A Perfect Night for a Rooftop Cinema

As a leaving gift for my contract ending, my EuroFinance employees got Aaron and I two tickets to see a movie of our choice downtown at a Rooftop Cinema. London has all kinds of outdoor movies, and I've been wanting to check one out for a while now- we have to make the most of the sunny weather just like Seattlites!

Pitch Perfect - okay, yes, I chose. But luckily I have a pretty compromising husband, and Pitch Perfect is hilarious (lesbihonest).

It was a great summer night out in London: popcorn, beers, a movie and my favorite date : )

Cooking in Italy... Mamma Mia and I!

After meeting my mom in Bologna, we rented a little Fiat and drove about two hours south to a small town in Tuscany called Arezzo.

I drove and our noisy Tom Tom navigated - I spent ten minutes in the rental car lot trying to figure out how to change the Tom Tom language from Russian to English only for it to make the weirdest noises during our whole drive. Go figure.

Besides the random beeps and noises, the only other driving snafu came at the toll booth - I had to take a ticket, but I couldn't find the button to roll down the window. Eventually when I figured it out, I couldn't reach the ticket, so I had to unbuckle, climb out and maneuver myself between the ticket machine and the car door. The large, impatient truck behind us was not too happy...

Other than that, it was just us and the open road! Until we reached the steep, never-ending gravel driveway that was littered with potholes. To set a picture for you: my mom was laughing in the passenger seat; I was swearing under my breath, dodging the potholes, sure that we were going to pop a tire, and despite the fact that I am literally flooring the little Fiat, it's still only moving 2mph.

Finally, we arrived at Tuscookany, our home for the next four days (because you could not have paid me to drive that car down the driveway and back up again).

We spent the next two days learning to cook from our teacher, Franco, and his wife, Paula. There were eight people in our class total; one Australian, two British and the rest American.

We made homemade Italian favorites like ravioli, pizza, tiramisu, foccacia bread, chicken cacciatore, pork medallions, eggplant pudding and more! After cooking up a storm in the kitchen, each night we'd gather as a group and have a sunset dinner on the terrace.

On Thursday we went for a day outing with the group. Our first stop was wine tasting at an old Italian winery. Next we had lunch at a family-run olive oil producer. And in the afternoon we toured a linen-making factory and milked goats. Yes, my mom and I milked a goat (but only for a second because it was too bizarre).


The area surrounding the cooking school is known for it's truffles (the fungus, not the chocolate kind unfortunately). Truffles are actually pretty hard to come across, unless you have a specially trained dog that's a Lagotto Romagnolo. This is the only dog breed is recognized for truffle hunting. While at the cooking school, we got to watch two dogs hunt for truffles; they don't eat them- just sniff around the base of the tree and when they find the spot, they dig them up.

We also ate the best cantuccini I've ever had in my life (more commonly known as a biscotti) with almonds and dark chocolate pieces. Homemade, and yes, we have a recipe. 

When it was all said and done, we had a ton of new Italian recipes, learned a few cooking school tricks and have a lot of memories from the experience. And yes, we also made it safely back down the hill with the Fiat in tact - an accomplishment in itself!

Pisa, Oh Pleasa!

Jumping back to our travel extravaganza...

We left Cinque Terre and headed to Pisa where Aaron was flying back to London and I was catching a train to meet my mom in Bologna. That morning, we had heard that there was a Italian train strike for 24 hours. When we arrived at the station, while a few trains were cancelled, ours was luckily still scheduled just delayed by 45 minutes.

We arrived into Pisa and jumped into a cab with our bags - "Take us to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, pleasa!" We had lunch and took our classic "I'm holding up the tower" poses.

