Our first parking ticket...bummer!

Today was a nice day with the girls in the morning. We went swimming in the pool and had delicious fruit tarts and eggs for breakfast. After lunch, we put the girls down for a nap just in time for Gianna to get home and then we were off to the beach! Caorle is only 1 1/2 hours or so away but we wanted to stop in Conegliano first to see the castle. It was nice but we couldn't go inside so we walked around for a few minutes and took pictures. When we arrived in Caorle, we tried to find a place to park and we finally found a perfect spot! It was right in front of a building called Vittorio Veneto that had the nicest bathroom I have seen in Italy so far! We didn't see anywhere that we could pay for a ticket so we thought it was okay to park there. We were right next to the beach so we brought our umbrellas and all the beach stuff right by the water. The umbrellas were really hard to get into the sand...we must have looked very desperate because two older men came and helped us dig holes to put them into. They were very nice but I was a little embarrassed! We went swimming for awhile in the cool water. It wasn't deep at all where we were. We swam out pretty far and I could touch for a long time. We read our books on the beach in the shade and it was just beautiful. When we went back to the car, there was our ticket...42 euro!!! Well, that was definitely a bummer for the day but we laughed it off and chalked it up as a learning experience...parking is never free! I will have to show it to Gianna and Angelo and have them read how we can pay for it online. It is all in Italian and we don't know what it says. We were off to Portogruaro around 8:00 and made it there in 30 minutes. We were trying to find a festival but it looked like we were too early. There was hardly anything on the streets and no one was there yet. While we were walking around, we stopped for dinner at a kebab restaurant. I thought it was amazing! It was interesting to watch how they made it because they shave off the meat right in front of you as it is cooking. The flavors were excellent and I want to eat another one before I go! The festival was kind of a dud, not too much going on but there were a lot more people there when we were leaving. All the shops were open so it was a nice night for the locals to be social and shop around. We got back home at 11:00, which is early for us! Man, I am really tired but tomorrow will be even crazier because we are getting up at 4:30 to make it to the Rifugio in time for the sunrise. It should be an amazing view! Supposedly you can see Venice from the top! Ciao!

Barbeque in Italy!

Today, Angelo had to drive to Merano for work so he wouldn't be back until 5:00 for the girls. Natalie and I were trying to figure out what we could do after 5:00, maybe go to a small town that is close. I thought it would be fun to make them dinner since they have been feeding me such awesome food for so many weeks now. We decided to make stuffed cheeseburgers, potato salad, and baked beans! We made a list and went to the market while the girls were sleeping and Gianna was home for lunch. We made another great pasta with zucchini and cream cheese. The market was very different than ours, the signs are not as clear and things are in strange places throughout the store. We found everything on our list (and a little more) and headed home. We got a peach tart for dessert and then we couldn't help but buy another fruit tart for tomorrow morning because they are the best from the bakery at the market. Nat and I started cooking around 4:30 and really didn't stop until 8:00. Natalie made the potato salad while I made the baked beans. I couldn't exactly remember how to make my mom's beans but I think I did good enough. We needed more bacon but there wasn't enough in the package. Our burgers turned out okay, a little dry but still very good! We made them extra big and with lots of cheese in the middle. I think most of the cheese spilled out the sides while the burgers were cooking because I was expecting a really juicy, cheesy burger and that wasn't the case. I think we did pretty good though! Gianna wanted to get the recipe for our beans and salad so I think they liked it! Luca came over for dinner too so it was nice to have a big family dinner tonight. Nat and I are going to the beach in Caorle tomorrow and then hopefully to a festival in Portogruaro. It should be a nice and relaxing day! Ciao for now, I am so tired that all I want to do is sleep! Natalie beat me to it tonight, she usually does! More tomorrow!

