Coming home

This morning we got up at seven thirty and went to breakfast at the hotel we stayed in. We left there around eight thirty and took the train to the airport. We were a little worried at both the length of tie to get to the airport, and that we would have some trouble finding the gate when we got there, but it rolled up two hours before flight time, the gate was easy to find, and there were lots is people just like us checking in so that made it a lot easier. We flew an Irish airline called aer lingus, so our first trip was to Dublin. It was green and cloudy just like you'd expect, and their airport was great. Not a lot going on but there were signs that said to that effect, and free wifi. Or flight to new York was about eight hours, but the drinks were free and they fed us lunch and a snack,mplus all the new releases you can watch in the eight hours. We arrived in new York at eight, and after we got our bags we worked on making our way to stay with an old friend in the Bronx. Zabeths phone was dead, so it's just charging now. Nt a lot of time to catch up anyways as we were underground on the subway, and then visiting once we arrived. Tomorrow is cheap Chinatown bus to boston.

Transition

As Monday set in so did the realization that Vienna was ending, Italy was ending, Europe was ending... Really a contradiction in feelings most like the days preceding our departure. We made a welcome home sign for the gavianos to receive when they arrive home. After they left the farm they continued traveling around Italy, Carlos family is from Sardinia, so that is where we last heard from them. We cleaned up as best as possible, and turned the water and electricity back off. We bought kebabs for the train ride and made our way back to Wien meidling to catch our train. The train left at seven thirty, and it was midnight before we figured out that the seats folded out into beds. Unfortunately we learned because a new woman came to our room because she realized we had extra space, so then she made one bed, and our original car mate took the other. The third bed Zabeth and I split. So we also split half of the sleep. Let's just say there was a lot of good time to read. The train ride from vienna to Rome was supposed to take 14 hours but ended up just shy of about 18. Luckily though we didn't have to wait any longer for check in when we arrived and went straight to our hotel! The lady there as very nice and helped us find a couple of shops to pick up some of our last necessities. We walked around the walls of the Vatican, and the chapel, but it's too much money for our blood. Then we went down to the colosseum and took a picture.

Friday, Saturday Vienna

Cant remember now the order that we did everything but on Friday we went to one of the couchsurfing events, it was a cemetery tour at the last remaining period cemetery in Vienna. All the rest from the mid 1800s were built over into parks, and this one also happens to host the remains of Mozart, yet his actual bones are unidentifiable because he was buried in a mass grave. Then we went to the cs BBQ and swam in the Danube. Friday night we went to a latin club called the floridia, famous for Cuban music and ten dollar drinks, that we weren't aware of. So after watching a ton of Austrians speak Spanish and dance salsa we walked home with tail between legs, but not without a kebab. Saturday we went to the nasch market, huge market selling everything from produce and prepared food to old train sets and clothes that someone took out of their own closet. Went back to the apartment and chilled out before going to check out the belvedere grounds, and then went to the big big couch surfing party. It was thirty minutes out of town, but as soon as we got off the subway and were reading the map, others came up to us and walked to the party with us. We danced until pretty late into Sunday morning. Sunday just to get out and not sleep in and ruin our patterns we got up and took the train to the schonbrunn palace and walked around the garden before coming back home and napping, reading and spending lazy Sunday watching the rain. Also went to grand finale cs brunch.

Haven't been heard from

We have a lot to say about Vienna, mostly that we loved it. Last night we stayed in Rome, but our hotel didn't have wifi. We went out to use the Internet but left many places who said they had wifi, but it just wasn't public. Finally found a place but were too encumbered checking bank accounts, making plans for new York, which we don't have, and catching up on email didn't get to write. Anyway, we're in Dublin airport now, they have free Internet but boarding has started so were leaving soon. We arrive in new York at 530 NM time. Can't wait to talk to everyone, and then well write about the trip after we've already told you about it. Can't wait to see everyone, and if you know someone in new York give them a call for us.

Days in vien

Our first day in the di we undertook the Klimt exhibit at the leopold museum. Then we did quite a bit of walking Nd ate some good kebabs. There is a store close to the apartment so we spend lot of time buying groceries, and cooking for ourselves. By we also can always eat some of that fat food sausage or kebab. There is a huge couchsurfing event going on all weekend in the park, last night we went to see it and registered. Then a big group went to. Free concert put on by the city, performed by the philharmonic orchestra. We expected something like a free homecoming concert, but it was at. Huge palace and there had to be hundreds of thousands of people there. Today we checked out the ntsch market. We bought a week long pass on the public transport system, so we're trying to ride that every chance we get. We have also registered for city bike rental, and rode them down to the river yesterday. A lot to do here in. Big city's and it's pretty overwhelming compared to farm life. Lots of stimuli. Over and out.

Wien

We have made it safely all the way to Vienna. We got in last night and after some brief struggle figuring out trains, we arrived at the apartment of Julia and Carlo. It is wonderful, a nicely decorated, fun and colorful two bedroom apartment. Last night we bout a pizza, this morning went to the grocery store. Is a little colder here but everything is wonderful. E train ride went throu tons of hills and mountains and ended after eit house in this bright, tall, clean city, with excellent public transport. Don't have Internet at the apartment, but will definitely write as soon as we figure out a closer spot to drink coffee and check mail.

Weekend

After a full day of train riding we arrived at lake guarda. It's the biggest lake in Italy, I think. The rim is covered in hotels, rv parks, restaurants, and attractions. But there's also boats, kayakers, bikes, trails, mountains and resorts so it's hard to pin down the exact feel, but it was crowded. We booked another trailer cabin bungalow in the town of moniga. We took the boss about a km away and hauled our bags down mercifully to the campsite. The first thing Zabeth suggested was get in the lake, which was freezing. We swam, sat out, and went up to the grocery store to utilize the kitchen utensils provided in our cabin. Although we had a lot of groceries, we still went out for the night to a big event called italia in rosa. The gist of which was pink wine tasting. Since it was all sweet, and we don't know how to pour out wine, and since it cost ten dollars and we had to get our money's worth, let's just say nobody felt like eating too many of our groceries on Saturday. But we did get a lot of sleep. This morning we left moniga to be closer to our train tomorrow out of Venice for Austria. This evening were gonna catch the bus to Venice, we're now in Mestre, and then tomorrow we will be on the road again at noon.

Leaving monastero

We stayed in onastero until June first, because we wanted to se Adele perform in the school function of Pinocchio. It was actually a take on the Italian finance system, but it starred Pinocchio, Gipetto, some tourists, one girl we knew from the house, Vickie, played the cricket, and another girl we knew from the milk farm was a princess. Immediately it was awesome, first the tourists get lost, and then making a special cameo appearance was vittorio, our guide on the cinque torri walk. It turns out he is a local hiking celebrity, and he is the creator of the cinque torri walk. So right away when the girls get lost he comes out and points them to the trail, and everyone went crazy. After the play there was a room full of deserts and pizza for the kids, so having some of that and saying hi to all the performers was a big time thrill. Adele played the accordion in the play, so when we went home Paola made her get it out and play us a tune. It was a late night for everyone. Then Zabeth and I got up early on Friday morning to make pancakes before the kids went to school and to say bye to them. It was pretty fun cooking, but then pretty sad because there was no time to wait around. We said bye to fernanda, and I'm pretty sure it was the happiest she had been in two weeks, because she was happy to have had the interaction. Then we shook hands with Sergio and got in the car to take the kids to school. There we got out and said bye, and then it was off to the train station. Paola walked us all the way to the train, helped Interpret with the ticket agent, and told us not to go to the bathroom in Milan because it cost money, in between tears. It was very good to have been part of the family, and although there's nothing to regret about our trip, if we could have done it differently we would have spent longer with them, and in Alagna, and less time in Abruzzo.

