Bittersweet Goodbyes...

Natalie and I went to the market this morning for one last time. We bought a few extra things to take home and some market food of course. I had never been to Ceneda in town, an area where there is a castle still formed from the Medieval times so we went to check it out with Marco. Oh, by the way, we named our smart car Marco because he just fits in...and many things in this area are named after Marco Polo, like the Venice airport. He had a hard time getting up those windy and steep roads but we made it! The castle wasn't what we thought it was going to be but the view is perfect. I love seeing all the prosecco vines planted down the mountainside. A beautiful sight when they are all in bloom and lush right now. After running a few more errands, we went home to take a nap before we went to take the car back. We finally found the car rental place because we didn't remember for sure where it was. It is tucked behind many other buildings down a long road. When we got there, the doors were locked and no one was there but a young mechanic working in the shop nearby. I went to try and ask him if he could help us find someone for the office. He was very nice and said to wait 10 minutes and they might show up soon. Nat and I had to wait in the ridiculous hot temperatures for a good 30 minutes before the guy showed up to check our car in. He definitely took his sweet time even though we were in a hurry to get back home in time for dinner. Gianna and Angelo weren't able to take us to Treviso today so we were on our own to get home, either by bus, train, or taxi. First, we decided that there is a close bus stop and there might be a chance we could catch it to the bus station out of town. We waited and waited in the heat...no bus. We walked back to the car rental place and asked if he could call us a taxi to take us to the bus station...another 15 euro. Then, we made it just in time before the bus took off towards home with 3 minutes to spare. It was a little hectic but it all worked out in the end. We arrived just in time for dinner and Luca joined us as well. Gianna made a delicious dinner, obergene parmesan lasagna, cheche beans, pasta with ragu, and some sort of black rice with formaggio. Of course, we had prosecco to celebrate one last night and gelato. We had gifts for the family so after gelato, we went upstairs and brought them outside for everyone. Natalie bought the family a very nice striped ceramic pasta bowl from Bassano that they loved. I got the girls necklaces in Murano with an A for Anna and a G for Giulia made of glass. I found a nice ceramic coffee container for Gianna and a book for Angelo on his favorite moto racer, Valentino Rossi. The girls loved their necklaces and asked Gianna if they could sleep in them. They are too cute! Well, Nat and I tried our hardest to fit all our treasures into our suitcases tonight and it just isn't working...I have way too much stuff! We are going to have to repack it in the morning because it is 2 am right now and we have to be at the airport tomorrow at 12 in Venice. What a sad day it will be...I could stay here forever. I am definitely not ready to go back to reality but I am hoping I will get back into a routine at home, just like I have here now. I just can't imagine leaving here so I think it hasn't hit me yet...even if my room here looks bare and all packed up. Tomorrow will be a long flight but it will be nice to have Nat with me for company and support after my mental breakdown ensues. Goodbyes are the worst part about vacations...you just never want to leave. Arrivederci Italia, you have given me such a wonderful experience and have loaned me a new family for the summer. I am indebted to them forever for all they have let me do and see in just two months. Natalie and I have seen and done more in the last two weeks than I could have ever done by myself. What a ride it has been but I couldn't have asked for it to have gone better. I guess it shouldn't be goodbye, it is see you later because I have every intention of coming back here someday and showing my family and friends around Veneto. So let's plan another holiday in the future! Arrivederci!

