drawings and stuff.

the gratuitous studio shot. i've been hanging out in here quite a bit recently. it's all tidy and i have a new sewing zone so that frees up a bunch of space to draw. plus i'm not working on any large canvases and those take up a crazy amount of space. it feels like a cozy room to listen to music and draw in. and so...here are some drawings!


i've got a new plan afoot to draw during the week and have a drawing to share with you on fridays. that is unless i have a new print to show- but for now, some drawings. i'm not an amazing illustrator by any means but i like to putter through books and getting randomly inspired by things. often these bits and pieces end up in larger prints.

my order from rio grande came just a bit ago and i unpacked it. super exciting! it's amazing how much money a tiny little box of jewelry supplies can cost! yep, that's what i've also been puttering away at- i want to make a few simple pieces and have some supplies on hand to make things i get a hankering for. i picked out three different guages of sterling wire, picked up the right surfaces to do solding on and got some soldering supplies. i already have the torch and a bunch of other supplies so it wasn't too far to go to get started. i'm taking it slow and getting everything in place so i can make things the right way! i still need a few things and i've even got my eye on a tumbler!

tomorrow moring i'm going to a free tour of the Palace Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation offers them once a month and it looks super awesome! and then cleaning up my outside studio so i can get cracking on some new screen prints, have a great weekend!
http://www.lahtf.org/

good friends!

every now and then i post about things that excite me or artists that i come across on the fantastic tubes of wonder.

it's easy with so much going on in this wonderful world of the internet to overlook some of my favorite artists because they are already so known and close to me.

but then occurs to me, you might not know them and that is such a shame!

so tonight i'd like to direct your attention to my good friend Elaine's shop Audelaine


named after a combination of her and her daughters name (her faithful companion in craft even at only 2ish!) Elaine's shop is filled with a charming assortment of upcycled and handmade one of a kind delights!

here's a adorable top of a pin cushion that i covet everytime i look at her shop.
pin cushion i really should snap it up before someone else does- it's only $15!

Elaine says it best in her blurb in her shop.

"I can't help it, I am a maker. I like to make stuff out of fabric, paper, felt, ink, glue, buttons, and shrink plastic. I am inspired by odd forms found in nature. I am especially intrigued by toxicity, symbiotic relationships, anything with tentacles or feelers, exoskeletons and invertebrates. Unexpected juxtapositions and curious appendages are often in my work. I also have a healthy appreciation for vintage style and kitsch. I have 2 dogs, a BFA from UCSD, a toddler and a whole lot of imagination."
super cute owl stuffie- only $8. love that cool geometric pattern!

Elaine and I used to live in an awesome warehouse in East Oakland but now we talk on the phone making things all the while and discussing all things craft and where did that mystery sand in my hoodie pocket come from???

Go check out her shop! She makes good stuff!

still learning

and while i should be cleaning my outside studio instead i'm indulging myself and doing some research to pursue a hobby.

last night late after squinting at multiple catalogs i took a leap and bought a bunch of new supplies and tools!

pretty exciting, the boy has been super helpful is learning some stuff with me to help me get a better understanding of how it all works. now i just have to get the tools and see if a bunch of internet learning and an art degree will work it all out or if i'll need to call in some big guns. ie- my friends that take my hobbing to a professionaly degree and really know what they are doing.

Home Ec

tonight! I'm going to go to this tonight and prolly go for Gelato after across the street.

You should as well, Reform School is awesome and learning stuff is awesome as well!

field trip!

to the welding store!

where i proceeded to say "so, i wanna do this thing..."

and the guy looked at me blankly and responded "i can't help you"

me: "naw, you can...let's just talk about it some more"

and so we talked some more and i pointed some more at my sample i brought.

welding store dude: "uhh...i don't know..."

me: "hmm...ok, how about we talk to that dude also?"

and i point to some other welding dude that might have a different set of information.

and we explained what i want to do.

other welding dude "yeah...you can do that, use this."

me: "and it will work with a plumbers torch?"

other welding dude: "yeah, should...if it doesn't your doing something wrong...which could happen if you don't know what your doing..."

me in my head: "do i look like i know what i'm doing???"

