Ovunque tu vada, vacci con tutto il cuore!

Wherever you go, go with all your heart. ~ Confuscious

This journey to Italy, is indeed travel, but within the grand scope of moving for three years...we have the luxury of additional travel.  While there are lots of European adventures ahead, we have done some local travel and find that every day, we are truly blessed by where we are living.  There are so many things to see and do, really within 30 minutes of our home. And we are meeting wonderful people along the way!

Asiago!! Cheese, what's not to LOVE! Well, there is so much more and boy did we have a wonderful time exploring.  First up, we met some friends who live in Asiago and they were gracious enough to be our tour guides for a great weekend!  Our itinerary included a Cheese Factory Tour, fireside drinks, a lovely bed and breakfast, fantastic dinner, and wandering to a few beautiful sites.

The cheese factory, Caseifico Pennar, has been around since 1927.  It was beyond spotlessly clean.  We went through the process from raw milk to fresh cheese to aged cheese.  It really was fascinating.  And for those of you who only think of Asiago as a substitute for Parmesan cheese, you are missing out.  After the factory tour, we went to the cheese shop and tasted. Seriously, who knew cheese could be this good.  Smoked, fresh, aged 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years....Delicioso!!!  And we learned to keep it in paper, not the dreaded Ziploc bags that bring on mold.  It was Fabulous!!!

After our cheesilicious afternoon, we met up for fireside cocktails at our B&B before heading off to a delightful dinner.  In the morning we dined on a traditional Italian breakfast before doing a bit of exploring.  We saw some beautiful sights, including a bit of a traffic jam.  If Little Bo Peep is missing her sheep, I know where they are!

 We stopped by a beautiful golf course and spa for an afternoon beverage.  The views, as you can see, were spectacular.  I really am going to have to pull out the thesaurus for more superlatives, because stunning, just doesn't cut it.  Thank you Sarah and Mauro for hosting us on a great weekend getaway!

 

After such an exhausting and trying weekend (just kidding), I needed to unwind and it was a good thing that I had signed up for "Wine Down Wednesday", one of the events that the Army Recreation Department puts on....for the Alphabet Soup Acronym fans....that is MWR. 

The green is the mountain!

 Wine Down Wednesday, is a trip to a vineyard for what else...wine tasting.  Oh, and a tour.  This beautiful winery is located in Bassano del Grappa and is built into the hill/mountain.  They do spectacular things, using nature and the environment in their wine production.  Lenora, was our lovely tour guide; she is the daughter of the owners, and it was her 21st birthday. She explained how the mountain keeps the wines at an even temperature, without any electronics.  The casks are kept  at a cool even temperature using only mother nature.  It took the stone mason one month just to cut the stones that line the ceiling of the room.

Tasting room view

The beautiful view from the tasting room, overlooks the vineyard.  The family runs the winery, a restaurant and produces olive oil.  We were treated to a lovely lunch and some of the best wines.  I forced myself to limit my purchases to 2 bottles, one white and one red....and a bottle of olive oil that they also use grapes it.....delish!!  Oh, and conveniently, the wines go just perfect with the cheese that we purchased in Asiago, the neighboring town!

After our wine tasting, we stopped in Marostica for a quick visit. I think it was to sober up the moms who were due to pick their kids up from school, but don't tell anyone! 

Marostica is best known for it's live chess matches, complete with living pawns and horses.  In the town square, the chess board is hard to miss.

Town Square and Chess Board

The Castle wall is gorgeous and boasts 360 views from the top.  Not enough time to walk around it, but that will definitely be another day's adventure!

Panoramic view from the Alpini Bridge

Well, after my Wine Down, I decided that I needed to see a bit more of Bassano del Grappa, so I drug Craig along....no kicking and screaming involved.  He readily agreed to go for a ride up the hill with the top down!  Our main attraction for the day was the Alpini Bridge.  It was built in 1569, by none other than Andrea Palladio (a very busy man!) and is wooden.  It has been rebuilt several times, including, after being destroyed in WWII.  The bridge, also known as Ponte Vecchio, spans the Brenta River.

The Bridge!

View of the mountains from the bridge

 It is much larger than the pictures seem to show and gives such striking views!

Beautiful Rapids

We had lunch at a small cafe, just beyond the bridge.  The sun was shining and the smoked chicken salad was heavenly!!

