Archive | travel

Christmas in Caltigirone {Sicilian ceramics and nativities}

December 16, 2013 at 2:58 pm

A couple of weeks ago, as Thanksgiving had just given way to the Christmas season, my friend Anna organized a girls’ trip to Caltigirone, home of Sicilian ceramics. The last time I visited was almost two years ago, and I was excited for another chance to browse through endless tiny shops filled with blue and yellow pottery, wander up and down the tiled stairs at the heart of the mountain town, and spend a morning with my friends without all of our little kids!

(On that note: a big thank you to Elliott and Greg for taking on all the children after Anna and I had spent the rest of the weekend selling at craft fairs!)

Anna had more plans than just ceramics shopping, though. She invited us all to experience the Sicilian tradition of presepe, or nativities. Every year many Sicilian towns set up nativities of all shapes, sizes, and designs in empty garages, cavernous back rooms, and tiny doorways off little side streets. We bought a pass to see 5 different presepi, which we presented before stepping behind heavy velvet curtains to see each scene.

This presepe was totally life-sized and set up in a cave-like room. The figures all moved, the cow lowed, the donkey brayed, and a soft God-like voice overhead recited the Christmas story in Italian.

A scene from a massive and incredibly detailed presepe that stretched on and on for at least 100 feet!

On the left a 5-inch-high shepherd reads Scripture surrounded by tiny sheep; on the right Cinderella, Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs make their way towards a Disney-free stable off to the side.

This one was wild. Smurfs, Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, and the Simpson family gathered around a miniscule little nativity scene inside one of Super Mario’s mushrooms!

My favorite presepe was made entirely of pasta. Even the “hay” on the ground is crushed green pasta!

… and the “inn” to the side of the nativity scene is built out of crostini, tiny crisp toasts that Italians often eat for breakfast. So clever!

There was even a miniature Caltigirone scene inside one presepe, complete with the famous tiled steps of the town and a tiny Padre Pio (well-loved Italian priest) blessing tourists and townspeople alike.

Our presepi touring finished, we wandered through rainy Caltigirone, dipping into ceramics shops as they caught our fancy. Even in the bleak winter weather, Caltigirone is a beautiful town.

The famous tiled steps of Caltigirone. The buildings on either side are filled with ceramics shops, a delicious restaurant, and people’s homes.

Ceramics! I especially liked this pattern. It looks very much like Polish pottery, which is my first love.

A Christmas tree-shaped candle-holder and a beautiful artist at work.

Scenes in Caltigirone.

The canisters above demonstrate some of the larger brushstrokes used in a lot of Sicilian ceramics. Not as much my style, but very typical of the region and beautifully bright in their hand-painted colors and designs.

And finally, a pocket-sized Fiat cinquecento or scooter to take home with you!

8 :: in holidays, Sicily, travel

a visit to Cefalu

November 4, 2013 at 3:56 pm

Hello again! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We laid low at home, enjoying time together as a family and doing lots of reading. I inhaled this novel over the weekend, which is masterfully written and partially set in Italy. We also visited the beautiful Casa delle Farfalle (Butterfly House) on Sunday afternoon as a family, eating a picnic outside first and then admiring butterflies in the greenhouse afterwards.

Picking up where I left off last time… a few weekends ago, after our wonderful lunch in a castle, we had an evening and a full day left of our family getaway. We drove into the pretty coastal town of Cefalu in northern Sicily and found our apartment, which we’d rented through AirBnB. We love renting apartments and skipping hotels mostly because we feel like we have a much more authentic local experience and because they are usually more affordable and practical with little kids. We rented this great apartment just across the street from the beach. Center of town, three bedrooms, balconies over looking the ocean, a full kitchen… and all for less than any decent hotel room I could find.

Other than Sunday lunch, I packed all the food we’d need for the weekend in a cooler, and that also streamlined our travel with little kids. There are really few things more stressful in life than a delicious dinner in a great restaurant that you can’t enjoy because it’s past your poor kids’ bedtime, especially if the only person to blame for that stressful situation is you!

On Sunday evening and early Monday morning, we explored the beach near our house. I loved the old city wall filled with apartments along the water.

This cutie is 9 months old now and loves to go on walks. He starts hyperventilating with excitement if he sees the Baby Bjorn. If you set him down in order to put on the baby carrier, he will inevitably believe he isn’t going on a walk after all and will burst into a heartbroken storm of tears.

After adventuring on the beach and a break for Gil’s morning nap, we vacated our apartment and headed out on a walk up La Rocca, the steep cliff towering above the city. The walk was immediately beautiful, and we felt miles away from the beach as we ascended into pungent pine forest.

View from partway up La Rocca.

