Yvonne's Visit- Part 2

When we returned on Wednesday, we slept the whole day away and then went out to dinner, because we were exhausted. Thursday, we went to Asolo for the afternoon. And Friday, we went to Venice for the day, which was my last time in Venice for the year, so I did a little shopping too.

streets of Asolo lined with Italian flags for the Alpini (soldiers)

We saw all the major sites, including going to the top of the bell tower in San Marco square, which I had never done before. There were amazing views of the city. Then we had lunch, surprisingly in the same restaurant that I ate lunch with my parents when we were there.

Yvonne and I in the tower

view of Gondolas and people in San Marco square

view of the water from the tower

After lunch, we headed over to Murano for a glass blowing demonstration, which I had already seen twice but it never ceases to amaze me. Then we went back to San Marco and it was getting dark and sprinkling so we headed back to the train station.

Saturday morning, we went to work with Andrea at the wine shop for some wine tasting. We tasted the lines of Prosecco, with his coworker helping us, and then we got to sit in the back tasting (and tasting and tasting, until the bottle was gone) some more wines while we waited for him to be done. It was also my last (and only second) time there so I bought a few bottles that I am hoping I can get into my suitcases without them being overweight.

Yvonne tasting some Prosecco

Saturday night we went out for pizza next to my apartment, and then Yvonne left Sunday morning. I really enjoyed having her here and it was actually perfect timing, in order to make it the best for both me and her.

Dublin- Yvonne

Yvonne came to visit!! She came on a Thursday (May 8th) and stayed here for ten days and we had a blast! Friday we went to Padova, which is about an hour away. We got lost in the morning but eventually made it to all the sites we wanted to see, and even found a September 11th Memorial. It is a big city which I don't love but the places we saw were very nice and we still got home in time to take a little nap before going out at night. Then we just hung around Monebelluna for the night and on Saturday.

Basilica di Sant'Antonio da Padova

Yvonne in front of Prato della Valle, the biggest square in Europe

Then on Sunday we flew to Dublin, Ireland. We were trying to think of somewhere to go away for a long weekend and that was the place we finally decided on. We got in at about lunchtime and checked into our hostel. We had lunch and then I insisted on stopping at Starbucks!! (I was sooo excited!) We had a pretty relaxed time, seeing a couple sites a day. On Sunday we took the bus to Kilmainham Gaol, which is an old prison, and that was really cool to see. On the way back we stopped at a local pub before getting ready for dinner and to go out. That night we went out to Temple Bar, and discovered that Dublin is VERY expensive. My Malibu and pineapple juice (exactly one shot of Malibu) was over 9 euros, which is about 13 dollars! But we met some Americans and some Irishmen that night and had a really great time.

Kilmainham Gaol (old prison, still can't pronounce the name)

Temple Bar

Monday we went to Christ Church, right next to our hostel and to tour the Guiness storehouse, which was huge and has a "gravity bar" at the top with 360 views of the city, where you get a free Guiness. We hung out there for awhile enjoying the views, including that of some people nearby... Then we had lunch and went back to the hostel to rest a little. (Every single meal took us about an hour to find so by the time we were finished we were exhausted!). That night we went out again in the Temple Bar area, but tried some new bars.

Christ Church

Guinness Storehouse

Yvonne and I in front of the awesome fountain in the storehouse

my favorite picture of the whole trip, notice the row of butt cracks....

Tuesday was our last day, and we had a lot left to do. After having breakfast (bagels, which is another thing I have missed over here), we headed out to Dublin Castle, which was ok but a little long for me. You could only see it by guided tour and it got a little long, but it was nice to see and interesting. After that, we went over to Grafton Street, the major shopping street, which ends at St. Stephen's Green, a giant park. We ate lunch and then went to see Trinity College and finally Merion Square. After that we went back to get ready, and get our stuff packed up, to go out for the night.

Dublin Castle

St. Stephen's Green

map showing how big St. Stephen's Green is

Chatham Street (off of Grafton Street)

Yvonne and the cute old man musician in front of Trinity College

We ate in the Temple bar area and then headed to a different part of the city to a bar that was recommended. It was a cool bar, but apparently weekends are its thing because there were about six people in there including us. Needless to say, we ended up back in the Temple Bar area, enjoying live music at Oliver St. Johns.

our taxi driver on the left side of the car!