Strolling across the bridge

 After enjoying the bridge and all of the splendid views, we wandered through town and came upon the Grappa museum.  Now, I have not tasted Grappa yet.  Craig's opinion is that it tastes like sticks and grass, of course, I thought boys liked sticks and grass, but apparently not.  I plan on setting up a Grappa tasting soon, because with all of these bottles, there has to be more flavors than sticks and grass!  

Now that's a lot of minis!

Part of the museum had a fantastic "bouquet" display.  You could press a button and smell the different aromas from the different flavors of Grappa. They were wonderful and definitely ones that I would like to try.....and somehow they missed setting up the sticks and grass scent! 

This was a beautiful copper still that was used in the Grappa production. The museum was great, in that you could just wander through and see what you liked.  I can't wait for our Grappa tasting!!


I didn't realize that with this move, I would become the Cruise Director on this Love Boat, but I sure am enjoying it!

Next stop......Panettone and Nove Pottery!!  And we'll see what other hidden treasures I can find!

Ciao for Now!

Amare l'Italia - Things to Love about Italy!

Well, after about 4 months of living here, I decided to come up with some things that I absolutely love about living in Italy.....and maybe a few things I miss about the states.

First - Sizes of Most Everything
Things in Italy, generally are smaller, from cars to coffee cups to clothes.

It definitely makes things interesting.  I have been giving Craig a hard time about parking.  He keeps driving around looking for the perfect parking space and I keep telling him, "They are all the same size...none are going to fit this land yacht".

I didn't understand all of the people standing up to drink their coffee....well, it is because you don't have time enough to sit down before you have finished your tiny cup.  Well, that is not really true, they do sit in the afternoon and enjoy their cafe' or spritz.  But, they do pack a wallop of caffeine in those tiny little cups.  No French vanilla creamer yet....but I am managing!

Second - Shopping Carts

They have the best shopping carts.  They are 4-wheel drive and you can even take them on escalators. No slipping, sliding and you can go sideways.  And the best part is they don't flop and squeal like the US carts.

Third - Plants, Flowers & Shrubs
Many streets are lined with Crepe Myrtles.  Not typical in the US, but here, they groom them like a topiary. None of the bunches of limbs coming from the ground.
These are neat and beautiful.

Also, the beauty of your house can be measured by the fluff and
fall of your windowsill petunias....Gorgeous!

            

Fourth -Getting Around

I think bikes are more popular than cars here.  You see everyone riding their bikes, to work, to market, to school, to the wine store....everywhere.  Young or old doesn't matter.  It definitely keeps them from a sedentary lifestyle...one that we should adopt!

Fifth - Traffic

This is a mixed bag....some I like, some....not so much.  I love/hate the traffic circles.  They keep traffic moving, but boy those Italians are aggressive drivers.  Typically the traffic circles have two incoming lanes and sometimes the outflow is only one lane.  There is quite a bit of jockeying for position.  Driving here is not for the timid.  Oh, and if you are a motorcycle/scooter/4-wheeler, just drive where ever you want, especially down the center line.  Mamma Mia!

No kidding, he passed me on this!

Sixth - Drinks

One thing you won't find here is Supersized Drinks.  For those that know me, my beverage capacity is quite large.  I've been know to down 3-4 Diet Pepsi's at lunch, most particularly at Plaza Tapatia.  Not only are the drinks small here, there is no such thing as unlimited refills...no how, no way.  Let's just say, my diet soda consumption has gone way down.  Especially when you consider that a small can of light cola runs about 2,50 Euros.....yup, that's about $3.40....EACH.  Gone are my Big Gulp days......sniff sniff!

The Italians are very friendly, my use of the language is getting better.  I was even complimented on my Italian accent.  For the most part, they don't care that you mangle their language, just that you try.  I've had people ask how I like Italy...my standard response is......What's not to LOVE!!

Stay tuned for the next blog post......Asiago Tour, Monte Berico, Nove and Winedown Wednesday!!!!

Ciao for now!

The slow boat to China arrived in Livorno and my car was on it.....Yippee!!!

Off we go, the dogs in tow....on a train to Pisa!  When we were shipping my car, there were only a few places it would arrive, so we picked Livorno, which is right near Pisa so that we could do some sightseeing.