me out loud: "cool, thanks!"

so- in short welding store field trip!
and instructions from my boyfriend on how not to burn our house down.

awesome!!!

new things

whew! finally back to current time...well, a little bit at least. last weekend i went on a field trip to a store in downtown Los Angeles called 'California Millinery Supply Company" and it was amazing!!!
it has all sorts of fantastic bits of vintage and new feathers, ribbon and assorted hat supplies to make anything you could possibly imagine.

here's the inside!

i rooted around in boxes and bins for two hours finding more than i could possibly take home- in the end i narrowed it down to some amazing ribbons, buckram bases for making fascinaters, a few sculptural feathers and some other supplies.

and here's my first hat i made! i really want to make some whimsical hats i can pop on with a cute shirt and a pair of blue jeans and this is just the thing. it's made of some pink velvet ribbon i got in Florence, a tiny cute plastic bunny and tufts of moss with glass stalagmites.

here's the inside sewn carefully with black fabric.and here's a pic with it perched just so on my head.
i really like the way it turned out and can't wait to make more!

i've poking away at some hobby type things since i've been back which has been relaxing and fun. I'm not quite ready to be screen printing as it's been raining and wicked cold but that will all fall back into place soon enough. i'm also making necklaces out of steel! yay hobbies!

the links

what's that you say?
you wanna know where we stayed, where we ate, and where we bought some stuff???

and not just some random reference to the greatest meal ever without actually knowing where the place was and maybe just maybe you want to go to Italy and go to all the same places we did and spend loads of money and gorge yourself on all the amazing things?

ok, well then- this post is for you guys.
here goes!

Lodging:

if your staying in Rome and you want to stay near the train station, i highly recommend where we stayed Giovy Bed & Breakfast at via principe amedeo, 85/a. giovanna.69 at tiscali.it to contact directly.
Our host Giovanna was amazingly welcoming- breakfast was included in the very reasonable cost of the room and we felt super safe and looked after here. it wasn't anything extra fancy- just welcoming, tidy and cozy. plus the shower was fantastic! the metro is right near and easy to manage so that helps you get closer to all the sights and taxi's in Rome are superb.

Our apartment in Florence was amazing! Oro Apartment located right near the Ponte Vecchio it had two bedrooms, full kitchen and a terrace. marusca.pagliuca at virgilio.it to contact directly
We really enjoyed our stay here- there was plenty of room for both of us and we used the kitchen everyday. The terrace was an amazing bonus to hang out on and would be even better in warmer weather. Our host Marusca welcomed us and then let us do our own thing all week which was great. she did help us out one night fantastically when we blew the fuse on the apartment (oops, you can't run the heater and the stove at the same time!)

our last stay was in Venice at the Hotel Abbazia. There were some things I really liked about this hotel- the rooms was quite large, it had a full jacuzzi tub which you don't see much of and the bar was quite nice. I enjoyed our stay here except for one thing- the potpourri- it was everywhere. our room, the lounge, the halls- this cloying sweet smell that kinda annoyed the heck out of me. It was really to bad because most everything else was great. I liked staying near the train station for my first time but next time I would stay a bit closer to the things I enjoyed like the amazing bars with cicchetti!

Restaurants, the best of where we ate and drank:

Rome-

Ristorante Matricianella Via del Leone 4. classy, affordable, delicious! they have delicious gnocchi, crunchy yummy fried squash blossoms and my Veal Saltimbocca was fantastic. a very romantic sweet setting- highly recommend having dinner here. make a reservation- we lucked into a table due to the rain letting up and agreeing to sit outside.

Sant' Eustachio il caffe' do go here for coffee! it's near the Pantheon sort of and quite amazing.

la Gallina Bianca Via A. Rosmini 5, Termini - a great place to grab a simple meal near the train station and our hotel. we ended up here one night and were quite happy with our meal. i wouldn't go across town for it but if your in the neighborhood, it's a great choice.

Giovanni Fassi Gelato via Principe Eugenio - quite possibly the best Gelato i had the whole trip.
just go! and when she asks if you want cream- say yes!

