Tourism is My Industry

You know what's awesome about living in Italy? People actually want to come hang out with me! Ok, it's probably more because not paying for hotel (and sharing costs on trips away from my area) makes the trip across the pond a lot more doable, but still... I am also finding my guests to be tremendously beneficial as I gain education and experience along the way.

So for spring break this year, my Aunt Deb and Uncle Wayde came to visit. Their two week vacation was well planned and covered four countries. The ten days they spent with my family were a whirlwind adventure that I wouldn't trade for the world!

With the express intent of conquering jet lag as quickly as possible, on day one we made a point of remaining in motion as much as possible. It never hurts that I can't seem to get to the airport on time to pick anyone up. I tend to be there within 30 minutes of arrival, but I haven't yet been on time. Luckily, I  was only about five minutes late. Unluckily (if you're the party waiting) their flight arrived early. Once we were all together, things moved much more smoothly. I find the autostrada less and less terrifying every day and with people to amuse me along the way, the ride is much less tedious. I took them first to the house to unload luggage, then Felix acquainted Aunt Deb with his favorite park while Rob and Uncle Wayde had a relaxing conversation/nap on the couch. After some mild panic about wardrobe issues, we drove down to Ristorante Due Torri where we had the best service and the best food I've had since living in Italy. So glad I live just a few blocks from this place! It helped the jet lag annihilation  process that Rob still had work for a week and Felix still had school. We all went to bed at a reasonable time to maintain the schedule for the remaining few days before leave began.

Tuesday morning, I got up and took Rob to work at the usual too-early hour, then returned home to wake the rest of the family for the adventure ahead. Felix was off to school and the rest of us had a date with a chapel. The Scrovegni Chapel in Padova requires reservations to be seen, so I reserved us a spot well in advance so we wouldn't have to worry about anything but getting there on time. The travel guide that Aunt Deb and Uncle Wayde had been consulting for the trip was adamant that being on time for this particular attraction is imperative because the chapel is maintained at a certain temperature and with a special air filtration system that requires patrons to sit in a room and acclimate for fifteen minutes before entering the chapel for fifteen minutes. The website for the chapel confirmed this, so we naturally took it seriously. I made the reservations for 1015, a time that would allow us twice the amount of time needed to drive to Padova, park centrally and walk to the chapel itself. I even made it a point to scout the area prior to their arrival so I could find the best parking without paying a ridiculous fee. We left the house at 0830 and all seemed to be smooth sailing, until rush hour traffic brought us to a crawl. I had anticipated traffic and took measures to avoid the worst of it, but as it turns out it's basically impossible to drive anywhere in a timely manner between 0800 and 1000. I think this may be true for at least 98% of Italy, though I can't claim having visited that much of it yet. It just seems to be a recurring theme everywhere I have been in this amazing country. Naturally, panic sets in as we consider the possibility of not arriving on time and having paid for entrance to a museum we won't get to enter. Fear not, my friends! I have become quite adept at navigating the streets here... I'm a much more aggressive driver now than I ever was in the States and it turns out that I'm kinda great at this whole Italian driving thing. We make it to the parking garage with only about fifteen minutes to get in, square away our tickets and get to the chapel doors before we're locked out. My aunt and uncle are both considerably taller than me and while I'm good at moving through crowds, I simply cannot match their strides, so I send my uncle ahead with the reservation info and my aunt and I follow behind as quickly as possible. When we get in, we have about five minutes remaining and there's a short line at the desk. The man in front of us is kind enough to let us ahead when he learns that we're so close to our reservation time and we get our tickets squared away and race to the chapel. We do have to ask directions on the way in, but it's a straight shot so it takes only about a minute to get there. When we arrive, there's a large group in the decompression room and we're locked out but according to our watches, we still have two minutes. Not having lived in Italy for the past year, my aunt and uncle are too accustomed to American procedure and assume that we've missed our opportunity and wasted our money. I have a feeling we can go back and ask to change the time, so I suggest that's what we do. As we head back, we pass the man who let us in front of him. He sits down calmly on the bench in front of the chapel entrance and I think maybe we'll be good to go after all. Then we talk to the man who gave us directions and he confirms that, like absolutely everything else in Italy, the precise schedule is not as precise as advertised. The group in the chapel when we arrived was the one reserved in the slot prior to ours... the chapel was behind schedule by about fifteen minutes. Crisis averted, we wait patiently for our turn and truly enjoy the experience in the chapel for two reasons: one, we made it! and two, the only other member of our group is the man on the bench... this is a much better scenario than being grouped in with a bunch of middle school students (slotted both before and after us) who were guaranteed not to respect the solemn atmosphere within the church.

