You may have noticed that it’s been a bit quiet on the blog lately aside from the Amsterdam posts. That’s because I’ve been trying to figure out how to adapt this blog to fit my current life.

You see, when we started this blog nearly three years ago we weren’t even in Italy yet. But, we were happy to talk about “the dream” and Italian dual citizenship and Italy. All. The. Time. For the past few years I’ve kept it up, feeling the pressure to be this superstar expat blogger covering the same topics over and over again.

It dawned on me lately that if I really want to continue this blog I need to refocus on what I actually want to write about — style, design, parenthood, travel and, yes, sometimes Italy. But, I want my visually-focused posts to be juicier and my content-focused posts to pack more of an essay punch. If I pressure myself into posting one more dreamy photo of Florence I might hurl.

I love Florence. It has been our home for 2.5 years and is set to be home for at least that much or more. I love writing about this gorgeous city. I hate feeling pressured to be the expat blogger that people get to live vicariously through. I hate feeling like I can’t do a post on beautiful collections of things I’ve found online because I’m afraid my audience won’t like it.

A little over a year ago one of my favorite bloggers, Joy from Oh Joy! decided to totally switch things up. I remember it being a bit controversial at the time — this big blogger totally refocusing her editorial and getting rid of contributors. I also remember being amazed by her for having the cajones to do it. Guest what? I still love her blog and I’m almost certain her readership hasn’t suffered. Being true to herself simply worked.

So, here’s the deal:

• This is officially my blog only…no more “we.” I love my hubby, but all of our friends and family have known that this is really my blog. I do 99.9% of the posts, take the photos and write the content. It’s my voice and my internet baby.
• As such, the blog may get a tad more feminine now that I’m no longer trying to keep the we-ness of it in check. To the few regular male readers this blog has, I apologize.
• It’s going to be an experiment for a while as I figure out how much of our life to really put out there. I’d love to be one of those bloggers that feels comfy slapping baby photos all over the place, but it’s not been me so far.

So, there you have it. After 320 posts(!), I’m making the editorial decision to switch things up a bit. Oh, and I may have totally taken a sledgehammer to the design and simplified it like woah.

I hope you all understand and enjoy the new style of content.

xo, Kate

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Ever since I started posting about having a baby here and a few tips for visiting Florence with kids, we’ve been contacted more than a few times for additional advice and insight. In an effort to provide a “one-stop-shop” post for those that need the info, I’m listing below all of the kid, pregnancy and childbirth-related posts right here.

Kate and Livia’s Birth Story at Ponte a Niccheri from the Maple Leaf Mamma blog

Before emailing with any questions related to what it was like to have a baby here, use the Italian healthcare system, choose a hospital, find an OB-GYN, etc., I kindly ask that you read this extremely detailed interview!

Visiting Florence, Italy with a Baby

We receive a lot of questions from fellow Americans about visiting Florence with a baby and what to expect. This post is my attempt to answer questions about strollers, changing stations and car seats in Florence. This city is baby-friendly in some ways, but definitely not in others.

FAQ: Everything You (N)ever Wanted to Know About Cloth Diapers

When someone finds out that we use cloth diapers they are always intrigued — including people who have no interest in kids! In this post, I outline (in detail) exactly how we make these diapers work in our casa. The biggest surprise? We’ve found it all rather easy.

Baby Abroad: First Steps

I think it’s valuable information to share for current and future expats that find themselves pregnant in Italia. Having a baby in Italy as an expat is definitely a unique experience. In this post, I outline the first steps you need to take to get on the baby-mamma healthcare track.

Baby Abroad: The Home Stretch

This post covers the “next steps” to take later in your pregnancy as you prepare to actually give birth. I cover topics like choosing a hospital, getting the final tests done and what decisions you can and can’t make about the actual delivery.

For those that are interested, we’ve also rented baby equipment in Paris and Amsterdam and you may find those posts helpful when planning your own visits to those cities.

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I’ve been working on a bit of a special project lately and found myself in need of an apartment for a single day — not to actually sleep in, but for photography and video purposes. Florence has no shortage of amazing apartments, but finding one that was available for one day and that had the “look” that I needed was a bit of a tall order.

Thankfully, I found Windows on Italy, a holiday rental company that not only rents apartments here in Florence, but all over Italy. In fact, I confess to checking out rentals on the Amalfi Coast and the Lake Region (clearly someone is dreaming about an August vacay). Back to Florence, I found an apartment that looked great in the photos, is furnished beautifully and had amazing natural light — which was a big reason why I couldn’t work on this project at home…our place is a bit of a cave.

