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.

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.

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

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

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!

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!