Hotel Verdandi is a wonderful small hotel in Oslo. It is about a 13-minute walk from the Central Train Station. As you exit the front of the station, you walk straight on a pedestrian walk way towards the Palace. The hotel is on the left about 2 blocks off the walkway. It is near the Palace, City Hall and the waterfront. There are restaurants along the pedestrian walkway as well as at the waterfront.
The rooms are nice, clean and the staff is friendly. The hotel gives a free breakfast at a restaurant across the street. It is a buffet including eggs, cheese, meats, fruit, breads and sweet rolls.
If you plan a trip to Oslo, this is a great hotel in a very convenient location to stay.
-George
Italy has one of the world’s most efficient healthcare systems. The World Health Organization rates countries on their over all health. Italy’s healthcare system focuses on exercise, happiness and healthy food rather than drugs. The people of this country eat well and eat fresh organic produce that is grown or farmed near their own home. Fruit is seldom shipped but picked locally at the height of freshness and nutrients. It tastes better and is healthier for you.
The Healthiest Countries in the World
1. Singapore
2. Italy
3. Australia
4. Switzerland
5. Japan
6. Israel
7. Spain
8. Netherlands
9. Sweden
10. Germany
The Least Healthiest Countries in the World
1. Swaziland
2. Lesotho
3. Democratic Republic of Congo
4. Chad
5. Mozambique
6. Burundi
7. Malawi
8. Angola
9. Uganda
10. Cameroon
The USA was rated 33 on the least healthiest countries in the world.
We should take a lesson on this from Italy. Not only is it a country on everyone bucket list but it gives us a great example how to live a happy and healthy life.
George
Italy has a special place in my heart. I am not Italian but I did a lot of work there. I gained a respect and a love for the country, the people, the food and the wine. Italians seem happy with there life. They know what is important. Their families, their life , their food & wine are all very important to them. They have to work but it is not a important part of their lives. Walk any Italian city (big or small) and you will see the elderly and the young walking. They enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables. They love their cooking especially mamma’s cooking. Their coffee, wine, gelato and bread are a tradition to them. You can here them argue about how good or bad the pasta is at a restaurant. It will never be mamma’s pasta.
As I walk through a city, I smell the cooking. I see the people outside all around me. I hear the language and the passion with which it is spoken. This is the Italy I so love. People are very friendly here. Just say Buon Giorno to a stranger and watch the smile appear and you will get a Buon Giorno back. If you are trying to speak the language remember there are informal and polite forms of speaking. The young are becoming less formal but the elderly still require a stranger to speak formally.
Be respectful, smile and enjoy all that your senses are experiencing. I even enjoy seeing Italian laundry out to dry. No I don’t have a laundry fetish! I enjoy the colors and shapes against a backdrop of old buildings. It is one of my favorite photo op. In Italy you can buy a dryer but most people prefer the clean scent of drying their clothes outside.
In the morning I enjoy being in the local bar for coffee and a cornetto. You are submerged in a group of Italians, all talking and quickly drinking their coffee and eating a small cake or cornetto.
Cornetto
As you leave after breakfast, you are again engulfed in Italian life on the streets. Listen and watch how they talk and communicate with each other. Enjoy the scooters speeding by you. Take in the smells as you pass a restaurant. Later stop in a bar, pizzeria or trattoria for lunch. Bars are famous for eating standing up. It costs more to take a table. You will see Italians eating Panini (sandwiches) and drinking a beer or glass of wine. Between about 2 pm and 4 pm watch the Italian Passeggiata (walk). Families and friends stroll together to enjoy each others company.
After your afternoon walking or visiting museums, look for a large piazza. Life really explodes in the Italian piazzas. You will find lots of bars and restaurants here as well. Pick a non touristy place for dinner. I always look for one with mostly Italians and few or no foreigners. You will have to eat late to see Italians as no one eats dinner early in Italy.
Evening is my favorite time to walk, watch and have a gelato.
Life here is much less stressful. Enjoy what you have and what you are. Be Italian for a short while.
George
International Cuisine is not fast food!. Many travelers look for McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and other American fast food chains when they travel. I have news for you, Fast Food is NOT cuisine! If you go to a foreign country and eat American Fast Food, you are missing out on the true gems of that country. Countries like Italy have unbelievably good food. It is NOT the same as Italian food in America. It is soooo much better. Go, see, experience and enjoy the food and wine.
Fruits & vegetables in these countries are so fresh and ripe. You can smell them and the taste is so delicious. Fish is wild caught and meats are raised and fed properly. Everything tastes great the way it was intended to taste.
In addition to the raw ingredients, the recipes are old and delicious. In Italy you don’t find heavy sauces or a dish with 17 different ingredients. Dishes are simple and stand on the taste of the one or two main ingredients.
I suggest that you try different things when traveling in Italy. Even if you don’t think you like it. This is how you expand your taste buds. There is no better place in the world to do this than Italy.