Chicken sitting on a duck

There are three birds living in the living room. The first is a native little baby. It's not quite as common as the dove is for us, but you can normally find at least one or two in every field. The birds are mostly black, with big white patches under each wing. They have a long slender tail, like a swallow. This one living here, bertie, is a baby. Somehow it got into the little foyer before the front door, so they caught it and put it in a cage. Now it's fed cherries, leftover scraps, water. It's doing pretty good. Then fernandas friend brought over a big fat black chicken sitting in an egg crate.the chicken is roosting a cute little yellow baby, that s not another chicken. It is a duck, some how this chicken got hold of a goose egg, and now they live here too.

More work in the grapes

Yesterday morning was pretty fun. Zabeth and I rode into roccaverano with Paula, she had to get her kitchen certification papers signed so that she could continue making honey for the year. The meeting lasted bout an hour so we kept the key to the guard tower that we didn't go up in on our hike, and checked out the view. By the time we got back it was lunch, and then break time. After lunch I painted some railing around the house and Zabeth painted an antique scale and wheelbarrel bright blue with flowers, for decoration. Then paola showed us what to do in the grapes, which was just rake out the tilled weeds and grass. This morning we went out around nine and did as much as possible, and then returned after lunch to finish up for the day. Zabeth was a little tired so she switched to mowing the lawn, and then we picked some cherries. We are going to be leaving here on Friday morning, and heading to camp at lake guarda for the weekend, and then next Monday we catch a train out of Venice for Vienna. We're sticking around to see Adele in a play on Thursday night, Pinocchio, at the school. The weather is getting pretty warm, but thankfully the wind blew a little today to keep things from getting too stagnant. The food is good as always.

Sunday

Today felt like a nice relaxed Sunday at home. When we woke up the kids were watching cartoons, and we drank coffee. Then around eleven we got out for a short walk, and then came back to cook lunch. We offered to cook today and we whipped up modems fresh beans from the green. They were white but I doubt anyone here knows that refrigerator beans are typically brown so no harm done. We also made rice with potatoes onions and tomatoes, and put. Nice fresh fried egg on top. Then of course we took a nap on the deck, and to avoid feeling guilty about it we made coffee and invited everyone out to drink it. Then Paula assessed the bee situation by tKing off the tops from the hives and measuring honey production. When needed more room is added and tomorrow should be apprehension day. The girls hd some friends over who live at a huge dairy farm up the road, so we rode in the car to take them home and walked round and checked out all the stagnant milkers. Or dinner was leftovers, clearing fridge space by eating day old pasta, beans, bread, and peas. It was nice not to have a huge meal. Nw were ll watching a German soap opera dubbed in Italian, and ll the girls re drawing pictures at the kitchen table.

Saturday

Thursday night we were treated to dinner at a pizzeria in a nearby town. Everyone dressed up and no one told us where we were going. Paula gave Zabeth a black dress and told her to wear it, it was nothing fancy but it was a treat for us all to go out together. Yesterday morning we got up around 7 and packed one of our bags full of water, bread, honey and salami. Then we met up with a family friend of 78 years, vittorio, an avid hiker. He helped Zabeth and I get started on a walking tour of five towns and towers in the area, all lookout towers in the province of Asti. The first was three hours away, San gr.... Something or other. Sconce monastero Bormida is the hub of the Bormida river valley, all the spots were uphill. The first part of the walk was the toughest, and then it was about two hours to the next, olmo gentile, the smallest town in the province. There we had lunch at an old church and caught a quick wink. It was only 40 minutes to the next tower and the highest town in the province, roccaverano. You can get a key at the bar and go to the top of the tower, but we were pretty tired of going up. Then it began downhill to Vengore, a tower without a town close by, but surrounded by a moat and a picnic area. Then there was a lot of downhill on our way back to monastero, so much so that we quit taking the trail, which meandered between road and woods, and just stuck to the road. In all we were out for ten hours for a thirty kilometer walk. We were both tired and hot when we arrived home, shortly before the clouds moved in. Vittorio left us before the first tower or torre (cinque torri is the hike) but he came by at eit to check on our safe return. Our prize for completion was homemade tiramisu from Paula. Today they have understood our soreness and let us to our own cutting dead branches out of the vineyard, at our own pace of course.

Nutella

The show we attended at the community theater in Monastero was really cool, All of the actors were disabled. Lucky for us there was not much talking, a musical. A violinist, guitar player, trumpet, and pianist accompanied each skit. It was really moving, also we all got a ribbon and tied them together that united the audience. Today we unloaded a huge dump truck full of wood, ranging from Aspen, Cherry, Maple, and Poplar. We worked all morning, while Fernanda made gnocchi! There was a pesto or red sauce option, then we had frittatas made with the garden greens. Of course, I had a large glass of wine to swallow it all down. This afternoon Paula, dill and I had a tedious job of weeding around all the baby hazelnut trees.....on a steep slope. The nice thing about the work here is Paula or Sergio are alwaysdour there with us. I feel like the job is meaningful and vital that it gets done because they are out there sweating with us. Growing everywhere are elderberries, so fernanda has made elderberry syrup (it is made with the flower, before it fruits). the youngest daughter, nicoletta is a sugar addict so she fills her glass half full with it and then adds a touch of water.

Grape vines

Today we spent the entire day in the grape vineyard. First of course we had cereal and tea for breakfast, and then took time getting things together. Our tools today though we're two scythes, or sickles as the case may be, but I think definitely scythe. Sergio sharpened them, and he prepared his own tool the weed wackier, then we all headed to the grapes. Last week he mowed in between the grapes, but it's difficult to clear the grass between vines by machine so that's what today was. We started at one end with the weed wackier and two scythes going. Zabeth pulled up the party by trimming and cleaning the individual vines. The morning lasted until noon, when the sun became fairly strong and Sergio had to run an errand with his mom. Lunch normally is at one but he was late getting back, so it was 145 when everyone decided to wait no longer, and what a lunch it was. First spaghetti, then fried duck, fried eggplant and tomato and mozzarella. After we had some coffees and everybody settled down it was time to get back to sacking and working. So we went out and spent the next four hot hours under the sun just moving the old blade across the grass. Once the grass was cleared everyone helped Zabeth finish clearing the last few rows of grapes, but she did everything by herself all day, and has the sunburned shoulders to prove it. Tis evening after dinner we met an older gentleman who will be accompanying Zabeth and I on a hike Friday, and then we went in to town for a one act spectacle called viene con me, or come with me. It was a musical play put on entirely by handicapped people that live in or near monastero. It was incredible, the theatre was sold out and every time someone came on stage the entire crowd erupted. The gentleman in the wheelchair who was punched by a girl received by far the loudest ovation, as did one solo singing performance. It was an inspiring night, and it's something that would lighten your mood no matter where you are. We were lucky to be in e audience.

