It was either that or a drastic haircut. I needed some metamorphosis. (See that nod to Kafka?)

Second, this post should be stamped with the hashtag #firstworldproblems because nothing I'm writing about is actually a problem. These are just minor little life blips. Kind of like sand in a bathing suit bottom. Nothing you can't deal with; just mildly irritating.

All in all, we really love being here :)

That being said, my inaugural CZECHACHE is prolific graffiti. I can appreciate good street art... but there's not much of that in Prague. Most of it is just a lot of tags that deface buildings. Fun fact: According to a journal article online, graffiti didn't appear until the fall of Communism.

Who are "Denk" and "Vimeo" anyway?

And then there's the rerouted public transit CZECHACHE. You plan to be at a train station by a certain time, not realizing that your tram route to the train station has mutated and you'll most certainly be late. However, this is still much easier to deal with than the flat tires or fender benders we had in the U.S.

My lovely mother points at the rerouted schedules

A confession: I don't know how NOT to have wrinkly laundry here in Prague. I've been spoiled growing up in America with a clothes dryer. Washing my clothes and then hanging them immediately does nothing to deter wrinkles. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a CZECHACHE.

I am NOT going to iron my flipping t-shirts!

There's no such thing as a free public restroom. (CZECHACHE. And bladderache.) If you're lucky enough to have coins, you put them on the little plate and the elderly lady who's munching on peanuts and reading a paperback behind the counter nods at you and you're in. Sometimes I wish I was a Czech toddler, because they're allowed to wiz anywhere - usually being held by their parents over a storm drain.

At the train station we arrived to late
thanks to tram rerouting.

Finally, there are books EVERYWHERE in Prague. It's like a dream - bookshops on nearly every-other block. An enormous central library. Literary cafes. Swoon! But... anything in English costs an arm and a leg. And we still haven't been able to procure library cards. Sigh. CZECHACHE.

In one of our beloved antiquities shops

Does your locale irritate you at times? Or am I just a curmudgeon who needs a good flogging?

Linking up with Yalanda and Elle for...

...and of the #SundayTraveler linky party!

With Adelina, Ashley, Jessica and Sarah-Jane

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Getting Christmas-y

The center of Prague right now is a happy maze of starry-eyed people, grilled sausages, twinkling lights, wooden stalls, mulled wine and a behemoth, baubled tree to anchor the whole sparkly spectacle. It's superb! 

True, this only our second Christmas season together in Prague, but nonetheless, we have carved out a couple of routines to make the season merry and bright when we're so bleeping far away from home.

We "write" our Christmas cards on cardstore.com. As most of our friends and family are back in the USA, it's a lot more affordable to have them printed and mailed through this web service. We choose some pictures for the front, type a letter on the back, enter a bunch of addresses and - voila! Cards are done. (And there's a 40% of sale on right now.)

We go to Old Town Square to 1) see the big, bright tree, 2) listen to our students sing on the performance stage and 3) drink a hot red wine concoction called svařák, pronounced SVAHR-zhack.

We attend our staff Christmas party, which has (awesomely) been in the Žižkov Television Tower for the past two years. The tower was built by the Communists to intercept radio signals and now houses a glitzy restaurant, an observation deck with bird-eye views and a chic one-room hotel.

Via

We tuck into Deminka, a local Czech spot that has one of the most lovely atmospheres around, not to mention amazing dill soup (kulajda) and fried cheese (smažený sýr).

And we book Christmas travel plans. This year, BW's younger brother will be joining us Dec. 19-Jan. 4 and we'll all be setting off to Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow together. Until then, season's greetings!

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