My little corner of the world

let it snow...

2012-02-01T15:43:00.001+01:00

It's really cold down here. And today we also got snow in downtown. I am sharing some pictures with you.

#16 - Letter received

2012-01-21T10:23:00.000+01:00

My pals are more reliable and faster than me with their amazing replies!

Yesterday I received Sabrina's letter and it really made my day!

She wrote on a lovely Diddl paper. It's nice to still receive letters written on Diddl pads: they are so rare to find nowadays! I remember of my teen years when I was so fond of Diddl and would own so many pads of the cute little mouse with the enormous feet!

Ain't this letter to die for?! I am so lucky to be friends with Sabrina!!!

#15 Letter sent

2012-01-15T09:54:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow morning I am posting Mikaela's letter. I am finally catching up with my pile of mails and I've finished replying the elder ones. Miki's was written in September and it was my last one to reply in chronological order that was dated around the summer time... Again shame, shame, shame on me!

I am now left with letters I have received from November and on. I will do my best to catch up with everyone soon, since I am in the best of writing moods ever!

Happy pen-palling!!!

#14 - Letters

2012-01-11T16:03:00.001+01:00

Today's post is all about snail mail...Beware all of you who come across this blog and don't appreciate the magic of letter writing!!!

The year started best it could letter-wise: I keep receiving long and interesting letters from my beloved friends:

Lene sent me a long letter written on a lovely Minnie-the-mouse letter paper and she also enclosed quite a few of envelopes that I'll use to send my next letters to my pals!

I also received Eva's letter, finally! We were both growing anxious about it, because it took over one week to be delivered and it was quite a weird delay (mail is pretty fast between Italy and Hungary). I guess the holiday season caused some delays. I am just relieved that it came safe and sound (and so did the Oyster card that was inside!)!!! Eva wrote her letter on some stationery she had made at home in her spare time.

I still have quite a few letters to reply in the next weeks. I swear I will do my best to be in time with replies. My pals are amazing people and write long interesting letters so it takes a little longer to reply them, but it's really worth it!

Finally I managed to finish my letter to Jessie. I guess she almost gave up hopes to receive anything from me! I think I made up for the delay with the lenght of my letter though. Still I won't be so much late with a letter anymore, because it almost felt riddiculous to have to fill her in with the last 6 months news (most of that were no more news!)! My fault of course!!!

#13 Rolly's secret passion

2012-01-10T16:50:00.000+01:00

My dog's secret love is for cats of all kinds and colour! If he spots a dog he might be barking his vocal cords out his throat, but give him a cat to stare at and he goes all mild and starts crying because he would love to cuddle the little ball of fur (while on most cases the cat would only run as far as possible from the enormous monster that he sees in Rolly!)!!! And I've now got proof of Rolly's passion for cats!!!

#12 Letter received & some pressies from Germany

2012-01-04T00:02:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year everyone!!! Hope 2012 will bring good times and our wishes coming true!

My year started sparkling at least as far as it concerns penpalling: yesterday I found in my letter box a lovely letter, in a Tigger writing paper, marked with finnish stamps... The writer is a Finnish lady, Jonna, who found my adresse from this blog of mine and who got interested in me and tried her luck to write! Now, I know I shouldn't be really taking on more pals that those I already have, but Jonna wrote me a relly long first letter and she did surprise me with her letter coming out of the blue... I just can't refuse her friendship offer! ;)
Now, tell me, isn't this letter amazing???

It had to be my lucky day yesterday because I received some pressies from Germany from my sister who spent her New Year's Eve in Berlin. My gifts are too beautiful not to share photos of them here!

I got a green lunchbox with a lovely red girl on top of it. I am eager to use it when at uni for lunch. I also got two marcipan in potatoes shape that I still haven't tried but that I already know I like so much! I am a marcipan fan!

Last but not least I received a gingerbread heart that I keep hanging in my bedroom together with the one I got in Munich 2 years ago! I cannot eat it (because of the butter in it), so I keep it to decorate my own room, it's lovely!

Christmas Photo Entry

2011-12-27T19:10:00.001+01:00

I am enjoying the Holiday Season. Christmas passed by and I had plenty of gifts and I cooked lots of good food.
This previous phrase sums up today's whole entry.

For a starter we had canape with pate de foie gras and margarine and smoked salmon.

Our first course was of a traditional homemade pasta filled with minced meat, called cappelletti (because its shape reminds that of a small hat, in italian cappello). Most people in this part of Italy have it cooked in broth, but we like it more with tomato sauce.

Another traditional dish, called parmigiana. This one is heavenly delicious! It's made of thistle, first boiled, then fried and finally dressed up with tomato sauce and much (much, much, much!) parmesan cheese (hence the name parmigiana).

We had three different types of meat so as to meet everyone's likings! On the left you see stuffed rabbit, while the one on the right is a pork roll filled with truffle in a cheese sauce (I couldn't taste any of it, but I was told it tasted so good!)

The third type of meat was to die for: stuffed chicken! So yummy!

This year I tried another typically Christmassy dish: russian salad, basically made of peas, carrots, potatoes, all dressed with mayo. I used boiled eggs to embellish the dish.

And now on to my presents (I was a lucky one: everyone spoilt me big time, as per usual!)

my sister's boyfriend got me a wax seal with my initials. It will make my letters all the more serious and official now!

Ricky's brother and his girlfriend got me a bath lotion and cream with mandarin scent and a 2012 diary with a leather purple cover that I adore!

my parents surprised me with a very expensive gift, something I didn't really expect: a purse! I didn't expect that much, really, but I love it a lot!

and this is everything I got from my sister: purple and cream slippers (they are so comfy and warm!), a nail decorating machine (that I still have to figure out how it properly works) and an ornament for my scarves (it's made to keep them tight to the neck)

and this is everything I got from my Ricky, the best boyfriend on earth! I got the most amazing Camper sneakers ever! They fit me perfect and they are so very beautiful! He added to the shoes two pairs of sock that I love a lot, an owl shaped 4Gb usb key (how cute is that?!) and he surprised me with a voucher for a cake design course that will be held sometime in 2012 in Rome (I really didn't expect it but I am totally up for it!!!). I am a spoilt brat, I know!

This is what I got from Ricky's family: his parents got me this lovely triple bracelet, I love it and I feel more feminine when wearing it (I haven't got much jewellery and it's perfect to wear on a fancy dinner or a night out). Ricky's aunt and uncle got me this lovely picture frame, but I still have to find the perfect photo to fit in it.

And finally this last present that my father gave to me, mom and my sister's boyfriend (who would work with us part-time): it is a work outfit, in green you can see the logo of my parents' firm. It was a funny idea and I like the darker one. My mom and I have the tshirts in dark and light blue, the boys have it in dark blue and red.

I am ending this photo entry with two more shots: the first one I took of my finished advent calendar that I bought in London in November, in a Clinton's Cards' shop not far from Westminster Cathedral.

and the last one is a craft I made of polymer clay, each one of our guests on Christmas day had a place-card made by me.

