Food Lover's Odyssey

Jardin du Luxembourg for a Picnic in Paris

 

It's very easy to find a park if you want to picnic in Paris.  The city is filled with so many painfully picturesque parks that you could spend your entire stay visiting them.  Some of the parks are tiny plots tucked away between buildings. Others are lush and grand oases in the city.  If I had to choose one, just one, to while away the day, or better yet to have a picnic, it would be the Jardin du Luxembourg.  And, favorite picnic spots is our topic for this month's Across the Cafe Table.

There are many reasons why I prefer the Jardin du Luxembourg over all the other parks in Paris, but the biggest one was probably subconcious. On a guided walk through the gardens, I learned that the park has Italian origins!  Originally owned by the duke of Luxembourg, hence the name, Marie de Medici, wife of Henry IV and mother of Louis XIII, purchased it in 1612.  Her plan was to model the palace and the park after her childhood home, the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens of Florence.

 

The Luxembourg Gardens provide both a verdant and tranquil setting for a picnic,  along with quiet corners where you can nestle yourself away from the crowds.  When I want to be part of the crowd or people watch, I'll take a seat center stage around the Grand Bassin, the pool in front of the Luxembourg Palace (now the French Senate), or check out the old guys playing boules and chess.  After the French Revolution, the gardens were redesigned in the French style. Traces of its origins remain; including the original layout, the Medici Fountain, and a statue of The Mouth of Truth modeled after the one in Rome.

 

The Grand Bassin and its fountain

Medici Fountain

After one of my Paris Food Walks, with much picnic fare purchased, I'd enjoy a picnic on one of the park's benches. It's also an idyllic place to have a morning viennoiserie before you start your day in the city, or to pause for pastry binges in the afternoon.  I've walked off those calories without even leaving the park as there are plenty of little alleys running along the park's perimeter and weaving their way throughout the grounds. 

 

What's in my Paris picnic basket?  Well, it's all about the bread, the cheese and the pastries. I'll frequently add a bit of foie gras, seasonal fruit, maybe some olives and charcuterie, depending on who's joining me and how hungry we are.

 

 
Fountain of the Four Points of the World

 

 

This is the fourth installment in the "Across the Café Table" series organized by Margo of The Travel Belles. Once a month, Margo asks a travel-related question. We who participate share our answers “across the virtual café table,” on our own blogs, and all link to the Travel Belles' post. Everyone is welcome to participate.  As Margo says, "Grab a beverage and pull up a chair – there’s always plenty of room!" Why don't you head on over there now, and check out what others' favorite souvenirs are from around the world.

 

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Now, it's your turn: Where is your favorite spot to have a picnic? What's in your ideal picnic basket?

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Related Posts:

Paris Food Walk: Rue de Seine & Bonaparte

Favorite Parks in Paris to Picnic and People Watch

Cours Saleya Market and a Picnic in Nice

Best Picnic Spots and Picnic Fare in Rome

French Pastries and Ten Top Patisseries in Paris

Market Day in Sarlat

Foreign Cookbook Obsession and Other Travel Indulgences (Across the Cafe Table #1)

Beach Bag Essentials and My Favorite Italian Beaches (Across the Cafe Table #2)

My Best Souvenir - Launching Travel Memories in My Mind (Across the Cafe Table #3)

 

 

My Best Souvenir - Launching the Travel Memories in My Mind

 

Souvenirs, those things we bring back from our travels.  The word is French and though it can mean a travel memento, it's most commonly used in French to mean a memory, or to remember (when used as a verb).   Souvenirs are this month's topic for The Travel Belles "Across the Cafe Table"  chat, more specifically, your favorite souvenir.

 

I've been known to buy a trinket or three while traveling.  I have a collection of Venetian masks that grows with each visit to the floating city.  I'm not immune to the cheesy souvenir either; I collect snow globes.  I imagine one day when I'm old and my memory is failing I'll shake each globe, of this hopefully massive collection, and the little white flecks cascading onto famous monuments will help remind me of all I've seen, ate and the people I've met in those cities. Whether cheesy or extravagant, my prerequisite for a great souvenir is one that unlocks the door to your best travel memories.

