This Sweet Life - QUESTA DOLCE VITA

International Love Stories

8/4/2015

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International love stories are way more common than I would have ever imagined. I think this is because in Italy, I've been acutely more "in-touch" with the expat community and the inevitable reasons why they are here (the overwhelming response is per amore). Isn't that lovely? Just the thought immediately warms my heart. I wish I could recount all the amazing stories I've heard since moving to Italy, they all belong in books to be read by future generations in those rare instances when you lose faith in love.

I admit that I always dreamed of a love without borders, the kind that you read about in the travel literature section. Forged between two countries and two languages, a sophisticated, wrenching kind of jet-set relationship emerges whether you wanted it or not. Happy moments captured all over the world also fail to convey the hardships of leaving...leaving each other, leaving family and friends, leaving jobs, leaving home to build another. It's the crazy, stupid love that does it you know. Massi and I have been living our crazy, stupid love story for 7 years now (as Facebook reminded me) and so here are some of our very worldly moments- can you guess where we are in each of them? Also, if you have an international love story to share, please do! Leave it in the comments or e-mail yours truly! x

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Travel in the USA: Seattle

4/16/2015

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In an attempt to distract myself from getting overly Italo-centric here, I've decided to write some posts that don't involve Italy at all! Although Italy is our home base now, Massi and I both have a passion for travel and we certainly did our share of it when based in Canada. I went back to dig up good photographs of all our North American adventures which includes places like Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Vancouver to name a few. We were in Seattle, USA in the summer of 2012 when we did a kickass road trip from Edmonton all the way to Vancouver, taking a two-day stint down to Seattle to check out a KISS concert nearby. Let me tell you how fun American border control is when you're a Canadian citizen travelling with an Italian national...! Seattle is known for its coffee-shop culture, being the birthplace of Starbucks and all, rightly so. Unfortunately, being with an espresso-drinking Italian does not let one enjoy the fruits of Seattle's labor because what kind of coffee culture can you experience by downing a shot standing up at the bar? For me, the highlight of this particular city is Pike Place Market and the surrounding areas. It's probably the most stereotypical choice but I adore markets in general and at Pike Place, you can watch fish being thrown around (literally they fly through the air, you can YouTube it) which is beyond entertaining. I'm also a sucker for any city that's near a body of water where you can catch fresh seafood and Seattle is one of them. If there's a famous Clam Chowder place (Seattle's is Pike Place Chowder Co., go early or they run out of the classic), then I'm happy as a clam. So basically to sum up Seattle- it has good coffee and good chowder, so it's a good'er in my books. Now for the fun stuff...