Our Last Day to Travel

Today, Natalie and I were off again on a day trip across north east Italy with 4 cities in mind that we had to check off our list: Padova, Vicenza, Castelfranco, and Bassano. Any other towns we found along the way were a bonus but we knew we had to get those finished before our trip was over. Getting up this morning was hard...my feet still hurt just to walk so I wasn't thinking this trip around Veneto was going to turn out so well. And, of course, today was the hottest day it has been all summer...104 degrees! It was just too much for our bodies to handle. Every time we got out of the car, it was hell to walk around and not feel like you were going to pass out. I was sweating from head to toe and could not stop drinking water all day. If these cities weren't some of the most beautiful cities in Veneto, then I wouldn't have gone but we had to go and finish what we started. We went to the market first thing this morning because we wanted a custard fruit tart one last time for a day trip. They are so delicious, I could eat a dozen a day! After getting lost somewhere near Treviso for a good hour trying to find Bassano, I decided that we should head to Castelfranco and then go to Bassano from there. We went through Castelfranco quickly but we saw the walls of the city center and went through the other side. Next was Bassano, one of my favorite cities in all of my cities I have been to here. It a nice, cozy town on the river and is famous for the bridge, Ponte degli Alpini. I love all the shops there because Bassano is also famous for their grappa liquor and for their ceramic crafts. Natalie and I found gifts for our family here as thank you presents. It was so hard to not buy things that we wanted but we knew there was no way we could pack anything big or really breakable with us. After spending a few hours in Bassano, we were off to Vicenza! On the way there through the back roads, we found a city called Marostica. In the town, there is a castle that begins in the city center and has multiple castle walls going up a huge hill in the back of the town. It was just too amazing to drive by it and not stop! We drove right through the main castle walls and into a flea market in the square. Natalie and I kept thinking of things we would buy if we had a house here. We decided all of our houses would be decorated in things only from flea markets because it had the best stuff for designing a house in Italy! Lanterns, old pictures, glass chandeliers...you name it, they had it here! The castle has steps that lead all the way up to the top but we were not about to do that today, not with this heat! We found back road while we were leaving town that went all the way up to the top of the castle! It was a great view from the top and we were happy that we came across this town. I read online tonight that Marostica is well known for its human chess game every two years in the main square. People come from all over Italy to see the game take place. We were finally on our way to Vicenza but we were getting really tired at this point and a little delirious. We stopped around the city center and walked around for about 40 minutes but then decided it was time to go. Padova had to be done today and it was already 6:00. I wasn't too thrilled with Vicenza but then again, we didn't really give it much chance to wow us either. We arrived in Padova and went straight to the three places that I wanted Natalie to see the most: Basilica of St. Antonio, Basillica of St. Augusto, and the Prato della Valle. All I had seen before on my day trip by myself but I wanted Natalie to at least see those main sights before we left. We stopped for dinner at a kebab/pizza place and I had the best kebab! I think I could eat one everyday! We thought we would head home but we had to make one last stop in Padova...IKEA!!! I saw it off the highway and we couldn't resist it. And, we thought we deserved a little shopping time since we had been running around like crazy people for two days straight. We were hoping for some great air conditioning and not to be tempted by things that couldn't fit in a 50 pound suitcase. We actually left with nothing but some bottled water...there wasn't much we could take back with us but it was still fun to see one in Italy. We got home around 8:00, the earliest we had been home all week! The family was up hiking in the mountains so we had the house to ourselves to relax for an hour. We had some fresh watermelon and honeydew when they got home and talked all about our journeys the past couple of days. We haven't been able to talk to them much because we have been getting home so late so it was nice to catch up and have a laugh. Tomorrow, we are going to spend our last day in Italy in Vittorio Veneto. The market in the morning, Serravalle in the afternoon, and then we have to take our car back to Treviso before we start packing our lives away. I still don't know how I am going to pack everything I bought into my suitcases but we will see! Ciao!

Rome may not have been built in a day...but we managed to SEE it in ONE DAY!!!

