College tours

It is so crazy to me that our youngest is looking at Universities! We had a great time visiting schools with one of her very best friends. Who knows what the future holds, but it is really fun (and to be real, also a little stressful) to think about!

 

It’s been a minute..

 Wow - it has been such a long time since I last posted! Here is a quick photo dump from my phone. The biggest news that we have is that we moved to Germany! (Yes - it has been a bit crazy, but all is good). We are excited for our new home, but will really miss Italy. Here are some random pics of our last days in Italy...

The Chocolate Festival in Vicenza

Beautiful Vicenza - this was our amazing daily view

Kiwi at the Christmas Market (She looks thrilled - ha ha!)

Vicenza

Amazing Chocolate at the Festival

Mia's Gingerbread Creation

Preparing for our trip

Vicenza!

Delicious Hot Chocolate or "Cioccolata Calda" as they say in Italy

We will sooo miss the Cappuccino (for like a 1.50 euro, I might add!!)

Our dog enjoying the view from our balcony

Our Christmas tree..

And the Brioche will be so greatly missed as well!

Beautiful Vicenza with the Dolomites in the background

A cool antique market we went to (it is supposed to be the biggest in Italy!)

Campo Marzo Park in Vicenza

A Christmas Market in Verona (not quite to the standard of Germany, but not too bad :-))

More pics from the Antique Market

And more Chocolate from the Chocolate Festival

Vicenza under a Full Moon - we will miss our walks to the top of the hill!!

Mia's Cake Decorating :-)

Vicenza

Vicenza

Vicenza

Vicenza (this was our walk each night with Kiwi up to the top of the hill). Under the famous architecture of Andrea Palladio 

Venice

We took our dog to Venice! She had such a fun time. Even though she hates water (crazy - I know - especially being a water dog). She was definitely careful not to ever get too close to the edge - ha ha! She loved sniffing all of the smells, walking the canal streets, and seeing the other dogs (surprisingly there are a lot there). We had a great day!

Relaxing in St. Mark's square - but being very careful not to get too close to the water :-)

At at the train station :-)

We found a nice German couple to take our picture (so we didn't have to do a selfie :-))

Kiwi loved meeting all of the other dogs

She didn't even mind posing for pictures 

Taking it all in...

Being a little flirtatious with the Gondolier

Lots of delicious smells down the narrow alleyways - ha ha!

 

Lipari

 We spent 4 nights on the island of Lipari, which is the largest of the Aeolian Islands. The highlight of this for us was actually the experience we had with our hotel. The owner of the hotel was so hard working. He grew up on the island and was a such a gem! He was our host, driver, tour guide, cappuccino maker, ferry boat booker, restaurant chef and over all everything! He spoke no English - so we managed miraculously somehow. Another fun experience for sure!

The view over looking the island of Volcano in the distance (you can see the gasses coming from the crater). Our Hotel Host took us to this spot to get the best picture!

Delicious Food!

Yum!!

Scrumptious!

Our Hotel Host took us to another spot that is a gem. There is a little chapel here and the backside of the chapel overlooks 5 of the islands in a panoramic view - breathtaking!!

A cemetery at the top of the castle area

The harbor

You can never go wrong with Panini

The island of Volcano off in the distance

The back side of the Chapel - it again reminded us of Greece

Hi little fella!

Had to take lots of selfies - ha ha!

The little dot of Sun setting - simply beautiful!