a stroll in rome

If any city is built for strolling hand in hand with the one you love the most, it's Rome!  Rome has a vibe all its own... it's ancient, historically fascinating, overflowing with art, bathed in amazing colors, full of delicious food and wine, and ridiculously stylish!

We started one morning past the back of the Colosseum, to Palatine Hill, then onto the monstrosity they call, Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, or mockingly, "The Wedding Cake." 

The Palatine Arch

From there, we strolled toward the Vatican and St. Peter's Basillica.  Along the way, I found a delightful little boutique, staffed by two sweet ladies who could tell my size on sight!  It was late in the season, so things were pretty picked over, but I managed to score a dress and a skirt at 30% off :)

St. Peter's Basillica

Walking through the Vatican soon becomes tiring because of the aggressive gauntlet of people trying to sell "jump the line" tours, cheap scarves, and other touristy crap.  At first, we'd politely say "no, thank you," but it was obvious they weren't listening, so Robert decided to have some fun, and all of a sudden, "no, thank you" became "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..."  

What???  From then on, we responded to all inquiries with either a line from a nursery rhyme, or with some other random statement, like, "oh, I don't smoke" or "I'd rather boil my head, thank you."  Not a single one of the hawkers even blinked, and we had a lot of good laughs ;-)

We'd considered going to the Vatican Museums, but the line was 2 km long, and we weren't sure they'd let me in due to the length of my skirt, so we decided not to risk offending God with the sight of my knees in black tights. 

We did however run into a priest on our way out of the Vatican who seemed to appreciate my fashion sense.  I hope he went to confession ;-)

We crossed back over the Tiber via Ponte St. Angelo, a pedestrian bridge from 134 AD that's lined with ten angel statues.  The statues are beautiful, and a bit haunting against the stormy sky.  

 Ponte St. Angelo

Bonus Trivia:  I was photographing one of these statues when Robert took the photo of me that's become my new blog header... lucky shot!

 The Wedding Cake, on the return

More to come on shopping, getting lost, and sticking it to RyanAir...

hotel san anselmo, rome

Robert and I started the new year with a short holiday in the Eternal City!

We stayed at Hotel San Anselmo, which Trip Advisor ranks as the 3rd most romantic hotel in Rome.
It was a far cry from my last visit when I stayed in a hellhole near Termini Station, which is an area you pass through, not a place you want to stay!  In my defense, I stayed there on a recommendation of a fellow expat, but have since learned to do my own research ;-)

Hotel San Anselmo is a converted villa, high atop the Aventine Hill in a quiet neighborhood well removed from the tourist traffic, but still just a short walk from Circus Maximus and the Colosseum.

We were welcomed to afternoon tea, then shown to our room, which overlooked a mandarin tree, and had an L-shaped bath big enough for two!

Each evening, we walked hand in hand along the hyacinthe scented streets to a delicatessen at the bottom of the Hill where we bought bread, pesto, olives, cheese, and wine for our nightly picnics.  So much more romantic than going to a restaurant!

Our trip could not have been more perfect!  If you're looking for a romantic hotel in Rome, I can confidently point you in the direction of Hotel San Anselmo for its location, romantic setting, and attentiveness of the service.

This was Robert's first time in Rome, so I made sure to show him the touristy stuff like the Colosseum, Palatine, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, St. Peter's Basilica, etc.  But we also spent a fair amount of time shopping and getting lost.  More on that in my next post :)

home tour - the kitchen

The kitchen (køkken on the floorplan) is the last stop on my home tour.  Moving from a house that had a 300 square foot kitchen with a Wolf Range, granite counter tops, walnut floors, double sinks, a center island, etc., a nice kitchen was at the top of my house hunting wishlist.

Aesthetically, I love this space, but I've never completely warmed up to the electric cooktop, the wall oven that bakes unevenly and only takes 2 sheets of cookies at a time, or the tiny Euro-fridge whose design most definitely does not make the best use of its available internal space.

And since when is defrosting a freezer a thing?  I've been living on my own since I was 18 and I've never had to defrost a freezer until I moved here! 

But despite all of that, I've always enjoyed cooking in this kitchen because it's relatively big, well laid out, and has underfloor heating, which Opie is definitely going to miss. 

In contrast, Robert's place has a galley kitchen... I keep joking that it was clearly designed by people who hate to cook!  Cooking in there is too much like hard work; there's no counter space, the layout is all wrong, it lacks pantry space, and it's got a dreadful induction cooktop, which refuses to play nice with most of my cookware.  

On the upside, Robert let me choose the new floor, and we're getting a new fridge.  On the downside, there are only a handful of fridges that will fit within the teeny tiny fridge space, and all of them are sinfully plastic and ugly.  I'm still hoping for a Christmas miracle on that front ;-)

And now I'm officially on Christmas break until January 6th! I love Christmastime in Denmark because everything shuts down until the new year and life settles into the most relaxing and festive rhythm.  