Merry Christmas wishes

2011-12-23T18:11:00.004+01:00

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, filled with peace, joy and your dear ones' love!!!

#11 - Letters sent

2011-12-21T08:27:00.000+01:00

It's been a lifetime since my last post. Lots happened, something good, something sad...But here I am again, still alive, still me.

Over the weeks I fell behind with letter writing and I've got a HUGE pile to reply sitting right now on my desk. I am trying my best to reply them all within a reasonable time.

I am ready with Eva's letter that will be sent out today first thing when I go out (I've some errands to run, gotta buy some material for a craft project I'm doing for Christmas). I had to type my letter so that I could produce a fairly long mail quickly (my hand can be so slow at writing!) but I know Eva is ok with the odd typed letter every now and then!

I sealed it using red wax and my teddy bear seal. I still want to look for some other wax (I know you can get it in other colors than plain red and today I'll go looking for it!) and I would fancy an "M" seal instead of the teddy...

I still owe you all a detailed travel report. My 5 days staying in London's worth a report! I will work on it over the X-mas holidays...So stay tuned, you'll be reading from me again soon!

#10 - Letters sent

2011-11-08T10:33:00.000+01:00

A quick post before I fly off to London... I wrote my mail to Jennie and sent it today morning...Hope this time the postal service won't fail and deliver it safe and sound to Jen!

#9 - Letters sent & received

2011-11-01T17:03:00.001+01:00

In spite of being an awful pal for the past couple months, I am still receiving absolutely amazing letters from my far away friends.

I received a beautiful and long letter from Mikaela, who's in London again after the summer holidays and who sent me her mobile number together with her letter so that I can contact her when I am in London (in a week time! whoohoo!) for us to meet up.

I also received a letter from one of my closest friends, Jen. My last letter to her surprisingly got lost while travelling from Italy to Germany and together with it my birthday gift to Jennie... Argh them at the post office! They can be just so useless at times! Jen was so nice to write me in spite of never receiving my last letter and I am eager to write back to her!

I finally managed to send a couple parcels (and letters) to my pals: I sent Sabri a letter and a gift, a scarf (since she's just like me, a scarves lover!), that I hope didn't fail to cheer her up!

I also wrote a letter to Eva, whom I'll meet in a week tomorrow in London and with whom I'll be spending 5 days in my favourite city in the globe! I enclosed a couple books and a letter that I hope she'll be able to read before we leave to England! I tried to be creative and decorate my parcel with some Halloween-ish patterns, but the result is to be ashamed if I fear...

I am now with 6 letters to be replied left... Hopefully I will be able to catch up in a reasonable amount of time... I feel so ashamed of my copious delay this time... I am thankful my pals are understanding and caring special people!

Recipe: Lactose-free vanilla plumcake with chocolate drops.

2011-09-12T13:34:00.001+02:00

Today I was in the mood for some baking to cheer me up from the boring stuff (social policies for those who care) I should be studying these days. Being a lactose intolerant person I need to cook with vegetal margarine and soy milk, but you of course can use regular butter and cow milk if it's what you are used to!

What you need is:

- 400 gr of white flour

- 16 gr of baking powder

- 200 gr of white sugar

- 100 gr of vegetal margarine

- 2 big eggs

- a teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 4 tablespoons of chocolate drops (or more if you like)

- a pinch of salt

- 100 gr of soy milk

Have all the ingredients ready to use?! Well, then proceed as it follows:

Mix the flour, baking powder sugar and a pinch of salt (a pinch, it mustn't taste salty!). Mix it all before you add any liquids so that you make sure the baking powder is perfectly mixed to your flour and the cake will grow properly when in the oven.

Add the two eggs, margarine, vanilla extract and the chocolate drops and put the whole in a mixer.

Mix it all for some minutes and as you mix (medium speed) slowly add your milk. Once the milk is all in you can proceed for 5 minutes at max speed.

Continue to mix untill well combined. When it's ready switch off the mixer. Your mould should look as it is in the picture.

Now you transfer the mould to a baking tin lined with greaseproof paper or sprayed with margarine and flour, to avoid it from sticking to the tin when it's baked.

Place in the preheated oven at 180°C and bake for 45 minutes. You can insert a wooden stick in the plumcake to prove its baked. If there's no mould on the stick then your cake is ready! Let it cool and serve! It's so yummy!

#8 - Letters received

2011-08-30T20:35:00.001+02:00

This past week I've been studying no stop. And working, as if studying with the worst heat ever wasn't bad enough already. Anyway, my amazing penfriends did cheer me up with their fantastic letters!

In chronological order, Genevieve's long letter. Even if we're still new pals we have lots to talk about and we have great chances to become very close!!!

A couple days later I received my close buddy Jessie's long letter: she's an amazing girl and I love talking to her via mail! We share a lot and I am so happy we found eachother back after a bad start some years ago! Our friendship was worth it and we crossed eachother's path after years and we're meant to stay pals for years and years I guess!

And last but not least, I received Bev's first letter. She's great and I am looking forward to writing back to her!

And now it's my turn to reply. I've got lots of work to do the coming days.

#7 - Letters received

2011-08-20T19:18:00.001+02:00

This week I received one letter that really brightened my very tiring Friday (made of work and study and little more)! My bestie Eva wrote again, we've been really fast with replies lately and our correspondence is much more than simply regular! Yet, I guess I am going to spoil all the magic because of this Italian Literature exam I am studying for. I hardly have time to check my email once a day, let alone sit down and write a long and meaningful letter!!! No, snail mail must be postponed to August 29th... Untill then I will try and not get too mental on books! I so much miss writing letters these days!

This is the lovely envelope Eva used to send my letter. Please, note the lovely stamps...They're the cutest stamps I've seen!

So cute they are well worth another photo!

Eva's letter: 9 pages, front and back filled with lots of love and friendship...

I am amazed to experience how close a friendship can be, even when living many kms away! Thank you Eva!!!

#6 - Letters sent

2011-08-14T19:14:00.000+02:00

I've been quite busy with my study lately and penpalling had to be put on hold for a while, of course with my big regret. I have 4 letters to reply sitting on my desk and I should be getting 3 more this coming week. That makes me incredibly late and I start feeling guilty, that I don't really like, to tell you the truth. I am thankful to my pals because they are so patient and understanding with me and I know none of them will ever blame me for being a bit late with replies. Exam session is not the best time of the year for penpalling... Anyway, this week I managed to write an intro letter to Bev in England. We seem to share so much and I am looking forward to reading from her back!

#5 - Letters received

2011-08-09T09:18:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I got a long letter from Finland. Sabrina wrote on a4 Diddl scented papers that I absolutely love! Thank you hun!

#4 - Letters sent

2011-08-07T10:42:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow a letter is going out to Hungary, my bestie Eva will get a fat envelope with a very long update from me and some good plans to share for our November holiday in London!