 

Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories.  Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart.  ~ Thomas Fuller

 

The best souvenirs aren't really the ones that I've purchased.  Some are recipes that take me back to a meal or dessert from "the road." Others are CDs/downloads of Italian music we played during our giro in Sicilia and on the beach in Liguria. Sometimes it's only a word.  Just mention "Spritz" and my mind launches the highlight reel of a month's worth of Spritz drinking and summer evenings in Venice. 

My very favorite souvenirs are my travel stories/memories and the collage of photos that go with them.  The photos instantly transport me back to a specific place, a walk, a vista, a meal shared, a funny mishap, or any of those goosebump moments you get while traveling.  Looking at the photo sends my mind into a blissful reverie and my face alights with a faraway glow.

Most of the time the photos that spark the best memories aren't necessarily the most picturesque or photographic and have a completely different story behind them then the photo might suggest. And, they might not always bring back the best travel moments, but instead the funniest.

Some of these travel stories I've shared with you, others I should share with you in the future.  Here, I give you a glimpse at some of those stories, aided by my favorite souvenir, my photos:

 

 

Night walks in Rome and drinking wine sotto le stelle (under the stars) with friends. One of the best times I've had in Rome was last summer. Two friends and I roamed the moonlit streets, sat in piazze, and sometimes under the shadow of Rome's monuments, sipping wine.

 

 

 

 

New friends in Salento - My culinary journey in Salento felt a lot like a girlfriends' getaway, full of many goofing-around moments. Both the food and the people of Puglia stole my heart.

 

 

 

Certainly not the most photographic, this photo always makes me smile and think of the bus drivers who helped us in Napoli. The sign says "Don't talk to the bus driver." I'm so glad we did!

 

 

 

My first bite of Neapolitan pizza.

 

 

 

While I showed photos of Carnival in Venice that looked like the one above,

 

This behind-the-scene look is the one I love and that really tells the story of my mornings during Carnevale.

 

 

 

 

Summers in Sicily - I've spent many summers near the Castellamare del Golfo area in Sicily visiting my cousins. We'd spend days at the beach or on the boat, which ended in evening dinners on their terrace.   Any photo of the coast near Catellamare replays those summer scenes and makes me long for days at the beach and big family dinners on the terrace in Sicily.

 

 

 

Traveling with Dr. Doolittle Dad - The first photo epitomizes my travels with him. Yes, he talks to animals, one of his many qualities I find irritating amusing. Once he passed up a chance to visit the Galleria Borghese in Rome to instead get some carrots and feed the horses parked near the Spanish Steps.  As he invites me to dad-sit travel with him yearly, I should really start a "Travels with Dad" series. His quips and antics would rival those "Sh** My Dad Says" stories. 

In the second photo, you might see a peaceful night shot of the Cathedral in Cologne.  For me it brings on flashbacks of our Rhine River trip and the looooong walk I needed to get away for a bit and restore my sanity.

 

 

Shopping for anything but rabbit on Rue de Buci in Paris

Traveling with my BFF Shannon - Although she doesn't talk to animals, travels with her are more fun and just as amusing.  One of my best friends, and travel buddies, we share nearly a lifetime of travel stories and have countless photos to match each one.  This photo is from her visit while I was living in Paris, where she refused to eat the Lapin au Moutarde (rabbit in a mustard sauce) that I painstakingly prepared for her with a little skewer of innards as an accoutrement.  Instead she ate a hot dog from one of the stands near Place St. Michel. (I will NEVER let her forget this story.)

Besides walking the streets of Paris with me, we saw a few other sights in France.  We tried to remember parts of the Star Spangled Banner while walking the ramparts in St. Malo, got lost among the fountains of Versailles, and were less than reverent in the cloister of Mont St. Michel.