Piazza della Erbe

Following our time in the chapel itself, we toured the museum with TONS of cool stuff to look at (I dare say Felix might have actually liked this one) then moved on to find food before checking out the other museum across the street. We walked asked people on the street for a good place to eat and were rewarded with a specific piazza to look for that would cater to all tastes. Following the map and only asking the Caribinieri for directions once, we found it and a lovely place that was reasonably priced fairly quickly. The market vendors were breaking down their stalls by the time we arrived, so we didn't get to check them out but the weather was great and the view was worth the walk... and there was music as well! Love it when the right place and the right time collide like that. Just when you think the stereotype will reinforce itself in your favor, you find a place where that doesn't happen. We sat down outside the little cafe for lunch and waited a few minutes for the server to approach us. We ordered drinks and by the time she was back, we were ready to order lunch. Aunt Deb and Uncle Wayde decided to go in search of restrooms while waiting for the food because it's Italy, so it's gonna take forever. They walked away and there was only enough time for one of the beggars to come by and ask for money before the food was arriving and I was still the only person at the table. Aunt Deb returned shortly thereafter, but Uncle Wayde was nowhere to be found. We covered his plate while we pondered his location. I called him and got no answer because he had turned his phone off. He was gone only about 10 extra minutes, but it felt much longer because we were sure he was lost... and it turned out we were right. He had gotten turned around in his quest, but all was well in the end: the food was quite good and the atmosphere was perfect. After lunch, we had enough time to head through Palazzo Zuckermann (the other museum) before returning to my routine of mommyhood and wifedom. I'm definitely going to take Felix to Zuckermann Palace before we leave Italy because the collection of coins alone will have him fascinated for hours. I have to right now strongly recommend that anyone visiting the Veneto region of Italy make sure to take a day to see Padova. I've only seen a small part of it, but I'm sooooo glad I did!

Back at home, we decompressed from our day and prepared for the next: VERONA!!! I truly do not get tired of visiting that beautiful city.

The Golden Vatican

Bright and early on December 27th, my alarm went off and I gave myself five extra minutes. Then I dragged myself out of bed at 7:16 and got to work on getting Felix up and moving. By 9 we were all eating and by 10 we were checked out and headed to the car with our luggage. We packed everything in, secured the car and headed back to the bus. Luckily, Italian time is on our side and the 10am bus has not left yet (it's only about 10:15) so we jump on it and shortly it heads out. As we come up to the Colosseum stop, we see that the line to get in is about a mile long (yes, an actual mile, not a figurative one)... for this reason, we decide not to get off at that stop. Instead, we get off at the Piazza Venezia where the museum is free because of its anniversary and the monument to the first King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, is always open to the public (being outside and all). We begin wandering through the museum and are almost immediately separated by impatience and miscommunication. My moment of panic occurred when Felix was not with Ana, who I thought had him, and Rob was nowhere to be found... then suddenly I was the only one of our party in the museum at all. I call Rob and confirm that he has Felix and I relax, confident in the knowledge that I have the only set of car keys so they'll have to rejoin me if they intend to return home. Yes, sometimes that's just how it is with me. We all link up again outside where the monument is and Felix is having a blast pretending to control the eternal flames in front of their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It's quite beautiful there and if I had more time, I could definitely stay there a couple hours taking everything in and trying to read the plaques. Felix really enjoyed the freedom of imagination here and was disappointed to leave again, but sitting on the open part of an open-air bus took his mind off of leaving imagination land.

Our next destination was Vatican City to see the Sistine Chapel (and all the cool stuff that comes before it) in the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. We arrive at the same stop we were stranded at the night before and wander around looking for bathrooms and tourist info. We find both in a bookstore and across the street I find my Vatican City shot glass. We walk into the piazza in front of St. Peter's and break to discuss how we're going to go through the Vatican when a girl who was strategically placing herself in the piazza to offer tour services to contemplating tourists walked up to us and did her job. We decided it was a good idea and took the tour. Well, most of us thought it was a good idea. Felix was not even remotely happy about going on a tour through "another boring museum"... can you tell?

Despite my misgivings about the tour, it turned out to be a pretty great idea. We were not really prepared to guide ourselves through the Vatican and our tour guide was pretty funny and highly informative. I learned a lot, especially at the beginning as we walked through the Greek museum. Felix got over his frustration when he saw that there actually was cool stuff to look at... when we were told that the gold color in most of the paintings was made using actual gold, he was truly impressed (so was I!). There is a ridiculous amount of art to absorb in the Vatican and I really think there is not enough time in anyone's life to truly study it all. As we made our way through, the halls became steadily more crowded and our tour guide more of a challenge to follow. He was very good at moving through the rooms, though and made it a fun sort of obstacle course plus history lesson. I really enjoyed the tapestries and Felix loved the map room. By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel, we'd already been on the tour for two and half hours. We were given very serious warnings before entering the chapel: no talking, no pictures, expect massive crowding, expect horrific repercussions if you talk or take pictures. They were not kidding. Our guide took us to the entrance then told us where he was going to meet up with us inside because there was no way we were going to make our way through as a solid group. We pushed our way through the intensely crowded room to arrive at the corner our guide indicated, then listened to him whispering in our headsets the somewhat more important details about the paintings in the room. It was pretty amazing just to be inside the Sistine Chapel... it is absolutely beautiful. Fortunately, our guide kept us inside for a good amount of time so that we could really take it all in. While we were inside, people would talk and be shushed by the guards. Some were loud enough to be removed. I saw a couple people take pictures with their phones and have no idea if they were caught, but there's a good chance they got terrible pictures because of the crowding.

Naturally, my camera battery was dying as we exited the Vatican and entered St. Peter's Basilica. The lighting inside was a no-go for my poor camera anyway and I'm grateful that Rob and Ana were both taking pictures also because I had the utmost pleasure of becoming Felix's tour guide while Rob and Ana split off to see everything without the annoyance of a frustrated and overtired ten year old boy. Upon exiting the basilica (with everyone else in Rome!) we had the distinct pleasure of seeing the Swiss guards in their fabulous uniforms. Rob wants one for Christmas next year... just so everyone knows!

Rob's dream uniform...

We left a little later than anticipated (what else is new?!) but fortunately did not have to wait long for transportation back to our car. It was decided that the best option would be to eat at the little restaurant we liked so much the previous day before heading back, which turned out to be a great idea... I had LOTS of mushrooms, which I love and we all were able to take advantage of free restrooms before hitting the road. We left after sunset, but in the winter that's not hard to do and arrived home exhausted but grateful we made the trip! I learned a lot of what not to do on such trips and am determined to return to Rome at least once to get my Trevi Fountain experience!

