Our Anniversary (Treviso and Venice)

We had a wonderful Anniversary weekend. We traveled to Treviso and back to the Romantic Venice. Treviso was pretty much a ghost town because all Italians pretty much take the month of August off for beach vacations, so any nontouristy places are all closed down. But it was still neat to see the rich town behind the walls. It is reminicent of Venice with canals running throughout the town, but on a much smaller scale. United Colors of Benneton is headquartered here, so you can imagine how fashionable everyone in Treviso is. Very Trendy and rich looking!
















Venice was beautiful as always. We went to the top of the bell tower in San Marco's square and saw such a beautiful sight. We spent romantic strolls throughout the city, relaxed at the little cafe's drinking wine, fanta and coke looking out at the canals. We shopped in the stores and explored some churches. We wanted to ride a gondola, but it cost almost $200 for 30 minutes, so we decided to wait until we could split it with others. We didn't have to ride a gondola to have a romantic evening. We had a romantic dinner and some gelato to end the evening and returned safely to Vicenza. I'm just going to post some pictures to look at. This trip was more relaxed so my blog will be as well. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Our First Year

Wow! What an exciting first year of marriage. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like it was just yesterday that our friends and family were all together for our perfect wedding day.

This year has been filled with some very important times for us. Reamer's graduation from OCS, our beautiful wedding day, amazing honeymoon in Maui, Airborne Graduation, IBOLC graduation, and of course THE DREADED RANGER SCHOOL--and wonderful graduation. I stayed very busy with work as a commercial banker and doing my best to prepare for our big move. Also staying busy with chores and friends while Reamer was doing all of his training.

During our first year of marriage, we have also had a ton of fun. We really enjoyed getting to know the other LT's and their wives. Also, getting together with our college friends was a blast as well. We had a great time attending some of our friends weddings and had so much fun. Rock Band Parties were on the top of our list for having some fun and mixing new friends with old. (This mixture of friends even created a wedding and baby and a new happy relationship!) We visited family, spent time with parents, grandparents, and sisters and enjoyed having them to visit us.

As I look back to the "happiest day of my life" I realize why I was so happy. Of course the dress was amazing. The flowers were so beautiful. The cake was beautiful and delicious. The church was perfect. The bridesmaid dresses and tux's looked great. Everything went as planned to make the day so nice. But the real reason for my happiness was 2 fold. The first reason was; our family and friends. It was so great to have everyone that we cared about there with a smile on their face enjoying our day. We felt so blessed and lucky to have all of these amazing people in our lives and we realized it as we looked around us on that day.

The main reason for my happiness was that I knew that I would be with the most amazing man for the rest of my life. I'm not just being lovey dovey when I say this. I'm serious. I am married to the kindest, most thoughtful, handsome, strong, most fun, sweetest, smartest man in the world. I know that he loves me and will do everything that he can to take care of me and make me happy.

As a little girl you fanticize about your wedding day and picture yourself as a princess getting married to prince charming. Well, I lived and am still living my fantasy. I did marry prince charming. He treats me like a princess every day. I love him so much and feel like the luckiest person in the world to have him as my husband. I am excited to spend our lives together and have many adventures with my Prince Charming.

Vicenza's Teatro Olimpico

The Teatro Olimpico ("Olympic Theatre") was designed by the famous (especially in Vicenza) Andrea Palladio. This theatre is the first known example of covered theatre. (before that they were all outdoor theaters). After it was built, people came from all over the world to see the beautiful theater.

The theatre was commissioned in 1585 by the Accademia Olimpica ("Olympic Academy") of Vicenza for the eastern part of the city. The theater is the sole Renaissance structures to have survived until contemporary times, and the Teatro Olimpico is the oldest surviving Renaissance theater.

The theater is magnificently constructed to look like the street scenes of Vicenza with buildings/statues adorning every corner of the theater. The theater has been moved to Venice twice during times of war so that it would not be destroyed. Miraculously the structure has remained in perfect condition after over 500 years. The structure was made of plaster and wood and somehow is still the same as it originally was seating included.

The theater is open to the public to tour, and there are only 60 days throughout the year that productions are still held. We are hoping to see a production next May or June and have the full experience of the famous theater.

La Rotonda in Vicenza

La Rontonda was designed by the famous Andrea Palladio and is one of the greatest of his buildings. The villa was built in 1550 and sits ontop of a hill that overlooks the town of Vicenza. The villa has inspired many copies in London, St. Petersburg and Delhi. Also, For the competition to design the President's House in Washington, DC, Thomas Jefferson anonymously submitted a design that was a variation on the Villa Rotunda. Though James Hoban's Palladian design for what would become known as the White House was selected, the influence of the Villa Rotunda can also been seen at Jefferson's own iconic home of Monticello.

La Rotonda, was to be one of Palladio's best-known legacies to the architectural world. It may have inspired a thousand buildings to follow, but the villa was itself inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.

We were unable to see the inside because it is only open on Wednesday's so we will have to return another time to see the famous interior of this beautiful building.

Verona Italy

Verona is one beautiful city. It is clear that Romeo and Juliet fell in love in this beautiful place. It is about a 45 min train ride away from our little town of Vicenza, so we will definately be going back.

The city has many ancient Roman ruins (claimed to be only second to those in Rome). Also remains of medieval rulers are evident throughout the city. The 1st Centuary AD arena is the 3rd largest in the world and hosts fairs, bullfights, and opera productions. I'm hoping to go to an opera production one day!