Florence:

Mercato Centrale San Lorenzo - don't mess around, go here your first day and fill your fridge, pockets and stomachs with all the amazing food.
while you're there give all your money to the folks at Perini (in exchange for cheese and snacks) and have a bollito with salsa sandwich from Nerbone.

Trattoria 4 Leoni Piazza Della Passera - we had an amazing dinner here. the have a pasta "Fiocchetti" little purses of pasta filled with a mix of pear, asparagus and taleggio cheese that i think people would have a heart attack if they took off the menu. it's that good! also make a reservation.

Gilli Piazza della Repubblica - were we went for coffee in the morning and in the afternoon for cocktails on their beautiful patio overlooking the Piazza della Repubblica. They have been at this location since the 1900's and there are some amazing pictures on their website. they make some of the best coffee in town.

Grom Gelato Via del Campanile- everyone likes it and it's because it's delicious! right near the Duomo but a bit tricky to find the first time.

Trattoria Sostanza via del porcellana 25r - we wanted Bistecca and Bollito and we got it! This very established old school style ( since 1869!) restaurant is a great place to go in Florence. Go for the steak!

Caffe' delle Carrozze right near the beginning of the Ponte Vecchio- a really sweet little Gelato place. i wish i'd gone here more so I can only recommend that you go here as well! It's right near the Uffizi.

Cafe Royal across the Ponte Vecchio, hang a left and go about half a block or so - a great bar to linger in the afternoon between things with a beautiful view of the river. you'll pay for the view and fireplace in the price of your cocktail but it's totally worth it.

Ristorante Pane e Vino P.zza di Cestello, 3r - what can i say? just go! our most amazing meal of the trip. i posted pictures of each course in my flickr. it was heavenly. it's a small cozy restaurant across the Arno where the female chef Barbara Zattoni is creating beautiful dishes that were pure happiness to eat. make a reservation.

Venice:

we spent 2 meals wandering the area near the Rialto Bridge popping into bars and devouring amazing snacks. pretty much everything is good- just order a glass of something and point at what you want. pay when your finished and wander onto the next place.

on Murano we ate at a delightful low key place Dalla Mora located on Fond Manin. 75. I had some great pasta and amazing plate of fried fishies.

Shopping:

Books! I bought lots of books at all of the various special exhibits we went to!

at the Vatican head to the roof of St. Peters for one of the best gift shops of religious artifacts and postcards. then head back down to the Vatican post office to mail postcards!

Florence:

i picked up a beautiful pendant by the artist Maria Luigia Guidi my first day in Florence at a delightful flea market in square at Santa Croce.

Giulio Giannini & Figlio Piazza Pitti 37 - a great stationary, cards and handmade papers store.

just down the street away from the Pitti Palace was Antonio Gatto at Piazza Pitti 5 who makes some of the most beautiful hats! I bought my red cloche there and a wool beret for my mum.

we both picked up scarves at a shop also on Piazza Pitti closer to the Ponte Vecchio- but I can't find the name right now. It's the only scarf shop between the Pitti Palace and the Ponte Vecchio. she has a fantastic selection, fair prices and you know the quality is leaps and bound better than anything on the street over by the Mercato. In general we avoided buying import good off the street and preferred to shop in boutiques.

Pulsateri via Calzaiuoli, 25r - we both bought leather gloves here. it's a treat just to go in and try on the gloves and to see how the sales girl extracts the gloves from your hands after you have tried them on!

Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella - an amazing shrine to perfume and potions.

Enoteca Lombardi - i picked up some great olive oil and balsamic as gifts at this central market before stall we left Florence.

there were many more random shops as Florence has amazing shopping! You could go ther and just do that all day- well ,if your pocketbook could afford it!

In Venice we bought Glass! and would happily have bought more if we had extra large sturdy luggage to bring it home in!

First I picked up some amazing pieces by the Sisters Sent: Marinna and Susanna! Everything was so beautiful and amazingly affordable! Both the gift shops at The Doge's Palace and The Glass Museum on Murano carry their work. I highly recommend you check it out if you go.

We also just wandered the Island of Murano popping into to stores and picking out beautiful things.

Linea Arte Vetro - i picked up some glass beads, cuff links and a glass ring here. They had a great selection.

