We're Gonna Party Like It's 1999.

September 7~September 14, 2009

So shortly after moving into the apartment, I went home for my class reunion. A week was not enough time and it flew by so quickly. But I did get to visit with friends, got good face time with my parents, Ross & Janet came in town for dinner one night, and most importantly, I was able to spend a lot of time with Cash.

Here we are Saturday night before we went to the reunion. Just like old times.

Roll Call: Chandra is on the far left--Baby #3 due anyday now. Me. Annemarie in the middle--Baby #2 due in November, Laura--if you don't listen to her, she'll make you do lunges. Kelly on the right--Our newlywed! We share a lot of memories and the one that always comes to mind is...back left tire. It's always the back left tire.

Now on to my most favorite part, sorry Mom and Dad, but you know how Evan and I feel about our Casher boy. For those who do not know, we have been planning on bringing Cash to Italy when possible. They would not let us bring him initially because of the heat in July. Each place we looked at that allowed dogs, was not necessarily a place we wanted to live, and the grass was more like overgrown, short weeds. Our top two places did not allow dogs so either way--Cash was not going to get to come with us.

The best part is that my wonderful parents agreed to keep him for three years in Cuero. They have Ruth so Cash will have a friend and their backyard is more than anything we could have offered him here. So he is fine, it's me and Evan that are having a hard time.

We were able to Skype with Evan and have Cash hear his voice and figure out the voice is coming from the computer; therefore, he lurched at the computer. But this was a good sign, he still recognizes Evan's voice. Me and Cash before I left for the airport. I am telling him he is in good hands and we will be back to retrieve him in 35 months. He kindly listens because I have given him a large treat to chew on while we have our chat.

Let's be honest, this is what he would rather be doing anyway! Yes, he is 90 pounds. And yes, that is a birdbath.

Home. Sweet. Home.

September 1, 2009

46 Viale Lacchin, Sacile, Italy.
3rd floor of a large house near the train station.
Across the street from Tony, Hollie, & Ceci.
A block or so off the main piazza=gelato, wine, prosecco at our fingertips.
However you want to say it, it's home.

We searched a lot of places here, near, and far and decided on Sacile, the quaint little town with a river running through it, to live. We found this through Joni, another JAG, whose friend was moving out. Mary Beth moved to Little Rock AFB so we think it's only fate that brought us here--we swapped bases.

Our stuff made it in with only a few minor damages but I won't get caught up in those details. On to the fun stuff!

We are on the 3rd floor. Anthony, the cycling linguist, lives on the 1st floor. Lino, the landlord, lives on the 2nd floor. Then us. That's it. Small little family here. The stairway on the left leads to the 4th floor which is just a laundry room and leads to the roof. This is our door. WELCOME--Please come in!
Walk in and turn right. The radiator has a nice ledge for "stuff". Looking in on Evan eating breakfast. Hi Evan :)

Walk in and straight ahead is our dining room with space to spare and leads to the kitchen.

Kitchen. Missing: The toaster oven that is not 220V that I used to use everyday. Missing: Dishwasher. New to me: Cabinet doors with hydraulics. So far, the kitchen and I are good friends--small and everything within reach.

Living room: Saturday football on Sunday morning. Hi Joe Paterno.

I feel silly posting the mess that defines moving. This is the end of our hallway where I put everything until it could find a final resting place in one of the main rooms.

Master Bedroom

Office/Closet. There are built in narrow closets on the left. The large dresser you see is given to us from base to use since closets are not a normal and given thing here in Italia. I don't necessarily love the curtains but they were left here by the last person and so they're staying for now.

Guest bedroom. Same with the curtains. The dresser you see is Linos that he kept here and is letting us use.

The chocolate bathroom. Same with the curtains. All chocolate pieces. This is the bathroom with a shower with no room for toiletries.

White bathroom. This is the bathroom with the space for all our stuff but has a tub. So we use both!

Now travel up the staircase from earlier and now we're in the laundry room. The lines were hung already and the dark wood furniture is Linos he leaves up here for storage. The washer and dryer are front-loading but that will have one post all to itself. One word: German.

And now for the selling point. The laundry rooms leads outside and up some stairs to the roof. This is the view. We spent our first week grilling and eating on the roof and watching the sun set.

Notice we have seating upstairs just for you!

So welcome to our home. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Now that we have had some time (notice pics taken Sept. 6th) things are put away and the end of the hallway is empty. So we're ready and waiting for visitors and you can see for yourself where it all went. Now accepting reservations--October through mid-November are already booked so make your plans today!

Florence.

August 30, 2009

Sunday morning we woke up early to gather our things, enjoy the tiramisu leftovers while watching the sun rise, and purchase more wine and olive oil from the daughter. On our way to Florence and finally finding a safe spot to park our car. We had a deadline, you see, to meet our friends, to visit the Academia museum. Nancy & Dustin and Cassie & Bill flew into Italy on Saturday and we spent all day Sunday with them!

We started off with a bang at the Galleria dell' Accademia. This museum is best known for housing Michaelangelo's original David sculpture. Photos were not allowed and we did not violate that request, but the description is David, who slew Goliath, standing sling in hand and over his shoulder. He was constructed from one single piece of marble and stands over 13 feet tall and was sculpted between 1501 and 1504.

