LADIES&GENTLEMEN … ROBIN! (OR PATRICK?)

Hello! Exactly one mounth ago (for Christmas) I received a special gift from my darling: a kitten! What a wonderful surprise. He took him in adoption from an old farmer living nearby. He had four kittens to give away freely at some animals-lovers, so he secretly went and choosed one. “A cat is less binding than a dog” Davide said to me “so we’ll have no problem to handle it”. “Maybe he’s right” I thought to myself.
The farmer said to Davide that the cat was a male one; so, we decided for “Patrick” as his fisrt name. (from the TV-series The Mentalist, with Simon Baker playing the role of Patrick Jane as main character)

Immediately we noticed that Patrick it’s quite a “cuddly” cat, he loves warm plaids and slippers, and .. he has a huge appetite: he eat almost all kind of food. Two weeks ago I have brought him to the veterinary for a first general check-up and .. we found that he’s a .. she!A beautiful female kitten! How could it be? Well … I never had a cat before. Since I was a child I growned up with many dogs. So I’m not really “prepared” about cats. I supposed it, regarding some of her “behaviors”, but I was not sure.

Then, we had to find another name. While we both loved the male name, with the female one we had many hesitations. So, one night, overthinking in front of the TV, we discovered by chance that the female character of the series “The Mentalist” (-again!it’s a persecution- you’ll say), Theresa Lisbon, in the real life is named “Robin”. -It’s a sign of fate- we thought, and we renaimed her. Here in Italy “Robin” is a male name: we’ll have some difficulties explaining every time that she’s a female cat, I know; but we like it, so it’s okay.

She has kinda of an aristocratic attitude: cats are so elegant. I like the last photo I took, she seems a decorative object. In these last days she was admitted to the veterinary clinic, cause she had a reaction to the vaccine. But tonight we’ll bring her home, finally. We’ve missed her. So, I must say: Welcome (Home), Robin!

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NEW BLOG AWARD!

First of all I have to thank really much UnTavoloPerDue that has kindly (and unexpectedly) nominated me for this Blog Award: I’m really feeling honoured!

Award’s Rules:

1. You must link the person who has nominated you.
2. You must share 7 things other bloggers may not know about you.
3. Nominate up to 15 people, linking their blogs.
4. You must go to their blogs and notify your nominees.
5. Write 7 things people may not know about you.
6. Don’t miss to insert the logo of the Award in your post.

7 thinks about me

1.  Why you start blogging? Simple. I like to write. About lots of topics: interior design;cooking;photography;travels;decoration and crafts. I love to share with people the things that I undertake every day. It’s a sort of diary, too.

2. What’s the most important thing in your life? To love and be loved, I think. It makes me able to face everything.

3. Food you can’t live without? Pasta.Pizza.Chocolate.OMG .. I can’t choose..

4. The place of your heart? Ferrara. The city in which Davide and I become engaged.

5. How you see yourself in ten years? I can’t tell, I love my current lifestyle  and I hope to continue in this way, making things that I love and travelling a lot. Maybe I’ll be also a mum!? (poor kid…)

6. Three things that you never forget at home? The keys, my cell phone and the wallet.

7. A quote that could portray you? “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment” (H.D.Thoreau)

Finally, here you’ll find, randomly, my nominees: it’s really hard to choose between my favourite blogs, cause I wanted to nominate all of you!
(i know that some of you has already made a post about this award on their own blogs, but please accept my double nomination as an appreciation for your blogs – I’m always in late with this kind of stuff!)

Kuricettario
PaneLibriENuvole
Zuccherando
MakeUpRaimbow
MarilenaInTheKitchen
MaccaroniReflex
BrontoloInPentola
PastaLovesMe
Curls&Carrots
TheLittlePots
DolciPensieri
ViaggiandoConBea
MondoDelizioso
RelaxingCooking
SonNataPaperoga

POSTCARDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: PRAGUE

” Prague changes like a precious stone to reflect the weather, the time of day and the season of the year.”

Christian Norberg-Schulz

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CITIES OF THE WORLD: PRAGA

Praga skyline: view of Charles’ Bridge and the Castle

Maybe because this year we’re having a strange “hot” winter, but today regarding some photos of my trip I took some year ago to Prague, I really wish for some cold and snow outside!As everybody surely know, Praha since 1993 is the capital of Czech Republic. For 1100 years, it was the political and cultural centre of Bohemia. Between her “nicknames”, i found “Città delle cento torri” (Stověžatá Praha in czech – City of the one hundred towers) and ” Città d’Oro” (Zlaté město in czech – Golden City). Since 1992 Prague is part of UNESCO World Heritage: and if you’ve already visit it, it’s not difficult to understand why. Settled on the river Moldava (Vltava), Prague seems the location for a gothic novel: tapered rooftops, iron-decorated gratings, buildings’ facades dressed in gold, huge towers and castles. You can just breathe this atmosphere walking on Charles’ Bridge (Karlův most),venturing into the old part of the city, Malà Strana.

Art Nouveau Municipal House

Praga rooftops: view of St.Nicholas’ dome

In May 1757, in the surroundings of the town, took place the Battle of Prague, between the Prussian army and the Austrian one. The prussians won  and putted the city under siege, without succeeding to conquer it; after few months, they leave the siege and were defeited. The four towns that previously formed Prague were proclaimed an only unique city in 1784: this four towns were Hradčany (The Castle, west side of Moldava), Malà Strana (a small quarter settled at the South of the Castle), Staré Město (the Old Town, on the opposite bank of the Castle) e Nové Město (the new city, sud-east quartier). In 1850 the city enlarged with the annexation of Josefov (Jewish quarter) and one more time in 1883 with Vyšehrad Fortress.