It was an early morning, and we took the dogs on their first train ride.  Let me say that in Italy, dogs are well loved and welcome pretty much everywhere.  So we hopped on the first of 3 train changes and set off to pick up my pretty convertible! Train #1, no problem, a quick hop.  Train #2, even better....dining car, great A/C, plenty of room for the babies, beautiful views of the sunflower fields of Tuscany! Train #3....oops delayed.  No problem, we will wait for the replacement.  Hmmmm....delayed again.....well, apparently there was a bit of an accident and someone decided to check out via jumping in front of the train....not a great omen.

Finally train #3 and we are headed to Livorno....not so much A/C on this one....and did I mention it was a muggy 95degrees....oh and at the last stop all of the people that were delayed got on at one time...it was a hot sardine can full of Europeans.....not so fresh!!

Allora, we finally arrive, catch a cab to the port, just in time for our appt to pick up the car.  Not too much paperwork and we find the car in great condition and ready to roll.  Zip out of Livorno and to our hotel, so we can start off to Pisa in the am.  

I swear I didn't photoshop him in

Arrive in Pisa, thanks to Siri's directions and a kind sunglass vendor shows us right to a parking space.  Apparently he didn't notice that we both had sunglasses on and were not in need of a new pair of "Ray Bans" or "Maui Jim's".  He didn't look pleased!  Well, Pisa is not very large, and we could see the tower from our parking space.

Now my first memories of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are from Bewitched....the episode where Aunt Esmerelda decides she will straighten the tower....I know, I am dating myself, but I bet most of you know what I'm talking about!  And Craig and I decided that we would have to indulge in the cheesy pics of holding up the tower with our hands....with a twist, we settled on a "pushing" the tower shot.  Let me just tell you that it was difficult to get the shot in, because EVERYONE was doing the cheesy tower pose!!

The area was beautiful, as were are learning most of Italy is.  Once we pushed the tower over and looked around, we decided to head of to Florence, which was conveniently, on the way home.  Did I mention it was hot.....now above 98, and the dogs were a bit bored.

Hop back into the car, and set toward Florence.....ahhhhh, glad to be in a car with A/C!  Whoops!!! What happened to the A/C?????  We just paid for a new $1200 compressor, before we left the states!!!!!  No and I repeat NO A/C!!  YIKES!!  It is molto caldo!!!!  HOT HOT HOT!!!

After an hour of driving and now it is 105 outside, we scrapped the plans to Florence and headed home.  Let me just say that cranky, doesn't even begin to describe the ride home, and I'll leave it at that!!!  We were home a day early and the dogs were thrilled to be out of the oven car!

On Sunday, Craig decided he wanted to go for a ride.....Seriously??? Do I really want to get into a car again???  Ok, I will do it, but only because we are going in his car and I know the A/C works!  We decide to take a ride to Asiago....yes, the cheese place!  It is the mountain view that we see outside of the house.  And being a mountain, there were 2 things certain....a winding steep drive and it was about 10 degrees cooler!!  And it was a steep drive!!!  But gorgeous! 
 
We stopped for some cheese.  I always thought of Asiago cheese as similar to Parmesan.  Apparently, I was not aware that there is Asiago Pressato, the dry, aged cheese and Denominazione di Origine  Protetta or DOP.  DOP is delicious and we bought a kilo!! Yes, 2.2lbs of the stuff, it was that good! We are definitely going back, it is only a half hour ride from our home.

We truly are enjoying our life here in Italy.  I managed to pass the test for my driver's license, so I can drive in the oven/car now!  I have joined a local gym/pool, which is right by the supermarket so I can walk there for GPG....Gym, Pool, Groceries!  We are doing our first entertaining, this weekend, dinner with one of Craig's co-workers, so I get to cook.  On Tuesday, I am hosting a luncheon for Army wives that live in Caldogno, just an informal get together.  

I am settling in to "housewife" status....not the Bravo dramas, the cooking, cleaning kind.  I have adopted the Italian way of laundry....hanging clothes on a drying rack, instead of using the dryer.  I have yet to even use the dryer, I swear.  And no, it's not because I haven't done any laundry...I'm actually liking the rack.  And for those of you wondering, I am doing quite well with the small fridge, no regrets.  I am rethinking the no microwave choice that I made.....I may have to break down today and get one!

Hope everyone is enjoying the last bits of summer!  Where does time go????

Until next time......Ciao for now!

Vita Italiano

Life in Italy….we are loving it.  We moved into our house on July 15 and to say that was an adventure would be an understatement.  Traveling has been difficult since we had no car, so people that Craig works with have been kind enough to help us out.