After touring the Accademia and grabbing some lunch, it was on to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as the Duomo of Florence. It was just as beautiful as I remembered and still breathtaking to realize the size of the structure itself.

Inside the Duomo.

Here we are: Me, Nancy, Cassie inside the Duomo. The blue drape (think dentist office) is what the Italians give those who forget their sweaters in their car to cover their shoulders. The sweater does no good if you remember to bring it but leave it in the car. Second time this has happened sad to say.
A Roman clock in the stone. Side view of Duomo. We could not have picked a more perfect day to go to Florence. Great weather and with a breeze to top it off.

Me and Nancy outside the Duomo.

Giotto's bell tower. We did not climb the stairs to the top.Piazza della Signoria. I remember something about this building being used in a Godfather movie or something with the balcony where the flags are--this is yet to be confirmed. It does offer a replica of Michaelangelo's David statue (on the left of pic).

Lastly, we toured the Uffizi Gallery which is said to be the world's finest collection of Italian Renaissance painting. It houses art by Michaelangelo (The Birth of Venus) and Leonardo da Vinci (Annunciation), in addition to countless others.

After some gelato, we walked back to our car, left the Rodgers and Russos to their vacation, and drove back to base. A great day with friends--joked, laughed, understood English, recognized our sarcasm, and overall great time!

Volterra

August 29, 2009

Saturday morning we woke up and drove through the hills to another medieval town, Volterra. Volterra is known for not being as touristy as San Gimignano and we agree. After our free parking, we walked up a seriously long and tall staircase to reach the city center--the main piazza.
A street view.

We kept seeing these type of objects on the outside of some of the walls. I think I read somewhere they were used for horses back in the day. Evan is convinced that I am making this up. Either way--we got a picture.Looking down one of the streets full of shops and eateries.

This looked like an interesting place to visit. Evan was willing to risk his forearm to the chair of nails. All I could think was, "What would Cash do if he was here right now?"

The Roman theater/ruins. There used to be three levels, but the third level was taken down to create the baths you see behind the main stage. Roman ruins Overlook from Volterra

During the Middle Ages, it was common for the baptistry to face the church and you could not enter the church until you were baptized. This is the baptistry.

Baptismal font inside.
Walking towards the Etruscan arch. During World War II, the Nazis threatened to blow up the arch in order to cut off the road and slow Allied Forces. The citizens took action to save their arch. They took stones from the road and plugged up the arch which satisfied the Nazis. Here it stands.

After a stroll through a park and some windy side streets, we came upon the prison. From the park we thought the structure must be some sort of mansion or castle. We are not supposed to take pictures of it, but come on, look at it.

On the outskirts of Volterra, the rolling hills of Tuscany.

This is a sad picture of all the sunflowers that had already faced the sun and bloomed. This only means we have to return again to see the fields filled with them--alive this time.

From our stroll through the vineyards at Podere Magione.

Another vineyard pic.

Saturday morning, before we left for Volterra, the daughter came over to bring us more jam and some leftover tiramisu she had "just made". The cocoa was still on her fingertips as she handed
us the pan. Needless to say, fresh, homemade tiramisu--who needs dinner? We just finished it off Sunday morning for breakfast.

San Gimignano

Disclaimer: I am slightly behind in updating the blog. I have been gone, Evan has been gone, and our camera takes great pictures but they take an unusually long time to load and have to be done 1-by-1.

August 28, 2009

We drove to San Gimignano in the Tuscany region this weekend. We stayed at an agriturismo (bed and breakfast type) East of the city in the hills. Why we took 360 degree pics of the place and not one of the actual place...this I cannot explain. But you'll get the idea.

Podere Magione is situated along a winding road among vineyards and countless other agriturismos. Agriturismos are usually cheaper than a hotel and offer a variety of services such as, wine/oil/honey tastings, have lavish vegetable gardens guests can take advantage of, offer a full kitchen (at least ours did), some have pools (ours did not), and have a much more personal feel than city life for a few days.

Evan had Friday off so we drove down early to get a full 3-day weekend. This pic we are standing in the driveway looking down the road upon our arrival. The family's estate starts on the left with the farmhouse-type building and dirt road. Their vineyards are on the left and right surrounding us. The daughter greeted us and helped us get situated. Her father spent Saturday and Sunday morning cultivating, watering, and tending to the veggie garden.
This is from the second floor looking down the same road. Our version of aerial view.

Looking down the rows of vineyards. We drove into San Gimignano. This medieval town makes for a perfect daytrip. Looking down the street filled with shops and gelato.

There were originally 72 towers in this Etruscan town and today only 15 are still standing.

One of the piazzas with a well in the center.

Evan's panoramic photo-op at an overlook.

The outside of this church does not do the inside justice. After Spain, we feel like we have been in our share of churches, temples, and mosques. This church ranks right up there on the inside.

Another piazza--we sat on the steps of this church.

Ahhh, home sweet home. The owner gave us some of their red and white wine along with some of their olive oil and some apricot jam. We stopped at a grocery store on the way home to grab some cheese, bread, and salad to go with our recently purchased wild boar sausage and watched the sunset in the yard with our wine.

Here is our little covered patio. Have I mentioned yet that we lucked out and had the entire place to ourselves? Well, we did.

Sunset Friday night--going. Going.

Gone. What a perfect day.

So here is where we spent our night. Under the stars, with a cool breeze, listening to Texas music, drinking both bottles of wine.