Roman Holiday

The morning after Christmas, it was planned for us to leave ridiculously early to make the five hour drive to Rome and still be able to do some sightseeing upon our arrival since we would only have two days to see it all. We did not leave at 5am, which was unrealistic anyway, but I had hoped that if we aimed at 5 we'd be on the road by 7. A little after 8 we were on our way. We made a pit stop just inside Tuscany for lunch at the Autogrill then proceeded on to Rome. On the bright side of leaving a little later than expected, we didn't have to wait for the hotel room to be available when we arrived just before 2pm. First lesson learned about traveling to Rome: if you're driving, scout parking ahead of time! There was a space in front of the hotel for loading and unloading, but no actual hotel parking (my review of the place made that clear, since they advertised free parking). I dropped everyone off with the luggage so they could get checked in and I drove around looking for a place to park. Unfortunately, since it was the day after Christmas a lot of the attended car parks were closed. I drove in expanding circles around the hotel looking for a good place and about a mile away found a space on the street that I was NOT happy about, but pulled in before someone else snagged it and looked around for something better with the GPS. Rob, in the meantime, is blowing up my phone because I haven't shown up in the lobby yet and he can't figure out how to check in without me there. I decide to leave the car there while I check in and keep an eye open for better parking on my way back to the hotel. I'm almost back to the hotel when Rob calls me again and at the same time, I stumble upon the perfect parking place. I tell him to wait because I found great parking but he's going on about the staff being pissed off that we have a kid with us... I wind up hanging up on him as I get back to the car as fast as possible so we can accomplish at least a little sightseeing before we drop from exhaustion. I get the car parked in an open-air car park with 24 hour security (live and video, YAY!) and walk two blocks to the hotel Milano where we're staying for the night. When I enter the lobby, I'm immediately dealing with angry Rob and upset Ana because the desk clerks have implied that we were trying to cheat them by not booking the room for four people. I fixed it all by showing them the reservation that stated clearly three adults and one child. The problem was in the translation from website to hotel and it was misunderstood. We had not been charged for Felix on the reservation I made, but it wasn't a big difference, so I handled it and we finally moved on to our room so we could dump our stuff and get on with our official visit to ROME!!!

We left the hotel and headed to the central bus station (Termini) two blocks away (next to my parking area) and decided to find a place to eat while we checked out the bus schedules and decided where to go. We found a great little spot across the street from Termini station and while we were eating, we noticed several open-air bus tours. Rob and Ana went to investigate, then decided to use the tour service as our official Rome experience. The buses made a circuit of the main attractions in Rome and Vatican City, running hourly, and included an audio guide in eight different languages along the route. Felix was excited about free headphones and enjoyed listening to French and German quite a bit. We got on the bus a little before 4pm and studied the route map to see where we would jump off first. The deal with the tour was that it was good for 24 hours from the time of purchase and you just catch the bus at any of the designated stops along the route as it rolled through, then you decide what stops are important to you and what stops you want to skip. The bus left a few minutes late (as is custom in Italy!) but only two stops later we were hopping off at the Colosseum stop. 

Having seen the Teatro in Verona, I was prepared for this to be bigger and better and cooler, but it was still just awesome as we rolled slowly up the street (traffic was becoming congested) and the Colosseum came into view. I tried to take a lot of pictures, but the sun was setting and the streetlights were coming on and I only got about three good pictures. As we walked up, we saw the line at the entrance wasn't very long so we went looking for the right place to buy tickets to get in... and learned that we were too late because the last entry is 30 minutes before sunset. We decided we'd come back first thing in the morning to see it and headed back to the bus stop so we could head on and catch Trevi fountain on our way back. We got to the bus stop about ten minutes before it was supposed to arrive and proceeded to wait almost two hours for it to show up. No big, we're thinking. We'll just get off at the Trevi stop, take the pictures and make the wishes, then snag the next bus and still be back to the hotel early enough to get a decent night's sleep before starting the whole adventure again tomorrow. Sure. The bus driver apologizes for being late, but traffic is very heavy at this time and it's been difficult to navigate in a timely manner. It's dark by this time, so even though we're listening to the audio guide, we can't see what it's talking about. We slowly make our way through the packed streets... it takes 45 minutes to make the loop in front of Il Vittoria (which should not have taken more than 5 minutes, stop included) and the bus driver deviates from the route to try and shave off some time. During this trip, Rob notices that bus #1 is packed wall to wall, exactly like sardines, and laughs about it, telling Ana that it reminds him of the buses in Honduras. I told him it was mean and that could be us so he shouldn't make fun of them - I mean, at least they were moving! Along the deviation, we wound up on a street packed solid with pedestrians and saw some really beautiful Christmas lights. We finally arrive at St. Peter's Basilica an hour later and the driver turns off the bus and tells everyone to get off because he can't go any further through the crowds and the traffic. WHAT!?! Ok, I had already given up on Trevi Fountain, but I was still expecting to make it very slowly back to the original destination two blocks from my hotel, not be stuck across the river and at quite literally the furthest point on the route from our hotel. They tell us to walk to the end of the street and on the left there's a machine we can buy a bus ticket from for €1 then we need to get on bus #1 and it will take us back where we need to be. Yup. We're getting on the sardine bus to get back to the hotel. We laughed about it because we knew karma was slapping us back, but it still sucked to be shoved up so tight against the window and hanging onto Felix for dear life so we didn't get separated as people shoved their way on and off the bus at each stop. Several times I thought about how awesome it was that I didn't have to worry about pickpockets because we were jammed so tight, I couldn't move my arms anyway and Felix was crushed up against me with my bag between us, so no way was anyone getting my stuff! I'm completely amazed by how many people can fit onto those buses and beyond impressed that the buses not only continue to move at all, but they move pretty fast for being weighed down like that. It felt like a longer ride than it was, but very soon we were back at the bus station and heading back towards the hotel. On the walk back, we kept eyes open for a place to have dinner since it was pretty late and we hadn't eaten in quite awhile. I'd seen a couple places on my way earlier and we stopped at one that looked promising. 

