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Pay You To Move
4 days ago
Showing posts with label Travel Notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel Notes. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Return to Salvatronda, Italy 2012
Back in Simioni-land!!
updates and photos to follow.
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updates and photos to follow.
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Sunday, May 6, 2012
Rome for my 60th Birthday
more later ( I hope!)
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
Julian's 26th Birthday
Rick and I took a trip up to visit Julian for his birthday which fell on Easter this year. He's in Mountain View, California.
We also enjoyed time with Carole Polan and Hank Love. The newlyweds moved from Michigan to Berkeley last Fall. Julian and Carole grew up together, especially Summers at Higgins Lake, as we are close family friends. It was fun to have the "kids" together. Now we just need her brother James to get out there and take on Silicon Valley.
Julian directed us around the best of Mountain View and Palo Alto, with a drive through Stanford University, and by the high tech companies we all know so well: Facebook, Google, eBay/PayPal, Intuit, AOL, and more. Then we took a drive up to Skyline Ridge which gave us views of the San Francisco Bay and surrounding cities. It was a long winding road through beautiful wooded scenery and while just minutes away for all that is Silicon Valley.
Julian just left his job at Zynga to take a few months off, and that give us time to spend Monday going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is always cool!
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We also enjoyed time with Carole Polan and Hank Love. The newlyweds moved from Michigan to Berkeley last Fall. Julian and Carole grew up together, especially Summers at Higgins Lake, as we are close family friends. It was fun to have the "kids" together. Now we just need her brother James to get out there and take on Silicon Valley.
Julian directed us around the best of Mountain View and Palo Alto, with a drive through Stanford University, and by the high tech companies we all know so well: Facebook, Google, eBay/PayPal, Intuit, AOL, and more. Then we took a drive up to Skyline Ridge which gave us views of the San Francisco Bay and surrounding cities. It was a long winding road through beautiful wooded scenery and while just minutes away for all that is Silicon Valley.
Julian just left his job at Zynga to take a few months off, and that give us time to spend Monday going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is always cool!
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| Dinner at La Strada Restaurant in Palo Alto! |
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| Julian, Carole Polan, Hank Love Skyline Ridge near Palo Alto, CA |
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| Monterey Bay Aquarium |
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Monday, October 10, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Giro dei Simioni 2 -- 2011
Here I am, in Bologna!
Rick and I are in the 3rd week of our 5 week return trip to Italy and Simionis.
We started with Castelfranco Veneto, and Alice's family -- we proceeded to go on a cruise with them on MSC, the Italian cruise line Alice works for. While Bari, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia were nice to see, the real joy was the fun we had with her family as her parents Emanuele Simioni and Renata Zampieri celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
The most fun was trying to communicate with them for 7 days and nights when they speak no English, and we speak little Italian! We had to create word games which became quite hysterical! Of course Alice, our fluent English/Italian speaker, was quite busy most of the time!
After the cruise Rick and I spent a few nights in Venice. Rather than just "see Venice" (we have visited on 2 other day-trips) we choose to rent an apartment back away from the crowds. We roamed quite streets/canals, but also went to visit St. Mark's Square with the basilica and Doge's Palace. (Be sure to use the time-saving tips for avoiding the long lines for tickets and entry. Ask me. We walked right in!)
I found this article written by someone who stayed in the same district we did, Cannaregio, and also rented an apartment. She writes much better than me about why we enjoy getting a more local feel for cities we visit. Yep, we are still tourists, but try to be respectful visitors.
live-like-a-local-in-cannaregio-venice
After Venice we returned to Simionis and Castelfranco Veneto.
When back on land we spent time with Alice's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and especially enjoyed the polenta festa! (We went twice!) We were surrounded by hundreds of people from local villages and all their families. A taste of not only great "poenta" (the Venetian dialect for polenta) but real Italian life.
Our main reason for visiting Castelfranco Veneto has been to trace Rick's father's family. We have not found any Simioni relatives, but this year we found a cousin! Rick's aunt's son, Alfredo Fior, right in Salvatronda! (See more on "Finding Desiderio" blog.) We could not have done this without Alice and her father taking us to Alfredo's home and introducing us to him in Venetian dialect! It was something special!
Still, Alice and her family ARE our family now! Maybe not by blood, but by the heart! We love these people! And I will continue to investigate upline since we also have more info (birthdates) of Desiderio's parents... maybe we will connect up a generation or 3!
While staying in our Castelfranco apartment, we drove to Thiene/Sarcedo and visited the families of Roberto and Francesco Simioni again. Francesco organized a family pranzo at an agriturismo which provided a fantastico meal. We ate and drank for 2 hours of course! Giulia Simioni was home from her NYC job for a few days, so we all enjoyed a reunion! New babies and toddlers, food and wine, english and italian.
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Rick and I spent two days alone in Verona, with a great spot right over Piazza Erba, and across from Torre Lamberti! We met a British couple we share breakfast and wine with on our hotel balcony both days.
