I appoligize in advance for my lack of video skills, but here are a few videos from my Cinque Terre trip on Saturday.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=478gjXYXoQk
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofFOxDNCgBY
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O80G4jP3eCM
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhgX9xI4giw
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHlggho6dus&NR=1
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmQ5qxT2SVM&feature=related
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apVg41u4sAc
Happy Memorial Day to all!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
No matter how long I live, I have no doubt that the fragrance of Jasmine and Roses will bring me back to this time in my live. I have never been to a place where they grew so prolifically! In the humid evenings the fragrance is so strong it is overwhelming. If I could bottle and sell it I'm sure I could make a small fortune. The roses are everywhere. I suppose the soil here is perfect. It is rich and sandy. There is also a lot of sun but we have gotten a good amount of rain lately too. Perfect for roses. The Jasmine grows on trellises, over garden gates or up the sides of buildings. It is everywhere and doesn't seem to need anything special. I've been tempted to clip off a few pieces to bring into the hotel room.
Over the last few days, I've ventured all over Vicenza on my new bicycle - some places I intended to see and others were surprise destinations located when riding around lost. I'm in the process of uploading some video to YouTube to share. I've found Vicenza to be a very pretty city but it took getting lost to realize what I had been missing. The architecture of Andrea Palladio is everywhere. Some original and some recent imitations, all fantastic. I've not yet toured the Rotunda or Palladian Basilica but they are on my list. I recently picked up a book called The Wonders of Vicenza and am amazed at all the local 'points of interest'. I guess you can collect quite a few if you have a city that is over a thousand years old. I'm looking forward to taking the Vicenza tour and learning more about the city.
Saturday I went on a trip to Cinque Terre. The literal translation is Five Lands but we would consider it five villages. They are all cities built on the cliffs overlooking the sea in the area considered to be the Italian Riviera. In a one day trip I wasn't able to visit them all but the three that I did visit were beautiful. I especially enjoyed the first village of Monterosso where a man had been carved from the stone face of a cliff. The beach there was also quite nice and we found a great little restaurant that I hope to return to. I was also able to sample the locally made Limoncello and Sangria as well as the seafood. I'm told that, in addition the lovely churches and quaint cottages, there is also an anchovy factory. I skipped that for now but am sure I'll have an opportunity to visit it when I go back with Bill. I'm looking forward to spending a long weekend there this fall to do some of the great hikes between the villages.
You can check it out at www.cinqueterreonline.com. I also managed to come back with six bottles of wine and a bottle of Limoncino.
As things are starting to get settled and I've found both home and transportation, I'm a lot less stressed and am sure I'll start really enjoying the area. Once Bill gets here with the other cats and our Dog and our furniture arrives, I'll even be happier. By fall we will be ready to fill the house with family and friends and share our experience here with all of you!
Over the last few days, I've ventured all over Vicenza on my new bicycle - some places I intended to see and others were surprise destinations located when riding around lost. I'm in the process of uploading some video to YouTube to share. I've found Vicenza to be a very pretty city but it took getting lost to realize what I had been missing. The architecture of Andrea Palladio is everywhere. Some original and some recent imitations, all fantastic. I've not yet toured the Rotunda or Palladian Basilica but they are on my list. I recently picked up a book called The Wonders of Vicenza and am amazed at all the local 'points of interest'. I guess you can collect quite a few if you have a city that is over a thousand years old. I'm looking forward to taking the Vicenza tour and learning more about the city.
Saturday I went on a trip to Cinque Terre. The literal translation is Five Lands but we would consider it five villages. They are all cities built on the cliffs overlooking the sea in the area considered to be the Italian Riviera. In a one day trip I wasn't able to visit them all but the three that I did visit were beautiful. I especially enjoyed the first village of Monterosso where a man had been carved from the stone face of a cliff. The beach there was also quite nice and we found a great little restaurant that I hope to return to. I was also able to sample the locally made Limoncello and Sangria as well as the seafood. I'm told that, in addition the lovely churches and quaint cottages, there is also an anchovy factory. I skipped that for now but am sure I'll have an opportunity to visit it when I go back with Bill. I'm looking forward to spending a long weekend there this fall to do some of the great hikes between the villages.
