Monthly Archives: June 2018

Giorno de Vacanza 33

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Saturday was warm and sunny. Paul worked til about 1pm, and although I had a little bit of a headache, we had already planned to drive over to Verona and look around. Verona (think Romeo and Juliet) is about a 45 minute drive down the highway, but of course Paul wanted to take the back, mountain roads. So it was a four and a half drive. It was a beautiful drive, full of switchbacks and valley overlooks. Of course, headache + swerving = motion sickness. So I didn’t take as many as photos as I normally do. But you’ll get the idea!

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The drive to Verona was pretty amazing, even with an upset stomach. Every mountain drive here though, is. One small town after another, with a tall church tower, brightly painted houses that are crumbling, cows free-ranging so abundantly that there are street signs warning of cows in the roads everywhere. We stopped a few times, trying to get scenic shots, but the best shots never seem to be where the turnouts are. And when you can get parked…trees. In the way. So, most of my travel shots are out of a moving window.

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As with last weekend’s trip to Asiago and the war memorial, there are remnants of hand-dug trenches and caves pretty much everywhere you look. Every wall you drive past, still bears the tool marks of hand carving. And the occasional poppy. #LestWeForget

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Eventually, we arrived in Verona. As the sun was setting. We had really come here because Paul had heard there was a Coliseum. And there is. The sixth largest one in Italy, or something like that. You can read all about it here.

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The Arena, as it is known, still hosts concerts and operas regularly. It was closed, either for the evening, or to the public in general, while we were there. But some of my pictures through the gates show the props and setup for the current opera.

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We took a quick stroll around the Arena, which sits inside the old city wall. Like most cities around here, the city center is still the actual city center! Inside the fortified, former castle walls, where the medieval bustle would have been.

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By this time, I was getting pretty snippy, having tried to power through day three of a bad headache. It was pushing 8pm and I was hungry and cranky. As we were driving to the Arena, I happened to see a street sign saying “Steak & Shake 2km” and an arrow. Of course that caught my attention, because not only is fast food not a big thing here, but Steak & Shake?!? Of all the places. But I wanted something familiar, and quick, and then to go home to my pillow, so we Googled it And sure enough…

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It was just as slow, and mediocre, and full of screaming brats as the American ones. But it had an actual self-serve soda machine. That is absolutely unheard of here. Even the McDonald’s (which serve beer for Pete sake) don’t have self-serve machines! So I had a Coke, a lumpy chocolate shake, and some really old fries. But my steakburger was great!

Giorno de Vacanza 32

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Friday isn’t really much of a Friday, since Paul has to work Saturdays. But we try to at least go out and do something in the early evening. Which is harder than it sounds, because restaurants and things tend to open at like, 8pm here. But this Friday, after much debate (and by debate I mean an hour of “I don’t care” “What do you want to eat”) we found a German restaurant just a few miles from our apartment. It was called ‘Bier Stube Treff’, which means ‘beer parlor’ basically. #ThanksGoogleTranslate

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It was a huge place, and definitely German. There were personal steins locked up with little padlocks, authentic decorations everywhere, and the food!

Oh my goodness! Paul had a ginormous plate of random German things, including sauerkraut, fried potatoes, sausages, cheese ball things, an egg and ham, roasted peppers, and the most amazing sourdough-type bread!

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Me, being the picky one, wasn’t sure what half of the menu said, so I played it safe with a steak. It came on a bed of lettuce and Parmesan shavings, with a drizzle of balsamic. And it was amazing. The pictures don’t do them justice, the plates were huge.

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And of course, a German restaurant requires beer. Paul had a liter of some dark beer. And I had a Coke. Because that is all they serve here, soda-wise. We also ordered a bottle of water, which came with the tiniest glasses. Like, shot glasses of water. Of course, as Paul becomes more stressed out at work, his ratio of beer to water adjusts accordingly.

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So that was our Friday. We ate early (for here) and were back home by 8:45pm. Paul had to work the next morning, but we made good use of Saturday afternoon. #StayTuned

Giorno de Vacanza 31

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Thursday was pretty uneventful. Paul worked at work. I worked at the apartment. #AllTheWork We had a frozen pizza for dinner. Yeah, they have those here. They’re actually better here, I think. They have a bit of flavor and spice to them! #BoringThursday

Giorno de Vacanza 30

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I may have mentioned this delicious India restaurant a time or four in the past week. And that’s where we had dinner Wednesday night. It wasn’t terribly exciting, we ordered the same things we always order. They were just as delicious. #BoringWednesday

Giorno de Vacanza 29

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It rained today, Tuesday, so I have stayed inside. Paul, of course, was at work all day. As you should know by now, we have moved AirBnB’s and are now in Vicenza. Try to keep up…they’re numbered for Pete sake! Since I stayed inside all day and didn’t really do anything of interest, I’ll just share some links about Vicenza.

Did you know there is an American Base near here? We get the propagandic joy of listening to the same five dance remixes on the Armed Forces Radio Network. Woo. Last summer, it was Despacito. Every. Other. Song. This year, I just turn the volume down. I think it’s Cardi B, whoever the hell that is. #NotMusic #NotTalent.