How did it get it's signature tilt?
Originally it was supposed to be a bell tower for the cathedral next to it. After building the first three floors, the tower began to lean because it was built on a clay mixture that was unable to support the weight. They stopped construction and another 100 years passed before they restarted it, adding an additional four floors. The additional floors were also supposed to correct the tilt, but they made an error that caused it to lean even more. When it was complete, they decided to add walkways underneath so you could see how it was built, but they hit a water pipe causing the ditches to flood which added to the tilt even more! Mussolini thought the tower was an embarrassment so he ordered it to be corrected. Holes were drilled and cement was poured in which was supposed to firm up the side and re-correct the lean, but... you guessed it... the weight caused it to lean even more.
The tower took over 800 years to be constructed- just let it lean already!

I've actually been to the tower before - twice. Once with my family and another time while I was studying abroad. Both times we just passed through the city because there really isn't that much to do or see besides it.

We left the tower and walked back to the train station. When we arrived, my train read "cancelled." Scanning down the list, we saw there was another train leaving in 40 minutes - it had more stops along the way which meant I would miss my connection in Florence but at least I would get out of Pisa. Five minutes before that train was supposed to leave, it read "cancelled." There were no other trains departing for Florence that day.

So we hustled to the airport to see if flying or renting a car was an option for me. By then, I was starting to panic. I had no working cell phone and I hadn't heard from my mom to see if she made it to Bologna okay. My mom and I were supposed to rent a car the next day and it was in my name. Aaron was telling me, "It's okay, we'll just get you a hotel in Pisa for the night." Pisa? Oh, pleasa! I don't want to stay in Pisa!

At the airport there was a person selling tickets for a bus to Florence. So I tearfully kissed Aaron goodbye and asked him to make sure that whatever he did, he got a hold of my mom to let her know that I had no working cell phone and what the situation was. Then I hopped on the bus, not knowing if I'd be able to get from Florence to Bologna, but at least knowing that I was getting out of Pisa.

Aaron let my mom know, and thankfully, although I'd missed my specific train, the trains from Florence to Bologna were still running so I was able to meet my mom. It's funny how train travel is so easy... until it's not. And sometimes you run into situations where you need to make it up as you go. Travel is trial and error, but then you learn from it. Luckily for us, I plan ahead but also panic, and while Aaron doesn't prepare, he keeps a level-head. We make a good team!

Rap Jumping for Aaron's Birthday

Today is Aaron's birthday! Because he doesn't have Facebook, I feel it's my wifely duty to make this known : )

Yesterday, I surprised him by taking him Rap Jumping. We went to an old castle and climbed to a 150 foot tower. Then they strap your harness into a rope and you rappel face forward down the side of the wall (basically like you are walking towards the ground) and when you hit a certain speed, you jump. You are holding onto a rope and use it to brake as gravity takes you to the ground. Sounds fun, right? : ) We did this three times.

The first time, I really almost chickened out. Nothing can prepare you for looking straight at the ground and having someone say, "Okay, now you are just going to slide off the building..." But once we did it the first time, we had much more confidence and it was a lot easier the second.

Here is Aaron's first Rap Jump!

This day is also special to me for another reason. It's hard to believe, but 5 years ago, this guy who I had gone to high school with asked me to grab a drink with him on his birthday. Little did I know, that innocent drink would eventually turn into a marriage and a life together in London! I wouldn't want it any other way.

Here's to many more years of adventure, laughs and love... Happy Birthday Aaron!!

Cinque Terre - Italy's Postcard-Worthy Sea Villages

From Milan, we took a train to Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera Coast to meet two of our friends, Brandon and Sabrina. Translated Cinque Terre means, "five lands" because there are five villages with similar characteristics close to each other.

The villages are all built on the rough, steep hillside - the area's charm is that the multicolored houses seem to be piled next to and on each other just along the sea. The towns are really only accessible by boats, trains and hiking paths; there are very few cars and even fewer driving roads.

We stayed in the old town of Monterosso al Mare. It is the largest village of the five and is located on the western end. Monterosso had a devastating flood and mudslide in 2012 where it got 22 inches of rain in 4 hours (a third of an average year's total). There is a line drawn on the side of the old town's center church that shows where the waters rose to. There is also a "pillbox"/ low concrete bunker where Nazi gunmen hid in WWII as a defense against Allied invasion, and a 16th century tower which was used as a lookout against pirates.