My memories are of the bread, coffee, gelato, pasta, pastries, pizza, fish, truffles, buffalo mozzarella and wine of Italy.
Mangia … Mangia!
George
Gelato is not just an Italian word meaning Ice Cream! it is made totally differently. So why is gelato so much better than ice cream? For me it is the creamy taste of gelato. It is soft never served frozen hard. It has real fruit or nuts in it (not frozen bits). As you eat it, the softness caresses your tongue and the flavors hit hard. This is a real treat anywhere but in Italy it is always made perfectly.
Gelato
My favorite is Nociolla (hazelnut). Everyone has a favorite or two or three. Italians love to eat their gelato as several scoops of different flavors of gelato. Most stores allow you to taste small spoonfuls of several flavors before ordering. Take time to look at the colors of the gelato. Italians are all about design. A great gelato store is displaying its product in a wonderful design.
So back to my original question … What is the difference between Ice Cream and Gelato? Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream. It starts out with a similar custard base as ice cream, but has a higher proportion of milk and a lower proportion of cream and eggs (or no eggs at all). It is churned at a much slower rate, incorporating less air and leaving the gelato denser than ice cream. The best news is gelato tends to have less calories than ice cream!
Whatever the differences, let your eyes enjoy the colors, let your taste buds enjoy the flavors and let the coolness satisfy you on a hot summer day. In Italy you eat gelato anytime.
George
Italy is known for its food but why is it different from Italian food in other countries? The main difference is it is:
Most countries have Italian restaurants. The pasta is usually prepared over cooked not al dente. The dishes mix many different ingredients and tastes. We associate certain dishes with Italian but they are not. Spaghetti and meatballs is in every restaurant in America but it is not Italian! Italians do not serve this (except in tourist restaurants to please tourists). They do serve spaghetti and later will serve meatballs but not together.
Just observe Italian life. It is simple and fresh. People in Italy do not buy frozen or prepared foods. They shop each day for that day or maybe the next. Vegetables and fruits are fresh out of the Earth, meats are organic and fresh from local farms, fish is just caught in the sea and breads and pastas are made fresh. This is what makes real Italian food so good and so different from what we expect.
When you go to Italy, order the local dishes and wine. Stop and taste the flavors. Eat slowly and enjoy each bite. Take a piece of crusty bread without butter or oil. Taste the freshness of the bread. Experience the crusty texture of the crust. This is eating Italian.
OK you like sweets. Taste the Italian pastry, gelato and candy. It is not as sweet as sweets in other countries. It is tasty. Enjoy what you eat slowly. Each bite is an experience. Avoid tourist restaurants and please do NOT eat American Fast Food in Italy! Your taste buds deserve to be treated to a real experience.
George & Jo Anne
Now you are ready for your trip. Where can you find a place to exercise in Italy? Italy does have gyms but you won’t need them. Just walk … walk … walk and climb those stairs. You don’t need machines in a gym. Use the environment of Italy and get your exercising in as you tour. While you walk look around you. Smell the smells of Italy. In piazza with flower shops smell the fresh flowers. At fruit or vegetable markets stop and smell the produce. You can actually smell the fruit and vegetables in Italy. They are so fresh. We are so used to produce that is picked before it is ripe and shipped to us that when we get it, there is nor smell or flavor.
The strawberries are red and juicy inside, not white and dry. The peaches are perfect and juicy nor mealy. Apples smell and taste like apples. The berries are so good you will not believe it. Buy some fruit and snack at a fountain or as you walk. Italy is all around you. Enjoy it to its fullest. The vegetables are so fresh and still have dirt on them. If you have an apartment with a kitchen, buy some and prepare them. This is a real treat.
Roman Artichoke
Fresh Strawberries
We are vegetarians so we don’t eat meat but we eat some cheese and fish. In southern Italy the fish is so fresh and there is more of it than meat. The cheeses are so aromatic and fresh. Just a little with some of that great Italian bread. So good! Molto Buono!
Yes eat some pizza, pasta, gelato and wine. You deserve it. But eat fresh fruit and vegetables as well. Italians do not usually serve a vegetable with an entrée but you can order them extra. Italian families eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.
In small towns there are stairs everywhere. Take them. You will develop great looking calf calls and be fit by the end of your vacation. Some of the most interesting places are up or down a large set of stairs. Avoiding them will mean you miss so much. Cities like Positano are ALL Stairs! You really can not avoid them.
Stairs … Stairs … Stairs
We walk 6-8 miles a day and sometimes climb 30 or more stairs. By the time you come home, you won’t think twice about walking a few miles or climbing several flights of stairs. In Rome, walk to everything. The sites are within a few miles of each other. Don’t just take the metro. Walk and see the city! No gym will do that for you. Be healthy, live long, enjoy Italy as the Italians do.
George & Jo Anne
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