Here in Bologna we've had another special treat as our San Diego friend, Lisa DeLucchi, who is spending 7 weeks in Florence, came here and spent 2 days with us! We've talked about this for months with our Italian language meet-up groups and friends, and we did it! We met right on her birthday and went out for terrific tagliatelle ragu, and tortellini en brodo!(at Eataly -- followed by some ridiculous singing of "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..... yep, got it on video!)
Add that our Bolonese friend, Alessandro Cipressi. He gave us a personal tour as he did last year, but the sun was shining this time! And we then had a fantastic lunch (although that is not difficult to do here in Bologna!)
We soooo love the food here, and Bologna is such an interesting town, but really, we are here for the food! :)
... more to follow....
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Rick and I are in the 3rd week of our 5 week return trip to Italy and Simionis.
We started with Castelfranco Veneto, and Alice's family -- we proceeded to go on a cruise with them on MSC, the Italian cruise line Alice works for. While Bari, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia were nice to see, the real joy was the fun we had with her family as her parents Emanuele Simioni and Renata Zampieri celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
The most fun was trying to communicate with them for 7 days and nights when they speak no English, and we speak little Italian! We had to create word games which became quite hysterical! Of course Alice, our fluent English/Italian speaker, was quite busy most of the time!
After the cruise Rick and I spent a few nights in Venice. Rather than just "see Venice" (we have visited on 2 other day-trips) we choose to rent an apartment back away from the crowds. We roamed quite streets/canals, but also went to visit St. Mark's Square with the basilica and Doge's Palace. (Be sure to use the time-saving tips for avoiding the long lines for tickets and entry. Ask me. We walked right in!)
I found this article written by someone who stayed in the same district we did, Cannaregio, and also rented an apartment. She writes much better than me about why we enjoy getting a more local feel for cities we visit. Yep, we are still tourists, but try to be respectful visitors.
live-like-a-local-in-cannaregio-venice
After Venice we returned to Simionis and Castelfranco Veneto.
When back on land we spent time with Alice's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and especially enjoyed the polenta festa! (We went twice!) We were surrounded by hundreds of people from local villages and all their families. A taste of not only great "poenta" (the Venetian dialect for polenta) but real Italian life.
Our main reason for visiting Castelfranco Veneto has been to trace Rick's father's family. We have not found any Simioni relatives, but this year we found a cousin! Rick's aunt's son, Alfredo Fior, right in Salvatronda! (See more on "Finding Desiderio" blog.) We could not have done this without Alice and her father taking us to Alfredo's home and introducing us to him in Venetian dialect! It was something special!
Still, Alice and her family ARE our family now! Maybe not by blood, but by the heart! We love these people! And I will continue to investigate upline since we also have more info (birthdates) of Desiderio's parents... maybe we will connect up a generation or 3!
While staying in our Castelfranco apartment, we drove to Thiene/Sarcedo and visited the families of Roberto and Francesco Simioni again. Francesco organized a family pranzo at an agriturismo which provided a fantastico meal. We ate and drank for 2 hours of course! Giulia Simioni was home from her NYC job for a few days, so we all enjoyed a reunion! New babies and toddlers, food and wine, english and italian.
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| Francesco let Rick take the controls a bit! |
- - - - -
Rick and I spent two days alone in Verona, with a great spot right over Piazza Erba, and across from Torre Lamberti! We met a British couple we share breakfast and wine with on our hotel balcony both days.
Here in Bologna we've had another special treat as our San Diego friend, Lisa DeLucchi, who is spending 7 weeks in Florence, came here and spent 2 days with us! We've talked about this for months with our Italian language meet-up groups and friends, and we did it! We met right on her birthday and went out for terrific tagliatelle ragu, and tortellini en brodo!(at Eataly -- followed by some ridiculous singing of "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..... yep, got it on video!)
Add that our Bolonese friend, Alessandro Cipressi. He gave us a personal tour as he did last year, but the sun was shining this time! And we then had a fantastic lunch (although that is not difficult to do here in Bologna!)
We soooo love the food here, and Bologna is such an interesting town, but really, we are here for the food! :)
... more to follow....
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Bryan Schwarz, Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree National Park
The newest addition to our family arrived 10 days ago: Bryan Schwarz. A little brother for Bella, and a son for Alexis and John. Well, not so "little"... he was 8lbs 14oz.
Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to steal photos from Facebook anymore, or I'd post some here. Maybe later.
Meanwhile,
A week at our timeshare in Palm Springs.
Had a great day today at Joshua Tree National Park. Love the rock formations. Rick and I took two hikes, one to the dam, another through Hidden Valley where massive boulders create this secret place cattle thieves used to hide out in.
Keys View, up over 5,200 feet, took us to a fabulous overlook, and a little bit of snow. I made a snowball and got my fill of "winter"!
