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Augustarello Cucina Povera Ditirambo Italian Food Italian Restaurants Ristorante Pierluigi Rome

CIAO/CHOW TIME – THREE RESTAURANTS IN ROME

By
judithworks

on

January 1, 2014

It would take several lifetimes to sample all the dining options in Rome. Here are three we found during our last very short visit. So many more to try!

Ditirambo, Piazza della Cancelleria 74. This small, informal restaurant is very close to Campo di Fiori in the heart of tourist Rome. www.ristoranteditirambo.it Recommend reservations. 39.06.687.1626. Moderate prices. Open every day. Monday dinner only.

We ate there at lunch time, and despite its location Italians rather than tourists joined us in savoring creative Italian cooking.

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Christmas Christmas traditions Italy La Befana Nativity Scenes Rome

CHRISTMAS IN ROME

By
judithworks

on

December 6, 2013

The Christmas season in Rome begins on December 1. We had the pleasure of participating in the start of the festivities in Piazza Navona and the neighborhoods. The first event on our list was the annual United National Women’s Guild bazaar with shopping opportunities from the world over to fund projects in developing countries.

We paused at this shop on the way to Piazza Navona to inspect their treats:

Next stop was wonderful Piazza Navona where the traditional Christmas market was being set up.… Read more

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Country Hotel Italy Lazio Orvieto Umbria

COUNTRY PLEASURES

By
judithworks

on

November 4, 2013

What better than a few days in the Italian countryside? Especially if they involve a castle, a swimming pool and time to visit small hill towns nearby in the warm sunshine.

A writer friend in Italy recommended the Castello di Santa Maria, located near the tiny village of San Michele in Teverina, at the north end of Lazio, the region surrounding Rome. The castle is part of the Charme & Relax network of (mostly) country homes and castles.

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Italy Lago di Orta Sacred Mountains

LAGO DI ORTA & OTHERWORLDLY HANDS

By
judithworks

on

October 3, 2013

Mellow sunshine made the trees dressed in fall finery glow in the warmth of the day. We were off on a day trip from Milan through rolling forested hills to Orta San Giulio. The small town rests on the shore of Lago di Orta, one of the smallest of the lakes that decorate the northern part of Italy between the plain of the Po River and the Alps. This area has long been our romantic destination, both in actuality and in my mind.

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China Pudong Shanghai Yu Gardens

SHANGHAIED?

By
judithworks

on

September 4, 2013

“Hello! Where are you from?

Ah, have you seen Sleepless in Seattle?

Please come with us for the folk dancing. It’s just a little way from here. You’ll really enjoy it when we explain everything.”

We were getting annoyed by the young couple who were clinging to us like overcooked noodles. But they kept on with the questions and the importuning: “Please follow us.”

Finally we walked away. I could see them begin talking to another obviously American couple.

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Jerash Jordan Mt.Nebo. Petra

JORDAN

By
judithworks

on

August 15, 2013

“Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar” rang out over the city, echoed by calls from other mosques. The sound, the essence of the Middle East, was our wakeup call in golden-hued Amman, and it accompanied us on our week-long tour of Jordan

We stood at the entrance to our hotel waiting for Ahmed, our man for a week. Suddenly, a Mercedes pulled up and men in black jumped out brandishing their AK-47s. The next Mercedes arrived, squealing tires as it came to a stop.

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China Great Wall

FOOTSTEPS ON THE GREAT WALL

By
judithworks

on

July 2, 2013

Instead of the sound of millions of tourist feet pounding the section of the Great Wall closest to Beijing, there were only 160 – that is, those belonging to 79 people and me to the section known as Hangyaguan, two and a half hours from the port of Tianjin.

We stopped for an early lunch in Jixian, a scruffy city and a marked contrast to glitzy Shanghai. Piles of rubble were everywhere, as if the city had been bombed.

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Japan Okinawa Okinawan food

SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN NAHA

By
judithworks

on

June 3, 2013

The kid was twanging what looked like a three-stringed banjo covered with snake skin. Behind him the windows of the music store were filled with taiko drums of various sizes. Definitely not Bluegrass Country or Bourbon Street even though the music had some similar sounds. Instead, it was Kokusai-dori on a Sunday afternoon in Naha, Okinawa, capital of the southernmost of Japan’s prefectures, the Ryukyu archipelago. The “banjo” is actually a sanshin and the music is called shima uta, an Okinawan roots-style now popular throughout Asia and on Youtube.

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Hong Kong Night Markets Shopping

TEMPLE STREET NIGHT MARKET

By
judithworks

on

May 4, 2013

One evening in Hong Kong we found our way to the night market stretching many blocks from Jordan Road to Kansu Street in a crowded area of Kowloon near the main arterial, Nathan Road. The transition from the glittering waterfront bejeweled with lights and high-end hotels and shops to what seemed a darker and more real corner of the city was startling. Instead of Gucci, Prada wares and the Peninsula Hotel, we entered the world of Wing Hing Hostel and the Dragoon Francais Tailor Co.

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Japan Oskaa Shinto weddings

AN AUSPICIOUS DAY: A Shinto Wedding in Osaka

By
judithworks

on

March 31, 2013

When I heard that it was an auspicious day for baptisms and weddings it seemed a good time to head for Osaka’s Sumiyoshi Taisha Shinto shrine despite the grey clouds and spring showers. The shrine, which contains a temple designated as one of Japan’s national treasures, is dedicated to various interesting and helpful deities, called kami, who ensure safe travel, good fortune in marriage, safe childbirth, business prosperity, family welfare, military valor and beauty. Because of its association with marriage and family it is an especially favored spot for traditional weddings.

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