Simple thoughts

After some time of lurking, finally I decided to register at this travels site, maybe on the next Provence trip wave of enthusiam...........
While surfing the site, I found so many new ideas for short trip or summer vacations.............and I found reviews and pics of places I've already been.
This brought back lots of memories, of beautiful places, funny moments, nice people..................

  Alicante, Spain

  El Teide, Canary Islands

 Waldhausen, Austria

  L'Ile de Ouessant, France

  Egeskov, Denmark

 Cornwall, England

 Ring of Kerry, Ireland

 Mont-St.Michel, France

 Arles, France

 Verdon, France

 Les Vosges, France

 Bruges, Belguim

 Waterloo, Belgium

 Monaco, Germany

 Koblenz, Germany

So many places left out there, waiting to be discovered, people to meet, smells to savour, specialties to be tried, sunsets to admire.
To travel means discover new sensations, feeling new emotions, find inner spaces inside you, and to store memories for the future.

A very yummy cookies and chocolates shop in Strasbourg (obviously we bought something......)

inside the Cathedral, Notre-Dame

a themed bar inside the Nurburgring track

a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant (with a couple we met on the track.....funny how you can meet new friends, next appointment in Parma at the end of the month)

a tipical breakfast

in the house we stayed in Nurburg run by Mrs. Romens

the rivers Rhin and Mosel finally meet in Koblenz

one of the many stands in Munich market

and a no-diet dinner in Munich

 

 

 

 

Just some pics from our recent vacation trip........

The "Petite France" quarter in Strasbourg

hubby posing on a bridge of the old quarter

me on top of Nurburg castle on a windy day

from the car on the Nurburgring track

old charming house in Blankenheim

Koblenz

The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart

and a visit to the Porsches Museum, Stuttgart

at the Nyphemburg Schloss Park in Munich

and a beer at the Hofbrauhaus

and, obviously, hubby at the Olympia Stadion

More to come......

So, how was your weekend? Mine was

Saturday night we had dinner with some friends, kindly invited to one couple's home (well supplied with air conditioning at the fastest speed, coz it was so dam hot that night!). Our hosts provided the appetizers that greeted us at our arrival well arranged on a table (pic from my friend Rossy's cell)

Then we have some different kind of pizzas, my fav was with "ham, mushrooms and rucola"

We brought a cake (raspberries and chocolate) that we ordered to one of the oldest pastry in Parma, Cocconi, a must for breakfast and a drink before dinner, and for cakes and pastries, if you want to well impress your host!

The night was enjoyed also by Gypsy, our friends' german bassethound, who never left the table, waiting for some leftover

 (pic taken by Rossy at her arrival)

The night went on till 1.00am, with lots of laughs, remembering old summer vacations, funny picnics, bike trips, looking at old pics, and listening to good music.

For sunday afternoon we planned a bike ride in the Appennini Parmensi with two couples of friends, but when we were halfway through our final destination, the Cirrone Gap, it started to rain. Can you believe it? After four months without seeing a single drop of water, it rains the day we decide to go up in the mountains! So we decided to change direction, to go for a coffee cup in Cozzano, hoping to leave the bad weather behind us, but the rain kept our tracks, we didn't drink that coffee. After a short briefing in the old part of the little village of Calestano

we changed our plans once again, and finally on the road to Passo della Cisa we found the sun again and we had a pit-stop at Casola

a place well known to all the bikers, as you can see.

It's been a very busy week, and it's not over yet! It was time for "gnocchi" (smashed potatoes, salt, eggs, flour) with tomatoe sauce

salmon pizza (not hubby fav, I must say)

rice salad ( a must for hot weather)

and some strawberries with hot chocolate (I though they would melt, but I was wrong, they tasted really good)

Last sunday we had dinner with friends at La Stazione, in Valmozzola, a place we can call home, considering we're there so very often. This is the painting on the wall in the main room

and these are the "boys", lost in a deep conversation.....

In about two week, we're going to vote for the new major of Parma, here are the candidates with the better chances to be elected

 This is my favourite (for political reasons)

 I really hope he won't win, for our own sake.....

 only positive thing about her, it's a woman (we had a woman as a major already)

 he hasn't really a chance, it's just that he's Marty's phylosophy teacher.........