 

Woa

Zabeth and I have experienced a lot of ups and downs during our time in Italy, but we have never had to work like we did today. Yesterday some cousins came to town to help out with the party today, so we had a big dinner, and then watched photo projections of a Vespa trip to Sardinia in 1982 and stayed up until 11. Everything seemed normal this morning, we were included in the big church party at eleven which lasted until 1230, nicolettas first communion. Then we came home and it was raining, and that's when it all started. People were coming over soon so we had to move the snacks into the barn to keep them dry. Of course we ate while we were moving the snacks around because there were so many just right there. Mostly dry meats and focaccia bread and pizza, no problem. Then we settled the food and moved into the dining area. At this point we allowed others to eat, while preparing a nice dish of cole slaw, peppers, anchovies, tomato and rabbit. People moved in and we hit them with the food, not to be le out we ate as well. So now it's about 2 pm and we have eaten salami, focaccia, rabbit and vegetables. Still under control. Then we move on to a simple desert, ricotta empanadas covered in honey and jelly. A complete and fine meal, normal Sunday right. Wrong! Then comes pasta, but not just pasta, ravioli stuffed with greens, what do you want white with oil or red with neat sauce... Well you can have both! Okay okay, not so bad it's just a big meal right, main course first, then pasta to cleanse the palate. Nope, more pasta, green pasta made of vegetables and covered in mushrooms. We might have said no at this point but it's unheard of. Maybe it's just in the interest of having a pasta variety. After the pasta party out comes gelato, a merciful end... Uh oh it's sorbet, the palate cleanser for another course. Then in comes pork, carrots and onions. Okay it's a three course reverse course meal. Surely we're done. Well first we have some nice soft goat cheese covered in homemade honey to settle the belly and then boom! Chocolate pie, custards gelatin with jelly, and a huge fruit tart for allllllllllllll. At this point it's six o clock and people realize that they have been eating for about five hours, so we have coffee, and the oldtimers drink grappa.

G dough

This Saturday morning Zabeth and I have been helping clean up the entire case. She is working inside, on the bedrooms and floor. Then she set the table for 50 people tomorrow. All week people have been cooking in preparation for the part tomorrow, the phrase is "per domenica" as in it's for Sunday don't eat it. I don't know how long ago, but they added on to the existing house, which has been in the family for at least three generations. They added where we now stay, a three room plus kitchen agriturismo. They also added on an industrial kitchen downstairs which is used to rent out for dinner parties and events. That's where Zabeth is helping. I am helping Sergio clean the barn. It's a great big dusty cinder block structure, but much more modern than other buildings because it was built when the addition was. We came in for lunch and had fish pasta, fresh cut pig meat. I forget the cut but I heard the saw working so know its fresh. As we ate it started raining so maybe that prolongs our rest. Yesterday Paola was prepared to drive us about an hour to catch the bike race, but first thing in the morning we found a schedule and caught the early train to savona. Upon arrival we didn't know how to get to the starting line, but one stop in a sport shop and they gave us directions. We were three hours early so we walked through the start area, then took pictures and walked down the street towards the savona beach. Pulled off at a market and had a beer, just since there was so much time before the race. The little stand also made great focaccia bread, offered of course free of charge. So that negated the need to find lunch. After, we walked back to the start line and the team buses were arriving. That was the highlight of the day. The buses all have the logos and sponsors on them, they look like a big jersey from the team. They put the bikes on display outside the bus for people to scope out, just sitting on a rack. There are also the cars parked next to the bus with all the extra bikes loaded on top, the cars are painted up in all the logos as well. The coolest part though is when some of the riders come out, some ride the stationary bike to warm up. Others just walk right off, get on the bike and cruise straight through the crowd to the starting line. We assume they weren't very good, and made it through the mass unrecognized. Actually there are so many people on bikes and dressed up in their bike gear that sometimes you don't know who's a racer and who's spectator. But if you look closely you can figure that a professional probably doesnt carry a cell phone and reading glasses in their pocket. We waited outside of the RadioShack bus, because it's recognizable as lance armstrongs team, though he doesn't ride. One rider from the team was a favorite, Frank Schleck. We waited for him to come off to get our picture of the star and of course he was the last one off and had to do an interview before he started. After he left though we walked to the start and found numerous riders making last minute preparations, and they were much more interesting to see. We caught the start from about 30 seconds down the road and then the entire thing was over. We had some interesting train connections to make, but we finally did. Got home and picked cherries, then some bees made a hive in the tree so they had to be apprehended.

Oggi

This morning Zabeth, Paola and I weeded the entire front walkway. It's actually an elevated flower garden, iris and lavender. There are tons of flowers here, key for the bee population. We weeded until late morning, and then Sergio had a little tractor problem that required attention. He was mowing all the excess grass down on the tractor, when he ran over some unused portion of chain link fence. You can mildly imagine the dilemma. After about ten minutes of work the best course of action was take it to the barn. The next action was of course, hook the chain link to the even bigger tractor and rip said chain link out. It actually worked, until the chain link ripped, leaving the part coiled in the mower still coiled in the mower. Next step... Grinder! Cut chain link out FORCEFULLY! Worked some but not all, so then we settled ourselves to manually snipping with wire cutters. The reward? By the time we finished lunch was ready, and the chain link came out. Lunch was bacon, and eggs, in pasta! Carbonara! Instead of the usual post afternoon doldrums, we stayed alert, because we might be getting a ride to see the bike race tomorrow. Since we don't speak Italian we don't know of that's actually happening, but it's better to prepare for the best and allow for regular day. Zabeth stayed around the house and helped clean out the cantina, sometimes known as a cellar, or better yet the butcher room. I and Sergio went to fill up 15 jugs of wine for the party this Sunday. Mid way thru the filling we had to go help a friend fix his hay bailer? Sergio is a heavy machine operator as well. He got the thing fixed, and we were on our way it before somebody realized io no Capitol Italiano. Sergio told them I was American, and the guy rut away pulls out a business card from a fine cheese importer in Cambridge mass. Turns out he makes fine cheese, so he takes us into his lair and requisitions ftwo blocks of goat cheese for us to take. We go back and finish the wine, then sight see on the way home. Zabeth made dinner, which is pretty fun around here. Grab some salami, boil some pasta, or not, prenda la formaggio, and eat. Zabeth made cherry pie, a big hit! Hopefully we're going to the tour tomorrow?!

Monastero Bormida

Luna Di Miele farm is a like a spoonful of honey on a toasted English muffin...delightful. We arrived to their home that overlooks the valley. It is beautiful with green covered mountains, river, vineyards in every direction and best of all good people. We have lucked out these last 2 months not needing to know a lick of Italian, but now we are Surrounded by a family of five that solely speaks Italian. it's difficult, but this is what we originally wanted, to come to Italy and live on an Italian farm!

Adele is 10 and right away she took us to a cherry tree that we happily gorged ourselves on, then she picked some strawberries for us. There are peach, apple, pear, persimmon ect. Trees, also kiwi and blackberry plants. The bees are kept in boxes right outside of the house in the garden along with the vineyard. There is so much going on here, they have 4 pigs, 3 miniature goats, 3 varieties of chickens, rabbits, 2 turtles, 2 mice, ducks and geese. The farm is small, but has a lot going on and the family is really down to earth and hardworking. Th grandmother lives here too and she runs the apgarden and kitchen, she is cool, what you would omagine a typical old Italian woman to be like.

