I choose to live in Bologna for, among other things, its cultural life. Especially music. And I was not prepared for 3 of the best orchestras I don’t think you’ll ever hear of. I’ve already been to a mediocre performance of Ariadne auf Naxos with an unprofessional soprano who spoke more than she could sing,…
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Meal II Osteria Francescana: The best meal of my entire life
This post is updated with extra photos courtesy of Brian Ng. With a title like that it is hard to imagine how one can pull off a meal like that. Well, in order to do that a chef must transcend their genre and hit something universal and that is exactly what Osteria Francescana did. First, it…
Sicilia: first impression, first measurement
Our trip to Sicily was an amazing adventure, I will try and give some of the highlights of our trip, out of sequential order. I already related my finest trattoria experience and here is my initial impressions of Sicily. I was never in Sicily before so I was prepared for anything … so I thought.…
Reboot: Return of the blog. The Double Life
My Blog is back so I can keep friends and others informed of La Dolce Vita. This first post is a post about some thoughts I have had since I arrived back in Europe now almost a month and a half ago. I left with a strange yet familiar feeling of having come home from…
Conclusion: Bologna
This concludes my summer trip to Italy. It was a huge success. It was also a great moment of reuniting with Minne. By moving to Italy I will be spending much more time with my daughters and Minne has been very supportive in that. One strange thing is that everyone in the family firmly agreed…
Milano
My Last day in Italy for the summer! I will return in October/November to find my new home in Bologna. Early in the morning, Minne, Esther and I drove from Padua to Milano. Where I am staying at a very nice hotel. It took 3 hours to get there. Then Minne and Esther drove onwards…
Farewell Padua
The last day in Padua was a redeeming day for the city. We got to enjoy the city much more and no see it for what it wasn’t. It’s a charming and friendly city. We had a great time meeting with people and, in particular, talking with the owner of our dinner restaurant, Paulo from…
Venice
Given our lukewarm feelings for Padua, we decided to skip exploring the city further until tomorrow and we headed out to Venice. In the deep of summer, the city was only moderately busy (butt still very busy). Here we are in St. Mark’s Square. Smarting from my disparaging remarks about it, the City of Padua…
Padua
Well we had our walk through Padua and the environs. It was viciously hot and humid way more unbearable than Bologna. Our landlady even was complaining it was unlivable now until late September. Padua was nice, sweltering walk not withstanding, but it just had nothing of the energy and friendliness of Bologna. I was at…
Day 16: Verona beautiful, but no…
Our trip to Verona was a success in enjoying the incredible beauty of the touristic center of the city. Outside of the city center the city was less enthralling than either Genoa or Bologna. So that leaves r=today’s trip to Padua to see if we can unseat Bologna as my next home. So here are…