The bottom photo in the collage below is a view from where we stayed - Manuel's Guesthouse. We had to climb quite a few stairs to get there, but having that view for our breakfast and evening happy hours made the stairs worth it!

Our first full day, we hiked to the next town over, Vernazza. It was about an hour and a half hike, but the views were incredible. You follow the coastline up and over the cliffside; there are vineyards and fruit trees to one side and the sea on the other. We made it just in time before a light rain storm rolled through, and we had lunch under an umbrella at a restaurant. After lunch, we did a wine tasting where we tried Sciacchetrà, a dessert wine made in Cinque Terre. We then caught a train back and had a relaxing afternoon by the pool in our friend's hotel. We played countless card games as the sun set then ate an amazing pasta dinner and watched the world cup game.

The next day we caught the water taxi and went to the farthest town from ours, Riomaggiore. It was so cool to see all five cities from the sea because even though they have similarities, they are all so unique as well. In Riomaggiore, we explored the town and went to a neat bar that is on a cliff overlooking the sea. We had lunch and then took the water taxi back. We had "happy hour" at Manuel's guesthouse and played more cards : ) ...do you see a theme? Finally, we headed to dinner in Monterosso's new town.

At dinner, I overheard someone say that they went to Sounder's games. As he walked past our table, I asked if he was from Seattle and he was. After talking with him, we made the first connection that his last name was McLean (spelled the same way), then we made the connection that he went to Charles Wright (he was a bit older than us so we didn't know any of the same people), and then we made the final connection that Brandon's dad teaches his son tennis. It is a very small world!!

Brandon and Sabrina left the next morning, so Aaron and I explored Monterosso. We hiked up the Friar's Switchbacks to the Church of the Capuchin Friars and explored a very old cemetery. It was actually quite beautiful but huge and a little eerie. We then headed back down the path and played more cards, watched the world cup match and had another pasta dinner with wine- our final night in Cinque Terre!

Words from Italy

Benvenuti al mare... Welcome to the Sea, indeed!

24 Hours in Milan

We had a quick stopover in Milan on our way from Pamplona to Cinque Terre - and by quick, I mean, 24 hours. Milan is the second most populous city in Italy and the main financial hub of the country. It is known as a fashion center and pays tribute to Leonardo Da Vinci, where the artist spent a good deal of his life.

Despite only having a day, we did see a great deal of the city. Because it was just a stopover, we really did not prepare for it, and we learned that Milan is a city where you need to plan ahead if you want to see the "big" attractions. Even so, here is what we did in our 24 hours:

Santa Maria delle Grazie - a world heritage site, this church was built in 1469 and houses Leonardo Da Vinci's mural, The Last Supper. Unfortunately, we did not book ahead and they only let in a certain number of people in to see the painting for 15 minutes at a time. We arrived early in the morning and even then, the entire day was sold out. We were able to go inside other parts of the church which were beautiful, but when we come back, we will definitely plan this ahead of time!

Left: Duomo / Center: Leonardo Statue / Right: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - one of the world's oldest shopping malls, the Galleria was built between 1865 and 1877. It has an open air walk-through with a glass ceiling and dome above. Today, the galleria houses high end expensive name brands and boutique shops - Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc. The architecture is beautiful and elegant - it is worth a stroll through!

Random Statues - I probably should've titled this paragraph a bit more descriptive, but I did have to point out that as were walking around, we found the Leonardo Da Vinci Statue above and the lovely statue in the photo below... it's in front of Milan's stock exchange. Look closely, and you'll see that this building is really pointing a finger to everyone who walks by....