Cont... Today we mowed the lawn getting ready for nicolettas catholic baptism party. We had lunch with fernanda and the 2 girls came home from school. After, a friend comes and we all pile into his truck and go to his farm. He has an apple tree swarming with bees. We put on suits, Puff smoke at them and they Are persuaded to move their home into a box with trays. I'm really happy because this was exactly what I wanted to see and do coming here.

Genova & Pisa

Pisa was not on the schedule until my dad said when we were in Trieste " isn't there a leaning tower there or something? " no, but there is one In Pisa! For some strange reason Dillon really took to the tower, almost like he understood it's 12 foot lean didnt haveto do with gravity or that people built it on clay, but that the building itself subconciously new the only way it would become famous was if it Leaned! Genova has been on my mind since my mom mentioned she visited once. It is really great, very different from all the other places we have been because it is a...city. There are cars driving on 3 lane roads, along with modern hotels and apartments. However, it is not just a big modern city, it is split between new and old as well as its harbor. (note: frommers book warned readers multiple times about walking around harbors at night). Our hotel is pretty close to city center so we walked there tonight and saw the famous black and white middle age buildings and churches,which they now have put stores inside! It is so cool that these buildings are still standing and in such great condition that they are used daily by people today. It is like people haven't built a new building in the past 70o years...everything is old and historical, but still functional. We stopped at a cocktail bar that had a great apperitivo including mussels, salad, pasta, crab ect for 6.50, great deal until we saw drinks were also 6.50...by some crazy luck though the cocktails were added in the apperitivo price! Not feeling like we got taken, but took them feels great! Feeling good on our choice we went to a brewery in a back street piazza. tomorrow we are planning on going to the colorful oriental market, then going to the 2 nd largest aquarium in Europe before we get on our train to acqui termini. Happy mothers day all and happy birthday to my beautiful, intelligent, Positive souled sister and to my always curious, ready for any turn in life, wonderful dad. Love zab

Siena

So there's lot to catch up on. We came to piza today, but we left the farm in Thursday. We rode the train to Siena, which took eight hours from Abruzzo. Then we arrived and booked a campground, also sister campgrounds with our place in Rome. The first night, Thursday we ate pizza nd salad in th restaurant and went to bed early. It was so nice to be in a place on our own that we booked Friday night as soon as we arrived. Friday morning we walked half an hour into the city center. There was a lot of shopping, but we made it piazza drl campo. Famous for outdoor horse racing twice a year. From here we took pictures, soaked in sun, nd climbed to h op of the bill tower at the church. It's the highest point in town. It's Tuscany,mso the entire country side is green, speckled in vineyards,moline gomes and farms. It's really the best view and the most typical you think of in Italy. Afterwards we worse anus through town, and did some suburban shopping in the evening, looking at a bike store, coffee shop, and shoe store. We ended up there because we thought about renting bikes, but it just wasn't possible with today's schedule. For the first time we got to see real Italian people doing day to day things, we always knew they didn't just hang out and ride buses and go to historic churches. It wore us out so we had the same pizza and salad dinner at the campground and went to bed. This morning, we did the normal coffee, pastry deal, then left our bags and rode the bus down to the city center. We w spe more sights including the medici fort, and another church. Our alms was in the form of Parmesan nd salami, which was accepted graciously. Then we caught a bus to the camp for our bags, and then tithe train station to leave for Pisa.

Piza

So we have been on the move and happy, there is a lot of catching up to do but that's for another iti. For now were in Pisa. We arrived at I've thirty, and takes with a polish guy also waiting for the door man to let us all in. Then we chilled, cleaned up, showered and surfed the net until around seven thirty. When we left the hotel people were just coming out so everything looked like fun. We stopped for an apperitivo, but the people in front ordered multiple drinks, so we stole some snacks and moved on instead of waiting around.we had a place in mind anyway. We walked over the Arno river and towards the university, there we found a highly recommended and giggly crowded pizza jont, il montino. Famous for chick pea pizza, and focaccia rolls stuffed with pizza. Tough to get a table, but the proprietor was awesome and found us a table, then helped us thru our order. Zabeth and I devoured two pizzas, she uttered the phrase... Tomorrow when we're here for lunch.... To offset consumption we walked about ten minutes to the most awesome sight seen on our trip, the leaning tower. it is surrounded by a huge dome and church, but these three structures stand part, and are surrounded by grass, whereas in other cities they are in the center. The tower was inspiring, from now on we agree that when someone tells us the correct way to do anything, we are going to reference the leaning tower! Next stop was a brewery, very close to the pizzas ace, but we decided to exercise first. Today we googled piza beer, and Leo and behold they had a microbrewery. Orzo Bruno, so we go. It was fun, we each had a beer and some yogurt mousse for desert, before we knew it it was midnight. When we walked outside the streets were caked with college kids just walimg around and talKing and drinking. We wanted to join, so we Mae a hot lap and had one night cap. Them it was a 1 lm walk home now we sleep, but breakfast is already out on the table. Buona notte.

Captions

Thfirst picture is all the wwoofers eating lunch outside with the farm, I forget the order, but you will also see some photos of lanciano, which we visited the other day. You will also see our picnic in the fields on the day of liberation, April 25 th. the three of us are z, dil, and drew. The man with th boy is Simon, an English family friend who has an English language school in town, and the boy is Moreno. One photo is the sun coming up over the farm, and the other was taken while waiting for the train to go to the festival. Another picture is the actual festival, as you see it's a saint covered in snakes. One photo is Zabeth eating, and also her kwi eggs, and the garden bed she made? Then the Hungarian BBQ.

Monday

Its a slightly overcast day here in fossacesia, more specifically the localita we live in is called piano favaro. The morning started as usual with horse clean up, then drew and I came in for coffee and bread and jelly. Breakfast conversations follow, normally regarding what chores need to be done. This morning was clean up from Saturday nights dinner. It didn't happen yesterday because the hungarian crew came over yesterday again for lunch. We cooked the kebabs remaining from Saturday, and had bread and salad. Zabeth, the kids, dillon, drew, and peter, the english speaking Hungarian all played soccer after lunch. We played in the main horse arena, using wheel barrels as our goal. Recently we have also figured out how wonderful of a place the arena is for frisbee, once the poop is clean. Back to today, Zabeth washed out around 50 beer bottles from the weekend because they are saved and used for canning the harvest of pomodori. I made bread, but stalled and took a nap while giving the bread time to rise. For lunch we had lentils in pasta. After lunch things slow down, we had coffee and watched Lorena play pick up sticks. Zabeth is asleep like a log.

