Our yearly trip to Italy is a compromise, but a lovely one. Left to our own devices my husband and I would prefer to travel further afar, but with small kids that can turn expensive and uncomfortable for everyone, so Italy by car it is until they are a little older.
We started this trip again in Udine, a small city in the northern province of Friuli.
Here are a few impressions…
Udine is not perfume-free of course, I did check out its perfumeries and this time really surprised the husband into admitting that his opinions on certain perfumes are not set in stone.
I sprayed my hand with Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan and to both our surprise it was lovely. Warm, rose-y and softly musky, the cosy smell of a well-loved fur coat maybe. The Mongolian hordes were on vacation apparently. 😉
L’Heure Bleue
Then we spent a week in a gorgeous hotel on the Adriatic sea, in the shade of pine trees, slathered in SPF 50 (can you tell I’m not a sun worshipper?)
But we didn’t entirely succumb to mindless beach lounging, check in tomorrow for an account and pictures of our trip to Venice.
Olfactoria's Travels 
Musc K-K? Musc K-K? Was’nt this the juice you and mr ö were scared being chased by wild horny animals in the zoo the first time?
That was Mr O’s interpretation, but yes, that is the one! How things can change… 😉
so today I’m courageous and trying the musc kk sample you once gave me, if I’m chased by wild dogs through vienna’s city it is totally your fault 😉
Bravo!!!
SPF50! Wow we only have up to SPF30 here. What is the striped Al-Ahambraesque building please? Muscs Koublai Khan – I wonder where the hordes went? Chased away by the Italian ethers. Sure they will be back next time with the sweat of Khoublai!
On my last Hawaii vacation I used SPF85 😉
!
Heck, my *daily* facial moisturizer is SPF 60, and I live in Canada. (What can I say? After horrible acne and blotchy skin all through my teens, my present fair skin has become my one vanity.) For vacations to Mexico, I pull out the SPF 90 and a hat – it’s a point of pride to come home just as pale as I left. 😉
I’m almost never outside during the regular week so SPF15-20 is enough for me. During vacation I don’t spend more than 30-40 minutes at a time outside not covered so I was fine with SPF85. But I’m currently “on the market” for a new sunscreen so who knows which one I’ll end up with 🙂
Pale is chic, Dionne!!!
The striped building is a house in “downtown” Udine. I don’t remember it having any special designation, sorry.
I will be featuring that house in my first perfume’s mini movie!
I hope to be among the first to smell it! 🙂
Well, sunscreens and their labelling are more highly regulated in Australia than anywhere else in the world and, until recently SPF30+ here meant the highest protection available – blocking 96.7 UVB radiation. Since the end of last year SPF50+ labelling has been allowed in Australia on improved sunscreens offering blocking of 98% UVB. The + sign indicates a broad spectrum sunscreen, i.e. offering high level blocking of UVA as well.
Thanks for clearly explaining this Maggie, it’s not all in the numbers, the SPF 100 and so forth available in the US foster a sense of false security imo.
MKK works best in the summer! As for travels, we have the opposite experience with LO. He hates riding in cars for a long time and drives everyone crazy with his complaints. Put him on an airplane and he is an angel.
Good for you!
We know already about your perfume use on this trip. But now you have to tell us the brand of the sunscreen that protected your porcelain complexion.
It is La Roche-Posay Anthélios SPF 50+ Velvet Cream for Face. 🙂
So Mr O thought MKK was tame…okay…interesting! 😉
Funnily enough, after I met you in August ’11, I stayed in the Astoria Hotel in Udine (for work, except my meeting was cancelled, so I just went to Italy for the night in the end!). Didn’t see the town, sadly, but my bathroom had a curiously shaped bidet that was a sight in itself.
Interesting development for sure!
Lol, count on you to bring up bathroom appliances when one least expects it! 😉
Happy Holidays and enjoy your time in Italy – it is such a different and HAPPY lifestyle there 🙂
A different pace for sure, I love it!!!
Lovely, lovely pics.
I was also surprised to find MKK more furry than beastly but maybe it just depends on the temperature, I don’t know. Looking forward to Venice!
Thank you.
MKK is making a surprise comeback among us musk wimps. How interesting! 😉
That’s exactly what I get from MKK! I’m so glad that you (and Dr. O) had a lovely experience with it. In picture perfect Italy!! Loved your photos, Birgit.
I told the husband right then that you would be proud of us! 🙂
😀
Glad to see your pictures, Birgit. So beautiful. The last time I tried MKK my impression was very much of the Mongolian hordes. I wonder if time might change that for me eventually.
Maybe it will change for you too eventually. I was so pleasantly surprised.
Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures! Ah, to have Italy but a short car ride away… So lucky to live in Europe! I spent 18 hours driving to visit my hometown this summer. And it is even in the same province! And not even all the way at the other side of the province! Italy is one of the very few places I’ve traveled to outside of Canada, and I long to go back again some day. I’m looking forward to your Venice post! I was there for a couple of weeks in the spring and I think I left a piece of me behind.
Ah, the great vastness of Canada, how gorgeous! (A clear case of the grass is aleays greener… 😉 )
I still haven’t tried MKK, as the musks just haven’t engaged my attention yet, but someday. One thing about our international community that I love is the chance to put myself in the shoes of someone across the world. For me, Italy with the kids sounds so exotic…. But then, Banff is a local holiday for me, and I know that’s on the bucket list of a lot of people.
Yes it is!! My husband especially is dying to make the trip.. I told him I know a perfumista there..:)
I’d love to go to Banff and someday I will. You being there makes it perfect, I didn’t think Canada would ever be a perfume destination. 🙂
Udine looks lovely- I wish Italy were a car drive away for me too… That picture of your son in the evening light is priceless!
Thank you, Lavanya!