Sitting in a little Art Deco cafe in Zürich, Switzerland called Grand Cafe Odeon. It reminds me so much of a place in Prague that I was lucky enough to spend time in 2009 when my eldest Sarah was studying abroad. I’m drinking a cappuccino, thinking of getting some champagne like the Swiss couple next …
The Tides of Our Lives
In case you have been wondering where my blog has been, the last six or so months have been a whirlwind and I honestly could not keep up. September and October were festival season in Istria and while most of the tourists had gone home from our happy place in Pješčana Uvala, the days have …
A Love Letter to Croatia
As a young mother you never really appreciate how much you will love your children when they are newly born and how that love will exponentially grow throughout their lives. I remember as soon as I delivered my youngest daughter Marina, I heard her sweet cry and she sounded like a little lamb. I fell …
The Beauty of Porec’s Euphrasian Basilica
It's not everyday that you are able to visit a church that opened in 553 AD and then, on top of that, are astounded by the artistic talent you see inside. That's just what happened last weekend when we visited the Euphrasian Basilica (also known as the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of Mary) in …
The Beautiful Doors of Dublin: an Open and Shut Case
Dublin has some beautiful, majestic and electric-colored doors that stop and dazzle passersby. On our recent trip to Ireland, we found a multitude of different colors on a variety of entranceways that turned a outing from our lodging in Rathmines to the city center into a pleasant trek of door-watching. One of my favorite things about …
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On Pašte and Patience
What a difference a week makes! School started this week in Pula, the tourist crowd is dwindling down to a enjoyable amount, and there is a hint of autumn in the air with the temperatures hovering in the mid-to-high 70s. The rocky beaches that were swarming with people from all over Europe are now dotted …
Volim Te, Maslinovo ulje (I love you, Olive Oil)
Falling in Love with Istrian Olive Oil I have a confession to make. I have a new love. Every morning since I discovered the taste of Istrian olive oil, I grab a small piece of fresh bread and douse it with this liquid gold. And when I say "douse," I mean douse it like I'm …
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It’s Raining Figs, Halleluja!
The other day I noticed there were ants crawling all over the sandals in my room. I went to go smack these annoying little creatures with that very same set of sandals when I saw a sticky, gooey, dark brown blob with tiny seeds smashed all over on the bottom of them. Think Fig Newtons …
Perfectly Imperfect Bologna
Reflecting back on our recent visit to Bologna in May, it's amazing to me what a feast of the senses this city was and that we almost didn't visit it. You see when we planned our trip to Italy, we decided to visit Bologna only as a halfway point on our way to reach the …
Trading Beautiful for Beautiful
It's May 12th and we are on our way to Bologna, Italy by car from Croatia. It's a symphony of red poppies as they are blooming everywhere along the roadside in our new hometown of Pula. I've never seen red poppies blooming outside of photographs, and the landscape doesn't seem quite real dotted with these …