It turned out to be a very good choice, even though it started out with another misunderstanding. We stepped in and immediately took turns heading for the restrooms, which were down a winding and awkward staircase next to the underground kitchen. I realize that space is hard to come by here, but I just can't understand putting the kitchen underground. We are seated at the back of the restaurant and we order warm drinks then we sit and wait. About fifteen minutes later we get our drinks but our server runs off to help other customers before we order food. We wait for awhile, then try to get his attention. It takes a couple tries, but then he comes over and we order food. Apparently he thought all we wanted was to warm up, not to eat. We had a good meal once it was finally served and learned that our server actually lives in Miami but comes home for the holiday season in Rome to help with the family restaurant. Small world just keeps getting smaller! 

We head back to the hotel, get Felix ready and into bed then Rob suggests that he and I go out for a bit while Ana and Felix get some sleep. Sounds good to me, so off we go. We walk only a couple blocks past Termini to Piazza della Repubblica where there's a beautiful fountain, not quite Trevi but still well worth seeing especially at night with the hotel behind it decorated for Christmas. We took pics of each other with the fountain, then headed over to a little hole in the wall bar for a beer and a chance to relax. It was nice to be out without any pressure to get somewhere on time or take care of the boy. After awhile we headed back, knowing that the next day would be easily just as busy because we still had to actually make it into Vatican City, not just get stuck in front of it!

Celebration Time

Every trip to Verona is lovely. There is no such thing as a bad time in Verona... it really just doesn't happen. Since we've been a few times, we have good knowledge of where to go and what to see. Naturally, we started at my favorite car park which is about two blocks from the tourist information spot and the arena. They had a massive shooting star set up for Christmas. Felix was very excited to see it because he had just learned about it in his Host Nation class, so I asked him what it was all about and he said, "um... I can't remember". Of course! We walked on, avoiding the people in costume and examining the market stalls set up around the edges of the garden. Ana did a little shopping while Felix became impatient... poor kid really hates shopping! The we came to an enclosed area on one side of the piazza where they had set up an ice rink. Some girls around Felix's were performing little ice dances for the crowd. We stopped and watched while they brought out a girl in a wheelchair and took her "skating" for a dance. It was very cute. We continued on through the main shopping district, which is (of course) how you get to Juliet's house. We definitely enjoyed the window shopping (everyone except Felix that is) and the general festive feeling. 

Upon arriving in the next major piazza, Felix found a statue to emulate while we decided on a place to eat. There's a little sandwich shop a few stores down from Juliet's house that I've come to rely on in Verona. The service is excellent, prices are good and they have a toilet for patrons. Pretty much, you can't go wrong with this place! We had a little lunch then headed on to Juliet's house. Rob took Ana through while the girls and I waited downstairs with Felix so we could take the all-important balcony picture. While we were there, we also found the way up to the other balcony - the much larger one with an even better view of the balcony - where it turns out you can buy a small block of stone with whatever you want to say carved in it (as long as it fits, of course). Interesting to know, but too expensive to be useful knowledge (or a worthwhile investment) so we moved on. We wandered into the sew shop and considered possible gift options... then determined that it wouldn't really work out how we wanted so we headed on toward Romeo's place and the raised tomb nearby. It was definitely getting colder as we headed to the Ponte Pietra bridge from which you can see the Roman theatre and ruins, a couple castles and a gorgeous view of the Adige River. Around this time, we were getting cold enough and had seen enough that we decided it was best to head back... and Christmas dinner was not gonna make itself!

A Merry Gathering

We returned to the apartment to cook everything in the fridge because a couple friends had been strongly encouraged to join us for the Christmas meal. There was a ton of food to be made and not enough space for two cooks in the kitchen (or pots, for that matter!). Luckily, that crazy trip to Milan awhile back ensured that my neighbors were able to go home for Christmas and I was taking care of their pets for them... which meant I had access to an extra kitchen while I was gone. Hooray for dog and cat sitting! So Ana cooked downstairs while I cooked upstairs and we prepared quite a feast for our little group of friends and family. When people started showing up, I was glad I had overestimated on food because there were a few extra guests over the course of the evening. After dinner, we ALL piled into a few cars and headed to Villagio to do some caroling. We had a great time wandering from house to house singing for everyone who came out. Some of the kids' reactions were unforgettable - their excitement was precious and it made us feel great to be able to give them that moment of joy. We were even treated to hot drinks at one of our friends' homes at the end of our route, which was tremendously appreciated!

We returned home to clean up and get ready for presents at midnight. Quite naturally, the boy made an absolute killing... lots of people love that kid! The cousins got a joint gift that was pretty cool: a family history scrapbook with some excellent pictures and letters for us to laugh at as well as learn from. Everyone got a stocking from La Befana because I'm in love with the idea of a Christmas Witch! We went to bed exhausted and grateful for no plans to go anywhere on Christmas Day. The rest and recovery was definitely needed since the day after would find us in ROME!!