There is also a Library from 1708, the Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana, a Train Station from 1848 (which we used last summer), actress Amy Adams was born here on the Base (as was one of my co-organizers of the Wichita Science March), and Vicenza is the Sister City of Cleveland, Ohio. You can read all about Vicenza here. It’s really old, it’s full of famous buildings, and it’s home for the next two weeks! So check out the blue links I’ve made, and learn something!

Giorno de Vacanza 28

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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Giorno de Vacanza 27

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Sunday morning, we packed up and said goodbye to our little hillside overlook. We’ve now moved to another town about 30 miles away, and still about a 30 minute drive to Paul’s work.

It is beyond modern, to say the least. Newly built, with solar panels and all the efficiency amenities, it goes beyond the minimalism of IKEA 😂 The bed is very comfy, the shower is spacious (by European standards), and the view is great. But there is no couch. Literally. There IS no couch. There are some chairs at the kitchen table, the bed, and two bean bags. Yes. Bean bags. That’s all there is to sit on. And getting back up? Yeah. 😞

Sooo…gonna be an interesting two and a half weeks here. 🚫🛋 But at least there is a resident furiend for Diesel Bear to hang out with! 😄🐻🐻

Giorno de Vacanza 26

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Saturday morning, Paul had to work until about noon, but then we decided to go explore. I will do a terrible job of describing this place, so please read the link here and also this one here. We drove over to the town of Asiago, yes like the cheese, and while it is maybe 30 minutes as the crow flies, it was over an hour of switchback mountain roads. Although, to be fair, Paul did take the side roads. The highway is a little more direct…but not by much. Anyway, in Asiago there is another War Memorial. They are known as MILITARY SACRARIUM here, war cemeteries. The first picture below is a display of all the ones in the country. I have mentioned the one on top of Mt. Grappa before, and this is another one. Oddly enough, the only two we’ve visited so far were displayed right next to each other.

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We hadn’t set out to end up here, but as we were driving into the town, we saw the monument towering over the hills. So we drove in that general direction until we found it. The parking is at the bottom of a long, steep, tree lined road leading up to the monument, so we parked and started our hike up. Below is the sign at the base of that road. Basically it says ‘Ministry of Defense’ and ‘military cemetery of Asiago’.

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This was about halfway up the road. I use the excuse of picture-taking to stop for breath! But I’m pretty sure Paul knows my trick by now!

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Getting closer…you can see the people-for-scale. It really is a huge monument.

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You are able to walk up a stair case on each side of the entryway and go on the roof/base of the arches, but they were roped off for whatever reason.

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There are over 33,000 Italian solders’ remains entombed here. Nearly 13,000 are known, and in individual little spaces with their name and rank. About 23,000 are unidentified, and in two mass unknown soldier crypts. There are also nearly 20,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers’ remains here. I didn’t take very many pictures inside, because although I didn’t see any ‘no photo’ signs (or what I thought would say that in Italian), no one else was taking pictures. The base of this monument is set up in a hashtag sort of shape, like a tic-tac-toe board. Down each crossing aisle, are the tombs, and in the middle square there is an alter. The center also has a memorial specifically naming the many medics that were killed. All of these deaths are from a specific time range in the First World War, as many battles took place right around the hills of Asiago. The links up above will explain it much better.

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When you first walk in the large front entryway, on either side is a small room. One is dedicated to fighting in 1915-16, and the other is 1917-18. They were very small, and crowded, so we just sort of peeked inside. There are actual letters home, uniforms, weapons, maps, etc. from the soldiers in the battles. Despite being the ‘enemy’, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers are remembered here, as well.

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Below, outside the 1915-16 room’s door, is an artillery shell. Paul’s leg for scale.

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So, that was our Saturday. Seeing some scenery, learning some history, exploring the world. Check out this YouTube video of the town of Asiago! We got back to our apartment around 8pm, and the ‘neighbors’ (our landlords that live in the apartment next to us) were having a garden party. We’d been invited earlier, and made a quick appearance. They are musicians, at least as a hobby, so there were many people coming, and going, and having jam sessions until well after midnight. We didn’t stay long, but we left all the doors open and enjoyed the live music all night.

Giorno de Vacanza 25

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Remember the sold-out steak debacle I mentioned on day 11? You can read that here. Well, tonight we tried again. And they had them. And OMG! They were sooo good. 😍 The picture doesn’t do it justice, as the plate was ridiculously huge. The steak was the size of my hand, nearly two inches thick, medium-rare, and came with the most perfectly cooked french fries! 😋😋 Well worth the half hour drive back over.

Chow. All the chow!

Giorno de Vacanza 24

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One of the strangest things here, I think as an American, is that you don’t get water at restaurants. You buy a liter bottle of water, and then share it. #AndNoStraws

See above, a liter of water, a small bottle of coke, and Paul’s beer. The water comes in liter bottles, often scratched up because they are recylced. The bottles are sent back to the distributor, where they are sanatized and refilled. Much like old soda bottles used to be. #GetThatNickel The same with the Coke. It’s the only soda you can order here, for the most part, and it comes in individual small bottles. No fountains here.

Also, you have a choice of water: Natural or Sparkling. So you have to be sure and specify to the waiter that you want natural, or no gas (bubbly), or not fizzy. Because carbonated water is just gross. And of course, ice isn’t a thing here. The bottles of stuff generally come cool, not quite chilled.