Pettersson Family Blog

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone – plus Happy Birthday to me!

So, Santa managed to find us alright in Sant Eusanio del Sangro.  The day started with Eva throwing up on the couch, so there was a slight delay in the present opening but all was well as you can see! Santa bought mostly jigsaw puzzles and lego – which was considerate of him since we only have four bags!

Enough presents to make a mess!

Just being the four of us for Christmas was odd, but thanks to skype and Facebook we felt the Christmas joy of all you around the world!

..our home-made tree behind us!

After two weeks in the village we definitely needed to hit a bigger spot for New Year (and my milestone birthday..) so we caught the bus just 12km to the town of Lanciano.  Here we spent New Years Eve and New Years day wandering the cobbled streets of the old town. Rafa and Eva are really into old stuff – which is just as well because it is a medieval town.

I want to live here..and drive that car!!!

Rafa and Eva's first car? Lots of these Bambinas about! I'd forgotton about them!

Food – dissapointing! Restaraunts in Italy don’t open till 8pm – 9pm….so New Years Eve dinner was cold lasagne and mushrooms (from a market). But…desert…a WHOLE tiramisu washed down by lots of Prosecco!

What more could I possibly need?

Fresh icecreams....Mmmmm, how good do they look!!!

New Years day dinner was pizza standing up in a Barra with beer! Man, wish our old amah Sonia was with us for babysitting – or you Ma!

Presents………….Nev got me a TIFFANY locket! So, Italy, Nev, kids and Tiffany.  Perfecto Buon Ano. xxxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR and lots of love to YOU xxxx

Our first week of village life in Sant’ Eusanio del Sangro, Abruzzo, Italy has been pinch ourselves perfect!  Ok, yes, it’s a bit chilly at a pretty much constant 8 degrees, but with cosy hats, gloves and jackets abound – there are adventures to be had!

View from our house

Our pad for these next two months is set on a small olive grove with a view over a lush valley on one side, and snowy capped mountains on the other.  Rafa keeps telling me “I want to climb those mountains Mama!” – funny how close things seem when you’re a child!  They just look like he could run to them – but sadly, grown-ups know different!

The mountains!

To the side of the house is a playground set in the olive grove.  Swings in the olive trees, a see-saw, slide, climbing frame and roundabout.  Rafa and Eva are happy to be bundled up and sent outside  for as long as their cheeks and noses can take the cold!

Playground in the olive grove

The centre of the village itself is cuter than I even imagined.  A  row of shops and houses three stories high and of varying condition along a narrow cobbled street.  Like something out of a movie! There are a couple of supermarkets, a bakery that we visit daily (the lady always sends Rafa and Eva off with a bun or a piece of fresh bread – grazie!) and a couple of coffee shop/bars. We have made a friend of the coffee shop lady. Francesca. I think she is the only person in the village who speaks English. Today she told me that she will take us to her house in January, cook for us and drink wine together!  Yay!

The Piazza - where it all happens...

There are other shops to investigate, but with all the Christmas decorations adorning the windows and with our jubious Italian – its difficult to know what they actually sell! Ha!

We now have a Christmas tree!  We made it from bits of chopped down tree we found in the village – and dragged the bits home!  It actually looks like a whole tree!

Christmas tree coming home...

Thus, all that is left for us to do is practice our italian on the very suspicious elderly locals, wander, wander wander – and EAT – and DRINK!  Oh yeah, on arrival here our host gave us a THREE LITRE bottle (seems to be how vino comes here!) of his home-made organic red wine.  The smoothest drink I’ve tasted.  In fact, oh look.  Almost 4pm.  In Italy, that’s wine o’clock!  Ciao!!!

OMG!  Roma!  Is it just more beautiful because we’ve been stuck in Malaysia for a year?  No.  It is juuuuust BEAUTIFUL!  On the cab ride in from the airport we drove passed the  Colosseum- and from that moment Rafa was obsessed with getting inside it the next day!  And of couse, so he should be!

So our first stop was the Colosseum, where we just wandered around.  No time for guided tours or audio tours when you have kids!  Rafa and Eva just made up stories about what may have gone on in the nooks and crannies which form the allure of the Colosseum in the first place.  Of course after all of that history – we needed coffee and a panini!

Christmas at the Colosseum 2011

Coffee, Panini and Colosseum!

Next a wander around the amazing forum, where the kids got all excited about how old everything was. “As old as Grandpa?”  Don’t worry Dad – we put them right!

Posing at the Roman Forum

The Trevi fountain is my favourite spot in Rome.  Is it the sound of the fountain or the glacial blue of the water?  Or perhaps the hustle and bustle of people getting the perfect photo for their blog? I don’t know, but I LOVE it.  Maybe it makes me remember Nev and my romantic long weekend there 10 years ago – pre kids!  We sat, we listened, we took it in – then went for another panini and this time – a beer!

My favourite place

Beer!

Rome and its people get into your skin.  The language, the hair, the make-up, the ruins, the food, the romance.  Perfecto.  xxx