Exploring family history

A walk in the park...

Just to reiterate about the best-laid plans going awry, my original plan was as follows: December 19th Ana arrives in the late afternoon and is home in time for dinner and bed. December 20th, we explore Vicenza. December 21st, Venice in the morning until Meghan arrives. December 22nd, pick up CJ and Kamryn, then hang out in Torri. December 23rd, Marostica and Nove. December 24th, Verona and Christmas festivities. December 25th, rest up before our trip to Rome. December 26th - 27th Rome. December 28th recovery from Rome and prep for Ana's return trip. Seems pretty put together, doesn't it? Oh never, never plan like that!

Since I miscalculated day one of the vacation, we scrapped Vicenza and otherwise continued with the plan. Meghan and I went to pick up CJ and Kamryn while Rob, Felix and Ana spent some quality bonding time at home. On our way there, true to form, there was horrendous traffic on the autostrada. Normally when that happens to me, I don't see the cause, I just sit in stop and go traffic for half an hour or so and it suddenly clears up. This time, we got to see it... pretty ugly wreck. High speeds are great, but it was a good reminder to pay attention! 

There's a restaurant in Torri called La Vecchia Fattoria that we had been wanting to try out (actually the Americans call it the wagon wheel restaurant, even though it has a water wheel outside, not a wagon wheel). Our friends all gave it great reviews for food, service and English, so we thought we'd try it out for the first time while our family was visiting. Before dinner, we did a little exploring around Torri, walking down just past La Vecchia to one of the discount stores I like and we did some browsing. Felix is never happy about walking around, but (after a pretty serious pep talk on the bridge) he survived. The girls and I decided to walk to the restaurant while Rob drove Felix and Ana and secured us a table. Our waiter was awesome in the most amusing way possible. His English sounded like an SNL stereotype of a snooty French accent and Rob's reaction to it made it so much harder for me to keep from laughing. Dinner was a struggle until the food arrived - thankfully we had wine to explain the giggles - then everyone dug in. We had giant salads that were easily at least two-person meals and pizzas, of course. We all did a little sharing and had a memorable experience. After a chilly walk home, it was off to bed so we could be sure to have enough time for two cities the next day!

In the morning, we got up a little later than expected (again) but not much and got moving in time to still see both places. Rob drove Ana and Felix in a friend's car and followed me (since I had the gps). We headed toward Marostica first with the idea that we'd build up an appetite hiking the trail then have lunch in Nove and visit the ceramic shops after lunch. Rob was directly behind me until we turned onto the first main road, then there was one car between us. I kept eyes on until the first roundabout then there were three cars between us and I had traffic to navigate. I drove slow and signaled well in advance but somehow he lost us. When I turned left at the second roundabout, he went straight... but I thought he was still behind me because another car like the one he was driving turned left behind me so I continued on. Then he called me to ask where I was. Freaking GREAT. I couldn't navigate him back to me because I didn't know where he was and he couldn't figure out where I had turned so he couldn't even get back to a meeting point where we could link back up and continue on. He decided to take Ana and Felix through Vicenza instead of trying to find us, so they went there and we continued on to Marostica.

As always when driving up to Marostica, the view of the castle and wall is pretty awesome and this trip was no different. Once we parked and walked inside, I was disappointed to see that the chess board was covered up. It's ice skating season and where better to build a little ice rink than the town square? Naturally! So we walked up the back streets towards the chapels and the trail. This was my first time walking the entire trail and I knew it was steep but I had forgotten how rough it was in some places and I was really glad that Rob had gone into Vicenza instead because I know Felix would not have been good with the hike. At the top of the trail is the upper castle and a restaurant. We stopped to enjoy the view for a minute, then climbed to the highest point of the upper castle to check out the best view available of Marostica. We returned the way we came... I was pretty sure I was gonna be sliding down on the leaves at a couple points, but I stayed on my feet the whole way down. Then we headed on to Nove for a long lunch at Cafe Roma (more giant salads!!) and some general wandering around town while waiting for stores to reopen after riposo. 

Since Nove is known for ceramics, there are ceramic decorations absolutely everywhere. The sides of buildings have all kinds of masterpieces attached to them, bridges have ceramic tiles painted with stories across them, each streetlamp has a different ceramic design on it. Every time I visit, I find something I haven't seen before and every time I visit, there's something new to be found. We did a little investigating around the church while killing a little more time... the church was not open - we checked! Then we headed on to see if any of the stores were open. Being so close to Christmas (and riposo was not quite technically over yet) it began to look hopeless, then I found a place and we finally got to see some ceramics. We only went to two places, but it was fun to see just how small a world it really is because in one of the stores, there's a newspaper article from the Aiken Standard (Aiken, SC) magnified and on display for customers to see that the store's reach actually does extend beyond Italy. What are the odds that tiny little Aiken and tiny little Nove would cross paths in this way? Slim, but obviously not impossible. We made a couple small purchases and headed back home to link up with the rest of the family and see how we wanted to wind up the day. I called Rob to find out how soon they were coming back and they had decided to stay for a light show and have dinner downtown, so we decided to get pizzas from the local spot. CJ and I enjoyed watching the pizzas being made while we waited (not something you get to really experience at Domino's!) and it turned out well for everyone, despite our rocky start. Tomorrow it's off to Verona!!

Buon Natale!

