All posts in category Diversions to Other Places

New Mexico to Italy Blog is Back (sort of)!

Ciao Readers!

I’ve missed you! And I’ve missed blogging! So….

I’ve decided to get back to blogging with an updated name – “New Mexico to Italy …and beyond!” I hope you’ll stick around as I tell tales of recent travels and travels yet to come (including travels back to Italy, of course!). Since you likely subscribed to my blog for more than just my personal vacation photos, I’ll try to continue to blog with a slant towards cultural observations, handy travel tips and humor-filled “OMG” moments. And I may take the liberty of “traveling” back to Italy, if only in my mind, to revisit the experience of living there now that there’s been some time and distance. If you have any other thoughts, do tell!

Some of the recent travels to be blogged about include a trip to New York in January (it was eight degrees fahrenheit! [-13 C]) and a road trip through Vegas to the coast over Spring Break (can you say seafood photos?). Some of the upcoming travels include Hawaii, and – after almost two years – back to Europe (including a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Netherlands, Otterlo, where the second largest collection of Van Gogh’s is housed)!!! Did I mention we are on a quest to see every Van Gogh painting in the world? (I thought about renaming the blog “In Search of Van Gogh,” but decided it was too narrow).

In any case, welcome back readers! It’s great to “chat” again!!!

What 8 degrees in the Big Apple looks like:

11 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on April 23, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in Diversions to Other Places

Tagged blogging, New York, otterlo, travel to europe, traveling to italy, Van Gogh

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on April 23, 2015

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2015/04/23/new-mexico-to-italy-blog-is-back-sort-of/

Balloon Fiesta Fun!

Hola Readers!

It’s been quite a while! As you know, we’re back here in the Land of Enchantment…and one of the most enchanting things about New Mexico (and Albuquerque in particular) is the International Balloon Fiesta! This morning the weather was perfect and there were hundreds of balloons aloft, so I had to share some photos.

For those of you unfamiliar with the festival, hundreds of hot air balloons (many in “special shapes”) from around the world take off every morning from the festival grounds throughout the 9 day event (always the first 2 weekends of October), and then in the evenings stay tethered to the ground while lighting their burners for the “Balloon Glow.” Since the balloons take off at about 7:00 a.m., you have to leave your house very early (we got a late start today – 5:45) and then sit in traffic to park – but once you’re there, there are balloons, food and merriment galore! (I love hearing the excitement in the voices of first-timers – sometimes, like this morning, in several foreign languages.) And, in honor of the gluttonous pleasure of American festivals, yes, that is me eating a giant turkey leg at 9:30 a.m. (YUM)! Enjoy…

11 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on October 6, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Balloon Fiesta, Diversions to Other Places, New Mexico

Tagged Albuquerque, balloon festival, hot air balloons, International Balloon Fiesta, Land of Enchantment, New Mexico

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on October 6, 2013

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2013/10/06/balloon-fiesta-fun/

Born to Run!

Ciao Readers!

So, today we’re going for a run. Now that we’ve decided to go HOME (yes, I said it), it’s hard to keep a Buddhist mind on the present and not start thinking about the future – the people I’ll see, the food I’ll eat, what it will take to get a law office up and running…. But, one thing that does keep me in the here and now is running!

Running, especially running in races, was/will be a huge part of my existence. Do you have something like that? Maybe art or music or a hobby – something that you’d be adrift at sea without? Well, that’s running to me. If you would have told me that 20 years ago I would have laughed in your face (seriously). So, for those of you who haven’t already heard the tale, let’s go back a bit…

I am not naturally athletic. That’s an understatement. I was so not-athletic that in gym class in jr. high I would be the one left on the track, trying unsuccessfully to finish my laps when everyone was already in the locker room – usually resulting in being late to my next class and getting detention. Up until age 31 I had never run a mile in my entire life. Then came law school and the accompanying stress (law school stressful – who would have thunk?). The lawyer I was extern-ing for was an avid runner and suggested I give it a try (lawyers are over-achievers; I know several that do ultra marathons [50/100 miles]). Ha! (that’s what I said) – but then I thought “might as well….”…and the rest is history. Well, a long, drawn out history. I bought a book about how to run and followed its advice – starting with running as long as I could (about 30 seconds), then walking, and so on. After many months I completed my first mile ever – if you would have seen me and my excitement you would have thought I just won the Boston Marathon! I was shocked, but I loved it – it felt great, gave me time to clear my head every morning, and opened up an entire part of me that I didn’t know existed. By my last year in law school I ran my first 5k, and then at age 40 I ran my first 1/2 marathon (with dozens of 5k’s, 10k’s and sprint triathlons in-between). When I crossed the finish line of my first half marathon it was the most amazing feeling. I kept thinking that I would have bet a million dollars that was something I would never do in my life had someone bet my younger self….