Hungary for dinner

So the new job around here today was a complete shuffle of living space and rooms. Wednesday night two people showed up and joined the crowd. They are Germans and their business is building ikea stores. they are building a new store in Chieti, the capital of the province we live in now. These two German fellows have the contract, but all of their construction workers, subcontracted, are from Hungary. The German guy who is the boss, schteven, is incredible. For instance, instead of getting all the workers hotels he rents them a farmhouse in the countryside! This last weekend the work was getting the lower part of the next door house ready for the German and 6 other hungarians. Once that was done and they arrived things were kosher. Last night though, schteven had another eight workers show up from Hungary, he had rented another agriturismo over the Internet, but once he showed up it was not quite what the website advertised. In response he asked Carlo what the odds were of renting some more property here at the farm. Whatever the odds, they probably weren't as good as the money schteven offered, because this morning we were all informed that we would now be living in the living room, as Carlos sister would takes our room, and more workers would move into the upper part of her house! This morning we packed up and moved in... Or out... Who even knows.... To the living room. Around five the rest of the workers showed up and settled in the house next door. Aside from trying to nap five feet away form the kitchen sink, and changing clothes in the computer room, we really can't complain. As I said the boss is excellent, and for dinner tonight he bought about 5o sausages, lamb, salad, potatoes, beer, 10 liters of wine, bread, and formaggi, and everything else you can imagine. We lit two outdoor fires and cooked all the meat over an open flame. The moon is full and the table is covered in candle light and food. Everyone is happy, STUFFED! And speaking multiple languages.

Hope for humanity

Yesterday Zabeth and I went to town for some chores. One thing on our list was to put minutes on the cell phone. Immediately we found a megastore that dealt all major brands and other sound equipment. The lady at the counter showed us what we needed to do and how much time we could add for 25 dollars. Then she walked us to the register to pay, I forked over my card and was only charged 15. I didn't say anything until we left,nut Zabeth noticed too that the price was low. I was concerned that we had just been had,nthey take payment but nothing happens on our phone account. Worse yet I gave them my credit card so they could feasibly charge more after we left.nthe next hour I was moderately consumed by the notion. Then we received a text saying thanks for purchasing credit, so we felt relief. Then ten minutes later the lady who waited on us called and said that she undercharged us, it seemed she lost the figure in the translation. Went from being vulnerable in a foreign country, to being responsible for this nice lady losing her company ten dollars. She asked us to come back? Seeing as how we went from the had to the haver,mew could have easily avoided the situation forever, but understanding the angst we felt all morning until she called, we dutifully walked back to the store and gave her the rest of her money.

Warming

We decided yesterday that we're going to be leaving here on the morning of the tenth. One week. It's a little short of our month that we planned on being here, but it's also close enough. Yesterday dillon made bread during the morning, and Zabeth made three excellent pizzas for dinner. One with wild greens, one with potatoes, and one with tomatoes. Carlo said it was the best American made pizza he had ever tasted. There are some people moved in next door, staying for a month. They are a foreign working group here to open a new Ikea in the town of Chieti. They are lucky that the company puts them in a from house near the ocean, rather than the motel. It's fairly interesting because mass produced furniture is the antithesis of Carlo, himself a master carpenter crafting small prices in his homemade workshop. Irony. This morning we got an early start on shoveling up horse poop, so that by noon as it warmed up we were fairly done. We took a walk to the store, then sat under an olive tree and drank a Peroni, and ate a block of Parmesan.

Festivo serpentine

This hours day we planned to take the day off and travel to cuculo, for the snake festival. It's held first Thursday every may, until this year. It has now switched to the first of may, but luckily we found out late last night and ADAPTED accordingly. Game plan was 440 wake up, train hat 510 to pescara. Pescara to cuculo at 620, fun and snakes all day. We arrived on time, but there is no 5 am train on holidays, such as may day! Luckily here was one at 8 30, so we hunkered down on the beach and watched the sun rise. Then napped, chilled, thawed, and walked back to la stazione. We barely made the pescara connection, a special train running only for the festival. We made cocullo at 1130, great timing. It's a mountain town about two hours away, with 280 inhabitants. Te patron saint is domenica, guard against toothache and snake bites, and today is a celebration of him. It is a mass famously ending in a bell rung with teeth, and hen they parade a statue of the saint down the main street. The statue is covered in snakes! So it's a big party, with street vendors, period music and costumes, meat, sweets, junk. We left at 440 and got back to Ffossacesia @ 8 thirty, now we're home and pooped, goodnight.

Beginning the week

We spent all of our weekend here at the farm. So far we haven't had any days away. With all the hustle and bustle around the spring time it has been tough to find a good day to get away. There are guests coming may 2nd for agriturismo in the adjoining house to the farm. So there has been a lot of work cleaning, painting, and preparing for guests. This evening the work was finally finished and things went back inside. I know they are relieved to be done with that rush. Too bad we can't say tht we were of great help, We kind of opted out of house moving chores and peacefully enough spent the day cleaning up after the horses and cooking. Thought we were going to have to wait until Thursday for a day off, but the object of our day has been moved to tomorrow! The annual parade of snakes in cucollo. So our day off is moved up correspondingly to tomorrow! Wish we had all the words to say how much we miss everyone and have enoyed being a part of all the changes through the Internet.... Happy mayday tomorrow

Fuoco de campa

Last night was pretty fun. During breakfast and lunch we were still all kind of lethargic from the family Saving. Drew suggested a good activity though to which we all rallied around. A fire. We spent the morning cleaning the horse stalls, afternoon gardening. Then Zabeth, dillon and drew walked to fossacesia for some party supplies, about 15 wieners and a few beers. We also stopped at a cafe in town which Zabeth and I have been frequenting every time we go, the cafe teatro. We came home, fed the horses for the evening, and then cleared up the fire pit. Zabeth popped popcorn, with tons of oil and salt,malthough there is no such thing as to much salt in Italy.we also had some hummus left over from lunch, bread, hot mustard and bread. Carlo was in his carpentry shop working on a roof for someone, and Gunda was helping him, so an outdoor dinner fit in good with their work schedule. They took a break, and we all put weeny on sticks and roasted. All in all I think we were outside for two or three hours, burning olive branches and other yard waste. The kids went to bed first, because they have school on Saturday. It was a nice night.

Sadness

Yesterday our new family and friends left. It was an unfortunate situation. Without gossip and value judgements, it was a pretty necessary thing. They arrived Saturday night, as mentioned and we all ate a late dinner, chatted, and it was a pretty crazy house. But since it was Saturday and the first night there was nothing less to be expected. We all drank wine, and dinner wasn't over until about midnight... Fn but not what you would expect every night. Sunday was a pretty long day. The kids were trying to get used to being entertained by a farm, although they played with the kids here pretty well. The parents were trying to watch the kids, but also figure out how to perform some jobs on the farm. They really wanted to contribute, but also had to keep the kids out of the way. They also had to figure out how to take care of the kids in someone else's home, things like where to change a diaper, or make a snack, or what to make...shower, etc. all the things you take for granted when you have your own space. Then sunday night we all went to lanciano and helped a friend cut grass, then we had pizza for dinner. The new family stayed here, in hopes of acclimating to the environment without anyone else around to judge or direct them, but I think they just felt left out and in the dark. Both sides are perfectly rational, they just don't work together. Monday was nice, the kids played together, and got to ride horseback. Zabeth and I had a good time watching them a little while we worked with their mom in the garden, or on the horses. As things got better outside though, it was still difficult in the common areas, picking up toys, having kids crying and running around, and trying to organize eleven schedule including four kids around one common task. We hoped though that eventually everyone would start to mould to the environment, and things would slowly change and we would be one big happy family. Wednesday was a holiday, and once again the family was left alone to celebrate and have time together while the rest of us went to work in another olive grove. Wether they had a good or bad day I don't think it mattered, they probably felt a little isolated. We all ate together Wednesday night, it was tense again with all the commotion but what else could there be... Yesterday Carlo and Gunda asked the family to make some changes that they thought were necessary for the experience to work out, we weren't involved in the convo and avoiding gossip and speculation, let's just say the changes were deemed too much and the family promptly packed up their things. They were still welcomed for lunch, but they hardly ate and it was a tense and weird situation. I know they are sad and disappointed that it didn't work out as hoped. Zabeth and I were pretty sad as well because we made good friends, the mother was just a little older than us. The kids were pretty cute and I think if they were visiting us or vice versa we would have no problem entertaining, watching, scolding, or enjoying them. But on the farm it wasn't so easy, and so they left.

