East Side Gallery

As of yesterday, I am in possession of a super-short Berliner hairdo. Think Mike Myers as Dieter from Sprokets on Saturday Night Live ("Now's ze time on Sprokets ven ve danse"), only curly.

I kind of like it this short, but it will take some getting used to.

After my shearing, we took ourselves to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest (1.3km) and best-preserved remaining section of The Berlin Wall. In 1990, dozens of artists from around the world created over 100 murals along this stretch of wall, making it, according to my Lonely Planet guidebook, the world's largest open-air art gallery.

It's pretty impressive to actually be looking at a section of the wall itself, and very moving to see all of the different artistic creations inspired by it.

After that, it was off to dinner at a terrific restaurant, Schwarzwaldstuben, for what else.......Schnitzel!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Prague for four nights, followed by one night in Munich as we make our way down to Lake Como, Italy, where we will stay for two weeks.

I am not sure what the internet deal will be in Prague, but I do know that our apartment in Italy doesn't have internet, so we will have to go to an internet cafe in the town 10 minutes away.

All that is to say that I'm not sure how often I will be able to post over the next few weeks. I will do so as often as I can, so keep checking back periodically.

Ciao!

Wine for Already Being in Love with Italy

So I have only four more lessons in which to become fluent in Italian in preparation for our visit there in September.

I think there might be a slight flaw in my plan, but no matter. I have already begun to fall hopelessly in love with Italy, and I haven't even been there yet.

Below, a list of the reasons why:

Reason #1: The language. No matter that I still can basically only say "The cat is white", "My name is Jocelyn" and "I am married" (I am making sure Steve learns how to say that last one, too), anything that is said in Italian sounds like the most beautiful, musical and romantic phrase ever uttered.

Reason #2: The attitude. Those Italians really seem to know how to enjoy themselves. Last I heard, they get 650 vacation days a year, they nap from 2-5 every day and their dinners last about 4 hours. The teacher of my Italian class, Alessia (beautiful name, yes?), was telling us that Italians, before they have children will, on a Saturday night, go out for dinner at about 10pm, after which they will go to a bar or dance club until 5 or 6am, at which point they will go to a cafe, have a cappuccino and a brioche before going home where they will sleep until being woken up at 1 or 2 for lunch with Mama and the rest of their immediate family.

Reason #3: The Maserati. Now I am not a car person ordinarily, and I know next to nothing about them, but even I can say with authority that the Maserati is a beautiful car.

Reason #4: Tiramisu, pizza, gnocci, parmesan, salumi, prosciutto, biscotti, spaghetti, lasagna, cafe, bucatini, bolognese, pesto...need I say more?

Reason #5: Il Vino. Of course...the wine. With all that wonderful food, you need some wonderful wine: Prosecco, moscato, vermentino, sangiovese, chianti, vin santo, and on and on and on.

One of the wines I discovered in the course of my recent wine studies was a Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva. I can't remember, to be honest, if it was the 2003 or 2005 vintage I tasted, but I think it might have been the 2003.

We tend to think more about the Italian wines coming out of Tuscany and Piedmont, but Sardinia is producing a lot of delicious wines, as is Sicily. Cannonau is the Italian word for the Grenache of France and the Garnacha of Spain, and this wine was full of the flavors of rich black and red berries, earth, spice and wood.

It's a powerful wine so will go well with food, though I was also quite happy sipping it by itself before my food arrived, when I savored it alongside a simple plate of sharp, crumbly Italian cheeses, raisin bread, dried fruits and nuts.