Since arriving here, I have been consistently reminded of how fortunate my family is to have what we have - not just things (though we do have more than our fair share, in my opinion) but opportunities both afforded to us and created by us. The fact that we're in Italy is testament enough, but then to have family visit us somewhat regularly and experience these amazing destinations with us is above and beyond what most of the other service members stationed here are able to enjoy.

Nativity in San Marco Square

For Christmas this year, not only did we have the opportunity to host CJ and Kamryn again, but Meghan was able to join them AND we were able to bring Rob's mom, Ana over for a short but awesome vacation. When we picked the flights for her, we picked the same ones we would have used if we were going home, so we anticipated her being here from the 19th through the 29th of December. I'm not always the brightest bulb in the pack, so it truly did not register in my mind that she would not arrive until the 20th because of the length of the flight and the whole traveling forward in time thing. Even though it was stated on the reservations that I made! So I lost us one day of travel plans and had to move everything right one day, but it all worked out in the end. The evening she arrived, Rob went to pick her up while I made as authentic Italian a dinner as I am able being an American with German and Irish roots. In spite of myself, dinner was a pretty good Tuscan chicken stew. The perfect red wine from my current favorite wine store (Le Rive) helped! The following day Meghan was scheduled to arrive and I had planned to use her afternoon arrival to our advantage by visiting Venice that morning, then picking her up in time to head back for dinner and reasonable bed times. I spent several weeks attempting to plan this particular adventure because I knew Ana would be jet-lagged but she also needed to see as much as possible while still coordinating the airport arrivals and departures to flow smoothly with the sightseeing. Since CJ, Meghan & Kamryn have been here a few times, Venice was not high on the list of attractions for them and I thought this was a perfect way to kick off the vacation for everyone. Yup.

Rule #1 when vacationing across several time zones: DO NOT underestimate jet lag. I'll grant you, there was never a point when I thought, "oh great, we'll get up at 5am so we can be out the door by 6 and at our destination by 7" or anything even close to that. I'm not stupid. I did plan to be up by 8 so we could be in Venice before lunch because it really does only take a couple hours to see the major attractions everyone wants to see. Two major miscalculations happened here: first, I attempted to use a different parcheggio than what I had used before but did so without making a practice run ahead of schedule; second, I underestimated jet lag. We got out the door around 1030 which is when I had hoped to be arriving in Venice (or at least almost there) and when we got to the car park I had researched it turned out to be an open-air lot along one of the rivers in a not-so-friendly looking area, so we asked Garmin for a better idea and followed it. I like the garage it took us to, but we naturally got separated coming down the stairs... Felix and I were outside the garage waiting on the sidewalk while Rob and Ana were still finding their way out. Also naturally, Rob's phone was out of euro again. Luckily, it costs him nothing to call me. Silly person that I am, I wanted to walk from the garage to the main bridge into the city. It was a longer walk than I realized (just under a mile) and with traffic and bridges it was going to be complicated. We took the people mover from Tronchetto to Piazzale Roma where we picked up a map of Venice and began our misguided journey.

Upon entering the city, we immediately found photogenic views and took advantage of them. We stopped almost immediately for lunch because it was about that time and all were hungry. While ordering our food, Ana made a friend. Such a small world we live in: one of the other customers happened to share very similar roots (they grew up in neighboring hometowns, I believe). We enjoyed our lunch and moved on towards the important sites knowing that our time was limited. Then we turned right. I knew where I was going until Rob started second-guessing me because I didn't keep faith in my knowledge and allowed his doubts to become my own. We found all kinds of things in the back alleys of Venice... like an Italian Army post, several schools, some trash and a lovely gentleman who was feeding pigeons and willing to give us good directions. From that point forward, Rob decided he was going to take point. He got us back on the right track just in time to come across a gondolier, prompting Ana to insist on taking a gondola ride...

While she negotiated a price with the gondolier, Rob investigated a super creepy looking beggar who was conveniently located on the street directly in front of the ATM that the gondoliers were sending customers to. He took several pictures of the person, but I think this is the best one because it almost looks like a black and white photo and it truly captures how you see them when you're walking through the city. Finally, the haggling and ogling were completed and we climbed into the gondola for our ride around the city. At this point, to be fair to my child (who is reading this over my shoulder), I need to state for the record that Felix was not at all excited about the gondola ride. In fact, he protested it quite loudly and profusely and was considerably upset when his protests were disregarded and he found himself in the boat with the rest of us. The not-so-gentle rocking did not at all help the situation. The first canal we headed into was wide and had a fair amount of traffic. Big motorized boats, even moving slowly, create a wake that is not pleasant to people in small, pole-guided boats. Poor Felix. Our gondolier was supposed to sing to us as part of the negotiated price, so he did for awhile... until Ana sang over him! He noted points of interest for us (I don't remember any of them) and showed us a place where the gondolas were being built. It was a nice little ride... COLD but nice.

Once the gondola ride was finished, we crossed the bridge, wound our way through a few more streets and headed into San Marco Square. There is a lot to see in the square and it's huge, so when you first step into it you really just want to stop and take it all in. So we did. As we headed toward the church, we noticed that it was pigeon feeding time. It looked to me like a grayish mist was hovering in one part of the piazza until we got a little closer, then everyone got excited. Ana and the boys got in the middle of things while I tried to get pictures of everyone without getting pooped on. I'm happy to report that my mission was a success! Felix especially enjoyed the whole experience and wanted to stay indefinitely. Once the birds were adequately fed, we moved further in so we could see the rest of the square and then get over to Rialto before we ran out of time to pick up Meghan. We were walking like maniacs trying to get to all the main points, but still actually see things on our way through (because what's the point of visiting if you don't actually see anything?!) knowing that we were on a deadline. We were on Rialto Bridge when my phone rang. Luckily, that was the last stop on our way back to the car. Unluckily, Venice is not an easy city to navigate quickly when you're in a group of more than two (in my opinion, anyway). There were still plenty of turns to make and bridges to cross to get back to the people mover, so we took the traditional pictures and Rob assured Meghan that we were on our way, then I began leading us out. This time, I did not second-guess myself even though Rob did several times. I was clear on the way out and I got us out. We got back to the car in record time and hauled it over to the airport, retrieved Meghan and headed home to eat and crash for the night. CJ and Kamryn were arriving the next day, then we were off on more adventures!

