Author Archives: mishafesto

Giorno de Vacanza 43

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Tuesday was pretty uneventful. We began to gather our stuff together, as we’re leaving first thing Thursday, and tried to eat everything we still had in the fridge. 😫 I worked on laundry, dishes, and general cleaning, and once Paul got home from work, we cooked pasta for dinner. #HowCliche

We also had a discussion about Paul’s future travel schedule. 😕 Originally, we were going to fly back to California (this Thursday), and spend two weeks relaxing before driving home to Kansas. 🌻 He planned to be back at his home base office on Monday, July 16th. And we already knew he had to go to Brazil on August 5th, for two weeks. But we learned last weekend that he has to return to Italy right away. So. 🛫 We are still leaving for California this Thursday, where we will stay for a few weeks, relaxing and visiting my mother #oxymoron, then Paul will fly out of San Diego and right back to Italy. 🇮🇹 He (for now, at least), will then fly back to Kansas in August sometime, just in time to turn around and go to Brazil. 🇧🇷

Confusing, huh? I’ll drop him at the San Diego airport, and then make my way back to Kansas in our trusty little blue Veloster. We had debated leaving California earlier and still driving home to Kansas together, but this way he gets the most use of his vacation until the last minute. 😌 He has been in our house a grand total of two weeks this year, and those weren’t even consecutive. One week in January and one week in March. #Burnout 😤

Giorno de Vacanza 42

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After spending a month here, you start to run out of things. No matter how much I over pack, I inevitably need things. So here is more ‘vita quotidiana’ (everyday living).

Below, lipstick for scale, is ibuprofen. Advil. Basic little brown pills, you can get about 1000 of them for $5 at WalMart. After last week’s week-long headache, I was out. You have to get pretty much any kind of pain pill AT a Pharmacy. They are still over the counter, it just has to be a pharmacist’s counter. And you get a 12-pack. Yes, 12 little pills. For 5 euros. That’s nearly $6 for 12 generic ibuprofen. And they’re big, white tablets. 💊

Also, the pharmacies here are open Monday-Saturday, from 8am-12:45pm, and 3pm-7:45pm. Usually. They sort of decide at the last minute. So, catching them when they are open is tricky. #FunTimesWhenYouveHadAWeekLongHeadache

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And below, again lipstick for scale, are both mosquito itch lotion and makeup remover face wipe things. Italy seems to have this thing about medication. They don’t like it. Stores sell shampoo, lotion, deodorant, and that’s about it. You have to go to the Pharmacy for vitamins, sunscreen, ANY sort of medication, face cream, etc. And they aren’t big on prescriptions. They push herbal remedies and stuff, which is annoying when you just want some freaking calamine lotion. The pen below is #2, post-mosquito. There is a bottle labelled #1, to put on before getting stung. And even so, this stuff is a mix of flower oils and herbal things. No actual chemicals. #Sigh As for the face wipes, they are a backup mainly, since I brought my stupid-expensive skin care line with me. But sometimes, I don’t feel like doing the 6-step, grown-up thing. Also, they smell horrible. #MoreSigh

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And of course, we have to do laundry. This (our second) apartment has a dryer, so that’s nice. I believe these are Tide Pods, essentially. Or it’s dishwasher soap and our clothes are going to be sparkling clear. 🤔🥂 Either way, it seems to be working. I haven’t tasted them yet 😉 but they smell nice. Maybe I should break one open to wash my face.

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Red Alert!!! 🚨 They have tortilla Pringles here!!! 😍 And they are good!!! #ElSaltedDelicious

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Giorno de Vacanza 41

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Sunday morning, we slept in and were generally lazy. We had dinner plans with some coworkers that evening, but what to do in the meantime? Not far from here (Vicenza), is Lake Garda. The biggest lake in Italy. You can read all about it here. As usual, we took the mountain roads there, but it is only about 45 minutes away by highway. So this is mostly pictures of the drive there, then the drive around (one side of) the lake. Paul has been before, and you can easily spend hours driving around the entire lake. Not only because of its size, but because of its popularity. Anyone that has driven down the PCH in California, will know what I’m talking about. Miles of cars, going really slowly, either to gawk or to look for a parking spot. Surfers and swimmers changing and loading up on the side of the road. A million scooters squeezed in anywhere they can park, legal or not. Basically a never-ending row of tourist shops, rental places, and pizza restaurants. On a giant scale. Very much reminded me of Highway 1 in California, which Paul and I have driven many times.

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The rock walls, complete with built-in steps to who knows where, easily date back to WWI times. All hand hewn, hand laid.