You can check it out at www.cinqueterreonline.com. I also managed to come back with six bottles of wine and a bottle of Limoncino.
As things are starting to get settled and I've found both home and transportation, I'm a lot less stressed and am sure I'll start really enjoying the area. Once Bill gets here with the other cats and our Dog and our furniture arrives, I'll even be happier. By fall we will be ready to fill the house with family and friends and share our experience here with all of you!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Adjusting
I think the majority of our inprocessing is done now. We finally got our ID cards on Wednesday and things have been much easier since then. We still don't quite have the sleeping schedule down but other than that we are adjusting well. Once I find a good wine supplier I'm sure things will get even better.
Last Saturday we spent looking at houses and sleeping but Sunday we got out and did a bit of sightseeing. We went into Vicenza by bus and caught the train to Venice. The train station brings you to the bridge that crosses the lagoon taking you into Venice proper, so we get out of the train station and we are there! Because it was Sunday there were not all that many shops open but that was okay. It gave us a chance to walk around and orient ourselves without a mass of tourists. We didn't do anything special and didn't try to follow the map/maze of the city that we came with, we just wandered and enjoyed the view. Eventually we found our way back to the train station and made our way home. All in all the experience was a bit sureal - we just went to Venice for the afternoon!
Tuesday was Bills birthday so after doing our daily romp around post we went out for a nice dinner at Il Fauno. The Pasticco Lasagna was great (served with a cream sauce on top) and it is only a short stroll from post. We also stopped by MWR and rented a bicycle so Bill could explore the next couple of days while I work. He says he is now innitiated to Italian bicycling and it is a completely different experience. Although Italians drive crazy they have more respect for individuals on two wheels. He even navigated several traffic circles and lived to tell about it!
Thursday we had Driver Orientation training. We found out that Italians are required to go through 6 months of drivers training and pay 2ooo Euro to get their license. No wonder there are so many people who ride bikes. BUT, it explains how they can drive like mad men and never seem to kill each other.
Today Bill went to take his Drivers Test and PASSED! YEAH!!! He is now qualified to drive on any Italian roadway. I plan to take the test next week. Hopefully I'll pass too, if not I'll have a long walk to work everyday!!
We are scheduled to move into the house the end of June. There is painting to be done and some light fixtures need to be replaced. The inspectors will need to go in and do a survey and then the contracts will be written. The official negoiation meeting is on Monday but pretty much everything is already settled, it is now just a matter of putting it in writing. We are very excited about the house. It is convenient to both Vicenza and Padova and there is a BIG bike shop in town. The name of the town is Mestrino. It is small but has everything necessary and is close to the city for things that can't be had locally.
Apparently power outages are an issue here. Wednesday night the power went out for the 2nd time. It seems that it remains off for a few hours each time and both times have been at night. I guess they figure you should be sleeping anyway. The Italians are very aware of energy usage and conserve as much as possible. They view Americans as being quite wasteful and can't believe how much energy we use for things like air conditioning, laundry, large appliances, TV's, etc. It is going to take some getting used to. Our new house has a washer but the dryer is a clothsline in the back yard. I'm going to have to see if they can retrofit a dryer - yes, I'm a wasteful American but I don't like waiting three days for my jeans to get dry and then having them feel like cardboard. Remind me of this conversation in a few years when I've adjusted. I'm sure I'll look back and laugh at myself - just being a typical newbee!
This weekend Bill heads back to New York, leaving me in the hands of the crazy Italians. I'll be staying in the hotel until the end of June when we move to the house (no good food or wine in/near the hotel). Bill should be back shortly after that and can help get settled in. Me and the kitties will miss him but I'm sure that Chandler, Leo and Rachi will be happy to have him home.
Ciao!