 

Mont St. Michel - France

 

This very holy door will forever more be tied to a story of cleavage

 

She and I have also binged on chocolate and beer in Belgium & Munich, visited castles in Bavaria, chased windmills and wooden clogs in Holland, were pickpocketed in Prague, sang songs from The Sound of Music in Salzburg, and got lost trying to find Siena when we were already in Siena. There was also the time we were almost banned from crossing through the open-only-once-every-25-years Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica due to supposedly showing too much cleavage. (For me, it was completely a case of guilt by association.) The Holy Door of St. Peter's will now forever be tied to admonishments against cleavage.

 

 

Finally, any photo or mention of Spritz immediately takes me to a summer in Venice and some of my most cherished travel memories.

 

 

This is the third installment in the "Across the Café Table" series organized by Margo of The Travel Belles. Once a month, Margo asks a travel-related question. We who participate share our answers “across the virtual café table,” on our own blogs, and link to The Travel Belles' post. Everyone is welcome to participate.  As Margo says, "Grab a beverage and pull up a chair – there’s always plenty of room!" Why don't you head on over there now, and check out what others' favorite souvenirs are from around the world.

 

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Now, it's your turn: What is your favorite souvenir?  What launches the playback reel of travel memories for you?

**************

 

Related Posts:

Foreign Cookbook Obsession and Other Travel Indulgences

Beach Bag Essentials for My Favorite Italian Beaches

Favorite Scenes from Carnival in Venice

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

A Drive along the Amalfi Coast

The Italian Teacher, the Friend and a Magical Chocolate Kahlua Budino

Twist on a Venetian Spritz and Embracing Italian Culture

Villa d'Este - A Day Trip from Rome

Market Day in Sarlat - Featuring Food of the Dordogne Region

Munich Day Trip to Neuschwantein Castle  (Post for Travel Belles)

We'll Take the Cologne (Germany) the Chocolate, and the Beer Bike in Cologne (Post for Travel Belles)

 

 

Beach Bag Essentials for My Favorite Italian Beaches

 

Beaches in Italy rank right up there with gelato, Pasta all' Amatriciana and pizza in bella Napoli as some of the best reasons to travel to Italy.  Italy's coastline, including that of its two islands - Sicily and Sardinia, is 7600 km, or 4,712 miles! With all that beach space and its warm (sometimes sweltering summer temperatures), is it no wonder most of Italy takes all of August off to hit the beach? 

I've spent many a July and August lounging on those beaches, so much so that I have a special beach bag all ready to go for any summer trips along the coast in the bel paese.  I've been known to forego food forays so I could lay on a lettino (sun bed) and splash around in the mild waters of Italy's seas.  This month at "Across the Cafe Table" we're discussing what's in our beach bags and our favorite beach locations. I'm taking the opportuinty to share with you what's in my Italian beach bag and some of my favorite beaches along Italy's coast.

 

 

 

Beach Fashion Essentials:  The norm on California's beaches, old baseball cap, cut offs, flip flops and sweats as cover up just don't cut it in Italy.  To blend in with the fashionista Italian crowd, if only a little, I add a few little things to dress up my beachwear a bit:

Colorful sarong, wrap or pareo - Whatever you call it, I bring one to wrap around my waist for those quick gelato jaunts

LBSD (little black sun dress) to cover up for walks along the promenade or a lunch break at a beach-side trattoria. 

Strappy sandals - Usually in black, I wear these to and from the beach and save the flip flops to use only as shower shoes

A hat that's anything but baseball - Sometimes its a fun and floppy one, but my current favorite is the fedora.

Beach Towel - I like one that's colorful but also goes well with the other colors in my beach bag 

 

Essentials for skin and hair care:  My love for the sun and the beach is sadly one-sided.  My pale and fragile skin not only burns but also can get irritated and break out in an ugly red heat rash if I'm in the sun too much.  Then there's my rebelious hair, that starts to look more like a brittle bird's nest than the long and lovely locks I would like it to be.  To temper my sun intake, I always rent a lettino and shade my face under its cover.  I'll also take a long lunch break from the sun during the hottest part of the day.  Besides those precautions, my bag is stocked with sunsreen 30+ SPF for my body and also some for my hair.