2 many roosters for my taste

Our perspectives have changed, we have gladly accepted that we are no longer wwoofers here but living in a commune. It's a good life once you get the hang of it! Today i woke up a little late so dillon Let the chickens out and fed them due to the 2 roosters continual cocka doodling. It has become very unnecessary to have 2 overloaded testosterone driven, loud roosters so Carlo asked us which one shouldbe dinner! Ulia and I headed down soon after and started mucking the horse paddocks. She is really cool and Carlo and her have offered to let us stay in their home in Austria for our final week or 2 in Europe. After, we enjoyed breakfast of gundas jam of figs and green tomato along with bread dillon made. I have had a headache everyday so I have started eating an egg in the morning to get some protein..possible cause. Ulia and I again volunteered to clean the horse stalls, then I found dillon slaving away in the garden planting tomatoes...so I brought us some beers. Little milla was helping as well...she looks like Heidi from the Swedish show. Dill and I started getting a plot for chicory ready when Ulia made a really good tea with the skin and core of apples we shared before lunch. soon after espresso and new Carlo had his rum 4 digestion, me, the new family, Marino and Lorena made our way to the beach, dill was up for stall cleaning with drew. I am making a wild greens and tomato pizza and new Carlo is making frittata...with lots of olive oil! tomorrow is Carlos birthday, which is also Italy's liberation holiday...very special so dill is going to bust the harmonica out 4 the occasion. Hope all is well with u guys, love z and d.

Typical days

So at this farm there aren't really weekends or non working time. Since there are horses, there is always work to do taking care of them you can make yourself useful all the time. Of course you can take personal time whenever necessary, but it just helps to let someone know beforehand so they an cover your task. It's much less like a typical production farm, with set hours and goals and projects. Instead it's just kind of a pastoral life, and for everything you put into the work you get things like vegetables, fruits, olive oil, maybe some eggs and wine. A typical day begins with horse feeding before breakfast, although this just switched from after to before breakfast as the days start earlier. Drew, another American knows the horse routine best, and has been here the longest, so it's his responsibility and sometimes we just help him. Then breakfast of toast and homemade jelly, and coffee or tea. Then everyone cleans up, and we go about some outside tasks. Such as planting in the garden, cleaning up after the horses, or bundling firewood from the olive pruning. There's no time limit on tasks, but lunch is normally served at two so you decide best wether to finish, cut it short and finish later, or save some work for another day. After lunch it slows down until about now, 430. Then everyone digests, horses get fed, people walk, read, entertain themselves, exercise, blog, kind of whatever. Drew feeds the horses again at night,nd we try and help him so that he can get in for dinner earlier. We eat, clean, visit, ponder, blog, and pass time as necessary. Although the tasks are fairly simple, it is really a neat system when considered in its entirety. The horses eat and poop, which becomes manure and soil for the garden. Then you plant, harvest, can and store so that you can eat, and fuel yourself to pick up poop, move it to the pile, sift the pile, take it to the garden, plant and eat. If you get tired of this closed loop, prune some olive trees, press, enjoy.

Relief

After feeling out of place for a couple of days, then feeling okay for a while, and then missing our new wwoof friends and all the emotions of a new place we finally have something else to relate. Today some new wwoofers arrivano, they are a family of four from Vienna. Carlo, Julia, mila, and Arian. Without revealing too much and compromising their identity, it is safe to say that they are a family, the two latter names are a boy and girl of six and two years of age. They arrived this evening around six, while Zabeth and I were walking to the beach. They are supposed to stay mere for two months before starting new jobs in September, but it seems they are having the same feelings on their first night that we had. Fr instance, they asked what time dinner began, where the bathroom was, and if the showers were hot. N they are not was the answer. It of course can be tough to get used to as we experienced. Bt it seems that nothing makes you feel more welcome than new guests. Zabeth and I talked about knowing how they felt, and making them feel god while at the same time being honest about what life is like around here. I think Zabeth and I are figuring out that it's not too hard, but it's different.

AJ

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Sun

Today was a little warmer than yesterday. Actually the sun shined all day so it was a natural mood lifter. The total number of wwoofers is down to four, but will be down to three this weekend, before going back up. Mornings here begin with a slice of bread and some home made jelly, fig, and tea or coffee as you prefer. Everyone makes it to the table as the please, although Carla and Gunda are up around 6 30 to get the kids ready and off to school. Once they leave we all get up, and then as we eat we get a task list for the day. This morning we cleaned and then I helped Drew Feed the horses, while Zabeth and Molly started in on some basic wood garden clean up. Like I said its tough to find our place here, mostly because there have been many people in and out. Plus as always, we are but babies when it comes to the inner workings of this farm. So we have to learn how to do the routine all new. Combine that with trying to connect with two new people, who are at the same time trying to connect with not just us, but many people, and raise two kids and run a farm. It doesn't come quick, but thanks to the sunshine and some conversation with each other things are getting a little smoother with each hour, like we learn where the dishes go, and where the wood pimple for the fire is. Today though after the beautiful morning we ate spaghetti for lunch. Lunch is a little later because the kids come home from school around two,and they don't eat there so we wait for them and all eat together. It was so nice that we ate outside. Then z and d took a ten minute nap, woke up, and walked down to the beach. We sat there and talked about the need for adaptation, survival of the fittest, and what we would tell people at dinner parties when we got home. It was a good day!

Abruzzie

So far we have not made it to the beach. The other night we ate too late, and everyone was too tired to walk down to the beach at such a late hour. Today it rained so the work was rather limited, so Zabeth and I set off on our own, but after a few wrong turns we ended up on a dirt road on a hill overlooking the beach. Rather than attempt to work our way down, we simply turned around and salvaged energy for another day. This evening thou, the rain finally cleared up, and the sky was a beautiful blue and orange glow, it was greatly needed after a full day of clouds and rain. Two more wwoofers left today, so it is down to four of us now. Later this week though we hear rumors of a family joining the fray. We have enjoyed learning from the group, and visiting with the kids around here, Lorena and Moreno.