I'd like to have someone who can really make a difference, there're so many things to change in my hometown! I did my homework to better know them all, and their proposal for the town.

The real new is that next sunday me and hubby will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary! Cheer...... I looked at my wedding photo album, here how we were back then.....

God, we were so young!!! Anyway, with all the highs and downs of these 23 years, it's the best thing I can whish for everyone.

It seems lately that every time I look around, there's something reminding me of Ireland!

About two weeks ago, surfing the net searching news about a book,  I found a very interesting site about trips to Ireland in search of ancestors, irish recipes and food sold online (I didn't tell anyone, but I must try it sometime) give it a look http://www.littleshamrocks.com 

Then, on the web as well, I found a book review so appassionate that intrigued me so much, and the day after I went to buy it, but it wans't available, so I had to order it, and it arrived only yesterday, I can't wait to read it! 

  Ireland, a novel - by Frank Delaney: BBC reporter Delaney's fictionalized history of his native country, an Irish bestseller, is a sprawling, riveting read, a book of stories melding into a novel wrapped up in an Irish history text. In 1951, when Ronan O'Mara is nine, he meets the aging itinerant Storyteller, who emerges out a "silver veil" of Irish mist, hoping to trade a yarn for a hot meal. Welcomed inside, the Storyteller lights his pipe and begins, telling of the architect of Newgrange, who built "a marvelous, immortal structure... before Stonehenge in England, before the pyramids of Egypt," and the dentally challenged King Conor of Ulster, who tried, and failed, to outsmart his wife. The stories utterly captivate the young Ronan ("This is the best thing that ever, ever happened"), and they'll draw readers in, too, with their warriors and kings, drinkers and devils, all rendered cleanly and without undue sentimentality. When Ronan's mother banishes the Storyteller for telling a blasphemous tale, Ronan vows to find him. He also becomes fascinated by Irish myth and legend, and, as the years pass, he discovers his own gift for storytelling. Eventually, he sets off, traversing Ireland on foot to find his mentor. Past and present weave together as Delaney entwines the lives of the Storyteller and Ronan in this rich and satisfying book.

Waiting for this book to arrive, I went through my MTBR and I found this one, settled in Ireland too, and I picked it up

Another kind of life - by Catherine Dunne: Perceptive, absorbing and beautifully told, Another Kind of Life is an unforgettable portrait of a family, and of Ireland, which will stay with the reader long after the last page. Hannah, May and Eleanor are sisters whose early life in Dublin with their middle class parents, has prepared them for a comfortable future of marriage, children and servants. Further north, Mary and Cecilia are also sisters, struggling to make a living in the linen mills of Belfast amid rising political tension. The lives of all the sisters are destined to unfold in ways that none of them could have imagined and Another Kind of Life is the intricately crafted tale of how their lives entwine, against the backdrop of the rapidly changing Ireland of the late 19th century.In her eagerly awaited new novel Catherine Dunne returns to the themes of family ties, love and loyalty which she has delineated so finely in her earlier work but this time she opens out her canvas to tell us a much wider story.

And on top of it, a collegue who's gonna marry the 12th of may, will go to Ireland on honeymoon! We spent almost an hour thursday afternoon at work, looking at the travel agency's brochures and pics, and I got lost in wonderful memories of my trip to the emerald island

I've dreamed for so long about Ireland before actually go there, now I'm dreaming about the day when I finally will come back! 
 

Yesterday evening, after a few phone calls, we had a deal with our friends. Next sunday morning we'll go again to a bike meeting in a place some km outside town, the place is called Carzeto and since some years ago, a local association of bikes' lovers is organizing an old bikes race and show. Last year it was so nice, I saw so many old bikes I've never suspected even they existed (hubby knew every details about them obviously). We had a great time, so this year we can't wait to repeat the experience.

