Kiwi's first restaurant experience!

At first, she didn't know what to do (she just stood there beside the table not wanting to sit down)

Then we decided that it would be good if she sat between Bryan and I (Mia took the picture under our table - she rested her head on my foot - completely spoiled!)

Definitely worth the stress of having Kiwi in the restaurant with us! :-)

 This was so funny... Kiwi was with us.... and we were hungry for lunch... soooo we pulled off where we saw an "Italian" Restaurant with an outside eating area. (Kiwi has never even been to an outside eating area for a "sitdown" lunch, so I was a bit nervous about that -  but no one was eating yet- at 12:30, so I thought we would be safe). Bryan, Mia, and Kiwi stayed in the car, while I went to ask if it was ok if we ate outside with Kiwi. The waiter proceeded to tell me that it was OK for Kiwi to come with us, but we would have to eat inside. I told him that she was big, and he said "no problem" - she will eat inside. Kiwi is a great dog, but definitely not "indoor, white linen table, restaurant ready" - HA! The restaurant was empty and the waiter said she was allowed, so I went back to tell Bryan and Mia that Kiwi would be joining us inside for lunch! They laughed out loud! We had a plan B (either Bryan or I were going to rush out if she started barking or crying). She exceeded our expectations and I think after the flight over, she is just happy to be with us in any capacity (inside a restaurant, in the city, or wherever we go)! It was such a funny experience and I absolutely love my dog - so we were so thankful it worked out!

Our first weekend adventure

We enjoyed our first adventure out to a little hidden gem of a Church called "Madonna della Corona" . It was totally hit or miss because of the foggy weather, but after we arrived, the skies cleared and we enjoyed this beautiful church built into the side of a mountain - it is unbelievable the quality of work that was created here so long ago. Absolutely beautiful and definitely architecturally amazing!! We continued on to Lake Garda, but didn't have the luck with the fog there (you couldn't see the Mountains in the background), but it was still beautiful and we will definitely go back to see the backdrop that we missed.

Heading down to the Madonna Della Corona Church - you can see the fog in the mountains...

 

Love these 2 - but missing our other 2!

Kiwi was a great trooper!

She got a bit tired of posing for pictures (see the Church in the back ground)

Mia and Kiwi in front of a castle in Tori on Lake Garda

Gellato!

Madonna Della Corona is built into the side of a mountain - absolutely beautiful!

The light was so pretty shining through the trees - it almost looked like an Angel!

So pretty!!

Standing above the clouds!

 

House Hunting

Narrow streets with no grass in sight for Kiwi and on a one way street!

Tricky parking situations

Beautiful, but not enough bedrooms

Too many floors to climb and possibly too loud!

Floors that Kiwi could potentially ruin!

Nice window, but still a little too dark

Some with elevators and some without!

 We have been House Hunting over the last few days and it definitely feels a bit like House Hunting International -ha ha! We all look at the house/apartment and then discuss the pros and cons and try to decide if it might be a possibility. It seems like there is always something missing... a perfect house, but outside the city center, a perfect house in the city, but a bit too small, a perfect house, but no green space in the vicinity for Kiwi). So many decisions and then you add the lack of sense of urgency here, so it may be a while still before we are settled. My goal now is Christmas -  definitely no guarantees, but definitely an adventure!

My "Introduction to Italy" class

When we first moved to Germany, I took a little "introduction to Germany" class and met lifelong friends and gained an invaluable amount of knowledge, so I definitely wanted to repeat the opportunity. My little class in Italy has been different because of Covid, but we learned how to use the city bus, we got a historical tour of our new town, learned little tidbits of language, culture, and food, and took the train to Padua for another tour. It was super informative and extremely helpful. It is fun because there are always new things to learn! (One little tidbit is that Thomas Jefferson got his design idea of Monticello from Andrea Palladio's architectural design right here in Vicenza - so cool!(Vicenza is the town of Andrea Palladio - his architecture is everywhere and has inspired design throughout the world!) - If you know what a Palladian window is - it is named after Palladio!