The Oncoming Storm in Venice

Today was so fun but man, am I exhausted! I woke up at the time I always do to take care of the girls. We had our normal routine while they kept asking where Natalie was. I thought it would be funny if we all went and woke her up so we did! It was pretty funny to see Nat all sleepy and groggy. We got ready as quickly as we could because we wanted to go to the Monday market downtown and I didn't remember what time they started to close. We had to ride the bus to town because our car is too small for us all to fit into. It doesn't have a back seat and it has the smallest little space in the back, I wouldn't even call it a trunk! Anna decided to sit on Natalie's lap all the way to town which was pretty cool since she just met her! It took Anna awhile to warm up to me so she must really like Natalie! We shopped at the market while eating fresh potato wedges from a deli truck. We bought fresh mozzarella for lunch and started walking towards Serravalle to a sewing store that I thought my Mom and Grammie would like something from. It was a really neat store and I bought a few things...you have to wait and see Mom! It was time to go back home and start lunch so we headed back to the bus and then home. We made pasta with tomato and onion sauce that Gianna made. Delicious! Nat said that she doesn't even like tomatoes or onions but she thought it was really good! After lunch and when Gianna got home, we hurried off to Venice to have as much time as possible there. Only an hour later and we were in Piazzale Roma in Venice! I can't describe how amazing Venice is...Nat and I kept saying that the pictures just don't do it justice. The colors of the buildings, the details of the architecture, and the turquoise blue of the water just don't come across in photos. After making the LONG trek to San Marco Square, we arrived! First, we went to see the Basilica of San Marco located in the square. It is a beautiful church but there was a lot of construction so we couldn't see all of the rooms or the details. Natalie had found a website before coming to Italy about the 10 most beautiful bookstores in the world and the #1 spot went to a bookstore in Venice! We had to find it to see if the pictures were true! It looked so amazing but I had little faith that we could find it because the streets leading to San Marco are not well marked and very confusing to navigate. Somehow with the little directions that Natalie had printed off, we found it down a small side street! The bookstore is called Libreria Acqua Alta and it is beyond what words can describe! You walk in and it is wall to ceiling books. There is no rhyme or reason as to how they are sorted so you just keep looking and digging through stacks of books to find ones you like. There was a small English section so I found a surprise book for my Mom and a book on Obama. Throughout the aisles, there are gondolas filled with books, old bathtubs overflowing with books, and even a staircase outside on the patio that is MADE of books! You can walk up the book stairs and overlook the canal. On one edge of the store, the water from the canal comes right up to the side where the books begin. I don't know how people or books don't accidentally fall in! While we were walking around the bookstore, there was a couple going by in a gondola on the canal and they said, "Oh my God! What is this place? How do you get there?" It was really funny to hear! I just can't talk enough about this store, it was something I will never forget and is one of my favorite memories I will have forever. After digging and climbing for books for about an hour, we finally found a few that we wanted. Nat and I both wanted to find an old book that had a neat cover that we could keep forever from the store. We looked and looked and finally found the ones we wanted. I found a very old copy of David Copperfield in Italian and Natalie found some book in Italian that we don't understand but the cover was pretty! We each found books of the Veneto region. We have decided that we are going to try and go to all the places in the book and then next to the photo, we put our own there to show we have been! I could have looked in that bookstore for hours. With weeks in that place, there's no way you could look through every book. When we were going to pay for our books, the old man that owns the store said to us, "You better watch out, too many Casanovas around here...and not just me!" He said that he loved us and we were beautiful girls. He was very sweet! I was glad to help him out that day because I can imagine that most people just come for a picture or two and then leave, but not really buy any books. Nat and I were glad to see him so happy for our service. Wow...what an amazing experience that I will never forget. Well, now we were off to find a place for dinner and to sit down before my feet fell off. We found a place that looked good but their food wasn't so great. Natalie had spaghetti with mussels that she said was very good but mine was okay. I tried the parmigana chicken but it was bland and too small for the price. After dinner, it was starting to look like it was going to storm and there was lightening in the distance. Instead of walking all the way back to our car, we decided to get on the ferry boat to take us back to Piazzale Roma. We thought this way we could miss the rain and not have to carry our heavy books all the way to the car! The boat ride was really nice and fun to take pictures of the Venice skyline, even though it was now raining really hard. I kept thinking of how we were going to get to the car without getting all our new books wet with one umbrella! I couldn't remember how far our car was from the boat dock so we guessed the direction and headed that way. We decided that Natalie would carry the books and I would hold the umbrella over her. It worked out well because the car was closer than we thought, right across the street from the bus station. We didn't know how to get our car out of the lot or who to pay for parking. I was soaking wet by the time I figured it out and had stepped in a huge puddle so my shoes were filled with water. We also had one other big problem...I hadn't gone to the bathroom all afternoon and we drank at least 5 bottles of water! There was nowhere to go and I knew I couldn't hold it until we got home for an hour so....I peed in the parking lot behind our very small car! Not my proudest moment but it had to be done! Natalie was laughing so hard because the parking attendant was walking over right as I stood up, close call! We drove home in the pouring rain and arrived home. Momo sleeps downstairs at night and doesn't bark at us anymore when we arrive late. He knows that it is us and greets us at the door happily. What a great time in Venice and I can't wait to go back one more time before we go! We are going to bite the bullet and go on a gondola ride! Ciao!