Full disclaimer: they gave me the apartment for the day (minus a cleaning fee that I paid) in exchange for this review, but I’m telling you the honest truth when I say how nice it was to work with them. Even when I was initially inquiring I was impressed with how quickly they responded via email. Anyone that’s planned a trip to Italy or tried to reserve things from abroad knows how difficult it can be to get prompt email service, so this was huge! Also, the staff speaks great English.

I found the apartment’s photography very true to what was actually there. If you’ve ever rented a place you know that this is not always the case. Somehow, apartments always look better online. I think the high-end nature of most of the Windows on Italy apartments is the reason you actually get what you see. I also love that their descriptions of each apartment are so detailed. They do a great job of capturing the personality and unique character of each place.

I may have spent extra time on the site collecting ideas for how to furnish a potential new apartment (no news now…maybe soon) and found these great rooms that really got me dreaming. You can click any of the photos to see the entire apartment:

Long story short, I would highly recommend Windows on Italy to any of my readers that are planning a trip to Italy and are looking for great rentals from a great company, Windows on Italy.

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One of my favorite things about Amsterdam was all of the neat logos, hand-lettering and fonts used around the city’s businesses. It was a designer’s dream to be surrounded by so much creativity and inspiration.

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After our success with renting baby gear during our trip to Paris in December, it seemed like a no-brainer to try the same thing in Amsterdam. With fingers crossed I googled “baby equipment rental Amsterdam” and was super excited to find Travel Baby Amsterdam. Not having to lug our stroller across Europe was a huge relief!

We rented the Classic Stroller and a highchair. Livia is pretty attached to sitting in a high chair during meals, so we knew it was a must for the trip. I was nervous that a different type of chair might not be comfortable for her, but she loved the one that we rented! She was similarly comfortable in the lightweight stroller, which was a dream for navigating around a crowded city like Amsterdam.

I’m getting quite attached to having baby gear rental options in the cities that we travel to. Being able to travel light and not worry about who is lugging what baby stuff where is a huge relief during the actual travel process. Just like the company in Paris, the folks at Travel Baby Amsterdam deliver and pick-up the baby gear — all you need to do is tell them where and when to deliver and it shows up on your doorstep. After three long days driving from Florence to Amsterdam, it was nice to have this taken care of for us.

Planning a visit to Amsterdam with the kiddies in tow? We highly recommend Travel Baby Amsterdam - www.travelbabyamsterdam.com

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One morning as Rob and I headed out to work for a bit in a nearby cafe we passed by Mint Mini Mall. Naturally, I went all “work, what work?” and ran inside. Die. If shops like this existed in Florence I would be Broke with a capital B.

Mint is an adorable little boutique that just opened this past month. The aesthetic and the products were so refreshing. I love shop owners that take time to properly curate and style their stores. Everything in Mint has so much thought behind it and it shows. In one store we were able to buy Rob a watch and Livia a stuffed elephant. Bigger selection does not always equal better. Quality are thoughtfulness are always best.

If you are in Amsterdam and looking for a special gift for the stylish man, woman or baby in your life be sure to check out this little gem! Mint Mini Mall, Runstraat 27.

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We totally lucked out with the timing of our trip to Amsterdam. The Rijks Museum opened back up after 10 years during our stay here. On the Saturday it reopened there was free admission, so Rob and I joined about 10,000 of our closest Dutch friends in waiting in line to see the artwork.

While certain parts were closed to foot traffic during the free admission period, it was still amazing to see what the museum had to offer. We saw classics like Night Watch and The Milkmaid. The building itself is something to be seen, as well. We obviously never saw the museum before, but I can tell you it’s beautiful now.

If you are visiting Amsterdam soon we highly suggest checking it out!

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Since arriving in Amsterdam we have not had Dutch food at all. Not once. Instead, we’re gorging ourselves on all of the ethnic food that is available to us here and hard to find in Florence. Something else that’s hard to find in Florence? Brunch, of course!

A little internet sleuthing led me to G&T’s Really Nice Place, just a few minutes from our apartment and tucked away on a little side street. We had to wait for a table, but it was totally worth it. It’s definitely not a spot that sees a lot of tourists — the waitress says she knows just about everyone that comes through the doors and immediately asked where we were from. That is a good sign, in my mind.