(me at the finish line)

As you may recall, my attempts to participate in organized runs here have been less than fruitful. Couple that with my recent broken toe, and running has fallen to the wayside for several months. Until recently. My toe can now take some light jogging, and with the knowledge that we’ll be back in time I’ve already signed up for the Duke City Half Marathon in October (and have a 10k in September). Something about having an organized run – complete with a goal, an energetic crowd and a cool t-shirt (my Pop’s entire wardrobe is practically made up of my running shirts) makes a world of difference – I just can’t seem to get the same feeling from running on my own with no specific goal in sight. Now that I’ve signed up for a couple, I have something to work on here in the here and now – getting back to being able to run the distance in time!

I have participated in so many runs I’ve lost count – everything from a 5k on the Vegas Strip with my sis-in-law in the rain on my 38th birthday to down a mountain in Colorado and around a lake at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan. Here are my top 4:

Run for the Zoo – I wrote about this run in a previous post, so won’t repeat myself. It was the first organized run I ever did and remains my favorite as the energy, t-shirts, organization and camaraderie are as good as it gets.

Saiko – A 10k around lake Saiko which is at the base of mount Fuji. I ran this in 2008 with an international running group – folks from all over including the U.S., Japan and Argentina. (We ran around the lake I’m standing in front of.) Most amazing scenery for a run yet! (Can you pick me out of the crowd, Waldo style?)

Slacker Half Marathon – I learned about this run from someone at a race in Albuquerque. She was wearing the “slacker” t-shirt from the race and it piqued my curiosity (and desire to own a similar shirt); I signed up for the race and we, along with my parents, went to Georgetown, Colorado the following June where the race is held. It’s called the “slacker” because you run down a mountain – from the top of the Loveland ski slope at 12,000 ft. into the town at about 8,000 ft. (it’s not as easy as the name implies!). (That’s me about to cross the finish line, turquoise shirt – I never said I was fast!)

The Lobster 10k – this run is part of the festivities that go with Rockland Maine’s Lobster Festival held the beginning of August every year. It was a great run, partly because you got to dress like a lobster (okay, I didn’t realize I had accidentally bought a crab, not a lobster hat), but also because you can pig out on 3/$25 lobsters when you’re done!!! (My Pop’s doing just that….)

Organized runs, here I come!!!

8 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on April 12, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diversions to Other Places

Tagged 10k, 5k, Albuquerque, culture shock, Duke CIty Half Marathon, half marathon, Lobster Festival 10K, run for the zoo, running, Saiko Road Race, Slacker Half Marathon

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on April 12, 2013

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2013/04/12/born-to-run/

A Tour of Paris Down the Seine (and the “gold ring” scam)

Ciao Readers!

Well, I think I have shared with you most of the highlights from our recent trip to Paris and Amsterdam. Today I tie-up the few loose ends by taking you on a boat bus tour down the Seine, so we can wave to the famous monuments from our (too cold) seats on the Batobus.

Before we embark on our boat tour though, we have to reach the Orsay museum, where we will be picking up the boat at one of its many stops. In order to reach the Orsay, we took a tram and then had to cross a famous park (the Tuileries) (lovely in nice weather). Lest you think I see Paris with only rose-colored glasses, in the time it took us to cross the park (pictured below), we were hit up by the “gold ring” scam 3 times! It was so ridiculous that it happened three times in as many minutes that all I could do was laugh hysterically (no offense to our intended scammers…well, maybe a bit). For those of you not familiar with this scam (which has been going on since at least 2008 when we first visited), it goes like this: you see someone appear to pick up something off the ground and then “realize” that lo and behold they have just found a valuable gold ring! They then offer you the ring (sometimes just as a “friendly gesture,” sometimes clearly in exchange for money), and after you take hold of it, you are hounded down for compensation until you fork some over. As I have recently told a friend whose daughter is traveling to Europe – don’t accept anything from strangers here (there is no such thing as a free gift here – be it Paris or Florence). This stands in stark contrast to what both we and my friend have experienced in Japan – many wonderful gifts given freely (and if you tried to offer compensation it would be seen as a terrible insult). In any case, the moral here is 1) don’t fall for scams anywhere in Europe and 2) I lost my rose-colored glasses [literally and figuratively] a while back…

Okay, now that we’ve passed the gauntlet of ring temptation (nowhere near Tolkien-esque), we’re ready for that boat ride I promised!