MilaNO

So I have some awesome friends who have an amazing daughter who was born in September. They are not too ecstatic to be in Italy at the moment considering it's so far from home and they're newlyweds with a brand new baby. There's a lot of stress in a situation like that and as a topper it was looking like they weren't going to really have a decent Christmas. Then, miracle number one happened: some of their family pulled together and got them tickets home. The excitement begins at this point because baby girl still doesn't have a passport, even though the application has been processing for about a month already. I know this because I applied for mine and Felix's about two weeks after they applied for hers so I was keeping up with it. Well, good ol' government processes being what they are, their paperwork got misplaced while ours arrived a week earlier than expected. Naturally this would happen since we didn't actually need our passports for a few more months. They were exhausting all options trying to figure out a way to still make it happen and it was truly beginning to look hopeless. Then miracle number two happened: they found a way to make it happen! The American Embassy in Milan could issue an emergency passport, but they'd have to go pick it up there. Luckily, Milan is only about a two hour drive from here. Unfortunately, by the time they were informed that the emergency passport was available for pick up, there was literally only one day left that they would be able to get it before that part of the Embassy closed for the holidays. Wanna one-up that news? The passport office there closes at noon - not for lunch, for the DAY. Awesome. We decide that it will work as long as we leave the second Felix is on the bus to school - I mean, leaving no later than 8am means we'll get there by 10am, we can get the passport which shouldn't take more than 30 minutes, then maybe take a look around the city for an hour or so before needing to get back on the road home because Felix doesn't get home until about 3pm. We're even figuring for some traffic delays, maybe 30 minutes on either side and we still have time to get the passport and see at least one attraction in the city. HA.HA.HA. 

We left at about 8:30 that morning and arrived in the city of Milan at 10:15 (I drive fast... especially here!). According to my Garmin, we had about two miles to go to get to the Embassy. Sweet! This is gonna be cake - we'll have plenty of time to explore. Then came the traffic. Ok, it's not looking too bad... a little congestion but we're moving and it looks like maybe it'll take that extra half hour we figured on. No big deal, maybe we just stop at a cafe and have lunch rather than trying to sightsee. Still not panicking because getting there at 10:45 is still plenty of time.

Yup, there's still plenty of time. See those birds? They're going as fast as we are. The distance from the building in the first picture to this sign was about half a mile. We saw that building at about 10:20 and we saw this sign at about 10:45. Once we were through this light, though, it looked like we were really gonna start moving. This was about the time we realized that the single lane road we were entering had about four lanes of traffic smashing themselves in however they possibly could. There were several times when we were literally only inches away from the cars on either side of us. My friends are in full panic mode at this point because it really does look like we're not gonna make it and that makes me even more determined to get them there. I know I told them a couple times that I was really lucky that my mom taught me to drive because I never would have been confident enough to navigate those streets otherwise. I mean, Naples in the middle of the night was bad enough but this was a whole new level of crazy. 

By this point, the end is actually in sight, but traffic is just not moving at all. It's 11:20 and we're in full panic mode. I'm weaving in and out as much as I can, cutting people off like a pro and I feel like I've stepped into full Italian mode cursing people out loud and in sign language while driving maniacally towards our destination. We get to about two blocks away and can see that there's no way we'll make it on time driving because it's about 11:40 at this point, so I tell them to just run for it and I'll take care of the baby and try to find a place to park. They race for it and I drive very calmly (yeah right!) in a one mile circle around the Embassy looking for parking. Not happening. The baby starts crying in earnest (she'd been a little fussy off and on during our excursion already) and I know she really just needs a diaper change and a bottle, but I HAVE to be parked to make that happen. So I start looking for absolutely anywhere I can pull in, legal or not since that seems to be the protocol here anyway, and find myself on a street at a complete standstill. This is really not good. But they did have cute lights up...

See? Really pretty lights! And that building off in the distance looks like something I really want to see up close. Not this trip though! We slowly make our way down the street... poor baby is just screaming and I'm trying to calm her down making all kinds of promises to fix it just as soon as I can. My window was down because the weather is really nice and there's an older man on the street who hears her crying and me trying to console her and he gives me a look like he wants to help but has no idea how and then traffic starts moving and we both just kinda shrug at each other like "I hope it works out soon" and keep going. About a block and a half after that, a guy pulls out of a parking space right in front of a pharmacy and I do the best parallel parking job I've ever done in my life snagging that spot. I get baby girl out of her seat and change her diaper, then look in the bag for her bottle. Crap. We forgot water. Thank God we're in front of a pharmacy! I take her inside and she's still screaming and the ladies try to calm her down a little while I desperately try to express to them in Italian what I need. Luckily, they understood me and the pharmacist spoke English so we had a little conversation while I made her bottle and got her calmed down. At that point, my phone was ringing because her parents were ready to be picked up. THEY GOT THE PASSPORT!!!! Best news all day! So I get her fed and strapped back in and head over to get them. By the time I got back around to the Embassy, it was coming up on 1pm and they just jumped in at a corner so we could head back ASAP because we now had exactly enough time to get home and meet Felix getting off the bus. Traffic has not changed, of course, so I'm realizing that I'm gonna have to drive like the same bat out of hell I've been driving like all day. So I do. We made it back after he got off the bus, but before he made it to the apartment, so the day was a success all around. My friends are officially able to go home for Christmas and show off their beautiful daughter, I volunteered to care for their cat and dog while they were gone (partly because I wanted to leave nothing to chance and partly because Felix swears he wants a dog and I wanted him to prove it) so it all works out for everyone.

