Tag Archives: #Italy #vacation

Giorno de Vacanza 20

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Sunday.

Our last day in Milan arrived too early. Just like the blister that had arrived on my foot the day before. I was sore, but I wasn’t sunburned, so it’s the little things that I count as victories. After another filling breakfast, we packed our backpacks (that’s all we took) and walked the few blocks to the train station. Our friends met us there, and we decided a city tour by bus was a comfortable way to spend the morning before we caught our train and they caught their plane.

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The tour was nice, they give you cheap little ear buds that you plug into the bus seat, and then you can choose your language to here the audio guide. It is also a hop on/hop off tour, so at any of the 13 stops, you can get explore then catch the next bus. We only hopped off at one stop, Sforza Castle. You can read all about it here.

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Ignore that tourist in my photo. He wasn’t with us. I have to admit, I was suffering from tourism overload and didn’t take as many pictures as I should have. But they did have a cat colony living in the (former) moat! It was a great game of ‘find the kitties’ as we walked around the grounds.

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Following a fairly quick look around, we had to catch the next tour bus back to the train station. Paul and I were scheduled on the 2:45pm high speed rail back to Bassano del Grappa. Our friends didn’t have to catch their flight until later, but they did have to catch a bus at the station (it doubles as a bus terminal) and go back to the airport. We enjoyed one last beer (and a soda for me) at the station before saying ‘arrivederci’ to our British pals. The ride back home was uneventful, we napped mostly, but what else do you do when your train is cruising along at 300kmph? #SoooSmooth You’d never know you were even moving, it’s that nice a ride.

It’s taken a few days for the blister and the soreness to subside, but of course it was worth it. The freedom of grabbing your backpack, hopping a train to a new place, and just wandering around, is beyond priceless. And while Paul and I would go explore anyway, like we did this time last year in Rome, it was so much better with friends. The people I have met through Diesel Bear have all been amazing, both online and in person. I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.

Arrivederci!

Giorno de Vacanza 19

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Buongiorno!

Saturday dawned warm and sunny. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast buffet at our hotel, then walked over to meet our friends and continue back to the Duomo.

Like I said. Ginormous! I forget the exact height, over 300 feet, so that’s over 30 stories tall! You’ll notice the line to get in…we found it very worth the few extra Euros to skip that and buy a Fast Track Pass. We also paid the few extra bucks for the elevator ride. That’s right, you can go walk around the roof!!! I was a bit worried, as open spaces tend to give me vertigo lately, but I wanted to try it. And I did okay! So, yay me! It was crazy to see the backs of the stained-glass windows, and the minute intricacies of the carvings. Despite it being the 1300’s and nobody being up that high, the details on this church are ridiculous! The view was spectacular, and they only let so many up at a time, so it wasn’t stupid-packed, either.

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After our wander around the heights, which included nearly 200 spires and several M.C. Escher-esque stairways, we went down 166 stairs (3, turn, 3, turn, all the way down a tower) and into the actual cathedral.

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It is a working church, and there was a service in session, so we were treated to some classic hymns. The church has three enormous stained glass windows, at least 100 feet tall. My photo skills fall somewhere under “meh”, so you’ll just have to look online for good pictures. Also, there’s this YouTube video!

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Along with the three cernterpiece windows though, were dozens more. The entire cathedral is supported by redwood-sized pillars, all out of marble. In fact, everything everywhere is made of marble.

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The floor included. The different color marbles are different hardnesses. The black marble is much tougher than the other colors, and has worn down more slowly. So as you walk, the floor is all wavy and bumpy, because the ‘outlines’ stick up a bit.

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After a good look around, it was back outside to the piazza. The square in front of the Duomo also borders a huge, covered shopping center. It was the first place in Milan (all of Italy?) to have electric lights, or something like that.

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Anyway, we wandered back to that delicious pizza place for lunch (and beers) then visited a museum on the piazza. Everything is so conveniently close! The Museum of the Twentieth Century focuses on art from, yes! the Twentieth Century! You can read about the museum here.

After the museum it was late afternoon, hot and sunny, and our feet were tired. Except the bears, lucky chauffeured guys. We began the two mile trek back towards the hotels, to yet another pizza place that had been recommended. It pays to know people. That have bears. On Twitter. Following the best, and biggest, calzone I have ever had, we limped back to the hotel bar for consolation drinks. Paul and I limped on to our hotel around 11pm.

You can learn all about the Duomo in Milan here!

Giorno de Vacanza 18

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Ciao!

Today is Friday, June 1st and that means it is time to go to Milano! You may or may not know about Diesel Bear, my constant travel companion. He was the first gift Paul ever gave me, before we were even dating, and has become our mascot/pet/child. He goes on all our trips, near and far, and has a life of his own. No, really! His Twitter has 1400 followers, he has Instagram and Facebook, as well as his own blog (which is woefully behind). And of those 1400 Twitter followers, he likes to meet them when we travel. We met several of his furiends last summer when we were in Europe, and this summer was no exception! Two of his closest furiends had reason to be in Milan over the weekend, and with it only being a 2 hour train ride away, how could we not go see them?! So first thing Friday, we set off for the Bassano train station, made a connection through Venice, and arrived in Milan about 2pm.