Much like the boat service in Amsterdam, the Batobus runs past most of the major tourist sites in Paris, and you can hop-on hop-off as much as you like for the duration of your pass (you can actually buy an entire year pass for only 60 euros). In addition to a means of transportation, you get to see all of the major sites through the glass enclosure that is your boat. The day we took this boat ride it was a low of 23 degrees and a high of 27; we were hoping for a nice warm boat like we had in Amsterdam, but this one was barely heated if at all. As you can see, it was so cold outside that there were icicles hanging off the boat! Since we were freezing and my toe had had enough, we didn’t get off at many stops. We did disembark to see Notre Dame, but after seeing the line outside (surprising for a freezing February day), we just admired the outside (we’ve been inside on a previous trip). I suppose this gray day matched our mood as it was the last day of a wonderful (and delicious) vacation…

That, dear Readers, ends our “diversions to other places”… for now! Thanks, as always, for coming along!

Paris Foodie Wrap-Up

Ciao Readers!

In the next post I’ll be taking you on a very cold boat ride along the Seine, where we’ll be passing some famous sites until we just can’t take the cold anymore! But before we go on that tour, we’re going to eat breakfast at a local patisserie, stumble upon a Parisian street market and then take the Metro to Lafayette Gourmet to get some picnic supplies for later (and to just generally ogle the food). (Since we’ve already talked about all of the foreign food available here, today we’re sticking with French goodies.)

We discovered our little local patisserie on our first full day in Paris. While I wish I had photo-staged it better, the quiche I had (pictured below) was seriously the most delicious quiche I have ever eaten – the crust was perfectly buttery and flaky and the filling was pillowy and savory – heavenly! I was so enamored with this quiche that I decided I would eat one (with different fillings) every morning for the next/last two days of our stay. Little did I know (until the next morning) that this patisserie is closed on both Saturdays and Sundays (I said “awwwwww” for an inordinate amount of time after seeing the place shuttered Saturday morning). Well, at least for one day I enjoyed the perfect quiche and Steve a great baguette (I still don’t understand how water, flour and yeast in one country can end up with such a different result than water, flour and yeast in another, but French bread is so much more chewy and substantial than the bread here).

While Saturday left us disappointed upon discovering the patisserie closed, we were happily surprised to see a street market setting up right outside our hotel window. Paris has these wonderful little street markets that pop-up on specific days of the week in every neighborhood. While there are also some “bric n’ brac” markets, this was a quintessential Parisian food market – complete with produce and meats and fish…and, of course, cheese!!! As we didn’t have a kitchen, all we could really do was admire the food (okay, confession – we did later buy some cheese at the grocers and kept it on our window sill overnight [can you imagine storing Camembert inside your hotel room?!]).

So, instead of quiche we “made do” with some buttery pain au chocolates from another local patisserie we passed on the way to the Metro. We took the Metro to Galeries Lafayette, or, more specifically to the foodie floor, know as “Lafayette Gourmet.” Not only is this market filled with upscale French and foreign groceries, but there are numerous counters selling freshly prepared food as well as little mini-restaurant stalls with tables to boot. There’s all of the French food you can picture – from cheese to pastries to foie gras, and even a fish market/restaurant (as well as the foreign food I mentioned in a prior post). Since you’ve probably figured out I’m a foodie and watch too many shows about food, then hopefully you won’t be too appalled when I tell you that hearing about foie gras all these years had gotten the best of my curiosity. While I was photographing the foie gras stall I noticed that behind the counter there were very small samples on crackers….I spontaneously felt compelled to ask for one – this is Paris after all and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So, how was it you ask? Since I grew up eating chopped liver, I’m used to and like the taste of liver (and hence Tuscan crostini which is topped with it)….it had the taste and consistency of liver-flavored butter (which either sounds delicious or disgusting, depending on your point of view). While I was happy to have tried it, it’s nothing I ever need or want to eat again, so please no one gorge a duck on my account.

I did buy two treats at Lafayette for our hotel-room picnic that night – some salmon terrine and a mini bottle of Bordeaux. Add some cheeses and a baguette from the local grocer, and voila – dinner! (Well, add some pastries, too….). As always, sorry they haven’t invented taste-o-vision yet, but enjoy!

9 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on March 11, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diversions to Other Places, Food

Tagged baguette, fois gras, food markets, Lafayette Gourmet, Paris, Paris street market, Patiserrie, quiche

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on March 11, 2013

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2013/03/11/paris-wrap-up/

A Tasting Tour of the Albert Cuyp Market

Ciao Readers! (Or should I say “Hallo,” as we are in The Netherlands…) And Happy (early) Birthday Ryn!

Today I am taking you on a tasting tour through the Albert Cuyp Market, a century-old street market running for several blocks throughout the De Pijp neighborhood in Amsterdam. Albert Cuyp is up and running every day except Sunday, and sells everything you can think of – from books to clothes to all sorts of local and exotic foods. (Since I have a broken toe, we’ll get to the market via one of the many handy electric trams that run throughout Amsterdam.)