Gil is in his element, Lena is taking a welcome break. I was a total dummy and only packed one baby carrier, so Lena had to walk up the whole way. She let us know this was not her idea of a good time…

… so this happened towards the end, and this is definitely her idea of a good time.

Break for lunch after the ascent. We were surrounded by ruins from ancient Greek and Roman times. (P.S. I married the best-looking guy!)

Looking up the coast of northern Sicily towards Palermo.

The view straight down the cliff was of the main cathedral (which we visited right after our hike) and the stunning blue of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

I spent awhile helping Lena walk along a rock wall as Elliott (and Gil) took pictures of the view. Lena’s wearing Saltwater Sandals, the one pair of shoes that I bought to last her all summer long for every event (weddings, beaches, hikes, play dates, and Sunday services). Because they are white, waterproof, sturdy, and made of beautiful leather, they were the perfect choice!

The view through an old window in the ancient ruins.

Family!

A pretty kitty we found at the end of our hike. We wanted to take her home!

Vespas and a cute boy in a straw hat.

It’s a little hard to see in this picture, but three kids were sitting on three different balconies talking and helping each other with their homework!

Walking through Cefalu after our hike.

We found the cathedral with La Rocca looming behind it.

Cathedral and a cute girl in a straw hat.

And pistachio and chocolate gelato. Not a bad end to a lovely trip!

6 :: in family, Italy, Sicily, travel

Sunday lunch in a castle {Caccamo, Sicily}

October 30, 2013 at 3:23 pm

In our family, I am the one who is usually eager to travel and explore, whereas Elliott is grateful for weekends to stay home and rest. I’m home all week, so when the weekend comes, I’m like, “Get me outta here!” But I know how much Elliott loves quiet time with his family; he will spend whole Saturdays building block towers and having dance parties with Lena and Gil. Therefore the greatness of his sacrifice was not lost on me when he offered to take a Monday off and let us travel somewhere over the weekend. I might have done a happy dance.

After a little research, we chose to go to Cefalu (cheff-a-LOO) on the northern coast of Sicily. On our way there, we decided to detour to the mountain town of Caccamo (KAH-kah-moo). Our guide book raved about the lunch served in a restaurant below a castle, and we know Sunday lunch is a tradition in Sicily. We made it to Caccamo in time to explore the castle before stuffing ourselves on a huge four-course meal.

View of Caccamo as we walked up to the castle.

There was a mountain bike race ending right at the foot of the castle, right outside the restaurant. Mountain bikers were everywhere, including the castle, and one of them was kind enough to take our picture.

Also… ahem. Lena was fascinated with this ancient toilet.

Lake, valley, mountains… so much of the scenery reminded us of California.
Also, I love my cute family!

Hand-painted floor tiles.

Inside the Great Hall of the castle. On the other side of the room was a huge fireplace and windows overlooking the mountains and valleys.

You catch a glimpse of the ocean to the left. What a setting!

And now… time to eat! I loved the brickwork and the decor. All the baskets are very distinctly Sicilian and are woven by hand from strips of olive wood.

Gil is eating so much now, and we are hoping he’ll fatten up! He’s still hanging out around the 10th percentile for weight. He ate a lot of our delicious meal, which included the traditional four courses: appetizer plates, two kinds of pasta, meat and salad, and cannoli and espresso for dessert. Definitely more food than we could possibly hold! There is nothing like a traditional Sicilian meal, eaten slowly over 3 hours and washed down with vino della casa.

Of course, everything was about 5 times more stressful for us than any of our neighbors because of our tired little kids, but Lena and Gil did pretty well, and we were grateful we came. Around 4pm we buckled them back into the car, and they were asleep before we left Caccamo!

Up next… photos of our beautiful weekend in Cefalu.

5 :: in family, Sicily, travel

a visit to Durham!

October 14, 2013 at 1:14 pm

A few weeks ago, while we were still in the States visiting family and friends, I decided to roadtrip four hours south to see some of our best friends in the world. After I kissed Elliott goodbye and sent him back to Sicily, I packed my kids in the car and headed to Durham, North Carolina. It felt crazy to do this all by myself at the time, especially as I’d spent the entire day in the car driving to the air terminal and then the entire afternoon and evening at the airport waiting to see if Elliott could get out on a military flight. My kids were amazing, though… by which I mean they slept almost the entire way. Like I mentioned here, my new life strategy is to roadtrip at night!

The Arthurs, our wonderful friends from Sicily, moved to Durham in August, and we were eager to see their new life, catch up after their big move, and let our kids play together. And let me tell you… those kids were ecstatic to see each other again!