My dad stuffed his faced with french toast, I with a club sandwich and Rob with eggs benedict. All were delicious! Rob was more than excited to see Pimm’s on the menu (his very British summer drink of choice) and I had one of the best soy cappucinos I’ve had in a very long time! Rob and I may have snuck a piece of banana chocolate cake, too

Looking for a great place for a weekend brunch in Amsterdam? Check out G&T’s Really Good Place, Goudbloemstraat 9.

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Our tour guide Ashley was funny as hell. It was refreshing to go on a tour that didn’t try to be too formal — it’s Amsterdam, after all! We peddled through the the city center (Red Light District included…that was an experience) and learned a few bits about the city as we rode. Mostly, we just had fun and laughed.

Rob and I immediately came back and unlocked the bikes that came with the apartment and went for a ride. We’ve been out a few times since and are kicking ourselves for not embracing the local mode of transportation earlier in our stay.

Visiting Amsterdam and have a good sense of humor? Take a bike tour with Mike’s Bikes.

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This post isn’t as glamorous as our other Amsterdam posts, but it does cover an essential part of visiting the city: where to park in Amsterdam when you drive here.

We priced out one-way car rentals, but the difference in cost was absurd — think $1500 ONE WAY. Crazy right? It was obvious that a long-term, standard rental (picking up and dropping off in the same location) was our only option.

The parking garages in the city center were ridiculously high. On street parking for six days was similarly expensive. A little research brought me to Amsterdam’s Park + Ride. The result? Amazing, efficient parking.

Here are the main points about the Park + Ride system:

• There are seven Park + Ride garages in the immediate outskirts of the city.
• You can park in these lots for up to four days (as such, we had to move our car to two different lots over the course of our stay).
• You get a FREE public transport ticket to use to get you back into the city and then to get you back to the lot to pick up your car. You can only use the free public transport ticket for those two journeys.
• To get the special P+R rate (and the free metro ticket), you take the ticket you get when you initially enter the lot and bring it to the front desk.
• The daily parking rate is only 8 euro.

That’s it…it was that easy. You can tell we’ve been in Italy for a while because all we kept saying throughout the entire process was “can you believe how easy and straight-forward that was?”

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After driving through Italy, Austria, Germany* and the Netherlands and “touring” rest stops in the process, our first full day in Amsterdam was all about finding a light, organic meal to start cleansing our systems of roadside fare. As luck would have it we happened upon Letting on Prinsenstraat after only 20 minutes of exploring the area immediately around our apartment. Wondering where to eat in Amsterdam? Letting is a must!

The menu may be small, but the portions are healthy. The ingredients are superb and the service friendly. Letting reminded me of some of the charming little cafes that you can find in the South — Charleston and certain neighborhoods in Nashville come to mind. Amsterdam seems to be full of these small cafes/restaurants run by folks that really love what they do and that have their own unique take on specific cuisine.

Where to Eat in Amsterdam: Letting, Prinsenstraat 3  1015 DA Amsterdam, Netherlands.

*I feel it is only right to state that the rest stops in Germany we ridiculously nice. In fact, I’m pretty sure one of the stops was the single nicest highway rest stop that I will ever see in my lifetime.

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I used to think that I just wasn’t a big city type of gal, but after my trips to Paris and now to Amsterdam I may need to rethink that belief!

Amsterdam is one of the cleanest, nicest big cities that I’ve ever been to. The architecture is fantastic, he public transportation is easy and on-time, the people are insanely nice…I could go on forever. Amsterdam has definitely wooed us!

Did I tell you that our trip to Amsterdam is part of a home exchange? A lovely couple is staying in our apartment while we use theirs. This has been such a fun experience that I’m dying to figure out our next exchange.

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One our second full day of driving we went from Fussen in Bavaria to a small town near Bacharach in the Rhineland.

Before we officially got on the road, however, we spent two hours checking out Neuschwanstein Castle. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was breathtakingly gorgeous. As you can see in the photos above the clouds kept rolling in and out, making for fantastic photo ops.

Now, Neuschwanstein gets all the glory, but there is also another neat castle right in the same area, Hohenschwangau. It’s pretty cool in its own right…

I’m sure that, in some ways, the two castles and the surrounding area are “better” in prettier seasons, but it was fantastic to see the area during a non-crowded time of year. Living in a touristy city like Florence has given me an appreciation of seeing cities in quieter months.