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But anyway, the drive up was very switchback-y, and filled with tiny towns where you *literally* step out your front door and onto the road. 😮

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Pretty sure I found Jabba’s Palace, transported from Tattooine! 🤔🤔

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I’ve decided the ever-present dashboard sticker reflection is my new photographic watermark. 📸

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And finally, the lake. ⛵

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We managed to find a parking spot. Notice there are no guard rails or anything. Unlike Americans (I’m looking at you, idiots that drown at Yosemite), Italians seem to know not to act stupid and fall into an obviously open waterway. They don’t see the need to block out natural beauty with a million signs and an electric fence. #Darwinism

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We had to get back for dinner, so after a quick walk around (a small area), we headed down the side of the lake. The traffic would soon come, though. 🚗🚙🛵

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Once we got away from the end of the lake, the water wasn’t quite so choppy (it was a pretty windy day for here) and all of the kite boarders were out in the middle. 🏄‍♂️

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There isn’t a sandy beach in site. Everything is basically aquarium gravel! Tiny rocks, and tiny slivers of land, no real deep beachy areas. But that didn’t stop people from shoe-horning into every available space.

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And of course, what’s a drive through Italy without a Castle on every hill??

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Giorno de Vacnza 40

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Paul had to work Saturday morning, so once he got home we didn’t venture far. We went and wandered around an electronics store, another home store, and then had dinner at an “American” grill.

Here, the ‘electronics’ stores sell everything from appliances and phones, to fine crystal and candles. I don’t know 🤔 Below, you’ll see the world’s shallowest washing machine! I mean, look at that thing! It is literally one foot deep. I’ve already told you that the washers here will do a max load of about 3 pair of pants. Seriously. So this thing…what the heck is the point? Washboards are cheaper! 😂

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And then, we went to the home store, Brico. A different one from the one we went to last week! I was walking and saw this end cap and was like, “Oh, emoji magnets” or something…nope. They have emoji sink pugs here. WTF?

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And finally, it was dinner time! We kept driving past a sign pointing towards this Roadhouse place. An American Grill, Google called it, so we said what the heck. I’m starting to long for familiar meat and potatoes after a month here. This was in a giant modern building, shared by…a McDonald’s. Yep. So we go in, and there are cowhide chairs and horse shoes and stuff decorating the place. But it smelled a heck of a lot better than a stock yard! 😂 The menu (an English version they had!) was full of onion rings, quesadillas, cheeseburgers, steaks, ribs, all these unheard of things here! We settled on a mixed platter for two ( a common serving style here), that had a ribeye, a NY strip, a Veal fillet, and some little brats. We got sides of onion rings and green beans. It. Was. Amazing. 😋 #OMG The table had a little carrier, you know the kind with salt and pepper and ketchup, etc. This one had honey mustard, BBQ sauce, and mayo, though. The BBQ was the *exact* same stuff that comes with McDonald’s chicken McNuggets. #IKnowThatSauce Which led us to wonder if they weren’t owned by McD’s or something, sharing a building and all. They seem to be paired up in other towns too, we’ve noticed. So, anyway, that was Saturday night’s dinner. It was amazing. Would totally go back again (the cheeseburgers looked wonderful), but with just a few nights left here before we fly back to California on Thursday, I’m not sure we’ll make it.

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Giorno de Vacanza 39

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Friday, Paul was able to get out of work at the extra early time of 4:30pm! We had some grocery shopping to do, and a few other things to look for, and ended up trying out a new-to-us store. Auchan, who’s symbol is a red bird, is the WalMart of Italy! It took I don’t know how many years of looking, but Paul found one! They exist! This place was huge, and had a little bit of everything. Pharmacy, car tires, clothes, food, home repair! FYI…these are all Google pictures I found. It’s easier to explain the shopping carts with close ups!

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So. Not only are reusable grocery bags the absolute must here (you can buy plastic bags at the register for like, a quarter each), but most people also use the little baskets to shop. They have wheels and handles that telescope up, but they are still tiny baskets. You *can* get a shopping cart, but you have to rent it. Below, you can see all the carts chained up together. That is the norm everywhere here. And most European countries, I found during my research.

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So, you put a coin (usually a 1 or 2 euro coin) into the slot at the front. The coin pushes the chain key out the back, releasing the cart. The coin is trapped inside the cart until you push it back into the next cart and push the chain key back in. That pushes the coin back out for you to grab.

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It’s pretty basic, some spring mechanism inside the little box on the handle. A coin and a key pushing back and forth. But this way, nobody steals the carts, runs off with them, leaves them out to roll into your car, etc. They actually have key fobs here, that are shaped like a round coin on the end, to sort of trick the lock box. They resemble those lottery scratcher key fobs you see at grandma’s house. Plus, your keys are then locked to the cart, so you can’t run off without replacing the cart #BecauseKeys. So, that was our Friday adventure. We actually got a cart, for the first time ever, and it was a good thing, because remember…this store had everything!