First we moved the stuff from the hotel to the house.  For those of you following the Army Alphabet Soup code….UB, Unaccompanied Baggage.  On Monday the movers came with HHG, Household Goods….the big stuff!!  And when I say stuff, I mean stuff, we have a lot of stuff!!

I met the movers in the morning and Craig stayed back at the hotel with the girls (I think I see a pattern here).  Really cars in Italy are so small that to fit 5 people is more than a notion….oh and 2 dogs.  Things were going smoothly, we were doing fine with the English/Italian translations.  Lots of pointing and charades.  Until it was time to bring the beds inside.  There was no way they were fitting upstairs, no way, no how.  Maybe over the top of the balcony???  Not so much!!

One of the movers went to talk to the landlord, he does not speak English, but his sister does.  Did I mention that we have a wonderful landlord???!!! Giovanni came right over with a saw and cut the railing/grate off the staircase.  No problem…Va bene!  And up the stairs they went.

The railing that was cut!

 Moving went fine, unpacking is a project, and one that has led me to a revelation….we live in excess as Americans.  I know, some of you are saying, Suzi…..we have said for years you have too much stuff…TMS!  I am not talking about my kitchen gadgets…I’m talking about everything and how we live.

Gas, utilities and such are high priced commodities here, and they are not wasted.  Air conditioning is a luxury and invites high utility bills.  During the heat of the day, Italians shut down for riposo.  It is a little difficult to get used to, but a wonderful idea. 

The Army provides appliances for Americans here because of the electric current differences, so of course, we get the biggest one.  Guess what, not only does it not fit anywhere, I don’t even like it.  I moved it a few different places and hated it.  So, (are you sitting down?) I asked to replace it with a smaller model.  Not from 28 to 25 cubic feet…..12.5 cubic feet!  It may sound crazy, but it will work. 

The market is less than a mile away, so I walk there with my cart (yes, I have the old lady cart) every few days.  I buy what we need to eat.  Everything is so fresh here, that I do not want to maintain the habit of buying excess food and having it go bad weeks later.  And I don’t want the preservatives in everything that will keep it going for weeks.  So my small refrigerator and I are bonding quite nicely.

The house is quiet now….Payton and Addy were here for a month and it flew by.  We had a wonderful time with them and I am hoping they will be back soon!!  The three of us had some fun adventures while Craig was working, an extended bus ride among them!  It is good to know the bus schedule before you get on, that way you aren’t on the bus when it is time for the driver’s break.  We made it through 3 bus changes, several stops, the market, the pool and back home!  It just took a bit longer than we were expecting.

The four of us managed to get to the beach near Venice.  Beautiful!!  Our Ocean City sand chairs were not the norm!  Most hotels and condos provide chairs and umbrellas, lined up like stadium seats.  We wandered around, did lots of Speedo watching and only a few topless sights.  It was a glorious day!  I wish I had my camera, but for some reason, left it at home.  I am sure there will be many more trips to the beach.

Finally, we had some rain.  I know that those of you back home would like the rain to stop, but in the six weeks we have been here, we only had one day of rain, and it has been a welcome relief!  Temps were in the 38’s ( that is over 100) and no breeze.  The storm that came through has brought much better temps and we have turned the AC off for now!

Back to our house….we are in downtown Caldogno, right next to a bank.  The house looks very non-descript from the front.  The back is gorgeous.  It was the 2^nd house that we looked at and we fell in love with it.  We are quite lucky!  The kitchen is huge, our veranda/porch is to die for, and it is much more spacious than we dreamed! And we have an amazing landlord.  He lives behind us in a villa that was handed down to his family.  It was built in 1208….not a typo, 1208.  Our house was the barn, and Giovanni, an architect, remodeled it to its current delightful state.  He is now working on the villa, where his family lives, along with his sister’s family and his parents.  That is the norm in Italy, multi-generational living.

Our Landlord's Villa

They were kind enough to give us all a tour one day. It, apparently, was also a castle, complete with a drawbridge and moat.  Those are since gone, but it is amazing to see the architecture and the spaciousness.  I am sure there are secret passages and the like somewhere in the building.  Giovanni and his family have taken us under their wing.  He is trying to learn English, and we are trying to learn Italian…it is a work in progress, but we manage to do well.  They have a big orto (garden in Italian, garden to them means yard), vegetable garden.  I mentioned I like it and miss my garden back home, so Giovanni tilled up some space, so I could put in my own garden!  He is kind beyond words.