Left: Milan Stock Exchange / Right: Outside the Duomo

Duomo di Milano - the cathedral church of Milan, the Duomo is the 5th largest church in the world. Unfortunately for us again, we did not plan ahead and I was in shorts so we couldn't go in! They have a pretty strict dress code- shorts must be past your knees and you must have your shoulders covered. Even not going inside, the gothic architecture is breathtaking. It has 135 spires!

Left: Arch of Peace; Right: Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle, Parco Sempione, Arch of Peace - built in the 15th century, the Sforza Castle was much more contemporary looking and unlike any of the castles we've seen in the UK. On one side of the castle is the downtown city and on the other is the Parco Sempione, a large public park that has the arch of peace and Arena Civica (where Milan's rugby team plays). The park has tons of paths, benches and small lakes - perfect for a stroll on a nice day, with gelato of course!

Running of the Bulls (or with them depending on the fence)

Never in a million years did I ever think I'd go to "that crazy festival in Spain where people run with the bulls". But when two of our friends who were traveling around Europe asked if Aaron and I wanted to go? We said sure, why not! (You are talking to the sky diving, shark swimming, scooter freeway riding couple).

Running of the Bulls is an 8-day festival that takes place every year in Pamplona. It kicks off with an opening ceremony, then each morning there is an 823 meter run with 6 bulls and 1,600-3,600 people, and at night there are the bullfights with the matadors.

When we started looking at going to the festival, so many things were outrageously priced (hotels, balconies, transportation). We ended up booking a package through a company which I think was the way to do something like this. We met so many people who were staying far outside Pamplona or who didn't even have a place to stay!! We may be a little crazy, but we are too old to stay up all night in a park : )

The first day we explored the city and had some amazing tapas. The next day was the Opening Ceremony at noon. We filled into a huge square in our white outfits with red bandannas and bottles of sangria, and thus began the largest sangria fight I've ever been a part of. People were loving every moment- there were even super-soakers full of sangria. 

Here we are at the beginning: 

And after some of this:

This is what we looked like at the end:

It was a crazy experience but very fun and exciting! When the clock hit noon, the square was so packed you could barely move. At noon, there is a ceremony where everyone puts their red bandannas around their necks symbolizing Saint Fermin (you aren't supposed to take off the bandanna for the remainder of the festival). To give you an idea of the square, this is a view from above. We are somewhere in there near the two white flags : )

The next morning was the first bull run. The streets start putting gates up around the course at 6:30am, by 7am the runners are all inside the starting pen, and by 8am the first cannons go off signaling the start.

We watched from a balcony the first day and are very grateful that we did; there were so many people that we saw a lot of bottle necks on the course. Our balcony was right after what they call "death corner". The name comes because the bulls are traveling so fast at that point that they often can't make the turn and slam into the gates and runners. After the corner, the runners and bulls hit the stretch of street where our balcony was. But on this street there is no turn out (or fence to jump over) for the runners which is why we saw so many people with nowhere to go. We actually saw one guy get trampled- he ran too close and wasn't fast enough. He tripped, a bull fell on him and then he got run over by two more bulls. It was pretty scary, and they carried him away in a stretcher, but at least he was conscious (just in a lot of pain). 

That night, we went to a bull fight in the stadium. We had no idea what to expect and thought it would just be a matador with the bull. It was a lot more intense and they kill the bull during it. It was definitely our least favorite part and something that I do not need to watch again.

After we saw the man get run over by the bulls on the opening run, Aaron and I decided to find a nice piece of fence along the course to watch from on the second day. We headed out early and got a spot right near the beginning of the run - where EMTs were gathered and the runners were waiting to hear the cannon. We watched the excitement and nerves build in the crowd as the "Pamplona Safety Video" played on a giant screen. A few rules were read off (you must wear tennis shoes, no recording equipment of any kind allowed during the run, no alcohol or intoxication) and you could feel the crowd get antsy until the cannons went off, and the crowd and bulls were off. I am happy to report that we did not see any of the injuries on the second day (although we did hear about a few).

