Venice

The equipment from the Tom Cruise - "mission impossible" set in St. Marks Square

St. Mark's Square - completely empty of tourists

St. Marks square

Took masks off only for the picture!

The Canals were empty

The Vaporetto was empty

Mandatory mask!

The only thing happening was the packing up of the "Mission Impossible" set (not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but still neat to see!)

Red carpet rolled up from Mission Impossible Set

 Because of Covid, Bryan has a lot of vacation time that he wasn't able to use this year, so we are enjoying catching up and using up leave that he will lose if he doesn't take advantage! Our region of Italy is called the Veneto region - it is famous for a lot of things (prosecco, the Dolomites, the sea, Verona, and perhaps most famous of all - Venice! Being such a weird time, people obviously are not traveling, so we literally had Venice all to ourselves (I actually think we were the only real tourists - everyone else was a local - I know (or I think I know) this because we were the only ones with a backpack, bright Tennis Shoes and our navigation open up on our phone (ha ha). Anyway - it was absolutely beautiful, yet sad at the same time. There economy is being hit so hard and it is obvious that they have a long road ahead of them. We enjoyed meandering along the canals and taking in the scenery. So pretty - we even saw fish swimming in the water and the pedestrian areas were clean (one of the mixed blessing of having things shut down). A funny highlight is that we keep running in to the Tom Cruise "Mission Impossible" shooting (we saw it in Vicenza and then we ran into it again in Venice. I guess they are taking full advantage of the quiet time!

Pre-negotiation

 We finally found a place to live. That is the good news! The bad news is that it take A VERY LONG time to finalize everything in order to move in to a rental. The hotel isn't that bad luckily, but man if we were in a hurry - we would be very disappointed. The steps go something like this...Wait a week. Start looking for a place. Wait another week. Find a place. Wait another week. Have the PRE-negotiation meeting. wait another
week. Sign the contract. Wait another 2 weeks. (Hopefully) move in! Not complaining at all - but just observing the differences. It is all part of the experience! Each time we go into the city, we like it more an more - so hopefully it will be worth the wait in the end!

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)