Oliver St. John's Bar

Our plan was to stay out all night (we had to leave for the airport at 3 30) but we were getting tired so we decided to go home and take a nap (it was about 1 30). So I set my alarm for 3 15 so we could get up and walk to get the aircoach. My alarm went off and we jumped up (exhausted and feeling like that was the shortest nap ever), got our stuff together and walked to the aircoach stop. When we were almost there, Yvonne stopped and looked at a clock in the street. Now we had noticed over the past few days that almost evey clock has been wrong in Dublin, but she looked at me and said, "Wait, I have a question. Is it 2 30 or 3 30?" I am an idiot and my phone (which i set my alarm on) was still set on Italy time (an hour ahead), so in Dublin it was only 2 30, which meant we really had slept for only about 20 minutes! We were already almost there so we just decided to get the earlier aircoach, which didn't come and we ended up taking a taxi to the airport.

Yvonne in our hostel

We figured we would just sleep in the airport, and when we got there we were happy cuz we could check in and even go through security and get to our gate. Unfortunately, our gate was the farthest possible away and downstairs and the temperature felt like it was outside. So it was a freezing cold, miserable two hours until our flight finally took off. But it was empty so we both got a whole row and we got to see the Alps in Austria from the windows!!

Austrian Alps from the airplane

Tuscany (weekend with Andrea)

May 1st was a holiday here in Italy. It is worker's holiday, basically Labor Day, and since it fell on a Thursday this year the Italians have a ponte (bridge), meaning that Friday is also considered a holiday. So basically Italian's had a four day weekend and it was a time to travel. It was estimated that there would be 12 million more cars on the roads this weekend. Anyway, Andrea and I had the opportunity to go to Tuscany.

We stayed in an apartment of one of his friends, so everything was free and it was really nice. We left early Friday morning (because he had to study on Thursday) and took the scenic route (due to the GPS) to Tuscany. It took us about 6 hours, including about an hour for lunch. We had lunch at a small restaurant on the hill and it had a gorgeous view of the lake:

Then we arrived at the apartment, and rested for the afternoon.

It is a very nice place with a pool overlooking the hills of Tuscany:

..and olive trees outside our window:

That night we went to Pienza for dinner and drinks and to walk around a little before returning for the night.

Saturday, we spent the day laying out by the pool, and went someplace close for lunch. Andrea went swimming in the morning, but the pool was not heated and I had to look somewhat presentable for lunch so I waited until the afternoon. It was pretty cold but not too bad after like 5 minutes. Then in the afternoon we got ready to drive out to Montelcino, which is a really cute town up on a hill (of course) and we had dinner in a very cute local restaurant where the owner was the waitress and she forced me to try red wine because I was in Italy. This is our dinners:

Andrea got a giant Fiorentina steak and I had ravioli (among other things) that came in a very small dish compared to his. It was a very nice night and after dinner we walked around town for a little bit, before going back to the apartment to hang out with some friends for awhile.

Sunday, we got up and got all of our stuff together to head out to Monticchiello for lunch. We ate at another cute little place and the outside patio had some great views. We walked around that town after lunch and then went back to the center of Monepulciano, which is where we were staying but we had not yet gone into the center. We walked up the hills, had some gelato, sat at a cafe overlooking the great landscape (it had one private balcony table, which was occupied but it was still pretty cool).

me at La Porta in Monticchielo

us on the terrace of La Porta

view from Cafe balcony

sunset from Monepulciano

Then we got in the car and headed home to Montebelluna, only to be welcomed by a downpour of rain all night and the next day. However, today is beautiful and 73 degrees!! :)

It was a wonderful weekend and I wish every weekend could be like it. I am pretty lucky though because the next few weekends are pretty exciting. Yvonne comes in less than two days, and we are going to Dublin, Ireland this weekend. Then next weekend we will be going to Venice together until she leaves. The next weekend I am taking Andrea to Lake Garda for his birthday. It is a very exciting next few weeks :)

Sunday at the Beach

Sunday, Andrea and I went to Jesolo. We got a late start because we weren't sure if I had to work or not, so we didn't get there until around 4 but it was such a beautiful day that it didn't matter. We met up with another couple there and hung out with them for about two hours and then they left and we stayed until the sunset, and then went out to dinner. It was such a nice day and we can't wait to go back another time and stay for the whole day. :)

It also made me really excited for Tuscany this weekend. We are going to a friend of Andrea's house in Montepulciano, which is in the Siena provence. We are leaving early Friday morning and staying until Sunday night. I am really excited!! :)

Mini Golf, Homesickness, New Car, etc.

Last Sunday was a pretty nice day so Andrea and I went mini golfing with a few of his friends. When we eventually got there (things take a long time to get going when dealing with seven guys), we had a really good time. I lost (of course) terribly, but to my credit I was the only girl. Even though I know I suck in groups of girls as well, but hey at least I have fun doing it! Then we went out to dinner together and then to the Montebelluna movie theater (which is so small and was so empty that we got to have our own private movie veiwing!) It was a really fun day.