LeAnn & Bill
Last Saturday we spent looking at houses and sleeping but Sunday we got out and did a bit of sightseeing. We went into Vicenza by bus and caught the train to Venice. The train station brings you to the bridge that crosses the lagoon taking you into Venice proper, so we get out of the train station and we are there! Because it was Sunday there were not all that many shops open but that was okay. It gave us a chance to walk around and orient ourselves without a mass of tourists. We didn't do anything special and didn't try to follow the map/maze of the city that we came with, we just wandered and enjoyed the view. Eventually we found our way back to the train station and made our way home. All in all the experience was a bit sureal - we just went to Venice for the afternoon!
Tuesday was Bills birthday so after doing our daily romp around post we went out for a nice dinner at Il Fauno. The Pasticco Lasagna was great (served with a cream sauce on top) and it is only a short stroll from post. We also stopped by MWR and rented a bicycle so Bill could explore the next couple of days while I work. He says he is now innitiated to Italian bicycling and it is a completely different experience. Although Italians drive crazy they have more respect for individuals on two wheels. He even navigated several traffic circles and lived to tell about it!
Thursday we had Driver Orientation training. We found out that Italians are required to go through 6 months of drivers training and pay 2ooo Euro to get their license. No wonder there are so many people who ride bikes. BUT, it explains how they can drive like mad men and never seem to kill each other.
Today Bill went to take his Drivers Test and PASSED! YEAH!!! He is now qualified to drive on any Italian roadway. I plan to take the test next week. Hopefully I'll pass too, if not I'll have a long walk to work everyday!!
We are scheduled to move into the house the end of June. There is painting to be done and some light fixtures need to be replaced. The inspectors will need to go in and do a survey and then the contracts will be written. The official negoiation meeting is on Monday but pretty much everything is already settled, it is now just a matter of putting it in writing. We are very excited about the house. It is convenient to both Vicenza and Padova and there is a BIG bike shop in town. The name of the town is Mestrino. It is small but has everything necessary and is close to the city for things that can't be had locally.
Apparently power outages are an issue here. Wednesday night the power went out for the 2nd time. It seems that it remains off for a few hours each time and both times have been at night. I guess they figure you should be sleeping anyway. The Italians are very aware of energy usage and conserve as much as possible. They view Americans as being quite wasteful and can't believe how much energy we use for things like air conditioning, laundry, large appliances, TV's, etc. It is going to take some getting used to. Our new house has a washer but the dryer is a clothsline in the back yard. I'm going to have to see if they can retrofit a dryer - yes, I'm a wasteful American but I don't like waiting three days for my jeans to get dry and then having them feel like cardboard. Remind me of this conversation in a few years when I've adjusted. I'm sure I'll look back and laugh at myself - just being a typical newbee!
This weekend Bill heads back to New York, leaving me in the hands of the crazy Italians. I'll be staying in the hotel until the end of June when we move to the house (no good food or wine in/near the hotel). Bill should be back shortly after that and can help get settled in. Me and the kitties will miss him but I'm sure that Chandler, Leo and Rachi will be happy to have him home.
Ciao!
LeAnn & Bill
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Still Breathing - LeAnn
Still not ID cards... we were told that it was Okay, sometimes it takes a while for the system to be updated. No problem getting o ff post and back on as long as we have our Passports and Orders. Well, needless to say, I had to call my sponsor after we were escorted to the MP's office for not having proper documentation. We now have a two week, unacompanied pass, to get us back and forth until our ID gets done.
On the positive side, we had a lovely dinner at a little place called Regina's. I find a lot of things to complain about here but the food isn't one of them!
We have looked at several houses and finally found one we really liked. It is not in an area where we expected we would want to live, but the quality of the house makes of for that. Also, it is right on a bike path that leads directly to work. We see two more houses tomorrow and if they don't just knock our socks off, we'll end up in the very first house we looked at!
The last couple of days have veen stressful, I'll be sure to post the ce we get some picture
I'm falling asleep typing so I guess that means its past bed time.
Take care,
LeAnn
On the positive side, we had a lovely dinner at a little place called Regina's. I find a lot of things to complain about here but the food isn't one of them!