Cesare Sent -i got another great necklace here, a big glass bubble on a silver chain. he was very nice and had a wide selection of interesting work.

Clynne picked up some amazing necklaces in another shop in Murano that I don't have the name of. They have wonderful modern pieces- both jewelry and glassware. I'll try to update with the name.

so that's about it! lot's of links to explore, I have a bajillion windows open on my screen right now of all the things I want to go look at while putting this together.

Enjoy! and lemmie know if any of them don't work :)

Murano!

our last day in Italy! we took the Vaparetto out to the island of Murano!

It was such a great way to spend the last day. The boat ride out there really gives you a great idea of how big the space of the lagoon is.

We could see the snowy alps from our boat ride!
The boat ride is pretty long- i think we took a longer route as our boat ride back was super fast. But it really gives you time to look around and take it all it. We were in a tiny little boat like this one. They are about half the size of the regular vaparetto boats that go about the canals.

Canal in Murano!

Murano was great. It was so much more chill than Venice, there were a lot fewer people wandering around and it had this great sleepy village vibe. We wandered around poking in at some of the stores and then went to the Murano Glass museum. They have a great collection of historic glass made on the island! After the museum we went to a long leisurely lunch. It was super nice to chill out for a bit-I really enjoyed our lunch and taking out time to enjoy it on our last day.

Spider Crab Pasta!

Glass Sculpture on Muranoafter lunch, more shopping! I guess it doesn't hurt that already love glass and was happy to look in all the shops at every pretty thing I could. We both bought some beautiful necklaces in Murano and coveted all the modern chandeliers and glass wear. We didn't get to see any of the furnaces in action of them blowing glass but the shopping was amazing!

I'd happily go stay on Murano for a few days as it's a bit more chill and relaxed than Venice.

on the boat ride back i took some great semi blurry pics. I really like how they turned out so I thought I share them with you.

and here's the sunset our last night in Italy!so that's it! our whole trip! thanks for keeping up with me as i posted after I got back. It really was super amazing, fantastic and all kinds of wonderful. My travel companion was great- super fun and easy to travel with and I'm so glad she went with me.

The travel bug totally has me in it's clutches now! I think before I didn't realize how possible everything is- how you can allow it to cost a bit of money but you can also travel on a budget and still have a really great time. I want to go back when it's a tad warmer to the sea side villages of Cinque Terre and last night a friend reminded me of Lake Como. Oh, and there's France and Spain- I hear they have some pretty damn awesome art and snacks as well!

yay travel!!!!!

on to venice!

but first one last morning at our apartment!

in which we pack, take pictures of the awesomeness that was our apartment and have one last Florence breakfast lunch.

my sweet bedroom i slept in while staying at the apartment.

clynne "packing" her suitcase while i made lunch
and lunchtime! see, first i took some butter...and then i put a handful of lardo into the pan and pan fried it in the butter!!!!!!! that would be fat fried in fat for those of you not paying attention.
did i mention with all that walking i did not gain weight while eating like this? it was so awesome!
after the lardo was reduced to crispy bits i added sage, and topped it all over fresh pumpkin ravioli with shaved radicchio. it was also delish!

so after that amazingness and clearing out of the apartment we headed off to Venice!
here we are on the train!

we got into venice pretty late in the evening due to the train leaving later and it's a bit of a train ride so we made our way to our new hotel which happened to be located right near the train station which was super convenient for two sorta tired travelers.

we got some advice on where to find dinner and off we went to have what they call in Venice "chechitti" the most amazing delicious bar snacks. basically you roll up to a bar- ask for a drink a glass of house wine or a Compari Spritz and then point at what ever snacks they have laid out. You can sample the most amazing little bits of sea food, tiny sandwiches, fried balls of toasty dough...pretty much anything that's tiny, fresh and local!!! It was so fantastic!!! We wandered around for awhile doing this and then finally back to our hotel to fall into a deep sleep that only bar hopping can provide.

the next morning, Saturday we got up had breakfast at the hotel and hopped on a Vaperetto and headed over to St. Marks Square.

view from the boat

ooh look, flooded!

