La Dolce Vida

Venice:

I realized early on that taking photos will prove to be futile as I would spend the whole day glued to my lens, photographing every windowsill, flower pot and door way in the city. This place is truly amazing-there were a few times where I literally lost my breath when turning the corner. When Polina and I traveled here a few years back we skipped Venice and so this was a purely new delight for me. I took the boat to St. Marks square and wow!! The sheer size, the height, the number of tourists!!! Everything just totally engulfed me. Sensory overload. ... I love this mass square, all the different pieces, one more beautiful than the other. A true field day for the senses, but I just couldn't stay too long, there was so many people. I wanted to get away and get inside the city. Oh Italia! So much life! Meandering between people, canals and ducking under low-hanging windows and I am again in the middle of the thumping, heart beating city. It seems that every sound carries a little sexy Italiano giggle with it. I wonder far into the city, stopping to try as many gelato flavors as I could muster. I had two scoops for breakfast, and a few more scoops and cappuccinos as snack... la dolce vida! At the Realto, once again, I almost loss my head. It is just an unimaginable scene-the people, the Italian waiters and boaters, the swarms of pigeons! And the water, the gleaming, beautiful water!!!

Asolo:

No town is quite like this little Italian town, a picturesque masterpiece of sleepy hills, green valleys, grand villas and stillness. Pure joy. A hidden gem, a hour north of Venice, it is a mixture of wealthy Italians, Venetian tourists and us. We, however, feel very much at home here. Meandering through little streets, getting lost counting the flowered windows and the cobblestone streets. Amy keeps saying that when it comes down to the detail, Italians have no match. Everything is perfect-from the way they serve their prosciutto to the way they pour their Amarone... It is a fairytale. I have felt like the luckiest person in the world, strolling arm in arm around Asolo, drinking in the people, the thick Italian culture, the slight, curvy notes of the sexy language. Not to mention the food... I can spend an eternity thinking and talking about the food we have had here. The little Enoteca where Enrico opened his best bottle of Valpolicella and served us a five course meal where we lost our ability to speak, only grunting and oooaaahing our way through. The food... Oh, it was all I really wanted. To get away for a few days and to sit on a bench in the sun, either digesting my recent meal or thinking where I am going to eat next. I probably gained a good few pounds if we count just the gelato! This has been the perfect place-exactly what I needed to reset myself and get to appreciate what working in London offers.