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Our hotel was just a short, two block walk from the train station (the second biggest in Italy, behind Rome) and we were checked in and ready to meet Ted and Reddy by 3pm!

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Their hotel was also a few blocks away, and within about 10 minutes, we were greeting each other over beers in the hotel bar. Twitter bears love beer. #ItsFact

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After a few more beers, it was a warm day after all, we set out to explore a bit of Milan. Just a two mile walk from us was the Duomo, Milan’s iconic cathedral. The word huge doesn’t even begin to describe it.

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It was dinnertime on a Friday night, on a national holiday weekend, so we took a quick look around then found a pizza place for dinner. And more beers. It was delicious, which we knew it would be, as it had been recommended by yet another Twitter bear furiend. And it was on the Duomo piazza! #Convenient We made our way back to our friends’ hotel for a few more drinks, then said goodnight and walked the two blocks to our hotel. We were in a room on the 9th (top) floor, of this round hotel tower, and we had a balcony! The view wasn’t the most amazing, but we still felt special!

Giorno de Vacanza 15, 16 & 17

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Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday-May 29, 30, 31st were pretty uneventful. I stayed at the AirBnB and did computer work, while Paul went to work. We ate at home, I did some laundry in preparation for our trip to Milan this coming week. That’s about all that happened.

This Saturday, June 2nd, is Republic Day here in Italy. Sort of their Independence Day. It is a national holiday, thus the reason we had a three day weekend in Milan planned. You can read about it here.

Ciao!

Giorno de Vacanza 14

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Monday morning meant Paul was back to work. And so was I. 💻 I’ve been glued to my laptop, reworking a webpage for a local Grill & Brew Pub back home, that I help at. 😋🍔🍺 There’s really not much else to share about today. What? Vacation can’t be glamorous every day! 😂

`e tutto per ora (that’s all for now) 👋

Giorno de Vacanza 13

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E’hila

That means ‘hey there’. Following the pie debacle, Sunday arrived with a cloudy dreariness only matched by my mood as I looked at a kitchen full of dirty dishes. Deciding to go back to bed instead, I slept in while Paul (ever up at stupid-early-o’clock) binged Netflix. But eventually I got up, only because of guilt over sleeping so awesomely, and we ventured out. As Facebook would later remind me, one year previously we had driven up the mountain and had a picnic. Which consisted of eating grocery store pre-made sandwiches in the car as we watched other cars pass by our turnout. Obviously FB is psychic, because we did that same thing today. I managed to only spill half a can of Pringles across the front floorboards, too 🤗 #GoMe

At the top of Mt. Grappa is a war memorial. This entire area was pivotal in WWI and saw heavy damage and casualties. There are memorials and small plaques everywhere, as well as bullet holes and reminders in many surviving buildings. By the time we got up the mountain though, it was raining and fogged in. The temps had dropped from 80F to about 55F, so we decided to head back down before it snowed. Our little, manual rental would be useless up there. We managed to make it about halfway back down, on a different road, when that road decided to be closed. 😒 So we backtracked several miles, and managed to connect to the original route up. And back down we came. Check out this YouTube video, though!

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Fino a domani (Until tomorrow) 👋

Giorno de Vacanza 12

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Ciao 👋

Where were we? Oh yeah, Saturday morning Paul had to work. But only from 8am to 1pm 😒 Then I tried to bake a pie. But let me start at the beginning…

One of his coworkers, an Italian that’s from here, was having a small birthday gathering on Saturday night. And we were invited. That’s cool. Paul asked if he could bring anything…booze, food, girls? The reply was ‘something Kansas-y’ 🤔 Um, that would have been good to know four days ago, before I left freakin’ America! So Paul was like, can you make the Key Lime Cheesecake? To which I was like, 😂😂 No. 😐 This AirBnB is nice and all, but it doesn’t even have a measuring cup, let alone a mixer or springform pan. But I offered to try and bake an apple pie. It’s simple and definitely says ‘America’. Ha.

So Paul gets home Saturday afternoon, and we rush to the store to look for apples, cinnamon, something sorta like white flour, and granulated sugar. Those aren’t a thing here. I basically ended up with sugar cubes I had to smash, probable-pizza flour, a new rolling pin, and a pack of plastic Dixie cups. Not a single effing measuring cup to be found. This was at one of the bigger markets, mind you. 😒 So I set Paul to working out equivalencies for everything, and then trying to figure out what that meant in 200cc plastic cups.

Fail from the get go 😐 It was way too humid and warm to make a crust work, and the strange flour wasnt helping. The only pan I could find was a foil dish that was about 12 inches across and looked more like a deep dish pizza pan. So it took nearly 16 (small) apples to make the filling. I only realized that because Paul did 10 and was all ready to go, when they wouldn’t cover the bottom, let alone heap. So Paul peeled and sliced six more. The crust absolutely would not cooperate, so I ended up just smushing it into the pan like soft Play-doh. And there was no top crust, because of the size of the pan and the failure to roll. So into the oven it went. And out it came. Ugly pie.

