Happy 2nd Blogiversary!

Happy 2nd Blogiversary!

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 2 years. Time flies when you’re having fun, and that’s what I’ve been doing with Not Just Another “Dolce Vita”.

What’s nice about this 2nd blogiversary is that I’m doing the same things I was when I started the blog: getting ready for a long (but never long enough) sojourn in Italy. Two years ago at this time I was also furiously trying to finish all the papers I had to write for my Master’s Degree, which I did finish on time,  grazie a Dio. Still, this year I’m busy, busy, busy!

Although I haven’t posted nearly as much as I would have liked, this past blog year has also been an eventful one for me. On the blog and writing side of things, I’ve upped my followers on WordPress, Facebook and Twitter. I’ve hit record-breaking (my own records, that is) page view totals for days, weeks and months. I started freelancing for Panoram Italia, a great Toronto-based magazine, partly in thanks to the writing I’d already done here.

On the personal side of things, the past blog year has seen me: travel to Spain and Las Vegas for the first time, travel back to Italy, lose my job, go back to school, and secure a great job for this summer that’s going to have me leading Canadian university students around Italy for 6 weeks and Canadian high school students around France for 4.

Non c’è male! Not too shabby!

As always, grazie a voi (thanks to all of you) for reading, commenting and following me here at Not Just Another “Dolce Vita”. It’s great to connect with other people who love and are interested in Italy.

A Loveable Corner of Liguria: The Cinque Terre

If you’ve never heard of the Cinque Terre, look it up now. Look it up as an individual area or look up each of it’s towns separately – Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Riomaggiore, Manarola and Corniglia.

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

That’s right, it’s a beautiful little area (National park, actually) on the Italian Riviera in the province of Liguria – you know, where pesto comes from – and I would almost say that the beauty of the Cinque Terre rivals that of the Amalfi Coast. Almost. The two places have completely different atmospheres though, so be sure to visit both if you can handle the sunshine and loveliness of it all.

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Although the Cinque Terre is becoming increasingly popular with non-Italians, I’m still surprised when people haven’t heard of it. I went there for the first time 10 years ago on my very first trip to Italy. My travel-planner-extraordinnaire mom had heard travel guru Rick Steves rave about the wonders of these little harbour towns and worked a stop at the Cinque Terre into our family’s month-long trip to Italy. All I can say is, good job Mamma! It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful and it’s beautiful there. With boats and beaches, 5 quaint little car-free villages, a castle and kilometres of  treacherous wonderfully maintained hiking paths that wind their way along the coast high above the turquoise-blue waters, what more could you ask for?

Monterosso, Cinque Terre

As most places in Italy do, the Cinque Terre’s got a bit of a romantic side to it, so for the February/March issue of Panoram Italia, the magazine I’ve recently started writing for, I chose to write a travel article on a little bit of romance in the Cinque Terre.

Care to read more?

Click here: http://www.panoramitalia.com/en/travel/article/lovers-walk/1396/

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Viva Las Vegas – Part 1

“Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire.” – Viva Las Vegas, Elvis Presley

I’ve decided that Las Vegas is a place everyone should visit at least once in their life, and not just because I happened to double my money while I was down there! The lights, the shows, the restaurants, the hotels, the interesting characters, the history – it all adds up to make a very worthwhile few day vacation. As you know, readers, I was there between Christmas and New Year’s this past year and it was a great time to go. There were lots of shows going on and the weather was perfect for walking the Vegas strip. Mind you, there were also a TON of people there, but I guess that’s to be expected any time.

We had the pleasure of staying at the Venetian Hotel, which was lovely. Inside the place is decorated very elegantly, and they’ve even recreated St. Mark’s Square and the Grand Canal, complete with gondolas and gondoliere. You almost felt like you were in Italy. Plus, my room was equipped with the most comfortable, plush, marshmallowy bed I’d ever slept in. Between eating expensive food (Starbucks is the cheaper option around there) and trying our luck in the casinos, we took in three shows: Elvis impersonator Trent Carlini (I LOVE Elvis, by the way), the musical Jersey Boys, and the (amazing)  singing ventriloquist Terry Fator. We managed to snag discounted same day and next day tickets for the shows from the various Half Price ticket sellers along the strip. We went to the one closest to the Ventian, just down the strip beside the always-packed Denny’s.

We spent our days walking the strip, checking out the other hotels, and visiting the casinos. We had Margaritas (yum!) in Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, went to a shooting range, visited a “classy” jewelry pawn shop and also visited the Mob Attraction. Mob Attraction? Yeah, like THE Mob. Like Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel and the boys who helped put Vegas on the map. Las Vegas’ history is inextricably linked with that of the Mob. For someone (moi) who considers The Godfather one of her all time favourite books and movies, this was very interesting.

So enough with the words – Las Vegas is a feast for the eyes and ears. Here are some photos of my little trip:

Suite at the Venetian

 

Venetian Hotel – Outside

 

Venetian Mask Shop

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

Discounted ticket seller – Made use of them!

Elvis Impersonator Trent Carlini

 

Ventriloquist Terry Fator + Winston the Impersonating Turtle

More photos of the Vegas strip, the Mob Attraction and other Vegas hotels to follow in

Viva Las Vegas – Part 2.