 

Padua was a home to Galileo and the 2nd oldest University in Italy - If you look close, you can see that the girl in the photo is wearing the traditional celebratory "hat" that is earned when achieving the honor of becoming a "doctor" - it could be medicine or PHD. 

I laughed at this picture for many reasons - the fact that the dog was so well behaved and not on a leash, he/she was oblivious to living in this incredible town, and the fact that it looks like something my dog would do for a photo :-)

Vicenza is famous for Palladio's Olympic theatre. It is the oldest covered theatre in the world. When you sit in it, it feels like you are outside (this is the ceiling))

Our restaurant for lunch was lined with famous wine and in the cellar of a roman lined wall - so cool!

The Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua - it even displays parts of St. Anthony's body (including his jawbone/teeth and tongue - yikes!) to always treasure his gift of speech.

More of the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza - the seating is original!

The Palladian walkway in the Olympic Theatre - it looks 3-D which is an amazing accomplishment for being hundreds of years old!

The Roman wall that was found at the bottom of the restaurant that we ate at (preserved under a glass floor)

 

Settling in to a new way of life...

 So... we moved out of quarantine and into a hotel. We had lots of things that needed to be done (passing the drivers test, getting a new bank, applying for our residency cards, Bryan starting a new job and so on... It has been fun trying to start navigating our way around Italy (knowing very little Italian). It is definitely quite different than Germany, but we are really enjoying the Italian way. (I think our personalities are definitely more German, but it is fun trying to be a little more "Italian" :-).  Everything is new again and it is so much fun learning all of the little differences in every day life. We have had a few fun adventures exploring our new city, house hunting, and shopping... Here are a few pictures of our first week...

Beautiful Vicenza

Such a cute little city!

Beautiful Cittadella (in Veneto)!

Lots and lots of Pizza!!

Our little "beach" dog is now a "city" dog!

Quarantine

Lots of reading...

On the last day, Kiwi decided to pack herself up with all of our stuff. She wanted nothing to do with being left behind - ha!

Our awesome friends gave us this game to play during quarantine (kind of like an escape room type thing). It burned 4 hours and was so much fun!

I made little rings to break-off each day - 15 days is a LONG time!!

 14 days of REAL quarantine. The reality of that means that the only time we are allowed to leave the house is to let the dog out into our very small front yard. Wow - I guess I hadn't given it too much thought in all of the excitement of finally getting our Visas, flights and everything. 14 days is a LONG time!! The first 5 days were actually a little enjoyable - after the chaos of getting everything ready to go and the long flight/jet lag, it was actually quite nice to have no routine or rush to get out the door. Bryan still had online work and Mia had school, but it was definitely not too stressful and actually nice easing into European time. Well, then day 6 hit and the hours began to roll by VERY slowly. I started to look forward to the different meal times - just for something to think about - ha ha! And then they sprung it on us that the day we arrived was actually day 0 - so in reality, it is a 15 day quarantine - uugghh!!! Anyway, we are finally on day 14 (we are finally free tomorrow - yippee!!). Soooo looking forward to being free to explore our new area! We have to get our Italian license first and then we can pick up our car (that has been here since July waiting on us) - hoping that the battery isn't dead. The nice thing is that in the mean time, there is public transportation and also we can walk to quite a bit from the hotel. Let the fun begin! (Hoping it doesn't all get locked down again)

We made it to ITALY!!!

After the 10 months since Bryan got his job offer and all of the craziness in between, we FINALLY made it to Italy!!! I remember a conversation with Bryan back in early February when we were talking about how everything really fell into place with this move - "it was so easy that it feels almost like it was meant to be" - ha ha - little did we realize what was around the corner in February/March! Yikes - you really couldn't have made this stuff up!! In early September however, we FINALLY got our Visas back, which meant that even though Europe is still closed for normal travel, we were approved to go! 