We had such a great time in Pamplona, and it really was a unique, eye-opening, unforgettable experience. During the four days, we'd wander through the streets finding parades, parties and people celebrating! I love trips where we have some plans, but then often the most memorable experiences are the ones that you don't expect - spending our entire train ride standing and playing cards in the bar car, the random parade we joined after the bull fight, our amazing tapas restaurant with a super friendly waiter that we went to twice (and he remembered us!), pouring sangria and spraying champagne out of plastic bottles, the catchy "jingle" that we heard during the opening ceremony - all of these things were what made our trip.

After our Pamplona trip, we boarded a train to head towards Madrid where we would fly out to Italy. But that will be another blog post : )

Celebrating America's Independence in Britain

We had no idea what to expect from the 4th of July abroad - especially celebrating in the country that we gained our independence from. Lucky for us, we still had a full house (of Americans) that we could celebrate with.

We all headed to a local pub that was having a "4th of July" cookout. So while there wasn't fireworks, there was plenty of American flags, hamburgers, hotdogs and pints (although not Budweiser) to go around. We had a blast celebrating amidst the British accents, and are thankful that our full house was there to help us represent : )

The Newlyweds Abroad hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July too!! (We are seriously jealous of the weather back home right now...)

A Timeless Tradition: Wimbledon

It's the oldest tennis tournament around - since 1877 the greatest players have gathered in London for two weeks hoping to win the final as spectators flood the grounds to watch the celebrations and defeats.

Aaron and I went with a few friends who were in town last week. There are two tickets types at Wimbledon: court seats or grounds passes. If you don't have a court ticket, you can get a grounds pass by showing up and waiting in line. They hand them out to the first 5,000 people that show up. On Wednesday, we arrived at Wimbledon at 7am and were put in a long line- number 2,905. We got into the grounds at 10:30am; not as long of a wait as I was expecting actually! And in true British fashion, they handed out "A Guide to Queueing".

Inside the grounds were decorated with purple, green and white - the Wimbledon colors. We were actually with two people who did have tickets to Court 1 so we were able to swap them around and take turns watching the matches. We got to see Djokovic beat Cilic on Day 9.

If you don't have tickets to the main courts and only have ground passes, you can watch matches that are happening on the outside courts since they have no assigned seats. We actually watched the no 5 ranked women's doubles beat the no 1 ranked women's doubles this way. They also have a grass hill with a huge screen set up so you can watch the ticketed matches from there too.

The weather was incredible- sunny and perfect for an afternoon Pimms (British Sangria/lemonade-like drink) and strawberries and cream (traditional Wimbledon favorite). One of my favorite things was watching the ball girls and boys who grab the tennis balls when they  stop play. They were so intense the whole time, sprinting this way and that way with no-emotion, serious faces. You wondered if they were tired or excited if their favorite player won because they never did show it!

Wimbledon is such a timeless tradition. It was exciting to be a part of the action and when the entire crowd felt heartbroken watching Murray get defeated, you did too. It was a unique British experience that was fun to share with friends from home. And years from now when we are watching it on TV, we can say, "remember that time we went to Wimbledon?"

Full House (British Version)

Everywhere you look (everywhere); there's a heart (there's a heart); a hand to hold onto...

We may not have Bob Saget for a dad, the hilarious and heartthrob uncles, and three mischievous sisters, but lately our flat has felt more like Full House (a British version, of course). We've had quite the visitors lately: 6 people to be exact! The most that will be staying with us at one time will be 5, tonight and tomorrow.

Since then, we've been touring around London and exploring: Abbey Road, the British Museum, Somerset House, Greenwich, Covent Garden, Borough Market, a German Oktoberfest pub... just to name a few. We also went to Wimbledon yesterday, but that deserves it's own post : )

My contract with the Economist ended on Friday (it was a maternity leave cover), so it's the perfect time to have visitors and stay busy. It was very hard to leave my job because I loved the people I worked with and the work I was doing; it's been a good distraction and has been nice to be surrounded by so many people from home.

A few pictures from our Full House week!