St. Mark's Square!

we had to go up on platforms to get into St.Marks due to recent flooding!

and then we were inside! holy moly!!!! all the gold tile!!!! It was amazing!!! The funny thing is when we first went in the main lights were off, most likely doe to mid day mass. We went to look at the Alter at the front of the church which is this amazing gold thing and the reliquaries in a side room and when we came back out all the lights were on and it was even more impressive. Everything practically glittered!!!
this is from the upstairs balcony. your totally not allowed to take pics but i had to snap one- very subtly- i know, i know but it was so pretty!!!

view from the roof of St. Peters towards the Doge's Palace

after a break for lunch from St. Peters we went to the Doge's Palace. it was pretty cool- i was a tad bit overwhelmed with all of the museums we had seen but I really enjoyed this giant room the Doge used to greet people in. It really is super ginormous. and on the other end it had "the world's largest oil painting" so...um, yeah pretty big!

the floors in Venice are this special kind of marble chip flooring that is flexible with the sinking of the city!After the doge's Palace we wandered over to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Clynne took a postcard writing break and I hit another museum. I gotta say at this point my brain and cultural eyes were full up. I'm glad I went, it was tiny and totally easy to see but I'm not sure I really appreciated it. Plus it bugged the heck out of me that inside the house are all these amazing pictures of what the house looked like when she lived there,(it was neat to see where she had all of the art and how the house was decorated) the thing that bugged me was that you couldn't buy copies of these images in postcard form nor where they in any of the books for sale. It was the thing I found most interesting about the whole museum but they didn't seem to think it was that entertaining or i imagine they don't own the copyright to the images- but kinda a disappointment.

After out last museumy thing for the day we prowled back to the San Marco area for more Chichetti! Here's a picture of some of them- it was dark so it's slightly blurry but you get the idea.
Venice really is beautiful! I think I would have been more into it had the boy had been with me like originally planned so that was a bit hard to handle at times. It really is remarkably romantic.
you really can just wander around all day stumbling upon things you didn't know were there and are quite surprising. I'd love to go back during better weather and enjoy it a bit more.

plus- more tiny fishes to eat!
Tomorrow- our last day- we went to the Glass Island of Murano and spent all of our money!!!

wednesday and thursday

museums, museums, museums!!!

wednesday we went to the Uffizi and aside from wandering around another cool old building the thing i remember most are the Botticelli paintings which are quite beautiful! I could have sat there all day staring at them...well, aside from the tour groups that come in and plant themselves directly in front of each painting and totally block your view. I couldn't take pictures at the Uffizi so you'll just have to take my word for it- beautiful!

That morning and the next we did a bit of shopping damage around town. Going back to get things that had caught our eye or going back to shops that had been closed but looked interesting. Florence is full of amazing shops to buy fantastic things and that doesn't even count all the typical high end designer shops that hold a little less allure.

here's our yummy lunch from tuesday clynne put together.

here's a mini street sweeper that prolly swept our street 50 times a day- Florence is spotless.and here's the view from my bedroom window towards the Arno river at sunset.

Wednesday more chasing around town in the morning- one last sandwich from Nerbone!

ah the Bollito meat..so delicious.

then we went to a chocolate festival! that's right a whole festival devoted to all the chocolate that they make in Italy as well as a few vendors from Spain and other parts of Europe. oh my gosh! i think i bought as much as i had euro's in my pocket!see! chocolate!!!

after the chocolate festival we went to The Pitti Palace and also wandered around The Bobili Garden's. So pretty!!! The Pitti Palace is giant! So many different exhibits- I tried to see them all and failed so I gues I'll have to go back...yeah twist my arm...!
we did manage to get inside to see the Grotto which is this side building at The Bobili Gardens filled with these figures composed almost entirely out of pieces of rocks and stalactite..all goopy and drippy. so weird but so good!

whoo! and after all that...i think there might have been a nap or at least some time staring blankly at Italian MTV we went to dinner at this amazing restaurant!!! Pan E Vino.
It was semi fancy and so good! This is a picture of my Parmesan Flan with Aged Balsamic vinegar served in a eye dropper. Each bite of flan with a drop of balsamic vinegar was soooo good. check out my flickr for more food pics of that dinner. it was delish!