With lots of finishing up of odds and ends and saying our very sad goodbyes to Bailey and Camden, we left in a rental van to head up to DC (where we had to fly out of because it was the ONLY flight that we could get Kiwi on). We had a great visit with Bryans' parents on the way up and then also with my Aunt and Uncle who live in DC. (It was a bonus that Mia was able to get a driving tour of the city - especially to see the Supreme Court and Capitol Building while Ruth Bader Ginsburg was lying in the Rotunda). 

I was a nervous wreck about flying with Kiwi and all that it entailed (final Vet appointment within 10 days of travel and then overnighting documents to the US Department of Agriculture for final approval and them overnighting it back and the drive up, and making sure all of her accessories - kennel, stickers, bowls, documents etc. were airline approved. It felt a lot like adopting from China! With every gray hair that it gave me in preparation, it was actually perfect (thanks to Covid only 30 people were on our long flight from DC to Frankfurt, and as a result, we had 4 airline staff helping us get everything set for Kiwi - I couldn't have asked for a better experience!) Bryan, Mia, and I each had our own row and the flight was on time - quick and easy. After 10 months of hiccups, I was expecting complete turmoil - so this was such a gift! 

So... the rule in Italy is that if you are coming from a "Red" country, you MUST quarantine for 14 days. We were picked up at the airport and whisked away to our "quarantine house" where we have been counting down the days (currently on day 11). The first 5 days were great - after the jet lag and catching up on paperwork, it was actually really helpful to be trapped with a full fridge....but now on day 11 - we are definitely over it! Our "sponsor" grocery shopped for us and other than to let the dog out and to "run" in our back yard, we haven't left the perimeter (definitely something to add to a list of "never have I ever" - been trapped 14 days in a house in a foreign country without leaving even once). The numbers in Italy are going up quickly, so the government has put a mandatory mask mandate for everyone outside - except those eating and drinking). The other rule is that if you are in a car with someone other than family - you must wear a mask). The penalty is a 400-1000 euro fine. It will be interesting to see if the numbers are able to decrease with this in place (they really don't want to have to shut down the economy again). Only three more days to go and then we are finally free - we are so looking forward to exploring our new town and surrounding areas!!

An exhausted Mia flying into Venice (we had to wear a mask for the ENTIRE trip)

The international terminal at Dulles Airport - completely empty because Americans aren't allowed to fly anywhere internationally (with a few exceptions)

Kiwi was a great sport the entire drive up to DC! 

Again, nobody was around - even during the counter check-in (which is unbelievable for such a normally busy airport!)

Not very happy, but not traumatized either!

We thought the trip would be long, but with great stops along the way - not too bad!

It was so nice to be back in Germany again (Frankfurt was our layover). I loved this picture of a bike (because why would you waste energy on a golf cart - makes perfect sense!)

Our sunrise on the way to South Carolina (back in Florida) 

People were congregated outside the Supreme Court to pay their respects to RBG

We were so glad to finally be able to take off our masks!

A completely empty plane (sorry for the wrinkles and gray hair - this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly across the Atlantic with only 30 passengers, so had to get a picture!! :-))

We were so excited to get our fed ex package back from the US department of agriculture with Kiwi's documents to fly to Italy!

And upon arrival in our quarantine house... I had never seen a cork quite like this - sooo looking forward to all of our new experiences (like seeing a crushed cork prosecco bottle) :-)

And more of all of the important stuff - olive oil, wine, and Grappa :-))

Venice flying was a beautiful sight after 10 months of waiting

The morning sunrise flying into Frankfurt was beautiful too!

I so love these 5 - even with all of the hiccups - so grateful for a fun summer together!

And this is upside down, but if you ever find yourself in quarantine for 14 days, this is an awesome way to pass several hours while having a great time - our friends gave it to us - an unsolved murder mystery - you can find them on Amazon :-) Definitely a fun time!

And while I got prosecco, Bryan was thrilled with his German beer :-)

And had to comment on our Lufthansa tray - ha ha! After 3 years of living in an area that doesn't even recycle - it was so nice to have real silverware, real glass, real napkin, and real plates!