#3 - Letters sent

2011-07-31T15:23:00.001+02:00

My small packet to Jennie is ready to be sent! Tomorrow it's going out with the first mail...I enclosed a pretty long letter and a small something for her birthday: hope she'll love it!

Happy belated birthday sweetie!

#2 - Letters received and sent.

2011-07-30T13:53:00.000+02:00

I received two great letters in the past week: they were perfect to cheer me up during long rainy days when all I could do was studying and working (none of the above is extremely funny).

The first letter is from my bestie Eva in Hungary, she added a book, that I am looking forward to reading and some bookmarks to enlarge my collection! Thank you hun!

The second letter is from Lene: it was a super long letter and I think Lene and I will grow very close with the time because we share a lot! I loved her letter and I am looking forward to writing back!

As far as it concerns outgoing mail I am not yet ready with photos, but there's a small packet with a letter for my dear Jennie (I won't post the photo untill it's ready to be sent, because I don't want to spoil the surprise!) and I will be working on one other letter during the weekend, so I will have another snailmail update to be posting in a few days!

#1 - Letters received and sent.

2011-07-25T08:22:00.002+02:00

Finally, after 3 weeks of a starving mailbox (that's almost driven me crazy) I got two lovely mails to cheer me up and bright my otherwise cloudy and rainy days.

First letter is from my beloved pallies Arwen in Scotland. I love the paper she wrote on, very British indeed!

Second letter I received is from Tanja in Finland. We're still new pals but already share a lot and have way too much in common not to get along well! Tanja has an amazingly small and neat handwriting! And she even added three postcards to her letter.

And now to the mail I send out this Monday. I get to send a letter to Sabrina only. I got back to studying, seriously I mean, and it's been taking lots of my spare time. So all I could come up with is one single letter to my friend in Finland. More will be posted next week!

Recipe: Pasta with zucchini and speck

2011-07-24T12:50:00.001+02:00

Today I want to share an easy recipe that I tried out yesterday for lunch. It was so tasty I can't but sharing it here!

All you need is:

- 350 gr/ 13oz short pasta (whatever you like really, as long as it is short pasta)

- 6 small zucchini (or 3 big ones...though smaller ones are better at taste)

- 1 onion

- olive oil

- grated parmesan cheese

- cream (in my case I did with soy cream, because I am lactose intolerant)

Clean the onion, chop it finely and sauté in a pan with 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil.

Cook over low flame for about 10 minutes. In the meanwhile wash the zucchini and chop them in small parts.

Add the zucchini, salt and pepper, stir and cook for 20-25 minutes with medium flame.

Add the speck cut into strips (I got one ready packet, that would make things even easier!) to the pan and cook it for another 5-10 mins.

Cook pasta al dente. I went for Sedanini that I had at home, and they fit perfectly with the recipe.

Drain the pasta and turn into the skillet. Sprinkle with grated cheese if you like and serve hot! It's tasty! Enjoy!!!

The Invisible Wall

2011-06-26T16:21:00.001+02:00

Title:The Invisible Wall

Author: Harry Bernstein

Edition: Kindle Edition

Pages: 320 pages

I have meant to read this book for quite a while. I spotted it on some shelves at the mall and I'd have bought it right away, had it been cheaper than the 12€ (for a paperback!) it costs. Finally (thank to the man who invented the Kindle!) I got it at a cheaper price and I was finally able to satisfy my curiosity over this story.

First of all, for those who don't know, Mr Bernstein died a few days ago, at the age of 101 in the States. He was a Jew, born in England at the beginning of the XX century and bred there untill 1922 when he moved to the States with his family.

The story is an autobiography of his Jewish family life in Lancashire, in a street where "cohabited" Christians and Jews, the first on one side of the street, the others on the opposite side. It's fashinating to see things through little Harry's eyes, his style is both serious and bittersweet, especially when talking about the frail equilibrium that kept the street peaceful. Christians went to Jew's to light their fires on Shabbos (for what they got a penny) but they hardly spoke together. And actually christian kids at St.Peter's school (the one Harry and his brothers and sisters attended 'till they turned 12 and started working at the tailoring shop like most of the other Jews in the street) would beat up Jew kids under the slogan "who killed Christ?". That must have been tough to go through for the Jew kids, you can sense their fear from Bernstein's description.

Harry's family is poor and with an alcoholic and violent father, they often referred to as "him" and who everyone feared but none really loved. Life is miserable for the Bernstein's and Harry's mother is as strong and as admirable as Angela from Angela's Ashes were. Had it not been for her, the Bernstein kids would have had a tougher life than they already had!

Yet, Lily, the older sister, is my favourite character in the story. She falls for a Christian lad living on the same street when they are still kids and she is still hopefull to sit an exam for a scolarship at a Grammar School. They go through WWI and grow up to socialist ideas. The young couple, Lily and Arthur, is so much in love to go against their respective parents' will and they attempt to break the invisible wall that had been dividing the street for years and years.

I won't go further with the spoilers here because I don't mean to spoil all the fun for those who want to read it. I will just say that it's a real page turner, a story worth reading.

Angela's Ashes AND The Mammy

2011-06-06T23:01:00.001+02:00

I've not read as much as I would have liked to in the last period, due to work and various other things that needed to be done and that left me with no spare time at all. Still I lately tried to stay up till late so that I could read as much as I liked and I did need that! Missed reading, really!

There are two books I want to tell you about today, two books that I suppose can go on the same entry, because they're both written by Irish authors, both talk about a woman, a wife and a mother that struggles to care for her family in a Catholic Ireland.

Let's start with the first book I read in chronological order.

Title: Angela's Ashes

Author: Frank McCourt

Edition: Kindle Edition AND Scribner

Pages: 368

It took me quite a while to read this book, to my big disappoint, because it is a real page turner and I would have gone through it in a couple days if only I had had time to. It's the real story of the author Frank McCourt, who was born and lived in the States in the years of the Great Depression. Frank is son of Angela Sheenan, a beautiful Irish girl sent over to the USA to escape poverty her family was facing in Ireland. As soon as she lands in the new world Angela meets and falls for Malachy McCourt, and Irish man from the north who has an affair with her and soon after that Angela finds out she's pregnant with little Frank and the two young ones get married. Malachy is an Irish man and has a weakness for beer, that soon leads his new family to disgrace. Angela hardly has money to buy food to feed her children of (soon after Frank come Malachy Jr, the twins Oliver and Eugene and little Margaret). Cold, famine and poverty don't fail to show the McCourt family their worst face when the youngest one, Margaret, dies. This brings back the family in Ireland, where we follow their story for another 15 years untill Frank is a grown up and follow his own way.

Angela's a strong woman, she carries on her children and defends them no matter what, she tries to keep them all alive, to save them from famine. She doesn't mind begging if that's the only way for her to feed her children. She survives some of her kids' death, she stands up on her drunken husband who's useless and cannot keep a job long enough for his family to live of it. I do truly admire Angela and I couldn't really stop reading through this book, Angela's a fashinating character. I admire her strenght and love for her children.