Here are some pics from last year meeting

And this the official web page of the Carzeto bike lovers (sorry, italian only)

http://www.carzeto.it/m2002.htm

Ok, as I told you before, I tried something new again, over the last weekend. For friday dinner (and I don't want to offend anyone, but we didn't obliged to the Good Friday tradition of not eating meat) I made a spinach pie, very good and easy to make:

squeezed spinach boiled in salted water - one egg - parmesan cheese - tiny slices of mozzarella - sliced ham - sliced omelette - some butter and parmesan chhese on top - in the oven at 180° for just 10 min.

and some bruschetta: tuscany bread - mozzarella - olive oil - salt - tomatoes - origano

and a fruits cake: pan di spagna base - milk and eggs cream - kiwi and ananas - coconuts - jelly

 

Saturday morning I had my usual round of groceries shopping, for once with Marty out of school on Easter break (hubby had other errands to do on his own). We met a lot of people, so it was a very difficult task to be home in time to arrange lunch! I spent the afternoon with daddy at the nursing home, I took him outside, it was so sunny and warm I thought a little fresh air would do him good. In the evening I finally managed to see a movie I recorded some time ago, Road to perdition, nice Tom Hanks performance.

On Easter morning I went with mom to daddy, coz the nursing home had planned a family Easter lunch, and she was staying there. The tables were setting in white and blue with flowers in the center, the walls were decorated with bunnies, colored eggs, paper flowers hanging from paper trees, birds and bells. It was so beautiful and joyful! I went for lunch to my mother-in-law instead, no big fuss, t's just a tradition since we got married to go there, and usually the menu doesn't change that much (sic). Then we went home, this is a day for family, so all our friends were spending time with their loved ones, so we just stayed home, reading (me), watching tv (hubby) and surfing the net (Marty).

Yesterday it was holiday too, Easter Monday, in the morning I went again to see dad, and after lunch, with a couple of friends we went out for a walk along the river Po banks, to a little place called Boretto, where a boat can take you for an hour long trip along the river. It was so sunny and hot that we really enjoyed our time!

Nice, isn't it? After that, we went to the near little village of Brescello famous for the movies shot in the '50 and '60 from the saga of Don Camillo and Peppone, from the books by Giovannino Guareschi, see more at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovannino_Guareschi and we visited the little museum about the saga, little but interesting nevertheless http://mywebpages.comcast.net/doncamillo/brescello.htm

It's strange how it happens that you go so far away to visit nice places, and the ones nearest you are the last ones to be discovered! Anyway, we had a great time. We came back home just in time to order some tuna pizzas for dinner

We have this couple of friends, you know. They are quite new friends (even if we know them for several years now) considering that our other friends are the ones of a lifetime. They are the parents of one of Marty's schoolmate. Marty and Lucia were in the same class all through the elementary and primary schools. During the elementary school time, we saw each other at teacher's meetings and outdoor excursions with the children, usually twice a year, and at the end-of-the-school dinner. We got along pretty well, but nothing more than that. Then we bacame closer during the three years of primary school, we went out for a pizza together with or without our daughters, so we had the chance to know each other better. When the primary school was over we stayed in touch and our friendship has grown a lot since then. We even spent a very nice vacation in England in the summer 2004. We both have a bike, so we like to take a ride from now and then and go to bikers' reunions. We meet usually once a month, every time with a lot to say. Last time was on saturday night, we had pizza in a restaurant a few minutes outside the city. And, as always, we talked and talked, and talked. We have the same point of view about a lot of things, how to raise our daughters, what's important in life, same political address, same religious beliefs. And the same passion for bikes and travels.

Here's a pic of them with hubby (on the right) during our english vacation, and Marty (on the left) with Lucia in Cornwall

We're looking for another trip together as soon as our vacation time will be the same again.

 

   Late '70, early '80. We used to go to dance on friday and saturday nights at a disco called "Taro Taro" just outside the city. It was always crowded, but the music was really ok, and so was the people there. It closed several years ago, after changing name and property many times, but it never got closer to the greatness it had back then.

      In 1995 it was destroyed, leaving us all sad and suddenly "adults". One year ago, some badly disco-addicteds, including the old dj's, thought about creating a website recalling the story of the disco, collecting news, pics and old posters. It was just for fun, but last september they thought about making out something of it. So, last september, it was the first "Taro Night", with the old dj, the old music and the old people from that glorious time. We knew about it too late to get the tickets, and so it was the second time, in november. But THIS time.....we got tickets!!!! So, the 16th february, comfortable shoes, suitable dress and no way something can keep me away from a night of pure fun!!

Chech the official website and see what we look like back then http://www.tarotarostory.it/