We have looked at several houses and finally found one we really liked. It is not in an area where we expected we would want to live, but the quality of the house makes of for that. Also, it is right on a bike path that leads directly to work. We see two more houses tomorrow and if they don't just knock our socks off, we'll end up in the very first house we looked at!
The last couple of days have veen stressful, I'll be sure to post the ce we get some picture
I'm falling asleep typing so I guess that means its past bed time.
Take care,
LeAnn
Monday, May 10, 2010
Purgatory -LeAnn
We have arrived! The past week has been long and these little brown kitties have logged a lot of miles. The good news is that we all made it safe and sound. We are going to need a bit of time to adjust to the time but other than that all is well.
Our trip from JFK was pretty easy. Lufthansa is great and I would recommend them to anyone flying over with pets (or without for that matter). Check in at JFK was pretty easy... show your documents, pay your $200 and fly. We left the US at around 6pm and flew to Munich Germany where we had a three hour lay over. Customs folks were really nice but they did thoroughly examine our feline health certificates and seperated the kitties for a crate xray. Once we met with their approval we were sent on down the line were we could set up our kitty tent and let the brownies stretch out and use the litter box. The terminal was beautiful and the free newspapers and coffee/espresso service made it even better. We left Munich for a short flight to Venice about a half hour behind schedule so we arrived in Venice at 12:30 after an hour long flight that was a bit turbulent - we were flying over the Alps so I guess that is not surprising. The kitties took it well.
Shuttles run from the Venice Marco Polo airport to the Base every couple of hours and we were hoping to make the 12:30 but with our delay we didn't get here until 12:30. After collecting luggage and cats we were prepared for the customs lines and followed signs to the 'nothing to declare' exit. On the other side of the doors we found... well, nothing. No guards, no customs agents, just italian food and espresso! No one except us seemed to care that we had arrived cats and all.
Having missed the midday shuttle we had to wait for the next one which was not scheduled until the afternoon. After about an hour past the departure time we gave up and came back inside and called the base. No one seemed to know where the shuttle might be. Maybe the driver just decided to take the afternoon off. We ended up calling our sponsor who was going to meet us at the hotel. We asked if we should just take a taxi or rent a car and he offered to come pick us up. His name is Michael and he has been VERY helpful.
After getting on post and having the nickle tour we made our way to the hotel. The installation is your typical boring Army post and it is rather depressing overall in the lack of architecture and landscape. It is all about functionality. That is why I've nic-named it purgatory. I have to serve my time on post each week so that I can earn my way to heaven... the rest of Italy!
After sleeping most of the day Sunday, we woke up on Monday ready to get started. Mike met us for breakfast and took us to the clinic. We met the HR ladies and then headed off to inprocess. Apparently we are the first civilians to come to Vicenza since the procedures for inprocessing changed. Of course no one knows what to do with us or what paperwork needs to be done. They are not sure who is responsible for filling it out and does it go to Germany or not... this could take awhile. We also found that changing all our money to Euro was not smart. On the base they don't want the Euro and we haven't ventured far off yet. We ended up changing some of our Euro back to dollar today. Will likely spend more dollars than Euros until we find a place to live.
As we walked to the Central Office I noticed several different birds but was interested to find that none of them sounded like the birds at home. I surmised that they must be chirping in Italian. Imagine that, Italian birds speaking Italian bird language.
On my way from the housing office back to the hotel, I was checking out some of the local plants and trees. There are a lot of Heavenly Bamboo and Rose of Sharron bushes (and I thought I was going to miss mine), TONS of roses, cyprus trees, oaks, maples, sky rocket junipers and other strange Italian trees that I've yet to identify. They are the ones that grow really tall and only have branches and leaves at the very top. If you've ever seen them you know what I'm talking about.
We have been checking out the different kinds of cars and there are a lot more options in small cars. I've found the cutest little Mercedes hatch back but I have no idea what it is. I've never seen anything Mercedes that is this small in the states before and there was no model badge on the car. I also like the little Lancia's and am surprised at how cute some of the Fiat's are. When you see the American SUV's they look so out of place here.
