Monday, Paul and I ventured out for dinner. Having stayed in Vicenza last year, we knew of a local Indian place. It is amazing, last year we actually stayed in an apartment upstairs from it, so I would smell it all afternoon. We *might* have eaten there three times in our six days at that apartment. Anyway, the apartment was booked this year, so we are not as close, but it is just a short drive there. I was too busy eating to bother with pictures, so this blog isn’t about the awesome food. It’s about the drive afterwards. Between the restaurant and our current residence, is The Basilica of St. Mary of Monte Berico! It’s a church, on top of a hill, with a bazillion steps up to it. And a road, thank God. I took some pictures, but be sure to look at the links, because they are much better.

According to Wikipedia, “the Blessed Virgin appeared on the hill twice to a peasant worker named Vincenza Pasini; the first time occurred on March 7, 1426, the second on August 1, 1428. At this time in the Veneto, the people and economy had been suffering from a terrible plague for years. The Madonna promised that if the people of Vicenza built a church on the top of the hill she would rid them of the plague. The people kept their promise and the church was built in 3 months.”

There is a square in front of the Church, with an overlook of the entire town of Vicenza. It was hazy the evening we drove up there, and this blog won’t let me load the panoramic photo I took, but you get the idea!

At the edge of the square, where you look out over the town, is a worn, but ornate, cement railing. All along it are little chunks of metal sticking up, which I initially thought were broken pieces of something long gone. But it turns out, they are sights! You lean over and line up the two tabs, and they point to different mountains in the distance! There are engraved names of the surrounding mountains, all along the top of the railing.

Unfortunately, the haze didn’t allow for a view of much of anything. But it’s a pretty neat idea anyway! According to Paul, this overlook is *the* place to be on the weekend. He said that on Saturday nights it’s like Lovers Lane up there, with all the young crowd hanging out, smoking and sitting around. In front of a Church. Yeaaahh. Anyway, we had only driven up here on our way home, the apartment we’re staying is pretty much right below here, on the mountain side. This isn’t us, just another view over the railing!