Stiamo godendo Italia!

We are enjoying Italy!!

We got off to a rocky, or should I say curb-y start.  The ankle is healing very well, thanks for all the well wishes!  Italy is definitely a walking country, so my explorations have been somewhat limited, but what I have seen, I love.

Italians are very friendly and helpful people.  Something to remember in the good ole USA, be friendly to people!  

Piazza dei Signori

We were able to take the bus to downtown Vicenza.....when I say gorgeous, it doesn't even begin to describe it.  It is like a whole, history, art, architecture class in one viewing.  There are so many beautiful things to see, it is hard to know where to look.  The streets are cobblestone, so it was important for me to watch where I was walking, literally!  But, it was breathtaking.

Basilica Palladiana - with a bit of photo editor fun!

Teatro Olimpico

We really only skimmed the surface with our 1st visit.  There is so much to see; we only viewed the outsides of all of this gorgeous architecture of Palladio. Here is a quick wikipedia link, if you don't know who he is....if you've seen a palladium window, thank Palladio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Palladio.   We will definitely take a longer sightseeing tour soon.  

Practically every 100 m, there is a gelateria.  Yes, that means gelato!!  Oh and most of them are also bars....awesome!  I was introduced to my first Italian gelato - hazelnut, which was gustoso! And everyone seemed to be drinking these lovely orange drinks from a wineglass....spritz.

Hazelnut gelato & Spritz!

A bit of info on the spritz: The Spritz (German: "splash" / "sparkling") is a wine-based cocktail commonly served as an aperitif in northern Italy, especially in the Veneto region and surrounding areas. The drink is prepared with prosecco wine, a dash of some bitter liqueur such as Aperol, Campari, Select or Cynar. The glass is then topped off with sparkling mineral water. It is usually served over ice in a lowball glass (or sometimes a martini glass or wine glass) and garnished a slice of orange, or sometimes an olive, depending on the liqueur. Another variation of the drink uses champagne with the liqueur rather than prosecco. The drink originated in Venice while it was part of the Austrian Empire, and is based on the Austrian Spritzer, a combination of equal parts white wine and soda water. More recently it became the traditional drink of the students of theUniversity of Padua.

We had a lovely afternoon & evening walking around Vicenza.  We found a cute little restaurant and managed to point and mangle our way to a lovely Italian dinner, calzone & spaghetti carbonara....with some vino of course.  Typically a 1/2 L of wine is the same as a Coke.....pretty much a no-brainer on drink choice.

We managed to take the bus all by ourselves (with the help of some English speaking, kind Italians).  The cool part about the ride home was how you call the bus.  Your evening ticket has a number on it.  You text the bus company your stop # and your ticket # and they send the bus/car right to you.  We basically had our own cab ride home for 2 euro.

It was our first "assaggio" of Italia and definitely not our last.

Ciao for now!

Siamo in Italia!! / We are in Italy!!

And we are married!!

The ceremony was exactly what we wanted.  A beautiful sunny day, a gorgeous backyard location, our wonderful families, crabs, beer and pig!  Relaxed and casual.  It was worth every bit of stress and strife to marry such a wonderful man!  We couldn't have pulled it off without the love and support of our families....Thank you and we love you!

Now I am sitting on the plane en route to our new home.  Vicenza! I can hardly believe that we are on our way.  It seems like just yesterday Craig came home and said, "it looks like it's retirement time, the army wants to send us to Italy, so I guess I'll have to retire".  My response was " I can go to Italy".  And now here we are.

It has been a daunting project, to pack up a life, a house, plan a wedding, and say our goodbyes.  The goodbyes have been bittersweet! While it is exciting to think about going, the hard part is to hug your friends and families and say Ciao for now.  For any that know me, know tears flow easily and incessantly!  I must say I am proud of myself for the amount of composure that I have maintained.  It really only is Ciao for now, the three years will fly by!

There are so many exciting things I want to do, once we arrive.  Travel being tops on my list.  I am determined to see Paris & Monaco, they have been on my bucket list for years! Wine tastings, olive oil tastings, cheese tastings....lots of tastings! Which means lots of exercise will be needed.

Next Day:  We have landed in Italy!

We left at 2:00 on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Italy at 9:00 Thursday morning.  The flight was great, the dogs did so well, it was a breeze! Checked into our hotel and we got quite a bit accomplished the first day.  Cell phones switched - check, housing appointment made - check, great Italian dinner at a cute restaurant - check.  We even managed to stay awake until it was bedtime in Italy!

Friday am - wake up to a beautiful sunny day.  Eat breakfast.  Take dogs for a walk.  Next on the agenda was the housing appointment.  Simple, just show up at 1:15.  Oh, watch out for that curb/storm drain while walking the dogs!!

And down she goes!!  Ouch!!  So my first tour of downtown Vicenza was to San Bartolo hospital!  No, I am not joking!  Five hours and 3 x-rays later and I have an "incomplete fracture", a soft cast, and a lovely pair of crutches!

So, crossfit is out for a little while.  And we have no vehicle here yet, so all of the walking I was going to do, is on hold for a while.  Poor Craig, he didn't realize that the sickness & health clause would apply our first full day in Italy.  He has become the official dog walker, food gatherer and grocery shopper!  Not the way I wanted to start out, but I guess it could be worse....I never wanted an Incomplete in school, but I think it's a good grade when it comes to fractures!!

I will sign off to go ice!!

Ciao for now!