To be honest with you, I can’t really tell you much about what the market sells other than food, as we arrived with empty stomachs and the intention of sampling the local specialties. As most of the local specialties seem to come in the form of fried foods (there’s an entire wall of fried food vending slots at the train station!), we felt super healthy by starting off at the herring stand. In the picture below, Steve is being served the traditional herring on a bun by Puck Jansen, the owner of the “Vlaardingse Haring Handel,” who has been working at the market for 44 years! (Okay, confession time – maybe after reading the name of the stand you will forgive me when I admit I did not even attempt to speak Dutch while in Amsterdam.) The herring was delicious and eased the guilt of the fried poffertjes that followed (little pancake-like fried dough bathing in butter and powdered sugar), as well as the requisite frites (seriously, it’s a legal requirement that you eat fries in Amsterdam – well, maybe not, but it is a crime if you don’t!). Having about as much fried deliciousness as we could stand, we decided to pass on the stroopwafels for the time being (thin waffles baked with a caramel-like syrup in the middle), as there were some in the kitchen in our B&B in case we felt the need (we did, later – they were good, but I bet the fresh ones are even better).

While our craving for local treats was sated, we wandered the market still, encountering just a few more things we (okay, I) couldn’t pass up. In the wonderful nut and candy stand pictured below I was surprised and delighted to discover…roasted pecans! Well, as you may recall from a previous post, pecans are among the groceries of my dreams, so of course I had to treat myself to a small bag (and they were roast-y and pecan-y and yummy!). The final culinary triumph happened at the spice market. There were so many spices hanging in bags on the many racks that I was certain that I could find ground cloves (an ingredient I’ve been missing and searching for here). The only problem was everything was labeled in Dutch and I couldn’t seem to find anyone to help me. Undeterred, I started smelling all of the bags that looked liked they might be cloves. I found one that I thought smelled right – “Kruidnagel Poeder” (which I confirmed later is indeed cloves). (Dutch is seriously a difficult language!)

I wish I could add smell and taste to these photos to give you an even better sense of the scrumptiousness to be had….

: Amsterdam fries

6 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on March 8, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diversions to Other Places, Food

Tagged Albert Cuyp Market, Amsterdam, Dutch, food markets, Frites, Herring, poffertjes

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on March 8, 2013

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2013/03/08/a-tasting-tour-of-the-albert-cuyp-market/

A Visit to the Concertgebouw (and the joys of Dutch queuing)

Ciao Readers! And Happy Birthday Honey!!! (and Michelangelo back in 1475)

Today I am taking you to one of the great concert halls of the world – The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. And, as an added bonus, we’ll get to attend a free lunchtime concert (offered every Wednesday at 12:30 from September until June). The construction of this lavish hall began with an idea in 1881 and culminated with its grand opening in 1888. It is considered to have some of the best acoustics in the world – usually ranked among the top three music halls worldwide.

The Concertgebouw is home to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, also considered to be one of the world’s best orchestras. Oftentimes (like the first time we visited), the free Wednesday concerts are short practice runs for the orchestra’s full-blown evening concerts taking place the same week. Sometimes (as we learned on our recent trip), the concerts are completely free-standing venues for new and upcoming artists. But before we get to enjoy the concert, there’s the matter of that long line out front….

When we got to the hall at about 12:00, the line was already ridiculously long (sorry I didn’t take a photo) and it was about 30 degrees out (from extrapolation of seats available [a little over 2,000], there were at least 1,000 people in line before us). Now, I guess I have become jaded from Italy, because upon seeing the line I immediately assumed it would take us hours to get through, people would be pushing and shoving and cutting (and I’d likely get my broken toe stepped on in the process), and we’d never get through the line fast enough to make the 12:30 concert. I was discouraged and suggested we just give up; Steve, who is more patient than I, suggested we wait it out a few minutes and see what happens, which we did. And lo and behold, about 10 minutes later they opened the doors…and literally about 3 minutes after that we had all filed into the hall in an orderly fashion and were taking our seats! I think I was so excited about how fast and orderly the line went (and how unscathed we were) that it took several minutes for me to begin to look around and appreciate how amazing the hall itself is.

Okay, now that we’re in our seats we can enjoy the concert. While we just showed up knowing it was a free concert day, we had no idea what concert it was. While we were expecting a practice run for Bach or Beethoven, we actually stumbled upon a full-blown performance of the group Jazzmania Big Band – performing music from various crime movies and t.v. shows. It was pretty unexpected, especially considering the surroundings, as you’ll see below, but was a great time. Here’s the playlist from the concert:

Newborn – Theme from The Naked Gun
Mancini – Theme from Peter Gunn
Shumann – Theme from Dragnet
Barry – Theme from James Bond
Barry / Bricusse – Goldfinger
Theard – Let the Good Times Roll

Now, just imagine that music playing as you sit and enjoy from your seat in this amazing hall (photo of outside courtesy of the Concertgebouw website):