zero zero sette

They've been filming the new James Bond movie just up the road from Salò for a while now. First Bond received a ticket for driving too fast and now his Aston Marton ended up in the Lago... completamente distrutto. BBC caught them retrieving it here.

Quantum of Solace also has scenes that take place in my other favorite place: Siena. Including a car chase and an underground fight in Siena's cisterns. Che bello.

le belle giornate

The last few days have been one amazing thing after another.

Over the weekend I went to Parma to visit an amico I met 3 years ago while studying in Macerata. We met at a Kaiser Chiefs concert in Rimini and this time we attempted to repeat that same casino. Met his bravi roomies, ate great food, drank good vino, and drank a lot of beer... also good, but as you may or may not know, good beer does not come from Italia so of course this beer was from Germany, Ireland and Belgium. Spent the weekend in giro per Parma and made some amazing new Sardo friends (from Sardegna).


After elongating my stay in Parma for an extra night, I returned to Salò where I promptly booked a ticket to Sardegna to see two of my favorite ragazzini, Nick and Kris, in the beginning of June.

Then I met a very nice German girl from München who is also living and working here as an au pair for an Italian family. We had an aperitivo together and she definitely got rid of the bad impression that last German girl left on my psyche.

Today, many of the students I've been working with individually took their specialized English exam. It's offered by a London-based company so a woman flew in from England to test them. They had to talk, completely in a casual, conversational manner, for anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes. All of them did well and some very, very well... abbastanza bene.

And after some time of weather has been proprio merda (kinda like Oregon often is at this time of year), we had a beautiful, sunny day with bright blue skies. But because the weather has been bad, there is a lot of snow in the mountains and even the hills on the gulf behind Salò.

So I went for a jog and a couple kilometers out I decided to stop by the lakeside to stretch. I tried to skip some rocks but the water was too turbulent and choppy today so that was a no go. Then I saw something about the size of a milk jug floating about 50 meters out — about the distance from the end touchline to midfield on a football pitch.

It took me about 35 or so throws but I nailed it. Che belle giornate.

Now, to top it off, I am on the way to the grocery store to buy my favorite crunchy, spicy grissini con peperoncini AND my birthday is this Saturday. Festeggiamo.

la cena veronese

Yesterday I went to Verona with a friend and got my own personalized tour from a few true Veronese. The city of Romeo e Giulietta is filled with churches, piazzas, gelaterias, Roman ruins, palazzi, bridges, castles, and Asian tourists. Everywhere you look there's medieval architecture and the winding Adige, which cuts the city in two.

It's a beautiful, quaint place, easily navigated on foot, constantly bustling with tourists and locals alike, with many of them taking their dog for a walk. Promenade walkways are worn from centuries of foot traffic. Today they are lined with shops with a nearly every window containing a bottle of wine regardless of the wares they sell. From souvenirs to Diesel Jeans to beauty products... maybe it's just because this week is Vinitaly the annual wine trade show and the largest in the world.

Giulietta's balcony is crowded with tourists and forgettable where Romeo's house is all but forgotten... or at least my Veronese friends told me that only the locals know where it is.

But real highlight yesterday was a visit with a friend who lives in the campagna or the countryside, five minutes outside of Verona's center. It's like a completely different world out there. Vineyards and parks full of trees and green vegetation cover the terrain. We went to la casa di Laura, a massive countryside villa surrounded by vineyards and farmland, where her family has lived for at least six generations. Complete with a beautiful garden and plenty of livestock. Fresh eggs from the chickens, milk and cheese from the sheep and goats, and rabbits for pasta sauce or stew. And horses, dogs and roosters romping freely around the property.

We ate dinner with the family where she served us risotto con radicchio rosso (which turned the rice purple) served in a fragile bowl made of crunchy Parmesan cheese followed by fish with potatoes and tomatoes accompanied by fancy white and rosa (pink) champagne. And of course there was an antipasto before and dolci after... che buon appetito.

Era una bella giornata... not to mention the bluest, clearest, warmest, most beautiful day of spring thus far.