All in all, I would give this book 5 stars out of 5! It's absolutely worth reading and I have to thank my friend Eva if I got my hands on it!

Irish writers have a style I like, I thought and I couldn't help buying "The Mammy" when I spotted it on the shelves at the mall the other day! Another Irish author, pretty different author if compared to McCourt's still.

Title: The Mammy

Author: Brendan O'Carroll

(Italian) Edition: Neri Pozza

Pages: 170

I read this short book in 4 hours. I couldn't help it, I got the book when I found it on the shelves at the mall. Another Irish writer to read something by, another Irish mom to read about. And this story was taking place in Dublin that I'd recently visited, no way I could give it a miss!

Here we have a Dubliner young woman, mom of 7, married to a not too caring husband who's not much a drunkard like McCourt's was, but who's violent with Agnes who's used to beatings. The story starts with Agnes being made a widower by a car's driver who knocks down the husband. We follow Agnes and her children's lives through the few pages of this small book with a lively rythm but little to be genuinely interested in. Agnes is painted like a naive woman, quite childish at times. She seems to be taken care of from her kids, rather than the other way round. There are good traits to the story as a whole, especially the close bond Agnes had with her co-worker at the market and best friend of all times Marion. And I especially loved Agnes' elder son, Mark who wanted to take responsibilities of whole family, in spite of still being into school, because with the father's death he had to be the man of the house.

Yet, when you read about Angela, there's no Agnes who can make up for Angela's highness. Agnes' person looks full of irony if compared to Angela. I liked it ok, would give the book 3 stars, but I would not suggest it to a friend.

Dublin - went, visited, loved!

2011-06-03T11:19:00.002+02:00

I've already written my whole travel blog on my Livejournal in more parts in the past fortnight. I am publishing it here as a whole, please bear in mind that different verbs tenses are due to the entries being written on more sits. Thank you.

May 14^th: I woke up at 6am, had a quick breakfast because I was so excited about actually leaving to Dublin in a few hours I could hardly swallow a bite of my food down! I left Rolly sleeping in my room (the thought of him being left at home for 4 days with my family did make me feel uneasy: what if they forgot to feed him or to bring him out for his daily pees and poos?! I somehow was proved right: even if he didn't starve, he was home most of the 4 days I was away. Everyone was too busy to spend a little time with him...But never mind, he survived the proof and I so much needed a few days off everything!) and went with mom to the meeting point, where Ricky, his brother and mom were waiting for us. Ricky's brother drove us to the airport in Rome. We quickly checked in and once we had our luggage checked we had something to eat before we started queueing for the plane. I wanted to be sure to have a sit near Ricky and with Ryanair only way you have what you want is you standing on a queue right from the very start, so that you are one of the first passengers to be admitted on board when they open the gates to the plane, and you can choose your favourite place there. I managed to catch a good couple sits near the window, not too far from the wings, still good enough to catch a good glimpse of what was going on down there during the flight. The flight to Dublin was ok, though a bit too long, last hour seemed to never pass and I was looking forward to the landing moment. At last, at 1 pm sharp we landed at Dublin airport and our holiday officially begun! First things first, we were very hungry already and we decided to make a stop at Upper Crust there at the airport, where I got an feee-range egg&tomatoe sandwich, that allegedly had to be lactose free. I did pretty good on this lactose free food thing during my holiday. I had to cheat a bit and help myself to some lactaid tablets, but I did pretty well and avoided any kind of forbidden food. What a wise little miss that I have turned into! While eating Ricky and I had some fun looking around us and noticing that people there seemed to be laid back and calm and that we did like all that a lot.

Catching the Aircoach to Dublin (that we had already paid for online before leaving) was easy and we were in O'Connel street in less than 20 minutes time! I had booked a room from Best Western Academy Plaza in Fishamble Street – Dublin City Centre. The Hotel page said it was a 23 seconds walk from the bus stop and it was plain true! I couldn't believe our luck! We were very pleased with our hotel room as well: it wasn't that big, but neat, comfy and modern. Furthermore all hotel rooms had free wi-fi and in the hall there were two Apple computers available for whoever of the guests wanted to check anything online. We had brought Ricky's netbook with us and it proved being the best choice ever, what with the (unexpected for us) visit of Her Majesty Elizabeth II to Dublin, after 100 years an English Monarch had stepped foot in Ireland last?! We had to change our holiday plans a couple times, but thank to Ricky's netbook our holidays was successfull nonetheless!

We took a few minutes to leave luggage in the room and change with something different than our travel clothes and we soon were outside, ready to explore every inch of the city.

After a few minutes walk, and a couple photos to James Joyce statue (that was a must do of course!), we reached the front of Trinity College that was our plan to visit on the following day. Just think our bewilderment when we read that Trinity was to be closed to public from Sunday 15^th to Tuesday 17^th due to the State visit of Queen Elizabeth II in person. Holy crap! This wasn't planned! We exchanged a surprised glance and immediately decided to make the most of the few minutes left to visit Trinity (that was my favourite place to visit since I read about it when booking our Irish trip back in January!) and make the most of it, in spite of some old lady trying to spoil our fun. We were fashinated with the campus, so amazing! I of course would look around and tried to spot as many real students as I could! I was all “oooh!” and “aaaah!” in amazement and I took lots of shots of the campus, even took one of some dustbins! LOL at me!

We had less than one hour to spend at Trinity Museum, but we were aware that the Book of Kells was well worth a visit and it really was! That book was amazing, to say the least. I had shivers down my spine, staring at it, so well written and drawed it was! Amazing, really! We spent too long visiting the lower room of the museum and had barely 5 minutes to visit the upper room, known as the Long Room, the most magnificent library I've ever seen! I was stunned with all of those shelves full of old books! But a pretty bothering guard soon led us back to reality when starting shouting “we're closing people, please kindly go to the main door; the museum is closing”. I was terrified! What?!? The museum was already closing?!? What about my shopping then?! I had planned massive shopping at the University bookshop and now that guard was telling me everything was closing at that very moment??? I tried to run down the stairs and grab some goodies but was overwhelmed with all of that cool stuff and couldn't make up my mind on what I really fancied to have. Furthermore the shop assistants constantly repeating that they were closing the shop as if we were all dumb, really didn't help. Ricky forced me to make up my mind soon (or at least, that's what I tried to do), so that I ended grabbing a couple t-shirts of Trinity College to go with one Ricky got for himself in a Mix 'n' Match promotion. Luckily I got right size of both t-shirts and one is now mine (in light pink and white Trinity College stamp) and one other is my sis'. I can't deny that I was pretty pissed with the Queen, I couldn't stand it that my holiday I'd longed so much for was being spoilt right from the start...But my boyfriend wisely brought me back on right path and soon my tantrum was wiped off thank to some more time spent walking through Trinity College and watching a few actions of a Cricket game, that I of course couldn't get an idea of.

