Thursday, December 24, 2009

Tea and a little bit (read: a little too much) of chit chat...

...Too much because I don't have much voice today and my throat is hurting! Anyway, yesterday we had a little Christmas Eve at our friend Airi's place, she had prepared everything- from gingerbread cookies to meat and potatoes ! Delicious. I had such a great time, we exchanged gifts, we laughed and then we laughed again... a perfect evening. Here are some pictures. Hope you're having a pleasant night with your family and get nice surprises!


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

And so I arrived

Here I am, safe home. Finally! I actually was afraid of the flight, I don't know, lately I've had that strange feeling, but in the end all went well and I'm finally HERE!!! it's so beautiful, it's snowing and it's cold but it's exactly the way it has to be. I met my girls at the airport, straight away and we all came to my place (my grandma's) to have some tea and chit chat. Oh it was so great, I've really missed you so much!!!:) Anyway tomorrow is going to be a busy busy day, (read: some presents still need to be done!) Here are 3 pics I took on the plain of the Alpes.

Stay tooned!
xoxo






Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Ready to go... Tallinn, here I come!!

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It's my last night at home!!!

I just finished watching Yes Men with Jim Carey (it wasn't bad at all).
The packing is done.
These last days before my trip have been really crazy and I'm sorry I couldn't post anything, though I have something great waiting to be finished and as soon as I'll have time I'll post it!
In the meanwhile.. I won't grant big posts coming up here until the 17th of January, but I guess you'll have some great photo-posts about my stay in Tallinn, so stay tooned!
I wish you everybody lovely holidays!
Here are some themed shoots of my place.

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My sister's carion, she's crazy about it and spends hours and hours just sitting and watching it. We got it for her last Christmas.

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LUNCHtime.

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Mmm... salmon with fresh cheese and slices of florence fennel bulb inside, with lemon. Reaallly delicious. Florence fennel (check! it here) is really good, with little bit of lemon juice squeezed on it, to eat fresh. Something they use quite a lot here in Italy. Florence fennel btw was used as one of three herbs in the preparation of absinthe (wiki).

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Okay guys, need to go to sleep,
xoxo.

A casual night out in Rome (and few tips for choosing a good restaurant)

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Yesterday me and my family went to eat in a restaurant which my mom just discovered, thanks to her job. She organizes personalized vacations in Rome and always wants to test the restaurants she's suggested, before sending her clients there.

This restaurant is called Trattoria Pizzeria Fiammetta and it's just a few steps from Piazza Navona, one of the most famous squares in the Rome city-center. I think at the moment it enters in my personal top 3 list (the other two I definitely recommend are Il Chianti, near Fontana di Trevi (the most famous fountain in Rome) and Taverna Trilussa, in Trastevere.) Italian cuisine is already good and it's kinda hard to find a place where you eat badly, anyway it's always better to know where are you going to eat (either you've been suggested by a friend or have done a research on Trip Advisor, one of the best sites for this kind of information). In Rome it's very easy to fall in a typical tourist-trap. Because usually after a long day of walking you're willing to sit down at the first table which gets on your way, and belive me, if you were having some doubts about the place in the beginning, after 2 minutes you'll be already ordering, all thanks to the smooth-talking waiter who well knows his job, read: has the perfect eye for catching the tired and hungry tourists like you! That said, keep in mind the better the service seems and the better looking is the place, the more probably the food isn't so good at all. The restaurant thing is totally upside-down here: the best places in town can very often have a really bad service and they seem not to care about the interiors or atmosphere at all (which in my opinion is so important!). Why? The reason is quite simple: they just can aloud it. People keep on coming back for the food and there is no need for change. Oh, and another tip for choosing a restaurant: try to see if there're any italians in the place, in the absence don't even bother. Usually the best ones are always full of locals, through the week.

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So, Fiammetta was good. It served the typical italian food, done very easily and deliciously! Everything just seemed to melt in mouth! Only thing I could complain about a little was the interiors, but let's just leave it aside. I always have something to say about the interiors!:) Compared to other restaurants, it was quite sophisticated and clean. The prices weren't so high too and the desserts were breathtakingly goood! Enough of talking, here are the pictures, also from the Piazza Navona.

