Apple Pie/Self Portrait Tuesday

Feeling a little nostalgic...
I made my first ever baked pie, or rather tart. And yes, it was apple. It actually turned out pretty good just using sliced apples, a little butter, sugar, and pastry crust (pasta sfoglia) and I felt oh so Americana.



Other self portrait tuesday photos can be seen here.

Giddy in Gaeta

We spent the weekend in Gaeta along the tyrrhenian coast between Rome and Naples. It was so amazingly gorgeous and relaxing (despite having loads of tourists even though it's only the middle of May). I even swam in the frigid water but it was a dream. So clear and blue-ish green. There is a medieval castle overlooking the town and it was just so picturesque and charming. I didn't want to go back to Rome.

Looking outside our window.

Aloe and more aloe...


Sunset

These little guys were outside all the windows.
(for those non-Euro folks, they are used to keep the shutters open)

In the morning we made Naples style coffee (cafe Napolitano). Mmmmm.....really tasty. You boil the water on one side and when it's ready you flip it over and pour the coffee into your espresso cups with a hint of sugar.

In the afternoon we ate kumquats from a tree and just enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the sun.

I can't wait to go back. I would also like to see Sperlonga, it's supposed to be smaller than Gaeta but just as lovely. Hope to return soon!

Self Portrait Tuesday

There are lots more self portraits to be seen here.
I especially like elsakawai's
and alisuki's self portrait. They are really beautiful.

A walk in the park

I went for a walk in Villa Torlonia this afternoon. It had been under construction for quite some time and they recently finished the restoration and reopened to the public. A wealthy banking family by the name of Torlonia owned the property in the 19th century. Later it was home to Mussolini in the twenties and then it became a public park in 1978. And I found out today that beneath the park there are Jewish catacombs (dating back to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD) in which Mussolini used to build a bomb shelter.
But what's so interesting about this park (to me anyhow) is all the builings are built in completely different styles (for example one looks like a Swiss or German fairy tale house) and the park hosts a Temple of Saturn, a theater and a lake, a greenhouse, false ruins (ha ha couldn't figure that one out), a secret cave and of course two Egyptian-like obelisks. Unfortunately I only took three really stupid pictures of the bamboo forest before my camera batteries died (I don't know why but I was so enthralled by these towering stalks of bamboo and they looked so exotic and other-worldly at the time but now they just look stupid).

And hey, I'll throw in a classic obelisk that I found from another website just for a little variety.

But if you are so inclined you can find out more here. If you are ever in Rome you should check it out. It is really pretty and there are loads of soccer players, runners, children playing, elderly couples snuggling on the benches, and the token guitar player singing mellow ballads as the sun shines.