Evening here starts late. Restaurants don’t open til 8, everything else closes at 7. It’s a wierd place. So this party was at an apartment half an hour away. The pie is still hot, it’s too big and sloshy to set in the car, so it ends up in a roasting pan on my lap. Have I ever mentioned how ziggy and zaggy the roads are here? Or the roundabouts at EVERY intersection? 🤔 Because yeah. Trying to hold this hot pie still, for half an hour of constant motion, not proud of it at all, it’s ugly and stupid looking. We arrive and I make Paul carry it in 😂 The hosts were polite but I don’t think they’d ever even seen a pie before. They kept calling it a cake. It would have been an even uglier cake. But anyway, we snacked and stood in the backyard chatting for a few hours, being eaten by mosquitos. Bonus, I can now find itch spray even when it’s written in Italian! Then we all go inside, about a dozen of us, and have real cake. A delicious, creamy, tiramisu type thing. It was pretty. #CakeEnvy Then, as an afterthought, the birthday guy asks if anyone would like my cake. It’s pie. Apple pie. About five of us try it. It actually set up well, scooped out way better than I expected for such a large, deep, dish, and tasted good. The crust was pretty crumbly, stupid Italian flour, and the apples were pretty bland, stupid Italian fruit lack-of-variety. But those that tried it praises it. Those that didn’t, didn’t even try to hide their revulsive faces. Seriously. We left it there, only bringing back the apartment’s roasting dish.

Chow. 🍏🍰

Giorno de Vacanza 11

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Buongiorno! That’s good morning/ good day! I’m behind on my blog (surprise) but I’m taking notes 😂 Today would have been Friday, I had a headache and laid around most of the day. Surprise again.

Paul’s factory is about 30 minutes away, so he drives there and back each day. Working 10a-10p, he eats lunch and dinner there. They have a cafeteria. However, there is also a small restaurant across the street where they go sometimes, for a change. And they actually serve steak. Like, real honest to goodness steak. All you find here normally is a very thin, very tough cut. So he gets pizza everywhere 😂 but the other guys all had filets at lunch Friday. He saw that, too late, and decided we needed to go back for dinner and have steak! After driving half an hour home. We drove half an hour back. It was only 6:30pm. They were sold out of steak 😒

Long story long, we had pizza. 😕 Then drove half an hour back home. Which sounds ridiculous, but over here everything is a string of tiny towns. You never really leave ‘town’, you just zig and zag like madmen until you find a parking spot, basically. So that was our Friday. Until tomorrow, three days ago…

Arrivederci (that means bye) 👋

Giorno de Vacanza 10

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That’s Italian for Vacation Day 10 😂

Now that we are settled in, and Paul has gone back to work, it’s really not that exciting here. Although we are on a hill overlooking the town, it’s a good five mile walk down to the city center, where all of the interesting things are. And it’s a very steep five miles back up 😂 This YouTube video shows some of the town!

But I keep myself busy. There is wifi, so there is work to do, writing this ridiculously mundane blog, and such.

Word of the Day: Per Favore

The formal use of ‘please’. Like much Italian, it is similar to Spanish (por favor).

Pronounced: per fuh-vor-ay

Vacation Day 8 & 9

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1am came way too early today. We were up and on the road to LAX by 2am. This was the plan because traffic is so terrible the rest of the day. We made it to the airport by 3am, which was a little early, but oh well. So Paul and I sat there until the gates opened at 4:30 and we could check our bags. Then it was a quick trip through security (another reason to arrive stupid-early), and more sitting. But we got to sit in the Delta lounge, because Paul flies enough that he gets the important treatment 😂

It was really nice, with a decent breakfast buffet, a quiet and calm area, and unlimited orange juice 🍊😋 We finally boarded around 5:45am and then it was a 5 hour flight to New York. Once in JFK Airport in NY, we found an Irish pub for lunch and then sat for hours in the Delta Lounge. They had cookies, drinks, and phone charging ports, so it could have been worse. And by worse, I mean boring-er 😂 But finally it was time to board, which we get to do first as Paul is a SkyMiles points-hoarder, but we were also in the next to last row (44) so we sat on the plane for another 45 minutes. 😞

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Another 8 1/2 hrs of flight, and we landed in Venice. It was now noon local time, 5 am Kansas time. On Wednesday. But I will be time-lost for a week or so 😂 After forever in the customs line, and the rental car line, and the traffic, we made it to our AirBnB near Bassano del Grappa. You can check out our exact AirBnB here.

It’s amazing here, cheaper than a hotel, and definitely much more relaxing. We’ll be here three weeks, then move to a different apartment in a nearby town, for the last two weeks. Paul is working the 10a-10p shift at work, 5-6 days a week, so I’m on my own for lunch and dinner. But that is the great thing about an apartment…groceries and a kitchen! More on the daily life of Italians, coming soon. 👋

Word of the Day: Ciao

Like aloha, it is an informal greeting meaning hello and goodbye.

Pronounced ‘chow’