June 18- 24- First week in Italy

After a grueling- LOL- 8 hour flight, we arrived in Venice, Italy at 1:10PM. We had left Toronto the night before at 11PM for an over-night flight. Neither Uwe nor I are good at sleeping on planes no matter what or how many pills/booze we consume, so we were operating on close to a 24 hour day.

Going through customes was a breeze, barely looked at our passports. The airport was modern however it took forever getting our luggage- must have caught them during siesta time.

My daughter, Nicole, was there to meet us for the 45 minute car ride to Fiume Veneto, the village where she and her husband Fab lived.

                                        This is the front of their 2 bedroom , very modern house.

And the side yard- lots of lawn. There are palm trees, Magnolia trees, evergreens, oleander..

And a view of their residential street.

On Sunday, we took a car ride to Maniago, a nearby town where Fab's parents have a house. Maniago is at the foothills of the mountains on the north of Italy- part of the Alps .

The roadways are modern, well-paved. This is one of the many routes to Maniago.

Notice the foothills in the background.

A tree-lined street in Maniago.

Fab's parents' house in the footshills overlooking Maniago

Uwe, Fab & Nicole in front of house.

The top floor- 2 bedroom is rented to a US airforce couple stationed at Aviano Air Force base and the bottom 1 bedroom is used by Fab's parents when they visit Italy from Canada.

In front of restaurant where we had a huge lunch- all Italian meals consists of 3 courses, pasta, meat & veggies and desert. Strange enough- at least in northern Italy, there are very few obese people.

On Monday Uwe & I took a walk into downtown Fiume Veneto- a mere 10 minute walk along the bike path paralleling the main road.

Of course it was reposo time- every day between 12 and 3PM- where everything is closed.

Here is a quiet downtown street.

                                         And the same main street crossing a river through town.

                                                     And the town square in front of church.

On Tuesday, Fab had to go to Trieste, a city at the border with Slovenia. He works for a car dealer selling cars to the US Airforce personnel stationed at Aviano and because Slovenia is the closest border, Trieste is used to arrange custom/imports for the vehicle documents.

We decided to go with him- a mere 1 hour drive- to check out yet another city.

Trieste is on the Adriatic sea and half is in Italy & the other half is in Slovenia.

It has an absolutely beautiful sea shore with many marinas and a cruise ship dock.

Here are several pictures of our walk .

And more eye candy

                              And some of the buildings on hillside surrounding the sea

                                                              Kids learning how to skull

                                                The main city square- lots of cafe/ bars

                                          
                                        Lots of old buildings with beautiful statues

 On Wednesday after dinner, we drove to yet another nearby town called Pordenone. Here we sat at a bar ( us, sit at a bar-LOL) for a spritz- wine & sparkling water & a slice of lemon, very refreshing.

The downtown area has all been turned into pedestrian walkways.

                                                                                And more

All lined with lots of high end stores- shoes, clothes etc plus more bars and restaurants. We came back here on Friday for Pizza- you haven't tasted pizza until you come to Italy!!!

June 12- 17- Final week in Canada

Finally our last week in Canada- so looking forward to our 3 months in Italy. We have had a great time rediscovering why we have always loved living in Collingwood.
This final week we also had a rental at the same condo as week 2 and again our weather was very variable- mostly favouring the cold rainy side rather than the sunny!

This week our visiters started with our good friends Diane & Murray who stayed in a hotel in the area and supplied the burgers for our barbecue.

A few days later, Uwe's sister Goods & her husband Mitch came to visit us for a couple of days.

Surprisingly the weather was perfect!

 We took some walks along the Bay shore across the road from our complex.

The next day we went up near the top of Blue Mountain to go see the Scenic Caves. These are a series of caves used by the Indians in ancient times and open to the public for hiking/exploring.

The scenery was awesome!

                                          Some of the cave/ crevass shots. Goods going down into one.

and more

And more again

We then had a scenic hike back through the forest- quiet, green

There was also a suspension bridge- longest in Ontario.

And more

The Friday, June 17th, we drove back to Toronto to re-pack our luggage and  head to the airport for our 11PM flight to Venice, Italy! The next adventure begins.

June 5 to June 11- Collingwood Week 2

The second week in Collingwood we moved into a 2 bedroom condo ( time-share exchange) on the outskirts of the town. Very nice landscaping and lot's of room for only 2 of us plus of course various visitors.

                                      View out our back door.

                 

And there were lot's of Chipmunks

 Very social chipmunks

And more

And I played another round of golf with my good friend Heather.

 This golf course was very scenic overlooking the bay

Later on that week our good friend Igor rode his bike up and spent one night with us, diner, partying etc etc

And that weekend we had yet another family party , this time at the Collingwood condo.  This of course happens when you live away out of the country and finally come home.

My son Ron & grandson Bryan & his girlfriend Amanda joined us this time.

Along with my 'sister' Corina & Jason

And my niece's son kyle & girlfriend Sky along with nephew Neil

The next day I played yet another round of golf with my 3 favorite men-

nephew Neil, son Ron and grandson Bryan

May 27- June 5th- Home in Collingwood- Week 1

On June 27th we drove to Collingwood- our old home town. Collingwood has a population of approximately 17000 and is located 2 hours north of Toronto on the shores of Georgian Bay part of the great lakes system.

                            Here is a view along the main downtown street.

And the grain elevator- no longer in use- much like the one in tempe, Arizona

The first week we stayed with our good friends, Kathy & Bill at their house in the city.
                                 Here we are at lunch at one of the many great restaurants in Collingwood.

Most days we went hiking on the trails all through and around Collingwood. Some were converted from old railway tracks.

               
                            Some went through the surrounding forest.

                        Another day we went hiking at the top of Blue mountain- ski hills in the winter and    mountain biking trails in the summer.

And of course I found time to golf with my son Ron and Bill and Kathy at a scenic local golf course.
                                   Here are Ron & I at a rainy third hole.

                     Some very pretty scenery at this course. The sun did eventually come out by the 7th hole.