After some more photos taken of the campus and its park we were back on the street and soon stepped foot in Grafton Street, Heaven if you are a shopping freak! I liked it a lot, even if I am far from being a Becky Bloomwood myself. But it was 6pm and some shops were with their shutters down already. We still had time enough to spot an incredible deal on HMV shelves: Scrubs dvd boxed set- seasons 1-8 for the cheapest price ever of 69.99€ instead of 140€!!! We couldn't spend those 70 bucks on the spot and left the only copy of that precious deal on the shelves of the shop and went on with our wandering from shop to shop. Never mind, we didn't mean to start straight with massive shopping, so we headed to St.Stephen's Green that's right at the end of Grafton Street. Being English at heart I immediately noticed that English parks are better kept and taken care of if compared to the Irish parks, but this tiny park is lovely and very relaxing (as most of Ireland is). What's funny in Dublin is that anything looking big on the map turns out as pretty small and reachable within a few minutes walk in reality. We of course liked it and it gave us the chance to save up a lot in transports. We took photos of the park, of the people in the park, of ourselves visiting the park and we also took a photo of a street sign written both in Gaelic and English (as everything there in Ireland! We still wonder in they do really understand Gaelic or they can't read it but keep it just because). We were already walking around for a couple hours when we got very hungry and started looking for a nice place to dine at. We went for The Vat House in Temple Bar, where we helped ourselves to a cheeseburger & chips and a curry chicken with basmati rice & chips. So yummy! And so much to eat, we were not used to such big portions! Ricky begun the holiday with a pint of Guinnes, but I went for a coke instead, still not ready to taste beer myself. The plane journey and the walk throught the city right after our arrive had worn us out and we walked throught Temple Bar (that didn't fail to amaze us, with all of its lights, colours and live music at every corner) and back to our hotel room.

May 15th: We overslept and were up by 9.30am, that is incredibly late when we are travelling. We are early birds when on holidays because we want to make the most of our time abroad, but this was meant to be a special day and we had decided we'd have spoilt ourselves rotten on the day of our 10th birthday. A late start in the morning seemed a great begin to our plan. We really needed to sleep longer because we were tired both from the travel of the previous day and from the stress gained at work in the last few months. We were out in the streets of Dublin by 10.30 and our bellies were quite growling with hunger. Walking down O'Connell Street we spotted a nice enoung place to stop at called La Pizza, where we fed ourselves with a Traditional Irish Breakfast each, that -for those who don't know- consists of: scrumbled or fried eggs (we had ours scrumbled for the record), tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, bacon, brown pudding coffee or tea and toast: I loved it!

With our stomach full with so much good food we were again walking down O'Connell Street, heading to Christchurch. I know Ireland is a Catholic country (at least majority of people there is supposed to be of Catholic faith) and I wanted to attend Mass on that day. To our surprise most churches we saw there are protestant ones, including Christchurch that we mistook thinking of as a catholic one, given its name. We couldn't go inside (that's a pity because its outside was promising) because there was function and tourist couldn't go in. We walked on and passed in front of St.Aoden's Church, not far from the previous one, that we had chance to visit. The church is the remains of a medieval parish church that was built inside the old city walls.

Our visit at St.Aodens didn't last that long though because we had to head to the Guinnes Storehouse that we had already paid for and was to be closed because of the Royal couple's arrival in the next couple days. We so much didn't like the idea of missing the Guinness museum that we put it as our no.1 thing to do on that Sunday. The building in St.James'Gate is massive, on 7 floors. Originally, the building was home to the first factory where the Guinness was produced back when Arthur Guinness had the brilliant idea to start his successfull business, giving work to many Dubliners untill a few decades ago. We visited the whole museum where we saw, lead by our audioguides, about the different stages of the process of beer making. We learnt how to spill the perfect pint, but Ricky had to give up the challenge of spilling the perfect beer (for what you got a certificate) because there were too many people queueing. What is absolutely amazing of the whole Storehouse is the upper floor, where is located the Gravity Bar, from where you can enjoy a breathtaking 360 degree views across Dublin city. At the Gravity Bar visitors are entitled to a pint of the black gold of Dublin. Alternatively they would spill coke for those underage. I confess not liking beer taste and Guinness was no exception (even though I admitt it being slightly better if compared to other gold beers that I can't really stand) so I showed my own ticket for a free glass of coke (with bewilderment of the staff who would serve mainly Guinness of course!). Ricky says I am to be ashamed of sometimes (I am positive he's joking) but I couldn't care less of what people think of me. LOL* Finally we ended our visit at the Guinness shop where we got some cool gifts to bring back home. I got a cool rugby polo to my sis'boyfriend and a pair of Guinness stockings to dad.

After a 3 hours worth visit at the Guinness Storehouse we were hungry again and we helped ourselved to some Tesco chicken and bacon sandwich and a bag of fresh fruit to eat on the go, on the way to St. Patrick's Cathedral.
The Church was built in honour of Ireland’s patron saint, who was known for baptizing Irish converts on a well whose original spot was still to be seen on the backyard of the Church. The Cathedral was shut when we got there so we had a chance to walk through the backyard, sit on a bench there and read something about the history of St.Patrick and the church that is entitled to him. We ended gaving up the visit because we had to pay an insane amount of 5.5€ to go inside, that was really too much for what we meant to be a quick visit before going back to the city centre. It was too much, even for the cathedral that saw Jonathan Swift as its dean in the XVIII century.

Disappointed with the wasted time (if only we'd known about the insane price of the visit we'd have given it up earlier), we walked back to the center where we arrived in front of the Trinity that was already shut and being controlled from end to end in occasion of the Queen's visit. First thing first we wanted to know what this Royal tribute to Irish martyrs would have caused our holiday, so we entered the nearest tourist office where a smart lad explained us about the Queen's first visit in one hundred years (piece of info that was dressed up with exclamation such as "wonder why she ever wants to come at all", that he then explained was a plain joke, even if I doubt it really were) and about the massive police control over the whole city. Allegedly our street was to be closed during the whole staying of Her Majesty, so it was highly probable that we'd have to walk a long way to catch our bus back to the airport on Wednesday morning. Eeek! I was starting to worrying and for the first time in my life beginning to dislike Elizabeth and the whole Royal Family, that is really unlike me. The guy tried to contact Aircoach call center but with no success, in order to have further info for us. Given the insuccess he told us to go back on the following day so that he could try to phone them again. It was nice to be taken care of and we agreed to be back on the following afternoon, after our trip outside Dublin (of course, I am not giving you hints here, spoiling my chronological travelog, you have to wait for Monday 16th to find it out!) that we got info about from the very same lad.
Again, we were outside walking through Grafton Street where some street artists were performing. Ricky enjoyed himself taking pictures of a guitarist who played quite an original guitar made of a can of oil, while I browsed through a couple shops nearby for some cool tshirts and a mostly needed hat for me: Dublin was incredibly windy and it wasn't good for me who suffers cold a lot.