Tomorrow Venice!!! yep, that's right, another city? can you believe it??? onwards we went to Venice.

tuesday?

ok, so where were we at...yep...Tuesday!

and a mighty grand tuesday it was. We got up pretty early and after a yummy breakfast (gotta love those groceries we bought) we took a cab out of town a bit to Cacine Park.

There is a flea market every tuesday! It was pretty interesting...it was different from the other markets we had been to , this one was more local in nature and had a almost peasant/old grandma feel to it. There was lots of vendors selling everyday goods- socks/clothes...random kitchen stuff neither of us could fit into our luggage.

The cab driver was pretty awesome because he dropped us off at the furthest point and we walked back towards town. We got some more meats as well as some of the best biscotti cookies the whole trip! I also picked up some great trim and ribbon from one of the vendors.

pork!

flea market

After walking our way back towards town we detoured away from the park to an Art Exhibition called "Work Wear" it was super great! It was a giant installation of work uniforms, designer uniforms, sound components and huge video screens.
here's a blurb:

Pitti WORKWEAR, a new exhibition project from the people behind Pitti Uomo fashion show, opened to solid reviews on Wednesday. As Bruce Pask at The Moment describes, “There were rows and rows of uniforms, from metallic fireproof suits and Carhartt construction-worker classics to doppelgängers with designer labels: jumpsuits from Thierry Mugler and Agnès b., a leather apron dress from Hermès and some great pieces from Gianni Versace’s 1994 women’s collection inspired by men’s overalls were great representations of the influence of the workman on fashion.” The exhibit gallery will be opened through February 8th at Stazione Leopolda in Florence, Italy.

the previous night we read about it in a local newspaper and we were super glad to have combined it with our field trip to the Cacine Park flea market.

We we're still a bit far from town near the Stazione Leopolda so we set out for the Santa Maria Novella church. Kind of a hike but we made it there as well as a nearby museum that was fantastic the Museo Nazionale Alinari Della Fotgrafia. An entire museum devoted to Italian photography and the art of photography. They had an amazing collection filled with antique images, vintage images and some contemporary works. I would make this one of my stops every time I'm in Florence as they had a fantastic shop up and hopefully new things next time. If you go be sure not to miss the room in the very back with beautiful brass stereo optic machines. Really amazing!

After that museum and right before we fell over from not eating lunch we popped into the Officina Profumo of Santa Maria Novella. The most beautiful 'church' to perfume where nuns make all the most amazing concoctions! It was all dark wood and heady air in there- a little overwhelming with it's fanciness but we muddled though and bought some things and emerged back out into the fresh air ready for lunch!

nope no pics of lunch- at was at some place good but casual. after lunch i wandered around some more and then met up with clynne back at home where we both watched the inauguration ceremony and speeches. we had thought maybe we would go out to find somewhere to watch but instead decided to celebrate by going out for yummy bistecca tuscan steaks!

We went to a well know and well reviewed traditional restaurant called "Sostanza" and it was delicious!!!!
When I asked my waiter how big the steak was because it was listed in grams he brought it out for me to see!!!

woohoo! red raw superb looking piece of meat!

and here it is all cooked in it loveliness! it was so good! rare- slightly salty and pretty much just tasting of meat!oop, all gone!

here's the inside of Sostanza. kinda empty as it was a bit early. we never could quite get the hang of going out at 10pm for dinner.

after dinner we walked about some more (i know, what's with all the walking!!!) and ended up on the other side of town for a late night gelato and then back to our apartment to watch parts of the inaugural balls filter into BBC. all in all a pretty fantastic way to ring in a new day!!!