Opie has settled right into Robert's place and I'm so looking forward to these next cozy weeks with my loves :)

home tour - the bathroom

I love this place with all my heart, but it was the bathroom ("bad" on the floorplan) that sealed the deal for me.

The only thing that could've made it better would've been a deep soaking tub.  But in a country where a lot of showers are just a curtain, showerhead, and drain in the middle of the bathroom, I'm not complaining too loudly about the separate shower area...

I underestimated how stressful this selling project was going to be.  My upstairs neighbor is renovating, and inspection reports here take into account the whole property.  Our inspector was real asshole (pardon my French) and the inspection report looks like a trainwreck... like he individually listed every tiny little issue... e.g. loose tiles in the bathroom are listed 3 separate times (yet we can't seem to find them) and he listed the exposed brick in the bathroom and the distressed countertop in the kitchen as  major defects!!!  Then, there's the laundry list of stuff in the upstairs apartment that's listed as major issues because it's undergoing renovation and is not finished.

As a potential buyer, my first inclination upon just reading the report, as many prospects do before deciding to see a place, would be to run... run very far away from this property!  But we've spent several hours with the Realtor interpreting the report, and the conclusion is that the majority of it is "bollocks," to use Robert's vernacular ;-)

We're currently trying to fix "issues" we can barely see so this place will be poised to move in January when people start making good on their resolutions to make 2014 the year they stop renting.

I just hope our Realtor is competent enough to clearly explain the situation with the report.  I'm so grateful to have Robert as my partner in all of this.  He's so patient and supportive, and even though I know he's got 1001 things to do, he's taken the lead and I've never felt so well cared for in my life.

We'll finish the tour in the kitchen, then I'm off to Robert's for the entire Christmas break before we jet off for a long weekend in Rome just after the new year!

home tour - the bedroom

Today, I'll show you a few photos of my bedroom, which is "soverværelse" on the floorplan... 

I'm going to miss my fringey vintage lamp, lace curtains, and having a chandelier and a velvet chair in the bedroom.  Luckily, the vintage Bali-Hai furniture has been approved to come with :)

I'll also miss lying in bed and looking at the stars, which are especially lovely in the clear, cold, winter sky.

A few weeks ago, Robert and I were stargazing late at night, and I saw a shooting star...

home tour - the studio & hallway

We'll continue our tour in the "Værelse/Opholdsstue" in the floorplan and since there's not much to see, I'll throw in the hallway ("Gang") as a bonus!

I've never known what to call this room.  It's so much more than an office, so I've settled on calling it "the studio."  It's where I work, sew, write, surf, develop photos, and exercise. Opie is usually close by, lounging on his green velvet throne, or trying to snuggle me while I'm working my core :)

This room is joined to the living room by a set of original pocket doors, and when the doors are open, it feels like a very big space.  I love the flow!  Robert's place has a similar set-up, but not on the same scale as this :(



I have not repainted the hallway.  I'm a firm believer that hallways should be treated as rooms and that they can handle dramatic color, and so, the purple stays!  I love this hallway, especially considering how boring it was when I moved in.

 Fingers crossed that St. Joseph will work his magic on Sunday...

home tour - the living room

Now that I have to consider my chick pad officially "done," I thought it would be fun to give you a tour!  I might've shown you bits and bobs along the way, but now I'm offering the full monty ;-)

First, let me show you the floorplan:

We'll start our tour in the Opholdsstue/Spisestue, which is my favorite room and the one I've shown most often, particularly when it was hot pink :)

The listing has only been online for 2 days and there's already a showing scheduled for Sunday!  It's so strange to know that this could be someone else's home just. like. that.

I may be moving to one of Denmark's hottest neighborhoods, yet Robert's place just doesn't soothe my soul like this one does.  It's bittersweet.  But I guess that's the duality of me, the girl who carries a Louis Vuitton handbag with a $6 secondhand dress...

cinnamon ice cream

I'd intended to post this cinnamon ice cream recipe last week, but I got wacked with the flu and almost missed Thanksgiving, so blogging was the last thing on my mind.

I managed to deliver a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner to my British family, but had to nix the soup course and delegate dessert to Robert because I just didn't have the energy to bake homemade pie.

Luckily I'd made the ice cream in advance, and Robert came through with a delicious apple crumble, which went perfectly with this homemade cinnamon ice cream!

 3/4 cup sugar

 1 1/2 cups coffee cream
(that's "half & half" in the US)
2 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 t vanilla

2 1/4 t ground cinnamon

Whisk together the sugar and coffee cream over medium-low heat, and slowly bring it to a simmer.  As it starts to simmer, remove it from the heat.

Use an electric mixer to lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl, then beat half of the cream mixture into eggs.  You need to be quick here, or you risk cooking the eggs, which would be gross ;-) 

Add the mixture back to the pot and whisk in the heavy cream.  Continue to cook it over medium-low heat, stirring with a metal spoon until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.  

Remove it from the heat, whisk in the vanilla and the cinnamon, and let it cool, then process it in your ice cream maker for 45 minutes to an hour.

Next up... a photo tour of my flat :)