Made it

We have made it to our next farm. We left the campground around ten, in case we met some delays, but our bus wasn't until two. It took a bit, but we were able to spot the bus terminal, get tickets, and relax. With the extra time we walked around and ended up dining on Chinese food. Then we got on a nice double decker bus, and rode out of Rome through a surprisingly mountainous region towards Pescara. We got in during a rainstorm to Lanciano, then caught a ride to our new farm. There are several other woofers here, all American, although two left today, and HTML more will be leaving tomorrow. Today we fed the horses and moved a fence. Then one of us picked wild herbs for lunch. We just walked down to the store, and hopefully tonight big American beach fest.

 the last supper... dessert

 an ode to our friends in alagna

 roman theatre in trieste

 roman theatre in trieste

 farmers market, horses arent just for riding.....in italy they are for eating

 nadja, elke, zabeth on easter

 stevem sara, lucy is a dog, zab, dil

 coliseum in verona

tuscany, outside florence on the bike ride

In and Out of Rome

Last night we went to a couchsurfing meetup in Florence, although we were unable to make a host, we did make a friend with a Chinese guy studying in Florence, and he offered to take us to the museum this morning. Since we committed we promptly left the couchsurfing party to opt for sleep. On the way home we met our friends from the bike tour. However, we didnt follow them back to the party. We got up early and met our CS friend, Enzo, at a museum, where we walked around until noon. Then we had to walk to the train station and hop on a train down to Rome. Seeing as how we had no friends to see, places to visit, or major time restraints, we booked a bungalow(Italian for a half-wide trailer) on the outskirts of town. It required jumping the subway, then city train, then camp shuttle to get here. Once arrived though we have been pleasantly surprised. It is on the banks of a river, which looks more like an industrial port than scenic white water. There are lots of campers though, and now we are having dinner and using internet in the bar. Rome is too big, and we are too fried on sights to absorb anything in the city, so this works out perfectly. Our matresses would probably not hold a malnourished boy scout above floor level for twenty minutes, but at least we have each other. And when we get home, we will have you. Love everybody, have a good weekend!

Wheels in Florence

We arrived in Florence midday with the sun shining on our packs. We made a 15 minute walk to our hotel Bavaria. It was more than we could of asked for, especially for price. After 3 flights of stairs we meet the hotel tendant and his overgrown pug. Our room overlooked the bustling street which was fun to watch while eating our new jar of peanut butter from Steve with carrots and apples. It has been difficult to keep a regular digestion pattern with the kebabs, pizza, crissants, and wine....so we went to the store for some produce. At 9 we attended an Italian play, originally called breakfast at tiffanys! After we walked the streets, we settled for getting jipped at a university bar by getting 7 euro glasses of wine. This morning we anticipated heavy rains, but we decided to make the most of it and headed to the bike shop after our wonderful complimentary breakfast. We were able to leaveourbagsat the hotel. We met our bike guide Rebecca from England and four other bikers from Boston and Israel. We jumped on our bikes with zest and rode out of the city to the chianti region. We had a minor setback when our fellow rider fell into the rode and the back spoke broke. We made our way to coffee shop to wait for someone to bring a new bike....and of course he biked to meet us. We pedaled through villas and rolling hills of olives and grapes. We arrived at our destination at the top of a hill andhadlunch at an olive orchard where the owner also gives cooking classes. We ate a wonderful lasagna paired with red wine, bread with tomatoes topped with their olive oil, cheese, and salami unique to this area. It was the best meal dill and I have eaten since luca and Elena's! After we stuffed ourselves they brought out a strawberry tiramisu paired with a dessert wine. It was money well spent. After ride back into city we grabbed our bags and walked to hotel Montreal.....

Past few days

Tuesday morning we woke up at Steve's place in Vicenza. We slept in and as soon as we walked out to explore, we found a farmers market. Zabeth did a potato load, so we went back up and dropped those at the apt. Then we walked up the hill from the city center to a big dome, built by Palladio. He is the main draw for the town as he revived Greek architecture there in the 1500s. There's a big church as well, The basilica Palladina, monte berico. Well a lot of stuff. As it was a relaxing day for us we made the berico our main stop. Steve called and invited us rock climbing with another American, Sara. We spent two hours in the woods, followed by one hour eating pizza. The next day we were supposed to take the train to Verona, but it was raining all day. We left at 9 for tickets, but as the weather was crap, just came home and rested until the noon train. As soon as we arrived in Verona we bought an umbrella, then plodded miserably along for half an hour. Rather than allow our swamp feet and inverted umbrellas to stop us, we pushed on through to the arena. One of the biggest ever built, and still regular home to live music. One click of the camera, and our journey was complete. We bought two kebabs, then agreed to lay off the kebabs for a while. Walked outside and the sun broke through.... Figuratively as we bought a bus ticket and rode three minutes to the train station. Our train was delayed over an hour, to our liking, since we had nowhere to be in this rain soaked mess. At six we got back to Steve's and just kind of relaxed. We Cooked the potatoes, which for Zabeth was like Christmas. Then we packed our bags in anticipation of leaving again Thursday morning.

Fresh air

So last night, Venice seemed mostly like a tourist destination. Although we feel that our trip is special, it's hard to feel unique when walking around amidst street vendors selling the same t shirts and hot dogs, and people looking at the same maps you are, and announcing to their family in English that we don't know where we are. Especially as we checked our map, argued about from where we came, and relished in 2 dollar brats. But we resigned to the fact that the point of Venice is to see it, you must come and take pictures and enjoy it as everyone else is just because it is so unique, a city with no roads. As it was, we were happy with other things, the chance to talk to family, sleeping in a hotel, having groceries in the fridge. Then our hotel offered to keep our bags until we left, so we felt more than satisfied by the ability to walk around for three hours this morning while our bags waited back at the Al Gallo. We started by slowly meandering our way for some cappuccino, croissants, and general sugar. A real Italian breakfast. Then we came down from our high and split a sandwich, then a kebab before it was time to head back for our bags. In the meantime we had meandered completely across the island to piazza San Marco, itself the hub of activity with tour lines extending out and around churches and museums. As we made our way through there was always one individual holding a colored umbrella up high so that his tour group could keep up behind and avoid following young American couples into the Grand Canal. We picked up our bags and went to make one final stop at a pizzeria con Internet for a late lunch and to make sure we werent missing anything. After that we were going to head to stay in Vicenza for a few days before making our way farther down south. I called our friend Steve, from Vicenza, who just happened to be in Venice himself for the Easter holiday. He ditched his own plans and came to meet us just down the street from our pizzeria. When he showed up he was with his friend Leslie, herself an expat and current native Venizian. We followed her to her place to stash our bags and to follow them for a small tour. Immediately the cloud lifted from Venice, she turned out of the main walkways and took us into Cannaregio I believe, her neighborhood. Her apartment was wonderful, hidden from the main walkway by first a giant green door, then a small atrium, followed by a huge lawn and garden complete with cats. Next to her house is actually a rig to lift your boat out of the water, if she had a backyard... Well she does, it's an entire canal. Se took us on a short tour to get coffee, and then over to the first ghetto in the world. The name comes from... It was a Jewish ghetto because.... I need to research this before I write it but Steve and Leslie knew the answers to these questions and many more facts about Venice than any umbrella throttling tour guide could memorize in a career. We walked back to Leslie's and tossed the frisbee, letting her finish some work and tossing the frisbee. The master of the garden stopped in to tell us that frisbee is explicitly forbade in Venice, to which we apologized, even though his visit was quite cordial including asking where we were from and shaking hands as he left. Then we went out for a little aperetivo, as the wind picked up and the sun set. One more stop at a jazz and seafood bar, for some hush puppies and French fries, and then it was time for us to pick up our bags and get on the train from Venice to Vicenza. Crowded train and everyone slept peacefully.

