Summer Highlights

Here are a few pictures of the highlights from our Summer spent stateside.

PS. One definite highlight to add to the list: Caroline is preggers again! The baby is due at the end of January. We're going to have an Italiano bambino!

The Savages visit more Savages in Phoenix

Above: Eli and Papa on Big Cheese. "Eli, do you love it?" "Love it!"

Below: Sam and Eli go for a ride in the roping arena as well.

Above: Eli and Big Papa read and play together.

Below: Eli splashes around at the water park at the Phoenix Zoo
(which was already scorching by 10am that morning)

Above: Eli explores at the Children's Museum

(highly recommended if you happen to be going to Phoenix)

Below: A little afternoon reading in Mimi's new kitchen

Cousin Cody's Birthday Party

Above: Auntie Debbie made a fabulous light saber cake out of Twinkies and Ho-Hos

Below: The cake was a huge hit with Eli and cousin Lexi

Eli Turns Two!

Above: Caroline made a truck cake (yes, the whole thing is edible!)
Below: The entire Savage family came to Walnut Creek to celebrate

Above & Below: We had a great time catching up with old friends and their new additions.

Stephanie & John get married!

Above: We were so lucky to be able to attend Stephanie and Jon's wedding in Napa. The occasion was definitely worth the wait!


The Savages' East Coast tour

Our tour included NYC, Mahopac, Long Beach, Fire Island, Skaneateles, and Deerfield, MA. With all that travel we didn't have time for much picture taking, but here are a few from the gorgeous days we spent in Fire Island. Eli and Ceci hit it off with flying colors.

Tarot Garden

Before heading to Puglia this month, we had one very noteworthy day trip to a little town in southern Tuscany called Capalbio. It's a wealthy little town on the coast that's a bit of an Italian Communist retreat. We're not sure why this town is especially attractive to wealthy Italian Communists, but that's the town's niche market, and I must say Italian Communists have good taste.

We had a great meal there, followed by a nice walk around town. We ended the day by visiting a nearby sculpture park that was Niki de Saint Phalle's passion project. It's made up of enormous, interactive sculptures. She was obviously very inspired by Gaudi, but leans more toward sculpture than architecture. It was absolutely FANTASTIC! Definitely one of the most underrated sights this region has to offer (probably because Niki was French). Adrian, you would have loved it!

Nana & Jhaju

So, I'm finally getting to post about my parents visit. It was wonderful, horrible, and exhausting all at once.

It was absolutely wonderful to see my parents after such a long time away. It was especially nice seeing them with Eli. They are in full-on grandparent mode these days and are loving every minute they get to spend with him. They were the most playful and engaged audience Eli has had in months. Eli still calls for Nana and Jhaju with regularity.

My dad had never been to Rome or Florence so I thought it would be a great trip for him. I thought we'd have a great time showing him around as well. We had a few days in Rome, followed by a few days in Viterbo. My parents then headed up to the Cinque Terre for a few nights on their own. Eli and I met up with them in Florence for the weekend. However, my best laid plans were for naught. I quickly found out that my dad doesn't have much interest in travel anymore - or sightseeing, or eating, or spending money on anything. Oh, and Italy is run by the mob and tax evaders, therefore everyone here is dishonest and intentionally ripping you off. Though this statement, made by my dad often during the visit, is probably at least half true, it doesn't make for pleasant touring. Needless to say, it was a rough week. (My mom would want me to note though that she was a perfect angel during the trip, which she was.)

I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon... on their turf.


Above: Touring Cappranica during their Santa Maria festival. The town was blanketed in paper flowers. It was home spun beauty at it's best.
Below: My parents at the Villa Lante.



Above: My parents with Eli at the Boboli Gardens in Florence.
Below: Nana and Eli in the Boboli Gardens.



Above: A view of Tuscany.

f*ck, f*ck, f*ck... cock!

We are officially very behind in our blog posts. I still need to post about my parents' visit, several day trips, and our trip to Puglia. First though I want to give a little update on Eli.

Eli is a full on toddler now, complete with whining, tantrums, and constant demands. He's pretty darn cute though as well. He's been talking up a storm and his vocabulary is expanding everyday. He likes to point and label. He's still working on his pronunciation which is making for some hilarious situational comedy, especially in kitchen. He wants to use a fork for all his meals now, so he'll call for one whenever we sit down at the table. Trouble is, "fork, fork, fork, FORK!" comes out sounding like "f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, F*CK!". Luckily we're in a foreign country where this situation in a restaurant is not nearly as embarrassing as it would be in the states. The other great one is "clock", which comes out sounding like "cock". And I don't know if you've noticed but clocks are everywhere especially when you include wristwatches.

Here's the latest:

Finding his belly button

Playing in the curtains

Montefalco

Before I start, I want to let you know that we had a great visit with Caroline's parents. She will post about that soon. I'm going to skip ahead and write about last weekend.

Hey there, everybody. The school year is ending, and we are finding ways to get out and enjoy the nice weather and the countryside. Along those lines, this past weekend two of the American faculty who are my faithful cycling companions, Rolf and Chris, and I rode into Umbria to Montefalco where Caroline, Eli and Ashley, another American teacher here, met us. The ride was 108km through some of the most beautiful countryside that central Italy has to offer. For those who are curious to check out the route you can google map the directions from Viterbo to Montefalco and click the "avoid highways" box. We rode through several picturesque medieval hill towns, green valleys, vineyards, olive groves, etc. It was really incredible. This is the longest ride I have ever done, and I was pretty psyched when we rolled into Montefalco after 5+ hours on our bikes.