As an extra bonus, my friend Becca is uniquely able to move into a place and discover all the best spots there. Durham was no exception. I got a grand tour with Foster’s Market, the Duke Gardens, the Duke University campus (where Josh is in school), and the Q Shack BBQ. Readers, thank you for all your suggestions in this post, btw… thanks to you all, I have more reasons to go back and visit!

We ate lunch at Foster’s Market our first day there. I loved the food and the environment. The kids ate grilled cheese, mac ‘n’ cheese, and potato chips… lunch from a dream for a child.

This was half my lunch… and the other half was a delicious Greek grilled cheese sandwich with tons of fresh veggies.

I love our little Gil Garber.

The mamas let the kiddos play outside while we shared a ginormous slice of coconut cake layered with lemon curd.

Four-year-old Caleb took our picture! Sometimes I look at photos like this and am amazed that this is me… a mom with two little kids, hanging out with another mom and her kids. I still feel like I’m a kid play-acting at being an adult most days! When will I feel like a legit grown-up? Ever?

Caleb, Lucas, and Lena… so happy to be reunited!

Another afternoon we took a picnic to Duke Gardens, which are absolutely magnificent and too large for me to enjoy on one visit. They reminded me a lot of the Botanical Gardens in Singapore, where my siblings and I spent hours upon hours as children. Becca also visited those Botanical Gardens when she was young… while I lived there, but we didn’t know each other then.

Kids in a giant magnolia. Lena ate one of the bright red magnolia seeds, leading me to call Poison Control for the first time in my life. No worries, though; they are non-toxic. Whew.

Bright purple prickly pears and a very cute little Eden.

My beautiful friend. In the springtime, the gazebo behind Becca is covered in purple wisteria blossoms.

Goodbye, sweet Arthurs! Thank you so much for hosting us and loving us. We can’t wait to see you again soon!

6 :: in friends, travel

4 Tips for Car Trips with Small Children

September 30, 2013 at 8:16 pm

photo from early March when Gil was about 6 weeks old!

As I mentioned in this post, my 2.5-year-old Lena, my 8-month-old Gil, and I spent a lot of time on the road this past week! Last Friday night, as I was driving the 4 hours home from Durham with two sleeping babies in the back seat, I tried to think of all the things that had helped our past few drives go smoothly… or not so smoothly. Some things worked, some didn’t. Here is some distilled advice, after a lot of tears and a lot of sleeping on the road recently:

1) Before you hit the road, take 5. Take 5 minutes (or 20…) to make sure that you are really ready to leave the house and hit the road in good shape. Before leaving Durham, I made sure I had a big cloth bag of toys and books within easy reach to hand to my kids, entered the home address into the GPS, took Lena and myself to the bathroom, treated myself to a big Starbucks coffee, and stopped to fill up my gas tank. Now, hopefully, I could drive in absolute silence and the kids would sleep most of the time. No gas station stops when the children are tenuously asleep, please!

2) Dress for success. For me, this meant changing Gil’s diaper and putting him into a soft cotton sleeper. I wanted him to be in his pajamas so he wouldn’t wake up because he was cold or uncomfortable. If I want Lena to sleep, I often put her in a diaper to avoid any mishaps. I have also given her socks or a light blanket.

3) Drive at night if at all possible. This was a complete break-through for me, and it was life changing. In Durham, we went out to dinner and then a playground with our friends. Around 8pm, I thought my kids were probably tired enough, and so we said goodbye. Then I bought coffee and gas, told my children it was time to sleep, and ceased all conversation. Miraculously, it worked, and they both slept from Durham to northern Virginia. It made the 4-hour trip actually last 4 hours. A trip like that during the day might have taken as many as 6 hours with breaks for the bathroom, lunch, and sanity. Also, I was driving during my normal waking hours anyway, and so ended up going to bed at a relatively reasonable time.

4) If someone else is driving and you are sitting beside your child to keep her happy, it can often be very hard to get her to go to sleep. I finally learned (on an 8-hour road trip from Sicily to Naples) to fake sleep. I would tell Lena it was time to nap, then just lean back, close my eyes, and fake it. It still works every time. Lena and Gil quickly get bored, then drowsy, and then drop off to sleep.

Of course sometimes none of these things work… like at 11:30 on Friday night when we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic outside D.C. because of roadwork. The kids woke up and cried, of course. We finally got to a gas station, where we stopped for nursing and bathroom breaks. They were furious when I strapped them back into their car seats, and the only way I could think to keep them happy was to sing loudly the whole way home. Thankfully Lena’s new favorite song was on the radio to help me out: “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire, ‘cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me ROAR…”

Do you have any tips for keeping your kids happy in the car? I’ve got another road trip coming up, so I’m all ears!