We got some tshirts for Ricky's cousins, one funny one for Ricky and one about lepreuchans for me. Finally we were again in front of the HMV shop where we'd seen the Scrubs boxset on the previous day and we could hold it no longer : we got in and stood there in amaze in front of it! Ricky was still doubting about really buying it, so I had to take the situation under control and quickly grabbed the boxset and was at the counter in no time and already with cash at hand. Finally, the Scrubs boxset was ours! And we're proud of it! 69.99€ is nothing if you think they sell it for 135€ online and they call it on discount! What a deal, huh?!
8 seasons are pretty heavy to carry around much longer, together with other bags full of souvenirs, and we stepped back to our hotel room where we left everything and relaxed a little while watching the news about the forthcoming Queen's visit on tv.
Our 10th birthday was being grand so far and we meant it to be as great with a dinner as magnificent. We'd never tried fish & chips before and we were curious about it so we checked online for some good fish&chips parlour in Dublin. Our luck, a good fish and chips restaurant, Beshoff's, was located in O'Connell Street, a few steps from the hotel. We ordered fried cod and chips. Now, I admitt it wasn't something I was keen on. I don't much like fish in general, especially when I find bones in it. Actually, I give up eating fish at the first bone I find. Pretty childish of me I know, still I can't really help it. And I did find some small bones to my fried cod, but had to eat it all nonetheless because Ricky's severe eyes were upon me. I ate it all that day, but I am done with fish & chips, thank you.
Of course I didn't let the small fish bones misadventure spoil our day and I was back to happy mood as soon as we headed out in the street again. Time for Mass, there was a function at 9pm at St.Francis' and St.Anthony's Church on the Liffey south bank. It took longer than planned to reach the church, the street looks longer at night, and the Mass was already past its quarter. We tried to follow the function and we managed to get all the parts of the Mass but couldn't really recite prayers because we didn't know them in English and couldn't say them in Italian inside our head because people all around awee reciting them in English. But it was interesting to attend it and we had Communion also. I liked the songs they sing there at the Mass. It was not yet 10pm that we were done with the Church and walking in Temple Bar, crowded with people of all ages and all nationalities.
Ricky was fancying a beer again and we chose the Quays Pub where they played live music (actually most pubs in Dublin play live music, that is cool to listen to, especially when it's Irish music they play). Kilkenny was the beer Ricky got that night and offered me a sip of it. Surprise, surprise, my mouth wouldn't wrinkle like it does with all other beers and I actually liked it! I know it's not a big deal, but I was surprised there actually exists a beer I can drink half a pint of!
To celebrate our big day we took a photo of ourselves in Temple Bar as a memory. And back we went to our hotel where we soon fell asleep, tired of the many things done a seen during the day.

May 16th: Ricky and I woke up early with a huge plan to go through ahead of us. We quickly got ready and headed out in the streets of Dublin before the clock rings 9am. We made a quick stop at Tesco's to buy packed lunch for our one day trip to Glendalough and soon we headed to the National Gallery. It opens at 9 and we'd less than a couple hours to visit it so we walked at fast pace toward the entrance to the gallery that was written on my map, to then find out that it was temporarily closed and that we had to walk backward half the way to a secondary entrance, that we'd walked past by but didn't notice! Typical me! Going back didn't take long and we were lucky to get in before a noisy school crowd came in to spoil the visit. (I know I want to become a teacher myself and will work with kids, so that I am supposed to like them, but those were teens and they really didn't seem to be as interested in art as they were in chatting and making jokes one another)

The visit was interesting and I loved the works shown there, especially the painting Lady Writing a Letter that was my favourite (guess why?!) shown in the Millenium Wing area. We had little time to visit the whole gallery and had to concentrate on the millenium wing and the small Yeats collection wing only that was still worth seeing. It'd have taken us another good hour or so to visit the rest but we couldn't due to our but to Glendalough leaving at 11.30.

The journey from Dublin took 1.30 through the country and I had so much fun watching out the bus window and seeing life going by in the villages! I know I am quite a weirdo but I adore observing people when I travel abroad!!! And I had some fun listening to some other passengers discussion, till they skipped talking about politics that I couldn't care less about and I soon went back to my people-watcher activity. Ricky napped almost all journey long instead, losing most of the beautiful landscapes.

As soon as we got off in Glendalough we had a most unpleasant surprise in the weather: it was incredibly windy and pretty cold. Eating packed lunch outside wasn't what you call nice! We were done with it soon anyway, so much there was to see there! The place is stunning beautiful!!!

We started our visit with the St.Kevin's site, St.Kevin's Kitchen, some old ruins of the Abbey, the cemetery...It was fashinating and suggestive. We loved it to bits and took a lot of pictures there!

When done with the monastic site we headed to one of the various ways in the woods of Glendalough, we did some hiking and it was so much fun! We walked for some good 5km up and down the hills and I adored it! Being into the nature, it felt so peaceful there! We met some people along the way and everyone was saying "hello" and it was like everyone was feeling happy and friendly there! I liked it, probably the best part of the whole holiday! A couple we met on the river of the upper lake (there are two dark lakes there, hence the name Glendalough - lough stands for lake) who asked us for a picture. We asked them back to take us a picture together, that I want to share here.

At 4.30pm we caught the Kevin's bus back to Dublin city and I napped all journey long. We were really tired after so much hiking! But off the bus we collected all the remaining strenght and we walked (!) all the way to Phoenix Park...It took us 40 minutes walk along the southern rive of the Liffey and up to Phoenix Park. We'd read online that the park was to be closed on the following day thank to Her Majesty and Husband and we didn't mean to go back home and miss it! But it was about 7pm by the time we got there so we got to take a short visit of the park, where there were tens of policemen patrolling every inch of it. Ricky and I found a positive note to the Queen's visit: with that much of police all around, Dublin had never been that safe before! We walked around for one hour or so and stopped watching some guys playing soccer but it didn't last long due to rain that started falling down and to our bellies grumbling with hunger. We walked back to Dublin city center and we got in a huge bar in Temple Bar: Fitzsimon's, where we helped ourselves to two Guinness meat pies with huge portion of chips as side dish. For the first time in my life I ordered a beer to go with my dinner and actually drinked it (I did try a beer back in Munchen but it didn't work)!!! Kilkenny rocks if I can actually drink it! We were so tired and slowly ate our food that tasted very good by the way.

Before going back to our hotel we walked around Temple Bar where the first Porto supporters (on 18th Dublin hosted the final European League match) were showing up with their blue and white shirts and scarves. I stopped at the Official Trinity College merchandise where I got a tshirt for Ilaria and a hoodie for me (I couldn't really resist it!) in purple colour. After that bit of shopping we slowly walked back to the hotel where we quicky fell asleep in our comfy bed.