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On our way back home... oh Rome I'm gonna miss you a lot, even though I'll be away only for a month! It's crazy how you've become part of me! (what happens if I need to go to uni in another city? let's not hink about it!)

Monday, December 14, 2009

New York, New York.. I've got you under my skin

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.. and thanks to her even more.

This isn't going to be long.
I was thinkig for long how to write this post, how to describe well enough this young photographer with who's work I'm in love with, but there's nothing much to say actually. Except that she's got a huge talent. I mean really huge !
She mainly takes pictures of every day things and doings. It's the way she catches them. The ordinary moments in her photographs become so special. Makes you want to slow down with the rush and enjoy simple things like walking (and not running!) in the city or having a lunch at the park, too. Just like the people in her pictures..
She's got two blogs: one in black & white and another in colour.
You must check them out to understand what I'm talking about, definitely!


Photodiarist black & white (check!)
Photodiarist in colour (check!)

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Here are some shoots she made of Bergdorf Goodman's (department store in New York) holiday window displays. I find them sensational. She could calmly shoot the next Vogue issue editorial, in my opinion.

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Which was your favourite photograph taken by her (seen on her blog)?
You should see her older post too, there are some fantastic pictures taken on her trip to Morocco, definitely check them out and Stockholm pics are also great!! (love the yellow)
;)

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Driving home for Christmas, with a thousand memories...

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Good morning everyone! Mm.. it's 14.01 here but I'm still in my pj's and I had a pretty long breakfast infront of my pc, surfing around blogs and different sites. Ahhh I just love Sundays, I usually try to spend it at home and relax.. as the rest of the week I tend to run around like a chicken without a head! Anyway.. It has been a busy week and emotionally stressful because of some bureaucratic things I needed to do at the bank (I hate hate and HATE AGAIN the Italian paper-work!)
and... tadadatatataaaa...

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I finally bought my tickets to go to Estonia.
In the beginning I planned to spend the Christmas Eve here, with my family, and the New Year's Eve there, with my friends, but I ended up buying a cheaper ticket already from the 22th of December. I'm exited, oh sooo exited about going back! Because of my busy life, the last time I went there was summer 2008. So I can imagine how much the town (Tallinn) has changed! With my friends fortunatelly I have been in touch almost all this time, especially with my best friend Kadri, with who we took a dream trip to Sardegna and Nice this summer. There are so many persons who I've missed, so many things I have wanted to do.. Here's my list of things I plan to do:

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-having a coffee-chit-chat with my girlfriends in the Old Town. We used to do it all the time in the winter time when it was cold and dark outside.

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- visit to KUMU the art museum of Tallinn I've missed (check!)

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- a real shopping tour in the vintage shops and second-hand markets. (In Italy everything that's vintage, has a triple price of what's it's actually worth. Crazy)

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- visit my grandfathers studio or however could I call it, where he constructs his yachts. I've been there a couple of times when I was little, too little to remember anything. He's a genius. I intend to learn something from him this time.

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- playing tourists-taking pictures tour around Tallinn, it's such a beautiful city and I want to post about it here, definitely.

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- a girls night out with my girls! Ohh I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH! starting from the preparations at someone's place with few drinks and great gossip...

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- a YOU AND ME DAY with my dear friend Kàrt. Taking pictures and cooking and talking and just relaxing...

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- taking my grandma to the theathre & café for a cup of coffee and a cake!

All I really want is to enjoy the city, this time like a real tourist. I think it's not going to be hard. And all this thanks to Kadri, who really insisted on me going there!
Tallinn is really a pearl! I hope there's going to be a lot of snow, I miss it so much! Even though I'm afraid I don't have any boots neither clothes for the freezing Estonian wheather, lol. Need to do some urgent shopping!
If you're interested you can read all about Tallinn and tourism on this site (check!) and general information on wiki (check!)

I'm curious- has anyone ever heard about Estonia or been there? :)


And oh yes, I lived in Estonia for 15 years, then I moved to Italy, it was almost four years ago.

PS! I KNOW IT'S NOT 14.01 anymore... It took me a while to find the right pictures here;)