I'm on a BOAT!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, WORLD!

Sometimes, you do something because it sounds like too much fun NOT to. Even though you know it's going to be a slightly strung-out aging beauty queen, not the young lady in the advert. Or, the photo of the food is going to be way better than the food itself. The same is true with Ferry Travel -- taking an overnight ferry from Genoa to Barcelona sounded too absurd and romantic to skip. Grandi Navi Veloci got our Euros and our time. It was an adventure to say the least. The boat reminded me of a Ghost Ship version of the love boat - the pool was shut, the casino closed, half the guest cabins were roped off, the carpet was worn but clean-ish, and the wooden stairs were warped, cracked, but still sound. Our beds were freshly made, but the sheets had been washed almost to transparency. We were undaunted! We had an outside berth with a view! WE WERE ON A BOAT!
Plus, watching the overloaded lorries and caravans pile into the belly of this boat was almost worth the fare alone. Unbelievable piles of bikes, sinks, lawn chairs, and lord knows what else were stacked and lashed to the top of anything with wheels. When we booked online the route said Genoa - Barcelona. Turns out the route is Genoa - Barcelona - Tangiers. It was a richly varied and highly motley crew of fellow passengers. German ladies traveling solo, French families, Moroccans of every walk, lots of random bands of men smoking and talking in sandals and soccer jackets, a few conspicuous techie nerds, and us. The Ferry is MUCH cheaper than flying, faster than the train, and apparently oddly compelling to a wide range of folks. Mostly men. And traders with caravans packed with crap headed to Tangiers. No one checked our papers EVER. Leaving or arriving. Wild. Rather nice not to have to take your shoes off, for once.

I had purchased some 'frizzante bianco' in Genoa at a grocery store (carbonated white wine in a bulbous bottle which is actually very tasty) which we cracked open and had in our cabin out of plastic cups. We feasted on the green beans and pesto we had procured at the same time as well. Living large on the Ghost Ship!

Ports are also fascinating for reasons entirely un-naval (although all the gantries and ships and wooden sail boats are nice). We watched a scenario play out at the auto-loading area where a young nicely dressed man tried to argue with 5 Polizei on behalf of his friend (in the Polizei car) and (we guessed) his fancy ride. Other fancy men showed up with papers which failed to impress or change the outcome, at any rate. Lots of gesticulating, pacing, moaning, and papers being passed around. Good entertainment for the uninvolved. Fun to make up stories about why's and what's.


We have since landed safely in Barcelona, and are ensconced in our 'residence hotel' of sorts. It's like boarding school for traveling adults. A small, simple modern room with a bathroom not unlike what we had on the ferry, a cooking lounge down the hall with assigned drawers in fridge & pantry, and a laundromat downstairs. We will contact our friends of friends and begin the Housing Hunt in the morning. In the meantime, Barcellona is totally crush-worthy. We found a wonderful atmospheric bar, had a walk in the rain, found a late night 'stuff store' and procured cups for our room and laundry soap etc. Buh. pretty tired but very happy to be here.

If ever you need to eat dinner in Genoa

More on Genova/Genoa to come, including the fabulously tortuous street layout, but first a quick word on FOOD. Italy is an obvious slow food/foodie mecca. Less known is the fact that 1 in 20 children test positive for celiac, and most Farmacia's stock 'senza glutine' biscuits and snacks, and better restaurants will have options if not the best risotto of your life.

That said, it is still a thrill to have a waiter bring you your own special basket of gluten free buttery crackers to go with your wine while your partner has the most delicious looking foccacia you've ever seen. True story. At i Tre Merli restaurant near Via Garibaldi in Genova. We went two nights in a row and ate ourselves straight into eupohoria. Our waitress waved at us from the back of a scooter after night one. I suspect we are easy to spot. Did I mention the rice based pasta with fresh pesto and green beans, or the carpaccio with fennel & walnuts? no? How about the custard fritters with bitter chocolate sauce and coffee mousse? no? Well there. Mentioned. Oh my lawdy, was it ridonkulously wonderful on the senses.

Their website is here.
Needless to say, if we are ever in NYC, we are hunting down one of their pods on our continent.

business suits, rain, and risotto

Milan Milano! We had a lovely train ride through the plains of Lombardy, caught some cat naps, and arrived in the big, beautiful, very Mussolini Milano Centrale Statzione.
It was, however, May 1st. May Day. Italian Bank Holiday. Everything was shut. After checking into our hotel and having a nice long wander through the Giardini Publici, our bloodsugar levels headed for the basement. It's really amazing how your brain function slows and decision making becomes...well, less decisive. We finally found a restaurant called Brickoven which was not only open, but full of people eating delicious food. Sean got foccacia and a dish called the 'Don Pedro'. I had risotto w/asparagus and shrimp. Victory! With the bonus of wonderful eavesdropping and people watching while i worked through my half carafe of red wine.