Coming soon…posts about Amsterdam, where we’ve been for 3 days. Spoiler alert: we’re obsessed with this city!

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Bavaria was equally as stunning. The scenery is to die for. I didn’t expect to like Fussen so much. To be honest, I booked our hotel thinking it would be a little side town to the main event – Neuschwanstein Castle. But, Fussen itself was super charming, full of cute little shops and nice people. We stayed at Hotel Ludwigs, which was recently remodeled and is clean, simple accommodation.

This is going to sound funny, but one thing that really stuck out to us in Northern Italy, Austria and Bavaria is just how clean and neat everything is. Coming from the land of beautiful chaos, it’s almost disarming how proper everything looks around us.

Coming on Friday…Day Two of our trip so far.

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The post A Photo from the Road: Neuschwanstein Castle appeared first on La Vita e Bella - An Italy Expat Blog - Americans living in italy, Italian Dual Citizenship and Living in Italy.

Regular readers know that we don’t share photos of Livia very often on the blog. BUT, it just seemed like cruel and unusual punishment not to share a few of the stunning photographs shot by Birgitte during last weekend’s baptism.

It really was a special night. We had a little (ok, not so little…25 people) apertivo at our apartment before celebrating the baptism during Easter Eve mass. Even though she wailed like a crazy girl during her big moment, it was beautiful and wonderful and we felt really blessed to share it with so many family and friends. I never could have imagined how much Florence would/could feel like home after two short years.

On a side note, the photos shot by Birgitte are nothing short of spectacular. If you are a Florence mamma looking for family photos or a soon-to-be traveler to Florence looking to capture your time here, I cannot recommend her enough!

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We have been nonstop since we returned from our trip to the U.S. last month. Busy with work, busy with baby (the baptism was this past weekend…photos coming soon!) and now busy with travel. Up next: a road trip through Italy, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands (and possibly France and/or Belgium). Wowza!

We are doing a home exchange with a lovely couple from Amsterdam. To say we’re excited would be understatement of the century. We decided to drive instead of fly so that we could stop in parts of Europe we might otherwise never take time to visit. We’ll be stopping and staying overnight about every 4 hours of the drive on the way up. So far, we’re stopping in Fussen to check out the nearby castles and Bacharach for some small town Germany action.

As for the way back…no plans yet! The great thing about a home exchange is that we have a ton of flexibility. If we love Amsterdam we may end up staying there and then powering through the full drive (about 12 hours) in one day. Otherwise, the plan is to take another 2-3 days for the drive back. Maybe through France. Maybe back through Germany. We want to keep things open in case we end up seeing things along the drive up that we really want to see on the way back.

Is it wrong that I’m totally jealous of my daughter? She’s only 6 months old and already a little world traveler!

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Two weekends ago I was invited to a blogger meetup hosted by Tuscany Now. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I ended up having a ridiculously silly good time. I got to hang out with friends, meet new people and laugh…a lot.

The meetup was held at the gorgeous Villa di Petroio. The owners are lucky that the blogger group didn’t throw our bags down and refuse to leave. I can’t picture a more peaceful place to spend a week — perfect for big families and groups.

Perhaps my favorite part was the entertainment. No one was safe with this singing comedy troupe on the loose. Such a fun time. The entertainment is covered in depth over on Georgette’s blog.

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In an effort to get this recovering lady some fresh air on Saturday we went out for a nice walk through the city. As expected, it was crowded out, but the walk was still wonderful. The stroller acts as a bit of a battering ram through the tourist crowds.

I was tired by the time we got home, but mentally refreshed from the fresh air. Flus/bugs are the worst because it takes so. darn. long. to recover. I’m hoping that by Livia’s baptism this coming weekend I’ll be back to fighting form.

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Casa Hash was hit hard by a no-good, very bad stomach bug. Holy cow. Four days later and I’m only starting to recover. My poor dad got it, too. Thankfully, Rob and Livia managed to avoid it. Needless the say, however, that things have been slow going around these parts!

As a result of the four days offline I never got to post about an amazing blog we worked on and recently launched for a wonderful gal named Amy, The Bittersweet Gourmet. Seriously folks, can we talk about how delicious these recipes look/are? Pasta in artichoke, anchovy and saffron sauce? Sign me up!

Amy was a delight to work with and her passion for food is inspiring. I highly suggest swinging by her blog to check it out and subscribe. The blog looks best in Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Boo on IE!

I love working on blogs, so if you’re looking for a little revamp/redesign send an email my way!

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