When we got to Montefalco, we showered and headed out to the town for an amazing lunch outside on the main piazza. Of course we sampled a bottle of the local DOCG red, Sagrantino. This is one of our favorite wines in Italy, and this bottle was especially good. After lunch we hung out on the piazza and took in some rays. A brief visit to the tourist office informed us that the following day was Umbria's "Cantine Aperte." Basically, wineries all over Umbria were opening their doors for tastings accompanied by food and in some cases entertainment. We all agreed that our fate was sealed for the following day and headed back to the inn to nap or in our case, watch Eli run around for three hours. Dinner that night was nice, but I was absolutely exhausted. We got to bed early having spent a truly spectacular day in Umbria.

After breakfast the next morning we headed out to check out what this Cantine Aperte thing was all about. The deal with the Cantine Aperte is that each person buys a glass for 5 euro, and the glass comes with a pouch for carrying it around your neck. That glass will get you tastings and food at any of the two or three dozen vineyards in Umbria that were participating in this event. The proceeds went to charity. Anyway, we headed to the first vineyard of the day (at 10:45 am), Perticaia, whose Sagrantino we had tried at lunch the day before. This was a beautiful place just outside of Montefalco. They were serving porchetta (a very tasty roasted pig, a regional specialty), local pecorino, local prosciutto, and crostini with local olive oil. They labeled each food with the appropriate wine pairing. Everything was incredible, the wine, the food, and the views. After an hour or so there we headed in the car for a brief tour of the area during which Eli fell asleep. We ended up at another Sagrantino vineyard outside of Gauldo Cattaneo. We successfully transfered the sleeping cherub into his stroller and proceeded to check out the scene at Scacciadiavoli.

This vineyard had a very different feel and a lot more people. The food and the wine here did not let us down. We all sat around amazed at our good luck for happening upon this great wine tasting event, awed by the beauty of our surroundings, and generally ecstatic about being in Italy and doing things like this. The ride back was crowded (the three bikers were now in the car with Ashley, Caroline and Eli) but scenic. We retraced the route we had rode the day before and relived our feelings of euphoria as we remembered each hill, each field, and each town we passed on our bikes.

This was a truly memorable weekend, and if there are any bikers out there I highly recommend that you come here and do something like this. Preferably with me next year. Italy by bike is a phenomenal experience. I will miss sharing it with Chris and Rolf, but I hope that others will come to take part next year. Here are some pics:

Above: Caroline and Ashely at Scacciadiavoli in Gualdo Cattaneo. Notice the pouches for the wine glasses. Brilliant!
Below: the two of us at Scacciadiavoli

Above: Mother and son on the scene
Below: the view from Montefalco (the same as the view from the room at our inn).

Above: the Savage's at the Perticaia winery outside of Montefalco
Below: tasting Sagrantino


Above: Eli taking in the view at Perticaia

Eli's Italian girlfriend has competition

We're way overdue for a post. As usual, things here happen in waves. We just had our last batch of visitors starting with Stacey and Andrew, friends from Oakland, and their daughter Maddie. It was great to catch up with them and they picked a beautiful week to visit. We stayed local due to some car troubles which then led to a shortage in funds. I think it was a welcome change in plans for everyone though.

The first day was spent decompressing more or less. The next day we toured Viterbo, had some gelato in Bagnaia, and took a nature walk by Lago di Vico. Maddie and Eli are 8 weeks apart in age and proved to be the perfect playmates. Midweek, the Gordons headed up to Florence for a couple of days while the Savages stayed in Viterbo dealing with the car. We've actually become good friends with our mechanics here, Mario and Georgio. They're a hilarous pair of brothers that are fascinated with our cultural differences. It's fun in indulge in their good-hearted exasperation with our ways..."Questi Americani!"

Sam had a long weekend when the Gordons returned and the car was back in action so we went for a drive around Lago di Bolsena. We had a wonderful lunch at an absolutely beautiful agriturismo between Bolsena and Orvieto. After a long, leisurely lunch we headed for the lake shore so the kiddies could romp around in the water for awhile. The weekend also included a visit to the Villa Farnese and an exhausting one day tour of Rome. The last day of their visit we went to the Terme dei Papi, Viterbo's hot, sulphur springs. The springs contribute to a large shallow pool at the Terme. The kids had a great time splashing about. A good time was had by all that week.

Above: Stacey and Maddie at Lago di Vico.
Below: Eli splashing around a Lago di Bolsena.


Above: The Gordons at Viterbo's annual flower festival.
Below: Everyone relaxing in the afternoon sun at Lago di Vico.


Above: Andrew and Maddie in Viterbo.
Below: Best buds in the tub.

oops

Horror of horrors! The title of my last post should have read "One Last Cannolo." Cannoli is plural! Shame on me.

Anyway, life here is good. The weather is spotty, lots of rain with the occasional glorious day in between. We, especially Caroline and Eli, have taken some amazing hikes in the neighboring countryside. The wildflowers are in bloom, and the ancient ruins abound. Yesterday I took a bike ride with two American colleagues, Rolf and Chris. We passed by vineyards, olive groves, Etruscan tombs, and a medieval castle, all covered with various colorful blossoms. Caroline and Eli, along with Ashley, another American colleague, went on a hike and saw an abandoned medieval castle and a waterfall. In other words, it was an average Sunday here in Viterbo for the Savages.

In case you haven't heard, I did get an offer from Deerfield, and I accepted. I will start there in the fall of 2009. We are as excited as can be. We get one more year here, and then we are off to live in a beautiful setting in Western Massachusetts.

That's it for now. I would post pictures, but I am at school, and there are no pictures on my work computer. I hope that you all are well. Keep in touch. Ciao!