I failed to take any photos of our lovely hotel, the Best Western Felice Casati, but they had two major things working in their favor: Umbrellas for guests, and senza glutine breakfast options. I do love yogurt, but sometimes you want a vector for all that Italian butter, jam, and Nutella. See note above about bloodsugar. Gemma di Riso was my new best friend.

Day Two in Milan was a nostalgic journey back to the neighborhood we lived in when I was a kiddo - well, the second one. Largo Zandonai 8, right by Piazza Wagner, a public market full of wonderful Italian produce, cheese, meats, and candy. I absolutely MADE Sean eat some foccacia for me and tell me how completely awesome it was. It was awesome. There is also a wonderful cafe right there, Buonarotti's, but the pastries didn't tempt a now-full-Sean, and I could do nothing but PINE after the baked goods. I did find some wonderful 'senza glutine' biscuits to take back to the room at a grocery store, though. Small Victories. Then it was off to find the (ever elusive) DHL shop..."behind Rinascente". We found it, and grabbed some food before heading onto the roof of the Duomo. Even if you are an atheist existentialist like Sean, the roof is a stunning place from which to view Milan.

Also, cutest Fiat's ever in Milan. And lots of tiny tiny lorries all over charming us. Sean would love one. Scroll down for a sample!

Cuttlefish and Quests

29 April 2010

Two things of note - a death in Venice, and a DHL in Venice.

1. Mutual of Omaha moment first. Sean and are padding back to our Locanda after a sunny day with lots of miles, a picnic, one too many Basilica's for Sean (ie one), and a glorious boat ride or two. I've noticed that the seagulls do not come ashore here. No begging, no eating scraps in the Campos, no pestering the tourists. They are glossy, sleek, and seem utterly above that. Pigeon territory. I had idly mused to Sean that perhaps this was because food in the lagoon was abundant enough for them, however nasty the water quality was rumored to be. Back to Sean & I padding down the canal towards the last bridge before home. Sean notices a gull dragging something through the water, slowly. Bird has successfully caught something, and is heading our way. We stop, and hang out at the edge of the canal to get a better look. Other people have stopped, too. Whatever the gull has, is Heavy. The gull stops right in front of us and attempts to fly out of the water onto a nearby boat -- and fails. The cuttlefish it has speared in it's bill (tenuously) is about half it's length. BIG. Much thrashing and jetting of ink later (amidst calls of 'coppia! coppia!' from the 10 year old boys next to us and 'tragico, tragico' from the old men on the other side) and the cuttlefish loses the fight. The crowd dispersed as the Gull set to it's meal. We thoroughly enjoyed our nautical natural history moment.


2. Just because the DHL website and Google Maps tells you the location and address of something, doesn't mean it's there (this is also true for FedEx). This is not a news flash, but there are time when you really, really need that to be true. Having to get notarized, signed documents overseas while staying in Venice is one of those times. Sean had already attempted to go via the Italian Postale (no diggity dice on that one) and had looked up the address of the DHL office in Venice. Easy, we think. It's not that far from us. We mark the map, and set off....and arrive on a narrow street that is entirely residential. We do a few loops around various side streets and 'maybe this way's' before we head over a bridge and see a motorboat with the name of the shipping company parked at the water gate to a Farmacia. Oh! It must be this way, or nearby! Over the bridge we go, looking for our shipping store. No such luck. So, we head to the Farmacia, and inside I ask the nice lady in my elementary school Italian "Dove e il "Dei Rossi Shipping" per favore?" She smiles and finishes up with her customer. The other fellow behind the counter gets a big grin and says in HIS elementary school English "Is her husband!" Lucky us. So the nice pharmacist marches us down the canal, over another bridge, and there, nowhere near where we were looking, is the blessed DHL store. I think she drove the boat to work that morning.

p.s. The FedEx store exists, we saw it today. In an utterly unrelated location as well.
p.p.s. Sean Kelly Sidebar Special on Negronis and Gingerino

I've had 3 of the worst tasting beverages in my life in the last 24 hours. How is this possible?

