To Travel is To Live

“Angie!   Angie!!” bellowed the short, compact man in front of us, adorned in his cooking whites, surrounded by the tools of his trade.   Chef Paulo Monti beckoned his assistant without so much as a second thought, while continuing on with our Tuscan cooking lesson.   Ten expectant and curious pairs of eyes eagerly awaited his next instruction as we peered over each other’s shoulders to catch a view of the next tip or trick our wise leader would share.   Angie, the meek mannered yet agile assistant, raced between our counter and the kitchen 40 feet away, keeping the dishes clean, the food supplies stocked and setting up all sorts of Italian cooking gadgets and utensils.               CucinaItaliana , run in the back of a quaint hotel restaurant in the outskirts of Lucca, offers cooking classes that range from half day marathons (as was our adventure) to 7-day treks involving examination of ingredients...

My favorite Christmas movie is the original A Christmas Carol, and I am always filled with warm, fuzziness watching or reading Christmas stories where big families get together in one house for a few days, lounging cozily around the fire, drinking wine, and exchanging a simple, single, thoughtful gift with one another.   I am completely turned off by what Christmas has become in this era – everyone expecting extravagant gifts, people spending so much money that the next 4 months are just depressing and stressful.   North American Christmas has become so commercialized, and focused on big box stores and high-end electronics.   When I dream about what would be the most ideal Christmas, I imagine traditional ornaments, friends and family gathering (and that simply being enough), big dinners, and lights, so many lights.    For people who know me well, I have in my heart a tie to the Victorian era, so it’s not surprising that something traditional such as th...

Yesterday I came across an interesting gallery of photos on the Calgary Herald iPhone app that immediately caught my attention.  It seemed like Halloween all over again, but something even more sinister seemed to be happening in Austria.  Krampus is the evil partner of St. Nicholas, the European Santa Claus who brings gifts on December 5th.  Krampus has been around for centuries, since 2000 BCE, to punish naughty children with whips and chains.   The Night of Krampus occurs traditionally on the eve of St. Nicholas but often the celebrations occur earlier.  Donned in outright sinister, disturbing renditions of this classic beast, men, women and children traipse through city streets terrifying those around them.  One look a the pictures in the gallery, and you will see why!   This tradition is becoming more popular in other European countries as well as in North American cities.  People are dressing up and partying the weekend before Decem...

Before I had a handle on this blogging thing, I created a blog specifically for Italy.  It still exists, but as I hope this blog takes off and becomes more widely read, I am posting a link to my Three Weeks In Italy blog to share. http://dainas3weeksinitaly.blogspot.ca/

Four years ago, my cousin and I visited Amsterdam, in November 2009.  The weather was typical for The Netherlands at that time of the year – mostly rainy, around 10-15 degrees – so we were forced to visit a number of indoor tourist attractions.  This trip marked my first overseas vacation and sparked my keen interest and desire to travel the world and see it all.  My travel research had been limited beforehand, leaving much of our destination ideas up to Lee.  We knew the Anne Frank House Museum was in Amsterdam, and we planned an overnight trip to Paris to see the Louvre and Notre Dam.  Stephanie had agreed to tour us around her country, as well, so when we arrived in Amsterdam, we had a little planned.  One rainy afternoon we took the long walk to Versetzmuseum (The Dutch Resistance Museum), which Lee had wanted to see during our stay.  This museum has stuck with me as one of the most moving, poignant displays of World War...