Jewish Quartier’s rooftops

Vyšehrad: Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

Vyšehrad (literaly the “rock on the river”) was a camp settled on a hill, with many fortifications, and it was the place of coronations of severals kings. In the years, it was destroyed and rebuilded many times; the buildings of nowadays date back to XIX century, when it was builded the Church of St.Peter and St. Paul, in neo-gothic style. In the same period, it was builded the national cemetery, where you can admire many sculptures of Czech artists. It’s quite a gloomy place, but if you have some time, it worth a visit. Praga is obviously an ancient city, with many visitors from all over the world. There are many ancient houses, several of them with beautiful mural paintings. Walking trought the streets of Prague means to meet several architectural styles, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, from Gothic to Ultramodern.

Powder Tower – Torre delle Polveri

St. Mary of Tyn’s Church, and the Clock Tower

The most famous symbol of this city is Prague astronomical clock, or Prague Orloj, and he’s still working, of course. The Orloj is mounted on the southern wall of Old Town City Hall in the OldTown Square. The clock mechanism itself is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles”, a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures – notably a figure of Death (represented by a skeleton) striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.
Prague is a romantic and melancholic city, with a gothic charme. There are so many attractive and characteristic buildings, and amazing churches and cathedrals that show perfectly the magnificence of this city, also during the night, when the most part of them is all illuminated. Streets in the winter nights are silent, and deserted; people prefere to stop by some tiny restaurant, or in a rustic tavern. Also during a long walking day visiting the city, it’s a pleasure to stop from time to time by a coffee house , drinking something hot and taking some refreshment.

St. Mary of Tyn’s Church by night

If you visit Prague in a few days, don’t miss the chance to visit the Castle area and the surroundings (Hradčany quartier): one of the symbols of Prague is S.Vito’s Cathedral, that stands out with its pinnacles, in addiction to its huge dimensions.

St. Vito’s Cathedral – Castle Area

Just beyond the huge cathedral, there is St. George Church, the oldest surviving Church into the Castle Area.

St. George’s Monastery

The Golden Alley

Going on with the itinerary, we arrived in a tiny coloured alley (Zlata Ulicka – The Golden Alley).The legend says that the houses of this alley were the houses of the alchemists, where they cast spells and try potions. In reality, it seems that these houses belong to some goldsmiths and craftsmans. However, nowadays is a neat alley with graceful boutiques. It’s amazing that they had so well preserved in time the tiny houses, hanged on one with another, with their tall chimneys. As you can imagine, I took so many shots that I was in doubt upon which to use in this post: so I’ve created a gallery, that i’ll post in the next article, to complete my reportage about this trip. I hope that you’ll like it. Happy peeking!Cris

BELLEZZE D’ITALIA: LAGO DI COMO

Hello!Happy New Year to all of you! Sorry for not being here during these days, but i was very busy eating (and preparing) any sort of food, visiting parents and friends, and so on .. I’m glad that after today we’ll return to normal routine, because I need time to organize what to write on the blog, of course! I would like to start the year describing our short trip to Lake Como (Lario) and Bellagio. I can’t imagine a better way to start the new year! Every time I travel to some place in Italy, I always discover something new and breathtaking views. I’ve always considered myself a real traveller, who catch every chance to travel, often abroad, but Italy remains my hometown and it’s plenty of places to discover.

Here a short account of our daily trip, with some shots that I took on the way. We took the highway till the exit Como/Chiasso (where is located the frontier post for Switzerland, Como is only 5 km before the boundary line). We start our tour from Bellagio, a tiny village on the lake shore, 35 km far from Como. The panoramic way is a narrow and tight-curved mountain road, that ran along the lake. We took some beautiful shots, even if weather was not really good. I suggest this itinerary because of the beauty of the landscape. It’s an area of ancient villas and tiny town, of acquatic sports and good food and products, like oil, wine, mushroom, and honey.

First of all, we took a tour in Bellagio towncenter, going up and down on the stairs that connect several levels. It’s really characteristic, and i can imagine how many tourists crowd the boutiques and the cafés during spring and summer. All around the town is tidy, clean and welcoming.
With the boats down to the lake shore you can easily join the other side of the lake and visite the other villages. (they take on board also the rented cars, so the excursions are just so easily to organize also by yourself.)

Bellagio is called the “pearl” of Lake Como, cause it’s undoubtedly the most famous resort on the lake. For centuries, its scenic location has enchanted artists and writers, not only from Italy, but also from abroad. It is situated on the tip of a headland that divides the lake into the two “legs” of Como and Lecco.  The town stretches along the coast and part of it goes up the slopes of the promontory.  Because of its location it has a great variety of views; indeed, it offers a good view of the whole lake. Finally, on the northern horizon, you can see the Pre-Alps.

We had lunch in a tiny restaurant in Bellagio, (“Barchetta Restaurant”, I liked the name, – small boat – ) where we tasted some “bruschette” with tomatoes and extra virgin-oil, and I try a specialty of Northern Italy: Pizzoccheri, a type of pasta flavoured with cabbage, potatoes, local cheese and oil. It’s the perfect dish for a cold and windy winter day.

In the afternoon, we returned to Como to take a tour in the citycenter, that is located on the lake shore. The Duomo Square, with one the biggest cathedral of the Northern Italy, surely deserves a visit. The citycenter presents even nowadays the typical aspect of the original roman “castrum-preserved medieval walls  and big observation towers (Porta Torre, Torre Gattoni, San Vitale).

There are many interesting sites to visit meandering through the streets of Como: historical monuments, beautiful villas and breath-taking sights .The historic centre is located inside the ancient city walls where there are many shops and boutiques, and plenty of cafes to rest and enjoy the view. It’s a really pleasant tour to make, I recommend it!Cris