I have no intention of driving to Milan ever again.

Leaving Sorrento (part three)

Our final day in Southern Italy dawned bright and beautiful again. After the evening's rainstorms, the sky was clear and the views were fantastic. It was also much cooler, thankfully, as we had laundry to do! Today's plan was pretty simple: get some laundry done and enjoy Sorrento while doing it. After breakfast, we loaded up the necessary laundry and walked about half a mile up the road to the laundry place our Australian friends told us about. Americans: be grateful for your coin laundry places!!! This was pretty much the same idea, but there were three washer and three dryers (hey, kinda like my laundry room at home) but it cost us about 8 euro per load... that's a hell of a lot more than a dollar to wash and a dollar to dry, my friends! While here, somehow not surprisingly, we met someone from the area where my aunt lives. I promise you, this is just amazing to me, but she really does seem to know someone everywhere and if she doesn't, she's stellar at making friends. So while washing our laundry, we had a lovely conversation with a girl who is living in Sorrento as part of a work-study program while studying to become a chef. I'd go to Italy to learn to cook too... these people can definitely throw down in the kitchen!! So the conversation ends, but the laundry's not done washing, so we make a quick trip to the pharmacy to pick up cold meds for the ailing uncle and have a coffee out of the machine. YUM for me!! I wind up walking the meds and child back to the hotel while Aunt Ceil writes out postcards and switches laundry over... this is good because one can never really do enough walking. Yes, I do actually believe that, although my child strongly and verbosely disagrees with me!

When we got back to the launderette, we decided lunch on the way back to the hotel was a great idea so we stopped in at Il Ritrovo for this delicious pizza and salad combo. I'm pretty sure the pizza was half quattro formaggi (four cheese) and half prosciutto (ham). The salad was an awesome suggestion from Aunt Ceil: it's ham, buffalo mozzarella and a little lettuce on a bed of melon. Delicious! We had a leisurely meal... the only thing we didn't have to wait for was the beer... and enjoyed the nice weather and the calmness of the day. As we were paying, it began raining, so we stayed a short while longer and Felix did what he does best: found something that could be a gun and used it!

I can't really express enough how much I love having an unscheduled day to run with and actually running with it. The only thing we knew we needed to do was laundry, so we did. There was no timetable to follow, but there was plenty of time for conversation and just sitting around experiencing our little piece of Italian bliss. When we finally made it back to the hotel, Felix wanted to jump in the pool but it was cold enough that I was pretty sure it wasn't a good idea... didn't stop him. He played by the edge (but didn't get in!) until he was thoroughly soaked and I had to bring him a towel from the room because the hotel staff wouldn't let him come in trailing a literal river behind him!

I took advantage of the time in the room to move more pictures from my camera to my computer, then let the munchkin hang out with the other boys (and his gameboy, of course!) while I brought the computer and some wine up to the rooftop to enjoy conversation and pictures. I keep forgetting how nice adult interaction is and I'm quite grateful to have had such fun people to spend my time with in Sorrento.

Felix was ecstatic to learn that we were leaving in the morning, but naturally couldn't bring himself to sleep at a reasonable hour. It was nice to have the windows open all night, though it was definitely chilly in the morning! We had a quick breakfast and said our goodbyes. The plan, since I was still assuming an eight hour drive, was to hit the road early enough to be in Tuscany for lunch and make it home in time for dinner. Whoops. I'm really good at planning, but execution just doesn't seem to be my strong suit. As soon as we got on the road, we were (naturally) behind a tourist in a rented vehicle who was driving extremely cautiously... and pissing off everyone else on the road. I learned a lot of Italian sign language in the 45 minutes we were trapped behind them on this winding cliffside road. I also saw some of the most dangerous driving maneuvers I've ever seen in person during that time. Once we were finally past him (yes, it was a man, I checked!) we headed toward the autostrada only to be caught in a fabulous traffic jam. Traffic in the circle really is supposed to keep moving, but they can't if the people exiting the circle are waiting for everyone and their mother to cross the street. Perhaps this is the fundamental flaw in the system. I decide to bypass the traffic circle jam by taking the second exit instead of the first (checked the map first to make sure they both went the same way) and we were off traveling through tiny towns on our way back to the autostrada. It was very scenic. We accidentally drove around Mount Vesuvius because we got on the autostrada in the wrong direction. At least it was picturesque. So we finally get headed in the right direction and make it to Tuscany just at riposo when all the cafes have closed for the period between lunch and dinner. So much for lunch in Tuscany! Oh well. On the bright side, neither one of us is hungry and both of us want to be home, so it's not a problem to keep going. We arrived home before sunset, which was really nice. The car was FILTHY, which I think is going to be the car's theme for life in Italia. It was freezing compared to the tropical climate we had just been in, though in reality it was only around 50 degrees. We crashed out almost as soon as we walked in the door... nice ending to a great mini vacation!