Christmas

 Well, it was definitely different! No Christmas Markets, lots of "Red" days of Covid lockdown, snow, rain, no traveling, and lots of downtime. In some ways it was frustrating, in some ways it was very enjoyable - the mixed blessings of 2020. 

Our new neighbors brought us delicious Cannoli's! Oh my gosh - I had never had one, but now I understand why they are famous!

Mia made cookies for Santa ;-)

Beautiful Christmas trees!

adorable Decorations!

It felt so cozy and "Christmassy"

Beautiful!

Definitely an unusual Christmas without 2 of our pack here, but so grateful for facetime and so grateful to have these 2!

A Poinsettia gifted by our sweet new neighbors!

And where has this been all my life? - ha ha! They call this a Chocolate Salami (it is a delicious treat from the local bakery)

Our little/big City Dog!

They did an amazing job decorating this beautiful City

We loved several evenings of Raclette!

The reflection of the Palladio. 

Merry Christmas!!

Settling in....

 We have lived in our house for over a month now and it is finally starting to feel like home. The daily routine is much different than we were used to - each day; walking up and down stairs, opening and closing shutters (lots of shutters!), walking everywhere instead of using the car. We can walk to 5 grocery stores within 10 minutes - I live for stuff like that! Ha Ha! It is amazing how different people live depending on where you live! We all agree though that we made a good choice with our house (which is a good thing because with such a short time to decide, you never know what you will really get). Here are just some random photos from the last few weeks...

I love the character and uniqueness of the doors in Europe! 

Some of them are huge!!

The parks are beautiful!

The sidewalk cafes are adorable!

The bridges are so quaint!

The monuments are so interesting!

Everything is so old!

Our magnets from our travels made it safely in our move (probably my favorite possession :-))

Sadly, one of Italy's most beloved Soccer Players passed away - Paulo Rossi)...it was a huge deal here, as Vicenza was his adopted hometown. Even with Covid, they had a visitation time where people could pay their respects as his casket lay in the Soccer Stadium. 

Asolo

 We had visited Asolo before when we lived in Germany. Previously, we had mistakenly found it when I dragged the family looking for an Antique shop to visit. It is about an hour drive from where we live now and it is absolutely stunning. We definitely wanted to visit again  - this time without any time constraints. It is a little village (not too touristy) that sits way up on a hill, yet still overlooks other mountains off into the pre-alps. It is super quaint, has one lane roads, closes for riposa (the afternoon break - similar to Siesta), and still makes its own local wine and cheeses. Simply adorable! 

Monte Berico

It is funny... in each of the cities that we have lived in while we have lived in Europe, there is always a tall mountain right beside the city. I suspect the reasoning for this is that way back in the day - it would have been much easier to watch for enemies if you had a tall lookout advantage. Anyway, we love walking/running to the top of Monte Berico. It has a beautiful surprise at the top (a beautiful view that depending on the weather - you can see the Alps off in the distance). We are still learning about the history here, but love to observe the architecture and layout in the meantime. Simply beautiful (and cardiovascularly - is that a word?? - much appreciated after the completely flat runs we had in Florida).

                               

 

The Castles of Romeo and Juliet - Montecchio Maggiore

 Up on a small mountain overlooking the town of Montecchio Maggiore are the  famous castles of the Families of Romeo and Juliet (or Giuliette as they say in Italian). Believe it or not, the story of these two, was not originated by Shakespeare - instead it was the story of a man from Vicenza named Luigi da Porto. Seeing these castles on the hill - you can imagine the tension between the Capuleti Family and the Montecchi Family - as they would have looked off to the nearby castle and seen their enemies on a daily basis. It is a beautiful "hill" with these two castles sitting alone at the top. The views off to Vicenza and the pre-alps are absolutely amazing. And to top it all off, it is just a short drive from our new town!