July 9-10- Lucy's First Weekend Visit to Italy

On Saturday July 9th, our friend Lucy arrived at the Venice airport for a 2 week visit with us.
Because we had some wonderful times & took many, many pictures, I thought I would dedicate a separate post to our first weekend all together.

Nicole & I drove down to Venice to pick her up and much like our flight three weeks ago, it took her forever to get her luggage. Even though we were 15 minutes late arriving for her flight, we waited almost an hour before she walked out!

After driving her home, introducing her to Cindy the dog & Suzie the cat, we got her settled in and had a couple of spritzes to contemplate what to do for dinner that evening.

                    Sitting in our regular spot in front of the kids' house.

A visit to the nearby village of Vivaro and pizza at  our newly discovered favorite restaurant won out.

                        As we were trying to park the car, a horse drawn carriage carrying a newly married couple rode by- needless to say, a photo was required.

                                      And the five of us relaxing waiting our pizza & vino.

                           And this time I did get photos of our various individual pizzas before they were gone.

 

This restaurant has ruined us for pizzas anywhere else probably forever!! LOL

Next day we travelled north through the Dolomites to the small village of Claut for yet another festa. This one would include lots of game meat- wild boar, deer etc.

Some incredible scenery along the way.

The village was lovely, situated in a valley surrounded by 'eye candy'.

And the entire village participated in the festa with food & beer/wine  plus many shopping stalls up and down the various streets.

The village is very famous for pine wood carvings- we saw some beautiful sculptures.

This is a local artisan at work using his ancient equipment.

The water is so pure that you can fill up your water bottle right out of the spring- wonderful clear live water and cold!

More village scenes

Bands played on many street corners to entertain us

On the way back home, we stopped at the mountain river alongside the road to refresh our tired feet. Lots of people come here for the day to sun & picnic by the river, The water was freezing!

July 2 to July 8- Week 3 in Italy

We are getting into a daily rythm, finally, like all retired people seem to. We get up around 7:30 to 8AM- the kids have already left for work and we have the house to ourselves ( other than the company of Suzie the cat and Cindy the dog). We have our coffe reading news on the internet- Uwe on his IPAD and me on the computer- checking what the rest of the world was up to while we were sleepnig. Most days we either walk or bike to the grocery store, do our Spanish lesson in anticipation of our next trip, do our exercise program and take lots of walks. This is often mixed with the odd car ride to nearby destinations.

On Saturday, Nicole & I took a ride to her hairdresser in another nearby village passing through some very cute scenery.

On the way home we stopped at another vineyard- Nicole wanted to buy some strawberry wine- but we came too late- closed for siesta 12-3PM. At the beginning of each row of vines, the farmers plant a rosebush. Roses being far more sensitive to plant diseases aid the farmer by providing early warning .

We also stopped to give Nicole's car a much needed wash at a self-serve car wash where the machine went back and forth around the car- very ingenious!

My daughter who liked nothing smaller than Cadillacs back in Canada now loves her Golf.

How Europe changes your taste in cars- LOL!

Later  Sunday evening, we all drove to a village called Vivaro where there was a restaurant serving fabulous pizza- so Fab's friends had been telling him. We had to try it out.
The pizzas were incredible- went down so fast I didn't even get a picture- next time .
                                                   I did get a picture of Fab's desert though.

Here we are standing out front after our meal.

Later during that week, we took a drive with Fab to Aviano.
This is the gate to the Aviano Airforce Base where we went with Fab one day to deliver a car to an American stationed there.

We also went for a visit the  next village called Ruascedo to visit Fab's friend Barbara.

She and her husband live in an enormous house and own a vineyard that delivers grapes to the same place we bought wine at earlier. This property and farm has been in her husband's family for hundreds of years.

Here are Fab & Barbara in her wonderful kitchen.

And the front of her house

Their vineyards

                                                           And Uwe and her sucky dog Oliver

June 25- July 1- Week 2 in Italy

Saturday morning Nicole & I had an appointment for pedicures at the local spa in town. The facilities were first rate and 2 young Italian girls- one blonde & one brunette-
 worked diligently on our sandal worn feet.
 We emerged with a lovely french-cut each, and went to the bar next door for a spritz while our toes dried.

Next, it was time for the weeks' grocery shopping in the mall close to town. Along with the grocery store- Emesferro- there was an entire mall full of high end stores. groceries for most of the week for 4 people averaged between EU 100 to 130.
 Next door was a home depot type store called Self  where I bought flowers to plant in the flower pots around the yard.

                                                     View of front of store from parking lot.

                                    And inside the mall- very quiet as it was reposo time!

Later in the afternoon, we went to a local winery to buy our week's supply- LOL

It was located in a nearby village. All the local farmers brought their grapes here, wines were made and all profits shared- an excellent idea!

The sign at front of winery.

And the great selection inside. Bought a case of cabernet plus another 6 pack case of mixed red & whites. Approximately EU 4 per bottle.

And of course you could try before you bought.

On Sunday we went to the village of  Cavasso Nuovo for a festa for the Alpini.

The Alpini are a combination of border patrol/ army reserve/ Mason Society.

Each division/ grouping wears a different plaid shirt and the traditional Alpini hat.

Each sports a feather- black for canon and brown for artillery.

The festival started with a parade through town.

First the band.

Then the Aplini

And more

Then on to the tent for lunch and vino.

Around 400 people were wined & dined inside the tent.

Nicole & Angelo- Fab's friend-waiting for the wine.

our group- Uwe, Nicole, Angelo & Fab

And me in Angelo's Alpini hat with our crazy neighbors beside

And of course the band provided music after the feast.

Even the kids got into the act!

We also took a ride to the top of a nearby hill to check out the gorgeous views.

And the happy retired couple.

The rest of the week we rode our bikes to various local places.

The next village- Bannia

Bike paths everywhere. And along the local river.

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!!!