Horrible #1: The Negroni - Anneke and I had been walking for a while and things slow down in the afternoon, so we camped out at a little cafe. I'd read that a Negroni was at some point, for some reason a popular drink. The ingredients: Gin, Campari, Bitters, Ice. Notice the lack of ANY mix. No mix. All booze. I think this is what Douglas Addams was all about when he wrote about the pan-galactic gargle blaster. Not only was the drink strong, it tasted like vomit. Oh, it started sweet but then tasted like I'd thrown up and there was no toothbrush around. So I had another.
Horrible #2: San Pelligrino 'Chino' - A non-alcoholic soft-drink / energy drink. I've never tasted a San Pelli thing I didn't like. Energy Drink + San Pelligrino quality = Yes. Except No. No. No. No. The damn thing tasted EXACTLY like the Negroni from yesterday.
Horrible #3: Ok, so to erase the double psych-out of two horrible Campari tasting drinks I go for an eight pack of these tiny little bottles Called Gingerino to mix with some Jack later. There's a little market down the street. I'm so excited when I get back to the room that there's going to be some secret, awesome tasting ginger-based soft drink, I crack one open and. it. tastes. like. ... CAMPARI!!!, and by Campari I mean it tastes like after-barf.

In sum - yuck. Kaytea Petro and Melissa Dana I know you Italian American Art-stars love Campari but what the hell is wrong with you? Why is it so bitter? It tastes like licking a rotten walnut over and over again. Still there's no place I'd rather NOT enjoy drinks like these than Venice.

Chez Swelly Hits the Road

Hello again, party people!

Sean and I are busting some paradigms and wholeheartedly embracing the Honeymoon Idea! After four weeks of packing, prep, wrap up, move out, and storage...we actually got on the plane and have landed at our first destination..Venice. We got here on Monday afternoon (blurry -- long 48 hour day of sorts) and by today (Thursday) we're starting to hit our stride with the time change and the wind down. After working so hard, relaxing takes some getting used to -- but get used to it we are!

First thing is I'd like to sing the praises of our little modest Locanda Sant' Anna. Clean, simple room, charming hosts, a big white Akita, excellent coffee in the morning and good water pressure.
The view from our room is also magnificent. The full moon last night helped, too, i suppose.
The pace here is slow, which is good for a landing spot -- the daze and haze can clear at it's own pace with very few consequences. We can sit on the waterfront and drink Bellini's from a bottle and watch the boats. When our feet get tired from wandering, we can hop on a vaporetto until we are refreshed and then hop off and wander again. A welcome change of pace, to say the least. Sean has masterminded our European internet connection with a Vodaphone internet key thingy, so many systems are now go.

Also - Peggy Guggenheim. Wow. Absolutely a museum and a home to visit when you make it here. The lady had taste and eccentricity in spades. Adolph Gottlieb was a new artist to me, and a wonderful surprise. So were the American hipster art students staffing the desk. What a gig for a 20 year old! Pictures from that visit soon.

OK - time to hop off and go on our picnic.
xo
Anneke

THANK YOU PARTY PEOPLE!

We had such an amazing time, we barely remember it. Seriously.
That said, if you took pictures, could you send them along to us? We'd love to see what we missed...ha!

and people - THE VERDI CLUB - could you ask for a swankier, more festive party palace? No. No you couldn't.

A very special thank you to Mason Carroll, Melissa Craven, Andrea Cohen, Cindy Burkowski, Melissa Olson, and Katie Irwin Boudier for helping gather up the all the necessaries, decorating like pros, and for helping us get the party up and running!
And a double special thank you to Kyriell & Jon for marrying us - AGAIN. we love you.

For pictures of our impromptu mini-honeymoon to Miami, click here.
Much love, many thanks, and a big HUZZAH! to all of you amazing people. It wouldn't have been a party without you.

xo Anneke & Sean

Dancing and Dining

There have been questions, and here are some very TARDY! answers.
Tardy is a great word, by the way.

Q: HOW MANY PEOPLE SHOULD MY SNACK TRAY SERVE?
A: This is a large potluck, with an unknown number of attendees. Californians are pretty unclear on the RSVP concept. Bearing that in mind, bring a tray that will serve a dozen or so people a taste of your fabulous offering.

Q: HOW DRESSY IS 'DRESS-UP'?
A: Well, I'm wearing a gown and a corset to start, and I can guarantee Sean Kelly will not be wearing a tie...other than that, all bets are off. It is a Special Occasion, so whatever outfit makes you feel Special and like you are attending An Occasion is fine with us. If you want to get all steam punk, or wear fake eyelashes and sequins, or really just think black pants, some nice shoes and a clean shirt are snazz enough, IT'S ALL GOOD. The main thing is that you are comfy, festive, and ready to dance and celebrate with us. BECAUSE WE HAVE LOTS TO CELEBRATE!

Q: WHAT IS AN APPETIZER?
A: That, my friend, is up to you. Finger food. Mac N Cheese. crab cakes. PB&J with the crusts cut off. bacon wraped oysters. grilled asparagus. The point is, IT'S NOT DINNER.

Q: WILL THERE BE DANCING?
A: Oh my, yes. Speaking of which, there will also be some singing. And for those of you with performance anxiety, here is a sneak preview of what we will be asking of you (sans the hippy skirts and bells):