Gone Girl

Unfortunately the last book I read, I have to admit, I read only because I had to for my Advanced English class. However I am in the process of reading other books, it's just that I'm very slow, so I think I failed my new years resolution to read at least one book a month. But I know I am reading more than I had been before, so that counts for something! 

Back in February we chose to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn throughout the semester. I hadn't heard anything about it, but it's a mystery/thriller and so I knew it could'n't be so bad. 

"Marriage can be a real killer. 

   On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

   As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife?"

Gone Girl is narrated in two parts; from the perspective of the two main characters: Nick Dunne and Allison Elliot Dunne. At the beginning it's a little confusing because the two lines of thinking don't follow each other. You read excerpts from Allion's diary but then you're in the present time reading Nick's story. 

The beginning is very slow and the writing style drove me crazy. There was so much detail and it felt like it went on forever giving too much information which wasn't really important. However, as you continue to read, big curves are thrown your way and you really are surprised. And there is a reason for all the descriptions and over exaggerated details. 

Over half way through the book I had a hard time putting it down and when I finished it I was left with the feeling that I wanted to read more! I didn't want the story to end! 

I would highly recommend this book for a fun, summer, easy beach read. 

And I hear they are also apparently making a movie too! 

StraBologna 2013

Strabologna is an event organized by UISP that is supposed to promote getting up off the couch, going outside, and moving your body whether that's walking or running.  It isn't competitive, but instead an event just for fun. This year they were raising awareness of diabetes. 

Strabologna Mascot

It's an all weekend event with a photo treasure hunt on Saturday and on Sunday the choice of a 3.8 km (2.4 miles) course, a 6.8 km (4.2 miles) course or the longest one 11.5 km (7 miles). I decided that I would walk the 6.8 km course since I'm not a runner and I've already been walking about 5 km in the gardens on the south end of Bologna. 

I went with my friend, Giulia, who also decided to walk the 6.8 km course. The "race" beings in Piazza Maggiore and you go all around town weaving in and out of the narrow old streets. I had read that this year they had a record number of people sign up. Which was easy to see from how packed the piazza was. 

6.8 km course

However, to start the "race", someone had the great idea to start with kids, disabled people, and the walkers and have the runners go last. Of course doing so there was a big human traffic jam. It felt like we were cows being herded through the beginning part of the track with barriers on either side. When we finally broke through the barriers and got into the open streets Giulia and I decided to run so we could get beyond the massive crowd of people. 

Barbara, Luca, Me, Giulia

It was actually quite funny seeing people jumping overs chains, zig-zagging from under the porticoes, around other people, hopping posts and whatever obstacles there were because you simply couldn't walk or run normally. 

In the end, Giulia and I felt pretty good about the running so we set a goal of running the short course, and walking from 3.8- to 6.8 kilometers. We successfully met our goal and at the end we sprinted the last bit. 

Festa In Collina

Last weekend we headed down into the heart of Tuscany for the "Festa in Collina", a whole town barbecue. 

We drove about another 30 minutes south of Siena until we arrived at this small, rustic, picturesque town- Casciano di Murlo, up in the hills. 

The whole center was lined with tables, ready for the hundreds of people that would come and gobble down sausage, steak, ribs, pasta, and drink local wine and artisan beer.  

In one of the piazzas there was huge grill set up, with raw meat handing down from the ceiling ready to be grilled up. 

 When your food is hot off the grill, they'd serve it on this big wooden tray and you'd go and find a picnic table open to enjoy the delicious food with live music in the background and the smell of meat wafting through the air. Mmmm! 

Amalfi Coast

It's been hard to get away for a weekend since I work Saturday mornings and so it doesn't give us much time. However, Wednesday May 1st was a holiday, and so we decided to take advantage of it and go somewhere. My work schedule has lightened up a lot with summer nearing and nearly all my kids classes ending. So all I had to clear off my schedule was my Saturday morning class. Which I easily got covered, but did not go over well the school, which is whole other story in itself. 

We had originally wanted to go to Paris, but flights were just to expensive so we decided to do a trip along the Amalfi Coast. I had always wanted to visit the beautiful famous coast line, and funnily enough, before I studied abroad in High School in Italy, when I received my placement  "Revello" I went immediately to google and searched it. These amazingly gorgeous photos came up but only to soon realize it had auto corrected to "RAvello" which is one of the picturesque towns on the coast.  Two very completely different town. 

If you ever go to the Amalfi Coast: 

-Bring sunscreen and use it!

- If you get car sick bring something to help with the motion sickness! 

- Be prepared for everything to be over priced ( 5 euros/hour parking, 20 euros plates of spaghetti) 

- Enjoy good limoncello 

We thought it would be best to rent a car since the buses don't run so frequently and we wanted to be able to roam when and where we wanted. So we spent the first night in Napoli, eating the best pizza in the world, and then renting a car and driving down to the coast. 

Napoli is notorious for its terrible driving and we were a bit nervous at first trying to navigate our way out of the Hertz garage onto the highway. While waiting to take a left turn onto a two-way road, another car pulls up behind us and immediately starts honking. It was impossible for Luca to turn and so the guy behind decides to cut in on the inside of our car and bolt for it. In doing so, he clipped a man who was on a scooter.  Welcome to Napoli. 

The tight narrow roads along the coast offer the best break taking views you can   imagine and are also right on the very edge of the cliffs.

We stopped at Positano first, made our way down to the beach and then stopped to have lunch on a terrace overlooking the sea.

Positano

Afterwards we continued on to Ravello, where we visited Villa Cimbrone. This villa is one one of the most spectacular places I have been. There are beautiful flowers growing in every corner, it's peaceful, and the views are incredible. We read that the owner of this Villa was a British man who had been suffering from depression so he bought the villa to cure his moods. We thought it'd definitely help someone who is feeling down.

Villa Cimbrone - Ravello

Villa Cimbrone - Ravello

 We slept in Minori, which is one of the less famous towns that is part of the amalfi coast. And it was really nice because it was even more quite than the other towns, it wasn't as touristy, and we were able to talk to the locals and eat well.

View from hotel window in Minori

The next day we drove even further south, almost into Calabria, where visited Angel's Caves in Pertosa. This was definitely worth the drive, I had never seen anything like it. On the way back to Minori we stopped a Paestum, which has some ancient greek ruins, and three temples still standing.

And on the last day we stopped at Amalfi before heading on up to Napoli.