It is about 15 degrees cooler here in Palm Springs than it should be, but at least the rain only lasted a day. We strolled through a couple of art and street fairs over the weekend, had a great Mexican dinner in town, and are just sort of hanging out.
Neither of us feel like studying our Italian lessons. oh well.
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Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to steal photos from Facebook anymore, or I'd post some here. Maybe later.
Meanwhile,
A week at our timeshare in Palm Springs.
Had a great day today at Joshua Tree National Park. Love the rock formations. Rick and I took two hikes, one to the dam, another through Hidden Valley where massive boulders create this secret place cattle thieves used to hide out in.
Keys View, up over 5,200 feet, took us to a fabulous overlook, and a little bit of snow. I made a snowball and got my fill of "winter"!
It is about 15 degrees cooler here in Palm Springs than it should be, but at least the rain only lasted a day. We strolled through a couple of art and street fairs over the weekend, had a great Mexican dinner in town, and are just sort of hanging out.
Neither of us feel like studying our Italian lessons. oh well.
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Thursday, January 27, 2011
Orlando!
My cousin Louise flew down from Detroit to Orlando and I arrived from San Diego within 15 minutes of each other which was great! No snow delays in spite of some crazy weather the north, northeast, and even Atlanta which was my stop-over city.
My Dad is down this way each winter, in Lakeland. He's 86 now and I came down to visit him. Louise's brother, my cousin Roger, and his wife Jill, are also down here for the winter.
But it's been COLD!! And then stormy. Finally our last day the sun is shining brightly.
No theme parks this time, just hanging out.
On Monday I picked up my Dad, his friend Marie, and drove to St. Pete to visit the Miller.
....... more later.
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My Dad is down this way each winter, in Lakeland. He's 86 now and I came down to visit him. Louise's brother, my cousin Roger, and his wife Jill, are also down here for the winter.
But it's been COLD!! And then stormy. Finally our last day the sun is shining brightly.
No theme parks this time, just hanging out.
On Monday I picked up my Dad, his friend Marie, and drove to St. Pete to visit the Miller.
....... more later.
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
Simioni del Mondo! It's a small world after all!
Mattia meets Veronica in Greece..... OMG!
In Greece! It IS a small world after all!
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We are back in the USA for just a few days when Mattia Simioni writes me from Greece where he is working for the summer. He is from Rick's father's hometown of Castelfranco Veneto.
He tells me this story: At his hotel a girl checks in who ends up working with him. Her last name is Simioni too so they start up a conversation. She live about 2 hours from his town. She happens to mention that she had recently met some Simionis from the USA who came to visit.
He replies: You don't mean Nancy & Rick Simioni do you??? She says "YES!!!" And he tells her how we had just visited HIS family!
In Greece! It IS a small world after all!
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Saturday, May 22, 2010
Returning to the lakes: Maggiore & Como, with Lucas & Elena
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Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Florence
Michealangelo:
Pinocchio was everywhere. Rick finally asked, in some basic Italian, why. Well, it turns out the author of "Pinocchio" lived in Florence.
The Florence Duomo
http://goitaly.about.com/od/florenceitaly/a/florence-duomo.htm
And, a little side trip to Pisa (we just had to!)
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Friday, May 14, 2010
Bologna with Cippi
Rainy Rainy Rainy. dang. enough already!!!
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Monday, May 10, 2010
Lucas, Elena, Sergio... Simionis By The Lakes
and then to Lucas' cousin Sergio's. Cavona is the smallest village I've ever seen. Very old, and really spooky in a thunder and lightening storm! ;)
and then, this little village of only 200 people has this museum:
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Saturday, May 8, 2010
Bello Asolo
We took an afternoon trip up to this little, beautiful, mountain village. The "Giro d'italia" would be coming through a few days later.
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Thursday, May 6, 2010
Cittadella/Salvatronda/Castelfranco.... Birthday/Anniversary....
May 5 - Cittadella - Carlo/book/simioni strada with Gabriele
May 6 - priest: found desiderio(s); train to Treviso
Birthday party!
A good old-fashioned, down the basement, loud and fun birthday dinner with 6 homemade pizzas and 3 other Simioni families!
We may be related to the former NHL player Mario Simioni!
May 7 - castelfranco mercato; cemetary; back to emanuele's for dinner
No relatives here that we know of. They move the bodies after 30 years!
May 8 - Basso? dinner at Gabriele's?
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Simionis everywhere!
May 6 - priest: found desiderio(s); train to Treviso
Birthday party!
A good old-fashioned, down the basement, loud and fun birthday dinner with 6 homemade pizzas and 3 other Simioni families!
We may be related to the former NHL player Mario Simioni!
May 7 - castelfranco mercato; cemetary; back to emanuele's for dinner
No relatives here that we know of. They move the bodies after 30 years!
May 8 - Basso? dinner at Gabriele's?
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