Saturday was a day I will never forget...our crazy day trip to Rome! Natalie had wanted to go to Rome from the beginning of this trip to Italy and I wasn't about to stop this dream from coming true. She was determined to find a way to get there and see all the sights! She found us tickets online for the fast train that left from Venice at 6:25 am and arrived in Rome at 9:30 for 80 euro a piece! It was a 2 for 1 deal on Saturdays so it worked out well for us. It was really awful to get up again that early in the morning. I was so tired that I had a hard time staying awake when I was driving to Venice! Right when we got there, we went to the cafe for a coffee so we could stay awake just a little longer and then sleep on the train. We boarded the train and I was impressed with how nice it was! It had very comfortable seats and was spacious enough that you could move around a little bit. We helped a nun with her luggage that was sitting next to us and she was so nice! We thought we had started off our trip with good karma for the day! I slept the entire 3 hours to Rome, out like a light. Nat didn't sleep much but she had never been on a train before so she was excited to see what it was all about. They check for your tickets much more often on the fast trains than they do on the others. When we arrived, we thought we should eat a little more for breakfast and try to find a bathroom. It cost one euro to use the bathrooms at the terminal, they were not free to use for anyone. We started off by taking the metro to the Colosseum first because it was the closest stop to the terminal. Right as we walked out of the terminal, the Colosseum was right in front of us! Man, it is a little bigger than I remembered it being! I went on a trip around Europe with my friends right after high school and had been to Rome before but it never gets old to look at all the spectacular sites to see all around Europe! I could go every year and still find something new and exciting to learn about and see in a different way. We had to wait in line for 30 minutes or so. While we were waiting, we ran into some interesting people! Two Russian girls tried to cut in front of the line and the man who worked there called her out in front of everyone and said, "Do you think these people are stupid that are have been standing in line forever? Do you think you can just come here in the line and no one will see you? Leave!!!" She said some choice words to him and walked off...Nat and I later found her walking inside with her friend. They had to have cut in line somewhere else because it was too fast for them to be inside already. It was pretty entertaining to watch and then the worker telling all his buddies what he had done to get the girl to leave. We also met a very nice French man in line that was behind us. Well, we think he is French...we aren't sure but he was pretty cute and very nice! He was by himself and we later thought that we should have invited him to come walk around with us so he wasn't alone. Walking into the main floor of the Colosseum is just surreal because I just can't fathom a building being this old and still having thousands of people a day come to walk through it! To think what went on there throughout the years and to think we are standing in a place where there has been so much history was amazing. I could have stayed there for hours and just looked at every nook but we had to keep going to the main attractions because we didn't want to run out of time. Our train left at 6:50 and we wanted to be back in plenty of time. Nat had four main places she wanted to see and everything else would be a bonus. Colosseum, check...Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon. It seemed doable but it was so hot that we didn't want to walk to every place so we waited for the bus at the Colosseum while eating gelato. Somehow we were lucky enough to find the bus we needed to get to the Pantheon but we ended up hopping off of it in a hurry because we saw a huge building that we had to take pictures of. It is called Vittoriano, which we later found out from our handy map that we bought for 3 euro! There was no time to go inside it but it was nice to see from the other side of the street. Well, off to catch the same bus again so we didn't have to walk in the heat. It was at least 15 degrees hotter in Rome than it was at home...too hot to be walking around! We caught the bus and found the Pantheon down a small street inside a large piazza. I remember the Pantheon being beautiful but I don't ever remember that it had a huge hole in the ceiling that was used as a sun dial on the church floor. When it rains, the floors have a draining system on the sides so the floors don't stay wet. I can't believe they built these enormous monuments so long ago and they are still being used today! Nat and I used this time to take a little rest because I think this whole week of walking around everyday was catching up to us. I couldn't even feel my feet by the time we left and the day was only half way over! We reminded ourselves that we needed to take a second to eat so we stopped for a nice pizza near the Pantheon. One thing that is incredibly important to note is that you always use the bathroom every time you go into a place to buy something and they have one open for their customers. If you don't use it then, there may not be a place to go later and that is never good! It makes travelling much more enjoyable if you freshen up and wash your hands and face a couple times a day while going through a place like Rome. Also, water spigots are VERY important! Big towns usually have them at every main attraction but some are not to be used as drinking water so you have to be careful and read the signs before you drink it. If we bought every bottle of water we drank on this trip or in Rome alone, we would have spent hundreds of dollars so these spigots come in handy! Every time we see one, we fill it up because the water is usually gone instantly and always needs refilled. Well, it was off to see the Trevi Fountain next. We decided to walk there since it wasn't too far and we had just refueled with lunch. Following the crowds, we found it! It is bigger than I remember! We took pictures and made a wish with a coin that we threw in the fountain. I don't know if you are supposed to make a wish or not but it felt appropriate! Next, was the last thing on our list...and the most daunting...the Spanish Steps. I remembered them from before and I knew they had a lot of steps that I wasn't looking forward to climbing in the heat! Natalie really wanted to climb them and I wasn't about to sit down at the bottom by myself in Rome so I went with her. It wasn't too bad but when we were at the top of the 132 stairs (Nat counted!), we were in desperate need for cold water! Our warm spigot water just wasn't going to do. We bought ice cold water and were satisfied with the view, our water from heaven, and proud of our hike up the steps in the blistering heat in the middle of the day! Conveniently, there was a metro stop right at the top of the stairs so we decided that we could take it back to the terminal and be there in plenty of time for the train. We even thought we might be able to change our ticket so we could leave an hour earlier. We waited in line at customer service for awhile and they said the tickets were not possible to change because they were a promotional deal. It looked like we had some time to kill in the terminal. We ended up going shopping and having dinner while waiting for our platform number on the departures screen. We finally boarded our train, right on time, and it was off to Venice for our final stop. I tried to sleep but I just couldn't get comfortable. I was so exhausted and frustrated that all I wanted to do was sleep but it wasn't happening. I about finished another book on the train and then we arrived in Venice. We still had another 45 minutes to drive home so I stayed awake as best I could to drive us home to bed. Man, what an amazing day but so exhausting! Rome in one day...check!!!