May 17th: The Queen and husband are coming to town and everywhere there's police patrolling streets and checking people. Ricky and I wake up aware it won't be easy to walk around with all of the streets being closed to traffic. Still we left some shopping to be done for the day and we won't let some very important people spoil our plans. Out we go on a very quiet O'Connell Street, with no cars passing by and tens of cops all around. We make our first stop at a nice coffee shop (that I can't remember the name of...) where I get a delicious croissant and tea, while Ricky has a scone with butter and jam (yum, it sounds delicious and I can't help it, I have to take a bite off his forbidden -for me- food! Thankfully with no side effect! Phew!) and cappuccino. We're ready to go shopping. First of all we want to get something for our pets. When travelling abroad I never get to find pet-centres but I spotted one cozy store on the Liffey south bank and I have to get something to bring back home to Rolly. I get a huge (and I mean it!) chicken flavoured bone and Ricky gets a smaller one for his dog Milo. Done with our pets' gifts, we concentrate on ourselves and wonder through the streets of Dublin city centre looking for two kinds of shops: music and mountain shops. I think Ricky gets quite disappointed with Dublin music shops, especially since he last visited Denmark Street in London, that is home to some high quality music stores! The shops we manage to find are average quality and we get by in less than one hour, that's a proof of the poor quality of the goodies sold there. We put our whole attention to mountain clothes shops instead and it's pretty interesting to wander through technical stuff, but we get nothing at all, because it's not what you call cheap and we wanted our hols to be on a budget. Finally we stumble on a lovely market where I stuff my nose in some second hand books stall. I had promised myself not to buy any books, because I am now proud owner of a kindle, because I've thousands of books to be read sitting on my shelves at home, because I want to be sensible this time... But hey! Those books are absolutely inviting and I cannot help it! I get one! I want something irish and something unique. My hands stop on a hardback book in a war economy standards production: "The house in Clewe Street" says the cover and the old man sitting at the dusty desk, behind piles of old books tells me the author Mary Lavin is an Irish writer known for her short stories. This is her only romance, according to the old man. And I go holding my precious purchase, all happy and satisfied with my choice.
Our bellies start grumbling and we head to the nearest GKB where we help ourselves to two classic burgers and chips that are tasty and fill ourselves to explode!
Again we are out on the streets for shopping and while walking we spot a Europe League themed stands where you can win EU league gadgets by taking parts to some games. Ricky convinces me to play table football against two high school guys and surprisingly we win two t-shirts! I am useless at table soccer, but the boys there were worse than I and I was proud of my achievement! And so was Ricky, even if he's after the small EU league ball that we win later in the day, after another match he plays against some elder guys. I think table football mustn't be that popular in Ireland, unlike Italy, because all of the people I saw playing were absolutely useless!!! Some guy even thought he would have gained points by scoring in any goal available! LOL* Our shopping goeas on and we buy a cigar for Ricky (he buys one every time we travel abroad, but has never had the chance to smoke any of the cigars purchased: he still has the 2008 cigar we bought at Covent Garden's in London!!!). On our way back to the hotel we make a shop to a lovely comic-action figures shop: the Forbidden Planet International, where we have some fun roaming through nerd stuff and comics and where Ricky has to buy some Star Trek T-shirt. We head back to our hotel room and, thank to Lizzie-the-Queen-with-the-funny-hats, it takes us almost 1 hour to reach Academy Plaza hotel entrance, when it usually takes 10 minutes only! We have to still be thankful to her, because we get to see some smaller alleys we'd have never gone through otherwise, because O'Connel Street is temporarily forbidden to anyone but the Royal parade. Back to the hotel we take our time to relax, and when we go out again we are relieved to see that the Queen is already gone and Dubliners are gladly back to their normal life with no Queen nor King to mess with their lives. We walk back to the city centre and Ricky convinces me on trying a Dr.Pepper, that I loathe! He laughs at me and he isn't keen on it either (that he already knew of, since he first tried it in the States), and he knew I'd have not liked it, still wanted to have a good laugh watching my face twisting with utter disgust...Meanie!
Trinity College park is open again to the public and we cannot miss a last walk around its green and trees. We take eachother some shots, that I cannot share with you now, because the photos of this day are in Ricky's camera and he's not yet developed them. Eventually I will share them photos with you on a later moment.
Shops are closing and we walk along Grafton Street and are happy and relaxed and we talk about our successfull holiday.
We dine at The Old Storehouse, where I have an Irish Steak and Ricky gets some Curry Chicken and rice. I ask for a Kilkenny there, because I want to end my hols with a pint myself but they have no Kilkenny at all, so I turn my choice to a Fanta, that leaves the waitress bewildered...She stands with her hand mid air and stares at me and babbles some "but...it's different" back at me...I assure her that I'm aware about the difference, and I ask again for my Fanta. LOL* I know some people find me weird! But then, it's me! There's Irish live music at The Old Storehouse that I really love!!! I like, like, like Irish music, especially when played live! Before going back to our hotel we make one more and last stop at The Auld Dubliner where we share a pint of Kilkenny (at last!) and listen to some more Irish music. We're in bed pretty early that night after having packed (that's the worst thing about holidays!) all of our things.

May 18th: We wake up at 5am, get dressed in no time and out we are at the bus stop, where the Aircoach to the Airport arrives in a couple minutes only. The journey to the airport takes 15 minutes only, in spite of foreseen delayes they'd been warning all passengers about for the last few days. We've plenty of time on our hands before we land. After a not so quick check in we treat ourselves to our last traditional Irish Breakfast and then go for some shopping at the dutyfree shops where we get some whiskey to bring back home. The flight back home is ok: sleeping most of the 3 hours surely made it quick and comfy for both of us.

Here's my whole travelog, my dear followers, hope it wasn't too much of a pain for you to read it through. I meant it to be detailed so that Ricky and I will never get to forget anything of what we did, see or tasted when in fantastic Ireland. Even if I would never prefer it to my beloved England, I would suggest anyone who's not been there yet, to visit Ireland once in their lives. Its landscape is amazing, the people are loyal and friendly and the atmosphere is warm and you can't but feeling yourself at home there!

Diary Of A Mad Fat Girl

2011-02-19T23:15:00.001+01:00

Title: Diary Of A Mad Fat Girl

Author: Stephanie McAfee

Edition: Kindle Edition

Format: 225 Kb

Before I start reviewing this book I think I owe my readers some explanation (call it an excuse if you prefer, I allow you that bit..) why I went for this book. I had to stay in hospital for five long hours while having my breath test taken to prove myself lactose intolerant, and I badly needed some light and easy reading to keep myself entertained with during the long hours. I had some Kinsella-like chick lit story in mind, and the reviews offered from fellow readers were absolutely promising and the cheap price did the trick: I had it downloaded before heading out early in the morning.

Truth is that I needed less than 5 hours to finish it all, so thumbs up on the light and easy reading. But the plot! Call it a plot at all!!! The story is almost non existent, running around three friends who are employed in the same high school and who go through dramas with men, especially one man who's constantly abusing one of them. Hard topic to read about you would think. No, not at all, because abuse is made fun of and turned hironic and something to really laugh about, because the two friends rescue the abused woman by going through absolutely unbelievable adventures.
And the grammar! I mistake when writing, my English is far from perfect, but hey I am not mothertongue (to my big regret, ok..)! Given by her name, the author must be a native speaker, yet her spelling and grammar leaves much to desire..
Not to talk about the main character, Ace, a woman that would be hardly considered enjoyable and nice to be on friendly terms with! Constant use of swear words was her main trait.