 

Fun in the Sun Essentials:  Many of the Italian beaches I prefer are not sand-covered ones. Instead, they are covered with little rocks.  After taking a swim in the Mediterrenean, I envisioned myself gracefully emerging from the water and sauntering to the shore, possibly like Bo Derek or Halle Barry in one of the 007 movies.  Ha, instead with those sharp pebbles under my bare feet, I look more like someone sentenced to walk across hot coals.  My face writhing in pain while I jerk and jump from one sharp stone is as graceful as a linebacker dancing the waltz. 

Those pink swim shoes may kill all the fashion sense I gained with strappy sandals and the LBSD, but they have saved my feet so many times I will never give them up.  I don't leave for Italy without them.  Besides the pink swim shoes, my other fun in the sun essentials include:

A good read - Many times I'm reading a book based in Italy.  Currently, however, I'm walking in Paris with A Pedistrian in Paris: The Most Beautiful Walk by John Baxter

Music - An iPod filled with some of my favorite tunes, including Italian artisits like Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, and Jovanotti

Camera - Always the shutter bug, I have a small camera in my beach bag.  I not only use it to capture beautiful views of the sea and coastline, but also to capture other pleasing scenes along the beach in Italy.

Wine - Why, yes, that is a bottle of wine in my bag - For those evening excursions to the beach, I pack a bottle of wine, and a couple of glasses. For me, nothing is more romantic and relaxing than sipping a little wine while watching the sun set on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

Although I'd be happy if you plopped me down anywhere along the Italian coastline with my beach bag, a lettino and an umbrella, here are some photos of my favorite beaches in Italy: 

 

 

The Beach at Camogli

Monterosso Beach in the Cinque Terre

Liguria - Camogli and Monterosso in the Cinque Terre - Many little towns with pastel-colored buildings dot the Ligurian coastline.  I especially like both Camogli and Monterosso. Both have a very small-town feel along with long stretches of beach and stunning 360 degree views from the water or wherever you place your beach towel.

 

 

 

 
Positano 

 

Amalfi

Amalfi Coast - Positano and Amalfi are well-known beaches along the Amalfi Coast.  Both are full of sun beds, umbrellas and crowds, also called eye-candy, throughout the summer.

 

 

Scopello in Sicily

 

The Shores of Panarea in the Aeolian Islands

 

Sicily - Scopello and the Aeolian Islands

I've spent many summer vacations with my cousins in Sicily near Castellamare del Golfo, about an hour west of Palermo.  Scopello, a little farther west from Castellamare del Golfo, may not have long stretches of beach or sun beds, but what it does have is an enchanting cove with crystal blue waters for swimmers.

Whether lounging along the black-sand shores of Lipari or Stromboli or swimming off a boat around Panarea, the Aeolian Islands are a must for any sea and sun worshipper.

 

 

Puglia - Otranto - I'm sure one day I'll need to dedicate an entire post to the best beaches in Puglia alone.  For now, I'm choosing the one at which I spent the most of my daytime hours, Otranto.

 

This is the second installment in the "Across the Café Table" series organized by Margo of The Travel Belles. Once a month, Margo asks a travel-related question. We who participate will then share our answers “across the virtual café table,” on our own blogs, adding a link to the Travel Belles post and a link to our post on The Travel Belles' site.  Everyone is welcome to participate.  As Margo says, "Grab a beverage and pull up a chair – there’s always plenty of room!" Why don't you head on over there now, and check out what others have in their beach bag along with wanderlust inducing photos from others' favorite beaches around the world.

 

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Now, it's your turn: What are some of your beach bag essentials and where is(are) your favorite beach(es)?