Taxidermy and The Duomo

Monday morning I got up bright and early and walked over to the Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola" a quick walk by the still closed up shops of the Ponte Vecchio.

the outside of the building...wait awaits me inside???

after hoofing it up 4 flights of stairs- paying my 6 euro to get in i was delighted at the rooms and rooms of amazing taxidermy!!! It's basically a zoological museum (34 rooms) put together in the 1700's and also 13 rooms of anatomical waxes. You aren't allowed to take pics of waxes so I took a bajillion pics of the taxidermy to make up for it.

wax heart

it was fantastic! i was pretty much the only person there and took as long as i wanted to wandering through everything. by the time i got to the waxes my brain was a bit shot after all the animals but the anatomical waxes were amazing as well!
check out this flickr set for all the animal pics.

after all of that i i walked home by way of some neat little shops. and i'm so glad i did! i stopped in at this sweet little shop where a gentleman makes the most amazing hats! i was interested in a yellow green hat but then i tried on this amazing bright red cloche and well...it had to be mine! i spent a few more minutes shopping in his shop and and chatting before i walked home for lunch before we went to The Duomo that afternoon!

hat work shop!

hats for sale

The Duomo! It really is quite striking! one of the things that I really enjoyed is because of where we were staying and walking we ended up coming upon it a lot unexpectedly. It would just pop up with it's beautiful facade now and again and catch me by surprise.the dome inside with it's beautiful paintings!

at one point they stripped off all the decoration outside because it wasn't finished and for ohh..about 300 years had contests and such to compete to see what it would look like.
In the museum for the Duomo they have a bunch of these large wood models and they are pretty cool.after wandering through the Museum and the actual Duomo we made a mad dash through the rain to the Battistero di San Giovanni right next to the church and oh my goodness was I glad we did.
We walked in and i thought "oh that ceiling!!!!!!" it is all made from teeny tiny tiles and lots of gold ones to boot. it was beautiful. we chilled out on the benches for a while before braving back out to the rain.
late afternoon -wandering around for a bit (doing some more shopping of course) we felt that cocktails were in order and because cocktails are generally pretty expensive it italy we figured lets make the most of it! so here we are at Gilli on Piazza della Repubblica drinking 12 euro Americano's and 8 euro glasses of Proecco. It was fantastic! We sat and chilled out- wrote postcards and gossiped about all the people around us who were also sitting in the amber glow of this beautiful tent right on this beautiful square.

mmm...americano!

lazy days!

in Italy! and who am i kidding- they weren't that lazy.
But we did hang around the apartment on Sunday- just taking it all in- making some food and not going to a bajillion museums.

giant cobblestones!

In the afternoon we went out for a walk. It was rainy again but not too much. We wandered across the Arno river to the other side of the city and happened upon a great little organic farmer's market in a church square. Not quite sure where we were but we bought more food!
Some cheese, yummy hippie bread filled with nuts and dried fruits and some honey.

giant wheels of cheese!

after that we wandered up towards the Duomo for Gelato and Clynne got Hot Chocolate Caldo.
Grom Gelato- super yummy! I went their twice and they make some mighty tasty frozen treats.

See the Duomo peeking in behind the Gelato?! More on that tomorrow when we get up close and personal with it instead of just wandering by it staring at it with our mouths wide open. It really is pretty!

after our walk about Clynne made us a delicious meal with some of the things from our Mercato trip. Seared pork chops with Broccoli Rabe and pasta with sage butter. Oh- and she cooked the Broccoli Rabe in Lardo. Yay for Lardo!!!

Tomorrow the endless museum of Taxidermy and the Duomo!!!

roma to firenze!

travel day!!!
our first day traveling to a new city after three days in roma.
but first gelato!!!

that's right you didn't think i would go this whole trip without a post about gelato did you?
we delayed our leaving of roma to stop in at one of the well reputed gelaterias which happened to be located near our B&B.

Fassi Gelato! so yummy, so delicious! I continued to eat gelato the rest of the trip pretty often but i think this was my favorite place. i will happily go back there and strongly recommend it to anyone.

I had a cup with pistashio, zabione and chocolate. these three flavors ended up being my 'tests' to compare throughout the trip. their pistashio tasted like the sweey nutty flavors it was supposed to and the zabione and chololate were also delicious!!!

here's my cuppa!

here's all the flavors! i found out later they are also known for their cream that goes on top and i think that's what that giant mound off to the left is.the inside of the shop. it was pretty empty as it was noon- well before most folks are eating gelato. i really liked that it was kind of like an old fashioned ice cream parlor as most of the rest of the gelato places i ate from were walk up and walk away.

the view from our bedroom of the B&B on the last day.

we left Roma and took the train to Fireze. it was a pretty fast train ride and we got into town mid- afternoon. After taking a taxi to our apartment right near the Ponte Vecchio we spent the rest of the evening getting settled in and chilling out for a bit.