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Giorno de Vacanza 38

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So, after having Italian food with a bunch of German guys on Wednesday, we went to the German place for dinner on Thursday! And it was just as tasty the second time around. We both tried something different, and were stuffed by the end of the meal.

I went with the filet, which came with a side of rocket and carrots. I think it was really just a garnish, as everything in Italy is a la carte, and you’re supposed to order a side separately. But with a little oil and vinegar from the table, it was a tasty salad!

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Paul went with a more traditional German dish. Again. I’m definitely not the adventurous eater of us. He had sauerkraut, an amazingly crispy pretzel, some wurztel sausage things. The last time (first time?) we went, the bread basket they served had the most amazing sourdough-type bread. This time, it had more of a rye, crusty, salty bread. Still delicious. And hard not to stuff yourself on bread before the amazing main course!

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Giorno de Vacanza 37

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Wednesday, Paul and I had planned to have dinner at the nearby German place I mentioned a few days ago. So when he initially texted me that we were invited to have dinner with some visiting German workers, I thought “oh, how nice for them!” But we actually ended up at a mountain top Italian place near the factory.

Trattoria Da Pippo Di Sartori Maurizio.

So there’s Paul, me, and six German guys. Some speak Italian and German, some only speak German, we only speak English. One guy was translating the Italian into German for another guy, who was then trying some very broken English. It was interesting, but awkward, as we sort of sat in silence a lot. Somehow, a plate of steaks miraculously appeared at our table though.

And they were amazing 😋😍 Actual, cooked over charcoal, traditional grilled steak! It was tough to be polite and share with all the others 😂 I got these pictures from their Google page. Paul kept saying it reminded him of Brazilian grilling, and seeing these pictures now, I understand why!

Giorno de Vacanza 36

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Surprise! Still had a headache on Tuesday, but it was getting a little better, so we went back to our favorite Indian place. 🥘 Here are some Google pics. It really is this tiny, narrow, hole in the wall place. But they’re always the best!

Not gonna lie, a little mad that the apartment above it (which we rented last summer) wasn’t available this time 😢

Once we were back home, we finished our Alienist binge.

Giorno de Vacanza 35

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Monday, we stayed in for the evening. Partly because my head *still* hurt, and partly because we had food we needed to cook. The apartment here may not have a couch (never gonna get past that), but it does have a sweet induction cooktop! So we whipped up some hamburger to go in our usual tortellini dish.

After a formal dinner in the stick-straight dining table chairs, we moved to the bean bags to binge watch The Alienist on Netflix. On the tiny TV. On the floor. In the corner. This apartment is just a strange amalgam of uber-modern and ‘we forgot everyday items’. But anyway, good show. Hope they give it a second season. I give it 4 Pastas. 🍝🍝🍝🍝

Giorno de Vacanza 34

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Sunday, my head still hurt. That’s day 4 if you’re keeping track. But we needed groceries and since this apartment has no freakin’ couch, we decided to get out for awhile. Over here, they don’t have Home Depots or Lowe’s. Or Target or WalMart, for that matter. But they do have a sort of hardware/home store called Brico. Paul has been there before, to buy tools for work, so we took a quick walk through it. It wasn’t anything too strange, other than everything here is so small and basic. But they did have these chop saws that double as table saws! I had to take a picture, mostly because I knew I’d need something to blog about! And I’m talking, like a 6 inch blade with maybe a foot square table top. They weren’t very big. But I found them interesting.

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We also walked around Decathlon, the sports store here. It’s probably the biggest store (both chain wise and actual content size) I’ve seen over here. They have everything for the outdoors. Pretty much every sport you can think of, they have a comprehensive selection, from equestrian to scuba to dance. Of course Paul shops there a lot. One, because it’s got a lot of stuff, and two, because it actually carries “American sized” clothes. We easily wear a 4 or 5x here. And that’s hard to find. Italians’ idea of an XL is an American small. At best. So anyway, Decathlon has shoes and clothes and backpacks and everything else.

But that also means it is freakin’ packed on the weekends, especially with little brats running rampant. Italians are even worse than Americans at making kids behave in public. In America, you at least get “don’t make me count to 80” but here, you don’t even get that. You get nothing. Parents just let their kids run off, or into the road, or down the street without a second thought. Which is really effing great when you’re driving down said road.

After our ridiculously crowded adventure at Decathlon, we hit up the grocery store, which was so much emptier and quieter, and then headed home again. Because my head was done. Again. Still.