He has a daughter who is 10, Addy’s age.  Somehow, despite the language barrier, Patrizia and Addy became fast friends.  It was a joy to see the 2 of them communicate and play with the common language of children.  Of course, Gelato translated easily!

Food and wine here are over the top!  We can’t seem to try enough things.  The wine situation here is fun and somewhat of an adventure.  We had heard of “filling stations”, that is what we call them.  You go in, and much like filling your car up with gas, you fill up your wine bottles.  It is way cheaper than gas!!  We discovered that we could fit 4-2L bottles in my bike basket, so off we went to Louie’s, the local filling station that Giovanni showed us.  2L of Cabernet, 2L of Merlot, 2L of Prosecco  and 2L of Verduza, and then we rode back to the house….Life is Good!!

View from the bathroom

Finally I have a tub!

Our Living Room

The dogs enjoying the yard

I will post more pics of the house, as I get it organized.  This weekend, we are headed to Livorno, near Pisa.  My car has arrived on the slow boat to China, finally.  Craig’s has been here for about 2 weeks now, and it was shipped 3 weeks later than mine….oh well,  now we get a train ride adventure and the Autostrada driving adventure.  Hopefully, with some stops along the way…I am hearing how beautiful Tuscany is right now, and I will make sure I take my camera!!

Ciao for now!!

“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.” Truman Capote

Venice is amazing!  We took a day trip to Venice, just to get our feet wet (no pun intended).

It was our first excursion on the train and we were a bit nervous.  With Payton and Addy in tow, and what we thought were comfortable shoes, we embarked on our adventure.  We were blessed with timing and a gorgeous sunny day.  We got to the bus stop and the bus was there in 5 minutes.  Got to the train station and the train departed 10 minutes later.  All of this was with no advance planning.  Apparently, we don't blend in as natives, because when I questioned our seat mate as to which stop was next, with my best Italian....Venezia???  He replied, No, I think it's the last stop....in perfect English!

So, at the last stop, it was obvious we were in Venice....we had crossed over the bridge and were obviously in the land of the canals.  Once out of the train station, we were like owls.  Our heads couldn't spin around quickly enough. To say it was breathtaking, doesn't even do it justice.  We would stop to take a photo, just drinking in the scenery, not wanting to miss a photo op.  We quickly discovered that every step, every corner was a photo opportunity, each one stunning in it's own right.

The gondolas, the canals, the architecture...all the sights and smells were intoxicating.  One of the places I was excited to see was St. Mark's Basilica.  I just finished reading Dan Brown's Inferno which is set in Florence and Venice.  The descriptions in the book, drew me to the Basilica, and it was even more breathtaking than I could have imagined.



Upon entry, we were directed to the side, for what I believed was to leave my bag, but we were told to cover our legs.  Apparently my skort was too short.  Two euros later, we had cloths to tie around our waists.  Ladies who had bare shoulders were told to cover too.  Walking in the door, you are instructed for silence.  Those instructions were not needed because I was speechless!  The gold mosaics on the ceiling were beyond words.  We definitely will go back for a more detailed tour....including a gondola!!


My feet were killing me.  And my ankle was not too pleased with me either.  A little ice and elevation and it was much happier.

Apart from Venice, we have been enjoying our surroundings.  We walk everywhere, especially to the Gelateria!  We have a lovely local restaurant that I have been trying bits of Italian on the waiter.  Andrea was kind enough to tell me he understood everything I said....most importantly vino rosso!

We have loved having Payton and Addy here.  I keep trying to convince them both to stay!!!

This weekend, we take possession of our house.  I am very excited and our HHG....army speak for Household Goods are here!!  That means that we can unpack our stuff and not have to borrow furniture til ours arrives.  We have done very well in our 2 room hotel room, all six of us (Lexie and Sadie included).  We will miss the convenience of being on base, but are excited for our own home.  Our landlord, Giovanni, was kind enough to invite us for pizza one evening and took us on a tour of the neighborhood.   The important things are in walking distance....a bank, bakery, pizzeria, martini bar, gelateria, gym and supermercato (grocery store)!  What else do we need....oh and a bus stop right out front!

I may not drive for 3 years!  The house is beautiful.  I will have a place to put my garden, relax outside, and it has a spanking cucina!  There are 4 bedrooms & 2 1/2 baths, so we are quite lucky.  And we have plenty of room for visitors, so get ready to plan your visit to Italia.  I will post pics of the house once we get there.

Allora....Ciao for now!

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!