The next day was saturday! Market day!!! Yes, this whole post might be about food.

We got up early, stopped for coffee at what would become my favorite coffee place in Firenze "Gilli" on the Palazzo Republica. It is this really sweet cafe in the Viennese style with dark gleaming wood everywhere and sparkling liquor bottles on all the shelf's. They had tasty breakfast brioche and great caffe. Then we went onto the Mercato Centrale our true destination!!!

and what a market it turned out to be!!! So many amazing things to eat, buy and just drool over.
I swear I could go back to Florence and plan on not eating out at all but just getting fresh supplies from here every day and it would be delicious. They had amazing meat counters! cured meats, wrapped meats, aged meats....oh...it was a sight to see!!! A whole fish area! and upstairs all the beautiful fruits and veggies you could possible want!!!

We got thing started off right by putting ourselves in the hands of one of the counter guys at the Perini stall. Basically they hand you something to taste and your taste buds and brain explode in happiness and you nod your head dreamily as they fill a bottomless (expensive!!) bag with the most amazing meats, cheeses, cured meats, mostarda's, pickled things, sauces and basically anything else that tempts you. They know what should go with what and they send you off with a delicious combination of snacks that you will dream about every night you are away from italy.

After that we wandered upstairs for the rest of the delicious things we wanted to round out our shopping with some fresh lettuces, some vegg, and some fresh herbs. We also picked up some fresh meats for dinner! Next time I'm going to prowl through the seafood section more aggressively but alas our mini apartment fridge would only hold so much.

fruits and vegg upstairs at the market.

and Nerbone...what can a girl possibly say about Nerbone that hasn't already been said???
the most amazing sandwich in the world!!! would that be to far to go? i almost think not. it's so simple- a medium sized bun of slightly crunchy bread sliced in half and filled with boiled meat and topped with a combination of red and green mystery salsas. Sightly spicy to cut the heavenly boiled beef. oohhhhh. i want one right now. the best part (other that eating the sandwich or that free glass of wine we each got) is watching the guy make the sandwich just for you. the fragrant meat steam that rises up into the air as he slices the meat for your sandwich is in fact another thing i'll dream about.

After all that we walked home where I comenced to take pictures of all our amazing market spoils! but more on that in a moment.

After the market I set out on a walk about by myself. It was grand to simply walk around with only a loose guide of where to go. I ended up at a fantastic small artisan market in the Palazzo Santa Croce. There were vendors of all sorts! Weavers, jewelers, woodsmiths...it was sort of like a craft fair back in the states! I bought a really sweet little pendant by an artist from Pisa. It a small sterling silver Tuscan countryside scene with a gold sun. It was really fun to talk to the vendors about what they made and to try to explain that I'm a maker myself. My limited Italian got me through it just fine.

and heres a view from right near the Uffizi back towards the bridge nearest us, the Ponte Vecchio. It worked out really well to be staying near it as there are signs all over town directing you back to it and once you get to the Arno from anywheres in town you just have to look up and down the river to see which direction to walk to get home. Also it meant we were near things on both sides of the Arno and just across the Ponte Vecchio are lots of tiny artisan shops selling the most amazing things!but didn't i say something about pics of the food we bought? yep, here ya' go- food porn!

cured meats! lardo! coppa! salumi!fresh pears, apples and wild strawberries!
tomatoes, balsamic, fresh onions and yummy pasta!fresh vegg! broccoli rabe, raddicio, fresh salad greens and giant frisse lettucesquash blossoms, fresh eggs and sage!freshly ground coffee! (i navigated getting coffee, having it ground and what sort of maker we we're using all in my limited italian.)pickled capers and pickled tiny artichokes!cheese glorious cheese! not the last cheese we bought in italy but some of the best!a giant mound of parma ham!!! we ate parma ham with everything!and this was dinner that night. a dinner filled with glorious snacks!