Italy Rules – Expanded

April 17, 2013 by
The Blissful Adventurer - Michael Housewright

Spaghetti with Clams – Le Marche

What a wonderful and sometimes intense set of responses from my previous post – The Italy Rules. I want to take a little time today to expand and expound on some of my thoughts and provide further insight into traveling in Italy.

1. Italy Guides – Here is my short list of who I would travel with and why in Italy.

  • The Rome Digest - This new and wonderful consortium of talented Rome guides includes my dear friend Katie Parla, who is my champion of all things Roman (pork, gelato, beer, wine, art, history, and life) If you are going to spend time in Rome, and you should, let the Rome digest draw a map for you
  • Venice – Row Venice Nan McIlroy is one of the most knowledgeable people in Italy regarding living life, eating well, and getting out on the water. Don’t pay 200 euro for a snooze on a gondola. Pay less and get out there and learn to do it yourself. Easily one of the greatest experiences I have ever had in Italy
  • Tuscany – Judy Francini will cook with you and teach you what it means to truly experience life in Tuscany. Reach out to her. She has been cooking successfully for her Italian husband for years. She will teach you how to impress anyone.
  • Puglia – this is a bit biased but I can vouch for the unbeatable quality of Southern Visions Travel. Antonello Losito leads this superior company leading the most authentic excursions into Italy’s tastiest region. From 1 day to 1 month, these guys are amazing
  • Le Marche – Mariano Pallottini - the best guides are sometimes not guides. For this truly under-the-radar region no one can show visitors the ropes like Mariano. Please tell him I sent you.
  • Travel for Teens - If you would like to send your son or daughter on one of the most amazing experiences to be had. I strongly suggest using Travel for Teens. Managed and operated by a group of passionate, intelligent, and experienced men and women, TFT is the leader in volunteer and cultural travel in Italy for students. Ask for Ned or Nick and your young adult will be blown away
  • For other Italian regions I have friends of friends and would be happy to do some research for you [Read more...]

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Life Not Always a Beach in San Francisco

April 4, 2013 by
The Blissful Adventurer - San Francisco

Some Days Life is Not a Leisurely Stroll

The San Francisco bay area is considered to be one of the most dynamic, fascinating, and beautiful places to live on the planet. 99 days out of 100 I agree wholeheartedly, and enjoy my walks, drives, thoughts, meals, and discoveries. The one day out of 100 that goes south, usually goes straight to hell. [Read more...]

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2012 Year in Review Haiku

December 31, 2012 by
One of my favorite icons on earth.
One of my favorite icons on earth. (copyright The Blissful Adventurer)

Here is The Blissful Adventurer 2012 Year in Review Haiku. Haiku was one of my most successful creative expressions here in the blog world in 2012 I want to share some of the best of the best with you all today for my final blog of 2012; easily the most successful year I have a had as a storyteller. [Read more...]

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Friuli – Friday Photos Finale

December 28, 2012 by

 

The Blissful Adventurer - Friuli Photos

Trieste Canal

Friuli Friday Photos Finale is my final Friday blog of 2012. These shots are from an extraordinary spring adventure in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and one from the Veneto just next door. We are in Northeast Italy here, in a land still seeking an identity after changing hands frequently in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I never would have thought I would have eaten the best sauerkraut of my life in Italy, and I did. Tall people, Fascist art, pork  in a dozen ways on one plate, my kind of weirdness shared with friends. Nicolas Emery, the famous Rubicon explorer, his fiancée Giulia Laveto (aka juujee), and of course The Schmee were all present and on board for wine, food, and Friuli. [Read more...]

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The Blissful Adventurer – 2012 Blog of the Year

December 18, 2012 by

The Blissful Adventurer - Blog of the Year

The Blissful Adventurer – 2012 Blog of the Year

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on the link from Cara Olsen to her outstanding blog This Little Light and saw she had selected me among a few of her very talented peers as Blog of the Year for 2012. Cara herself had received the honor and as the protocol dictates shared her love and recognition with other writers she admires in the same vein. Cara, as many of my readers already know, is a novelist/blogger of exceptional mettle and integrity. Her work proves one can have faith and a firm grasp of the human condition and that they are not mutually exclusive. To be chosen by such a talented scribe is truly a blessing in these end of 2012 days. Thank you Cara Olsen. You are blessed and blessed with good taste :-) [Read more...]

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Hipstamatic Haiku Sunday

December 16, 2012 by
Hipstamatic Haiku Sunday is back and bolder than before. Hipstamatic iPhone images post-processed, imbued with magical lyrics and shared in a stream of consciousness format to entertain, prod, and provoke. Enjoy the countdown to the holidays.
Hipstamatic Haiku - The Blissful Adventurer

scratching away now
solid as before he looks
down upon us in awe

[Read more...]

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Hostess Ceases Operation – The End of My Childhood

November 16, 2012 by
Hostess Ceases Operation - The Blissful Adventurer

Hostess Classics – Memories Wrapped in Cellophane

Hostess ceases operation and is closing for good. For a moment let’s assume this is true and that the company does not sell to some international conglomerate who lays off the union workers and re-stocks under a new LLC with cheap labor. Let’s assume the end is nigh for the dearest little snack cakes and the happiness I gleaned from their hydrogenated shells. Sure, Hostess and its subsidiaries might actually be a major player in the rise of disease, disability, laziness, and learning disorders in the US, but for this poor kid from small-town Texas, Hostess was freedom in every bite. [Read more...]

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Santa Cruz to Capitola – The Escape

October 23, 2012 by
The Blissful Adventurer - Santa Cruz to Capitola

These Sea Lions Made our Morning

Election season….say it out loud and feel the nausea. I took a class in college on the Lincoln-Douglas debates; an entire class. I cannot watch the gory orchestrations of professional wrestling cast upon us these evenings. The intense efforts made to marginalize, disparage, and fictionalize the plight of our nation would have forced Lincoln to have pulled the trigger on himself.

In lieu of any further histrionics I give you images of a Sunday in Santa Cruz and Capitola, California. The sea calls folks, and I must answer. [Read more...]

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Yosemite – The California Move (Day 5)

October 3, 2012 by
Yosemite National Park - The Blissful Adventurer

Mono Lake

Yosemite – The California Move (Day 5)

Our fifth day began with a drive from the Mammoth Lakes ski resort where we relaxed the night before to the compelling Mono Lake in Lee Vining, CA. This mysterious sky was our introduction to a beautiful land. [Read more...]

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Haiku Sunday – A Hipstamatic Move

September 30, 2012 by

This week’s Haiku Sunday is a Hipstamatic Move across the West. It has been a bit since I featured this app and since documenting the journey from Colorado to California this week I felt it an appropriate time for the Haiku and Hipsta!

Haiku Sunday - The Blissful Adventurer

here he comes riding

lands that were once his now not

because he is now dead [Read more...]

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