However, despite all the fun I have been having lately, I have also been a little sad. I am not really sure why all of this is coming up now but it is just getting really hard to be gone for so long, and I am going through another homesick phase. Also, one of my American friends here is leaving to go home next week and I think that has a lot to do with it because I am finding myself jealous. Don't get me wrong, I am having an awesome time here, but there are just still some sad feelings about home and being so far away. Mostly I miss my family but I also am really missing a lot of the conveniences and things that I am used to about America. It's nothing too big or anything that has gotten in the way of my life here or anything but just a thought and a phase that I hope will be over soon.

But Yvonne is coming and I am really excited to finally have another visitor!! It will be really nice to have her here and she is coming for ten days so there is a lot that we can do together (though we haven't planned anything yet). She is arriving two weeks from tomorrow!! :)

Lastly, on a very good note, Andrea finally got his new car!!!! He ordered it right around the time that I got back from America (beginning of January) and has been put off countless times as to when he would finally get it. It arrived yesterday and it is really cool. It is a dark gray Toyota Auris and it has GPS and everything which is really cool. I just get excited about new things in general and it is making me excited to get my new car this fall. Anyway, he is finally happy that it is here and for that I am happy. Now we can enjoy it together! :) (even though he will do anything to aviod getting it dirty or "hurt" for awhile...haha)

Sunday Adventure

After having lunch with Andrea, Manuela, and their family, Andrea and I decided to go for a drive. There were some places nearby that he wanted to show me so we headed out there.

First, we went up what I will call the Valdobbiadene hills. Valdobbiadene is where he works at the wine factory and it is all a major producer of all kinds of wine. The hills are where all of the vineyard for all of these wine factories are. The view looks very similar to that of Tuscany, and it is a very cool drive. We saw the Mionetto (the wine factory where he works) vineyard and many more. It is beautiful up there and only about twenty minutes from my house.

Then we went on to find a small little lake nearby. It was sunny out (even though it was supposed to rain) so we took a walk around the lake which was very nice and relaxing. There was hardly anyone else around so it was nice and quiet, actually pretty much the whole day we were almost all alone.

Next, we decided to start driving up the mountain nearby, thinking we wouldn't be able to go very far up. Well about an hour and some amazing views later, we were at the very top, which was a mile high and zero degrees celcius (32 degrees farenheit aka freezing) and covered in SNOW!!! It was awesome up there and we spent a lot of time walking and driving around.

Finally, we made it back down the mountain and found a cool restaurant for dinner. It really was a spectacular and amazing day!

Things I Do For Some Sun- Spring in Italy

Ok, now let me explain. Yes, that is my bed/couch/futon making its way out of my door. A friend and I were trying to figure out a way for me to "lay out" on my small little terrace and she jokingly mentioned me putting the futon out there. Well I took it seriously and decided to try it. I haven't actually tested it out yet but it seems to fit out there pretty perfectly so that's a first step a least.

Now, the second thing I wanted to mention is really the reason why I have to go to such measures to get some sun, even though I have a perfectly good park right downstairs and across the street from me. I have decided so far that Spring in Italy, or at least Montebelluna, is depressing. It is been upwards of 60 - 70 degrees and sunny for at least four or five days now and everyone is still wearing the exact same clothes they were wearing last week and all winter. As I was sitting out reading, I watched all the high school kids walk under me and every single one of them had a winter jacket on. It is 60 degrees out!! I understand everyone doesn't wear flip flops and tank tops in 60 degree weather like I do, but at least a little change would be nice. I know that in this weather at Villanova, people would be in bathing suits on Sheehan Beach. Makes me a little sad, but not really at all. Then I realize that I am in Italy and never have to go a class or study again in my life!!

Needless to say I don't really feel comfortable bringing a blanket over to the park and laying out quite yet. I get enough looks and stares just walking down the street so I am trying to avoid that one for a little bit. This is one aspect of "when in Rome" that my body won't let me abide by, but at least I will try to spare the people of Monebelluna the shock for a few more weeks, except for the ones walking under my terrace seeing me sunbathing on a futon, but oh well. You do what you gotta do!

So after lunch and trying out the futon, I decided it would be more useful and comfortable to turn it around to face the inside of the house. This way I could get more sun too.

Of course within ten minutes of getting comfortable and resuming finishing my book, this cloud appeared over my head.

It is so giant that I don't think we will see then sun for the rest of the afternoon. It figures with my luck! Oh well, at least I know how to do it quickly now for the next time!

...and now it's raining... What a day!! It was actually a pretty weird day because the book that I just finished was about a family who sold their house and possessions to travel the world with their three kids. As I am reading all about their experiences, I have been spending all day posting my stupid little experiences on my year off. Corny, I know, but pretty cool.