Verona is a bustleing city the has numerous high end shops, endless cafe's/restraunts, gelateria's (ice cream) shops, coffe bars, beautiful catherdrals (with singing church bells), museums and so many other attractions. As we walked through the Plaze Erbe (a market that sells fresh fruits and vegetables) our noses smelled the sweet smell of fresh fruits and veggies. Everything was laid out beautifully and vendors sold thier goods enticing us with the smell.

Beside the beautiful Santa Maria Antica Church lies a strange reminence of a family of rulers that once presided over Verona in the 1300's. The Scaligeri family left impressive tombs that hang both above the streets and also below the streets (you can see them through glass) for all to see.

Teatro Romano and Museo Archeologico----The Roman theater was built in the 1st Century BC and still holds plays and opera's today. The semicircular seating remains intact for all to see. You can take the stairs to see all of the Roman artifacts and remains as well as an amzing view of Verona from a top the mountain. At the top there is a monastery that they have turned into an archaeological museum. The exhibits are in the monk's cells and showcase Roman artifacts, glass, pottery, and statues.

I was excited to see the Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house) from Romeo and Juliet! The original story was actually written in Vicenza by Luigi da Porto but the scenes are laid in fair Verona! Even though it is a fictional story, it is obvious that it has made an impression on the world. The ally in front of this fictional house was packed with onlookers. There were tourists from every single part of the world trying to get a picture of the famous balcony. In the house there is a seperate part where tourists are unable to go. This is reserved for the Club di Giulietta. Juliet's secretaries reply to thousands of letters pouring in from everywhere. They offer advice and support or they just listen to all those who feel the need to talk about love. They will write back to everyone who writes Juliet. They will translate any language and of course sign each letter from the love goddess herself (Juliet). If you are having love problems, questions, or just want to tell someone about your great love you should write her a letter!

We enjoyed our trip to Verona and can't wait to return to the city of love to have a little more wine and amazing food. Even though we enjoyed ourselves, we were exhausted on the train ride home. My sleepy Romeo was exhausted from our adventure and couldn't keep his eyes open on the ride home.

Stay Tuned for our Next Adventure....

Our New Town--Vicenza Italy

Reamer and I rented bicycles today and took a tour of our new town. It is georgous! Mountains surround the pretty little town and give it such a picturesque look. The streets are small and many of them are cobblestone with beautiful buildings. There are apartments above high end shops, gelateria's, cafe's and restraunts. The residents hang beautiful flowers from their balcony's and the cafe's put out chairs practically in the streets with umbrella covered tables. Life seems a little slower here and it makes you feel so realxed.

There are several parks throughout Vicenza that are beautiful, manicured and adorned with statues and ponds. We think that Champ will love it in these parks. We biked through the town and up the small little mountain that tops Vicenza. As you walk up this steep hill to get to the lovely view over the small city you can walk under a beautiful church-like walking path that takes you to the top.

Once you get there, you are greeted by the an amazingly beautiful church and clock tower. The church seems to always have a service and everytime we have been there the church bells sing us a beautiful song.You almost get the sense when you are there that the church is watching over it's town. As you go to the lookout, you see such a wonderful sight. Vicenza and all of it's glory is down below. The view is absolutely magnificent.

There is a small cafe that serves gelato's (ice cream) and cappucino's/wine/beer etc... We always reward ourselves with a gelato after a long hike/bikeride! Yummy!!!! We haven't yet tried the restraunt, but when we are dressed more appropriately, we will definately have to give it a try. (we probably need to wait until we have a car to avoid the hike)

We have met a bunch of LT's here and they all live in downtown Vicenza. We wen't over to one of their apartments last night and now I'm so excited to find ours!!! They are overlooking the town in all of it's splendor. Marble floors, huge rooms and enough room for plenty of guests!! I'm so excited to figure out where we will live. We will be talking to our Real Estate Agent next week and hopefully will get started on picking out our new home!

Sunday Trip to Venice

After doing some exploring in our new town of Vicenza on Saturday, we decided to take a short trip to Venice on Sunday. It only took about 45 min to an hour to get there by train. It wasn't too expensive and was really easy to do.

Venice is beautiful. It is really neat to be able to see it in person. It seemed like it was very touristy in several parts that we visited. If you stayed away from those main attractions and the bigger canals and stayed on the smaller paths/canals it was actually quite romantic. Venice is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We only saw a little bit of Venice, so it is a trip that we will have to make again, but that won't be a problem for us! There are beautiful catherdrals, shops, hotels, museums all throughout the city. There are several different districts in the city of Venice and I think that we only toured 1 or 2 of them. I'm sure that each will carry a different feel and we will have to see all of them. The gondolas are really neat and I can't wait until we get to ride on one. We will have to do that next time. They also have tons of regular motor boats as well. The people use the canals as if they were streets and there is many types of transportation on the water and there are huge canals/waterways and also small back-road canals as well. The thing that suprised me the most was the size of Venice. I didn't realize how big it actually was and now I see that it is going to take me several visits to get the feel for the entire city.

We're Here! (living in Italy)

Vicenza is absolutely beautiful!!! My camera isn't working right now so as soon as I figure out what's wrong, I will post pictures!! I can't believe how beautiful Vicenza is. It is amazing! I've never seen something so beautiful. The mountains surround the town and it is so pretty. We are so excited to finally be here. The wine and food is amazing too!!! Yummy! I will probably have more time to post my blog next week when Reamer starts work. I will try to keep everyone updated as time goes on! We are soooo happy to be here and as soon as we have a house/apartment??? we can't wait to have visitors to share our amazing town!!!! I will write more later!!!!!! We love you all!!!!!!!!