Given the low points this books earned with me (I think I am rating it 1 star only, and I am being good here) I won't ever try to read anything further from her.. If she ever gets to write anything else.. Not best debut for a new writer I think, but then it is my humble opinion..

A short history of tractors in Ukrainian.

2011-02-19T22:44:00.002+01:00

Title: A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian

Author: Marina Lewycka

Edition: Viking

Pages: 336

I read my third book of the year, A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian, a real paper book. I wasn't keen on leaving my Kindle, even for reading one real book, but I had gotten it from Ricky on Epiphany and I had been wanting to read it for ages, so I resolved to pick it up and leave my Kindle on hold for a few days (of course I missed it badly and he missed me too!).

Eventually the book turned out a light reading, not a page turner, still easy to go through and quite funny a story.

In a nutshell, the story is about a family of Ukrainians who've been living in England for years and are now facing a young Ukrainian woman and her teenage son who stepped into their lives, turning them upside down. Nadia and Vera are two sisters in their middle age, raised in England by their refugee parents, they've had argues going on with each other for years for various reasons that made them fall apart when growing up. But now with Valentina, the young Ukrainian wife of their widower old father, to deal with, they have to try hard and get along, to rescue dad and the honour of their family from the young sexy Ukrainian's hold. Valentina seems to think their father has to be as rich as a maharajah and she is constantly ripping him off his money by purchasing 3 different cars (each of them is more crap than the other) and various other things old Nikolai is forced to pay for. The sisters bond together against Valentina and go through various adventures with the aim to rescue the almost-gone-insane old parent from total disaster.

Won't go further on the plot side, or I'll keep everyone who stumble across this blog from reading the actual book, spoiling all the fun.

I would experience different feeling toward the various characters who lived up in the story; at the very first I was totally against Valentina, because I thought she had to be a real bitch, seeing things from the point of view of Nikolai's daughters, and she was harassing the old man out of pure cruelty. Going on with the reading I was no more as pro Nikolai as I was from the beginning of the story. I mean, who'd ever blame a mother who tries everything in her means to win a better life for her and her teenage son?! The bullying was a bit too much still..

I would reccomend A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian to anyone who is looking for a light, humorous reading. It's good choice if you fancy to keep yourself busy with something to read for a few hours.

Not one of my favourite books ever, though.. Not sure I would ever read any further from Lewycka though..

This one earned her 2 1/2 stars out a total of 5.

The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank

2011-01-18T19:59:00.002+01:00

Title: The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank

Author: Ellen Feldman

Edition: Picador

Pages: 264

I got this one from my best friend Eva, for Christmas. It got delayed in the post (thank to our efficient postal service that goes downfall whenever it is mostly needed!) and I received it a few days ago. I read it in one day and this is the very first evidence that I do really like a book, when I cannot put it down and I keep on reading and reading all day long! And this book is a real page turner!

The story, that is entirely fiction, moves from the hypothesis that Peter Van Pels (the boy who shared the Annex with Anne Frank and whom she gave her first real kiss, for those who didn't know) didn't find death in a concentration camp but managed to stay alive and build a new life after the war, where he has got a family and some fortune. The author is absolutely good in giving a picture as accurate as possible of a living Peter and I found myself aching together with him when he had to face his past again and again in his life. The man Feldman pictures to her readers is the typical survivor to the Holocaust, who's unable to share his experience of death and pain with people who've not got the vaguest idea of what it meant to be a Jew in Europe during the WWII. Feldman's Peter was unable for more than 3 decades to reveal his real identity to his loved one, neither at the moment the Diary spread worldwide and entered his own family.

I especially loved the part when Peter tries to get rid of the book his wife is reading: "Anne Frank: diary of a young girl". The book seems to be a living being following and harassing poor Peter days and nights.

What slightly bothered me about the book is the fact that it made me realize that after all Anne was not the angelic teen I've ever thought of her. Especially naming Dr.Pfeffer Dussel (that the book explains means dumb in German language) was all but nice of her. And I didn't much like that my one and only teenage heroine seems now more human than ever to my eyes. Still, I think that had she been a good girl according to the time rules, we'd never have gotten such a masterpiece as her Diary!

All in all, this little book is worth its 4 starts out of 5!!! And I would reccomend it to anyone who's into Jewish survivors or Anne Frank or history in general.

For further info on Anne Frank, here's the link to wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank

Eat Pray Love

2011-01-16T11:02:00.001+01:00

Title: Eat Pray Love

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Edition: Penguin books
Pages: 434

I finally finished my first book of 2011. I started it well, this new year, at least I thought when I first got this book into my hands. The story is divided in 3 parts and I was going through the first part (each part made of 36 chapters) very fast, within 3 days and I was proud with myself because I couldn't do better than that, what with reading an hour or so at night before falling asleep after a very tough of a daily routine!

Italy part was funny, humorous, fast happening. I would go through pages without noticing the time going by while reading (that's the way reading a book is worth it, in my opinion). What bothered me a little about it are some mistakes Gilbert makes in Italian language that are not even corrected when published! I mean, the author writes phrases in Italian and then gives an english explanation about their meanings, but hey some spelling is wrong and it is not fair that it wasn't corrected before the book was given to print! I am not blaming Gilbert for this, but the publisher who'd better taken a deeper check on her spelling! (i.e. "molto migliore" cannot be written in Italian.. People here would say "molto meglio"- much better for english speakers) .. anyway, I guess people worldwide don't know it, so it wasn't such a bothering after all. And the Italian part seriously amused me!

India was where I got so very bored that I was about to quit the book. Really, it was slow and uninteresting and I couldn't but skipping page after page, in the hope I would have been done with it as soon as possible.. But 8 days passed over those 36 chapters regarding India and Gilbert's live in an Ashram! Woha! I am sure it is my only fault here, because I have never been into India (exception made for Rajeshi from The Big Bang Theory!) and its spirituality. And spirituality was all it was about here, because we were at the Pray part of the book. Only interesting part was when Liz makes friends with the 17 y.o. Indian girl Tulsi, that part I really loved with the girl rebelling (with words only of course) to the family traditions that want her married with such a young age with an arranged marriage.

But it is when she reaches Indonesia that the books gets lively once again and it's mostly enjoyable! She find friends in Bali, both in Kethut the eld man and in Wayan the young single mother of 3 whom Liz helps to get a house and fight poverty. And finally Gilberts find an aequilibrium in her life and love, in Felipe, the Brazilian middle aged man. This last part reminded me of a dear former friend of mine, she also fell in love with an elder man. And it was somehow bittersweet to be reminded of her when reading the book, especially because I then recalled it was her who'd suggested me this reading a good couple of years ago.

All in all, I would give it 3 stars out of 5, and I would also reccomend it to someone who is looking her way in life and some sort of aequilibrium. Gilbert's experience may be a teaching to some..