So far we have been eating at the hotel or the on post facilities. Without our local ID's we have not been free to come and go as we please but that should change tomorrow. I'm sure our next blog will be about the town and FOOD! If we are lucky even a few houses.
Ciao for now!
LeAnn
Our trip from JFK was pretty easy. Lufthansa is great and I would recommend them to anyone flying over with pets (or without for that matter). Check in at JFK was pretty easy... show your documents, pay your $200 and fly. We left the US at around 6pm and flew to Munich Germany where we had a three hour lay over. Customs folks were really nice but they did thoroughly examine our feline health certificates and seperated the kitties for a crate xray. Once we met with their approval we were sent on down the line were we could set up our kitty tent and let the brownies stretch out and use the litter box. The terminal was beautiful and the free newspapers and coffee/espresso service made it even better. We left Munich for a short flight to Venice about a half hour behind schedule so we arrived in Venice at 12:30 after an hour long flight that was a bit turbulent - we were flying over the Alps so I guess that is not surprising. The kitties took it well.
Shuttles run from the Venice Marco Polo airport to the Base every couple of hours and we were hoping to make the 12:30 but with our delay we didn't get here until 12:30. After collecting luggage and cats we were prepared for the customs lines and followed signs to the 'nothing to declare' exit. On the other side of the doors we found... well, nothing. No guards, no customs agents, just italian food and espresso! No one except us seemed to care that we had arrived cats and all.
Having missed the midday shuttle we had to wait for the next one which was not scheduled until the afternoon. After about an hour past the departure time we gave up and came back inside and called the base. No one seemed to know where the shuttle might be. Maybe the driver just decided to take the afternoon off. We ended up calling our sponsor who was going to meet us at the hotel. We asked if we should just take a taxi or rent a car and he offered to come pick us up. His name is Michael and he has been VERY helpful.
After getting on post and having the nickle tour we made our way to the hotel. The installation is your typical boring Army post and it is rather depressing overall in the lack of architecture and landscape. It is all about functionality. That is why I've nic-named it purgatory. I have to serve my time on post each week so that I can earn my way to heaven... the rest of Italy!
After sleeping most of the day Sunday, we woke up on Monday ready to get started. Mike met us for breakfast and took us to the clinic. We met the HR ladies and then headed off to inprocess. Apparently we are the first civilians to come to Vicenza since the procedures for inprocessing changed. Of course no one knows what to do with us or what paperwork needs to be done. They are not sure who is responsible for filling it out and does it go to Germany or not... this could take awhile. We also found that changing all our money to Euro was not smart. On the base they don't want the Euro and we haven't ventured far off yet. We ended up changing some of our Euro back to dollar today. Will likely spend more dollars than Euros until we find a place to live.
As we walked to the Central Office I noticed several different birds but was interested to find that none of them sounded like the birds at home. I surmised that they must be chirping in Italian. Imagine that, Italian birds speaking Italian bird language.
On my way from the housing office back to the hotel, I was checking out some of the local plants and trees. There are a lot of Heavenly Bamboo and Rose of Sharron bushes (and I thought I was going to miss mine), TONS of roses, cyprus trees, oaks, maples, sky rocket junipers and other strange Italian trees that I've yet to identify. They are the ones that grow really tall and only have branches and leaves at the very top. If you've ever seen them you know what I'm talking about.
We have been checking out the different kinds of cars and there are a lot more options in small cars. I've found the cutest little Mercedes hatch back but I have no idea what it is. I've never seen anything Mercedes that is this small in the states before and there was no model badge on the car. I also like the little Lancia's and am surprised at how cute some of the Fiat's are. When you see the American SUV's they look so out of place here.
So far we have been eating at the hotel or the on post facilities. Without our local ID's we have not been free to come and go as we please but that should change tomorrow. I'm sure our next blog will be about the town and FOOD! If we are lucky even a few houses.
Ciao for now!
LeAnn
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