Nor Easter

Yea, not too much available. We woke up, Elke made us tea and her special homemade bread and hard boiled eggs for a special Easter breakfast. It was nice to be around a family and newly made friends for the holiday morning, but since they had actually planned to celebrate together and it was an afterthought for Zabeth and I we wanted to give them some time to celebrate alone. Our day consisted of a little public transporting, followed by some reading. Then we found an open coffee bar and had a drink, tried to stay dry as it started raining, and the wind blew. Then we actually found a nice place for some pizza and pasta for a typical Italian lunch. Since its Easter we came for a little FaceTime and Skype rendezvous to tell everyone happy holiday, but it was church time so we weren't able to catch everyone, just my good mom. Then Zabeth and I took some time to sit down. Upon venturing back out, we took a hint from our fellow guests and went to the grocery store for some cheese, salami, wine and fruit so that we could have our own special Easter feast. it seemed like we could still spend some energy before Easter was over so we went back out and walked around for a bit, where we stumbled on some spaghetti that out our store bought groceries on hold. Very good anyway, and Zabeth and I had a nice time walking around in the cool evening, with most people home for celebration.

Triestin

Well since its a holiday there wasn't really too much available and going on around Trieste. Buses were running but on the festive schedule, and our friends Nadja and Elke had planned ahead and bought snacks to celebrate Easter. Last night when we got home from our day, they were dying eggs and making bread. Yesterday actually, we altogether went into town in the morning, and went to a huge produce market that is only open once a week. We spent a half hour looking around, and buying a few things for quick consumption. Turns out produce markets are not the kinds of thing you want to frequent unless you can take the produce home and cook it over the course of a few days. Ater the market though we rode the Trieste tram way up to the top of the hills. Unfortunately, that's not where the view is, so we took it back down a few stops to the napoleonica road, a wagon carriage road built by Napoleon (presumably) which is now kind of a civic green space for exercise. We walked the trail 3 kilometers and passed quite a few local fitness enthusiasts en route to our the bus stop. Since were all on vacation, we stopped as soon as the green space was over at a small cafe and had coffee, cheese sandwiches, and a touch of wine for a small lunch. Then we mulled away some minutes waiting for the bus to come. An old lady stuck her head out of her house, smiled and seemed to ask in Italian if we were waiting for the bus. We said yes, we can only surmise.... Bt then we think she said, oh did you just have coffee, cheese sandwiches and wine at the restaurant, now you've come over here to pass some time standing on the side of the street in front of my house... And so we said yes again, and waved. We caught a ride back to town and split up. Nadja for Easter supplies, Zabeth and I for tourist information. They took an early bus home while Zabeth and I strolled the coast for a bit before sundown. Then we began the narrowing down process, deciding on a place to eat. Of all the places you walk by that seem god when your not hungry, it's so hard to finally decide when you are hungry. W.e finally settled on a kebab, and caught a fairly early bus ourselves.

Cheecago Illinois

Today was wonderful. We got up at eight, Zabeth got up and told me that the ship was sailing and I better be on it. We walked out of the house with Nadjas mom, Elke to find the bus stop. On the way we bought tickets and found the stop without any problems. Z and d go to town and arrive at ten. Without a plan, phone, or wifi, they wander aimless for two hours, but not without finding fresh food market on the grand canal, public restrooms, two espresso shots, ocean, who knew? Then decide to get act together beginning with purchase of a cell phone, almost purchased wifi chip but realized iPad not accessible, so settle on phone. With newly found confidence from accomplishment seek out tourist info and get a city map. Celebrate with kebab panini, falafel and then two more coffees at a wifi hot spot. Procrastinate on wifi until kitchen staff changes at coffee shop, then use tourist map to retrace steps of the morning. See old castle, roman theatre, old roman arch. At this point weather has changed from fog to sunshine, possibly as a result of our mood swing after doing some legwork to actually make trip sunny not just a foggy haze as well. Then think to call and make plans with everyone else so we try cell call but we can't contact our friends because there numbers are German. Back to wifi spot, this time beer and wine, send emails with contact info. Walk out feeling complete that we have done all we can, immediately bump into said friends and retrace path to castle. Weather beautiful, warm, sun reflecting on water, like Austin on an ocean! Head to dinner at fish market specializing in coastal catches. Everyone splits appetizer, then has pasta, experience first taste of restaraunterism in Italy. It costs 2 $ per person just to go in. Offset by all the free snacks you get during aperetivo. After dinner get gelato, walk 20 minutes to theatre, bar, cafe, called Rosetti. At ten o'clock, live from Chicago Illinois is the blues brothers mobile band, specializing in..... The blues. All intros in Italian, all songs in perfect English. Wonderful! Catch midnight bus back to our place, turns out bus is also popular hangout for every teenage kid in Trieste. All kids skinny (jeans), hip, and speaking Italian. One kid puts cigarette in mouth, gets off the bus, lights up. Bus drives 100 meters, makes a U, kid thumbs down bus from same spot, takes step up, flicks cigarette into the great midnight yonder, as automatic doors trap nicotine laced oxygen for all public transporting losers to inhale for a second the sweet scent of freedom.....aaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Try este?

The Internet showed we would make Trieste at 9, but when we got to the train station the ticket agent saved us about 50 dollars and 4hours tonight by connecting us thru Milan, Venice to Trieste. It was more crowded, but we were thankful for the extra time when we arrived because..... There was no Internet to be found. We planned on having it to contact our host tonight, checking the bus schedule, and to comfort general malaise. Instead we were forced to hurry to the bus stop, give a fanatic call to our host, and then get on the bus to his house without really knowing where it was. The bus promptly drove 2 minutes, pulled into the station and took a half hour break, but we were too nervous to get off. As soon as we moved we communicated what stop we neded with two locals, one of whom actually got off with us, walked us to a bar and told us to use the phone! Kind and helpful indeed. Tonight we are surfing along with a German girl and her mom, on her first experience. We all made couscous for dinner and shared some of Alagnas finest bread. Trieste is beautiful!!!!!! But well see for sure tomorrow. Buona notte

Bum journey

This morning was a bittersweet wakeup call from luca, because it was our last. He and Elena graciously woke up before the sun to make us cappuccino and nutella toast and say goodbye. Last night they let us cook them some fried chicken and mashed potatoes, which were made from their potatoes. Then we had special cake and pizza to ensure that the first evil of life in the big city will not be hunger. We are so grateful that we got to meet Elena, luca, and gege and Alagna. Today was as sad as it was saying goodbye to everyone three weeks ago. Our first stop became our new home, and we were like kids going to the first day of school today leaving Alagna with our apples and homemade loaf of rye. Sad, sad, sad. Thanks for everything

Weekend Recap

Last weekend was fun, On Saturday morning GeGe and Lucas brother Paulo took Zabeth and I on a hike in the Parco Naturale. It was about a ten minute walk up into views of the Monte Rosa, where we had lunch at a rifugo Pastorale.Waterfalls, animals, and of course the mountains.
Sunday Paulo rode the ski lift with us up into the mountains. The ride takes about 20 minutes and then we walked around to all the different retaurants and rifugos that await skiers once they arrive. We had a few coffee,s and admired the view for most of the morning. The alps are awesome, and very inspiring!
Everything cool, Leaving tomorrow, so today had been nice, plus the rain so there sint alot to do outside. mostly we have walked the town visiting Lucas friends and saying hello, nice to meet you, see you in the future.

foto

zabeth

luca bread

gege and zabeth

 stombecko

 dillon, zabeth, elena before the lift

 the alps

 weather today

 caffe delle guida

 luca elena

fog in alagna