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Related Posts:

Across the Cafe Table #1: Foreign Cookbook Obsession and Other Travel Indulgences

Best Places to Kiss in Italy

A Taste of the Sea and Spaghetti Siracusana in Ortigia

Good Views and Good Eats in Taormina

The Cinque Terre: My Happy Place

Camogli: One of the Many Picturesque Towns in Liguria

A Drive Along the Amalfi Coast

The Dish from Liguria: Spaghetti allo Scoglio

The Dish from Puglia: Ricci di Mare (sea urchins) from Porto Badisco, Otranto

My Last Meal - Preparing for the End of the World

Foreign Cookbook Obsession - And Other Travel Indulgences

 
 

 

Travel itself is an indulgence, and I know I'm very lucky to be able to travel as frequently as I do. When I'm home, however, my life is tightly budgeted to keep myself in plane tickets and hotel rooms.  Forget about designer wear and handbags.  Do you know how many days in Italy or France one Louis Vutton bag or pair of Prada shoes would cost me?  Instead, most of the time I walk around looking like a candidate for "What Not To Wear," while planning my next journey. (One of my former students actually nominated me so many times for the show that they sent her a cease and desist email!)

During my travels, I do have a few indulgences I give into. Being the food lover that I am, these involve food.  I'm happy to stay in a less expensive hotel, so I can spend more on food. These indulgences include dining at a Michelin-starred restaurant, finding underground supper clubs, planning a trip around a chocolate festival, and taking cooking classes.  I also almost always make a detour to Paris especially to eat pastries buy pastry supplies.  Said trip to Paris not only includes copious amounts of pastries, but also stops to Mora, E. Dehillerin and Detou for pastry supplies and ingredients that are hard to get at home.  My real obsession indulgence, however, actually comes in the form of cookbooks. Yes, I buy at least one cookbook in every city I visit.

Cookbooks aren't the lightest of things, either. Schlepping them around isn't easy, especially when you buy as many as I do.  I mail them home as I go.  Whatever money I've saved on airfare quickly goes out the proverbial window at La Poste. But, when those books arrive at my home, I'm traveling all over again.  I rip through the packages like a child at Christmas, quickly getting to the good stuff.  On each page is a memory of something I've tasted, a place I've visited, and/or someone with whom I've shared a meal. 

 

 
Cookbooks from various regions in France

 

During my recent travels, my cookbook purchases included a Neapolitan/Amalfi Coast pastry cookbook, a chocolate pastry cookbook from Librarie Gourmande in Paris (that place is a crack house for the cookbook addict), and an old Venetian cookbook, in Venetian dialect (as if reading Italian wasn't hard enough).  Monica suggested the Venetian cookbook and promised to help me with the translation.  (Uhm, I know I'll be taking her up on that promise.) In Salento, Antonella, the owner of the trattoria Locanda Rivoli, gave me a small Salento cookbook.  As I looked through the book, instinctively I did a little happy dance to the amusement of those around me.  None of them knew of my obsession with foreign cookbooks, so my joy from the gift surprised them.  Now, the secret is out.  Yes, my name is Kathy and I'm a chocoholic and a foreign cookbook addict.....and happy to declare both!

 

 
My most recent Neapolitan pastry cookbook: "Dolci del Sole" by Salvatore de Riso

 

 
Inside my most treasured cookbook: "ph10" by Pierre Herme

  

This is the first in a series of blog carnivals, “Across the Café Table" with the Travel Belles. Once a month, Margo from The Travel Belles, will ask a travel-related question. We who participate will then share our answers “across the virtual café table,” on our own blogs, adding a link to the Travel Belles post and also link to our post at the end of Margo's post on the Travel Belles' site.  Everyone is welcome to participate.  As Margo says, "Grab a beverage and pull up a chair – there’s always plenty of room!" Why don't you head on over there now, and check out what others' travel indulgences are.

 

 

 

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How do you indulge when you travel?

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Related Posts:

The Art of Making Pasta by Hand: A Pugliese Pasta Lesson with Nonna Vata

French Pastries and 10 Top Patisseries in Paris

Market Day in Sarlat

Cheese of Puglia: Making Fresh Cheese in Salento

Dining Around Napoli with Napoli Unplugged

Scenes from CioccolaTo - Turin's Chocolate Festival

Mini Macarons and Ice Cream from LaDuree

Easter Chocolates in Paris Windows

A Night at L'Atelier Joel Robuchon

Dining at the Hidden Kitchen in Paris