Nov 21, 2008

Traveling with friends

I have been kind of MIA for a few days. I have my first group of guests visiting from the United States! My friend Carol, her mom and her mom's husband have been here for about a week now. We have been going non-stop! We have been to Venice, Rome, Florence and of course Vicenza. Today we will take a day trip to Verona! They will be here for about another week and we will be traveling quite a bit. I left my camera in Rome but I am having it sent to me by our tour guide, so there won't be any pictures for a while. (Luckily the tour guide found it!!!)

I will write more after we return from our many adventures in a couple of weeks! I sure will have a lot to write about!

Nov 13, 2008

Italians are horrible drivers!

Yes. It's true. I got hit by a car too. Let's set the scene. It has been really rainy and foggy here for the last week or so. Very dreary! I had to go to post to buy some things from the commisary. So, I got on my bike (rain and all) and rode through town toward post. I was only about a block away when the incident occured. The road that the base is on is pretty busy and I never ride on the actual road because it makes me nervous. I always ride on the sidewalk, because I think it is safer. (ha ha ha)

This street has several houses that are behind big stone/brick fences with automatic fence doors. A girl quickly opened her fence door and sped out toward the street, on the sidewalk (where I was riding) without even looking. I saw her for about 1 second and tried to stop, but the ground was really slippery and I had no time to actually stop. She crushed right into me. I toppled over on top of the front of her car. Luckily she wasn't going very fast.

She felt really bad (thankfully she spoke English) and helped me fix my bike and gave me her information so that she could pay for any damages to my bike that I might find. My bike is fine and just needed to be realigned and the chains needed to be put back on.

I feel fine other than bruises on my leg and some soreness. After my accident, I can't imagine Reamer's. Mine was nothing like his. I'm really glad that he was Ok after it.

This country is crazy. The drivers are insane.

Someone told me that we needed to find a safer way of transportation, but I don't think that is possible here. Apparently, this country has the most lethal accidents in the world. Cars treat other cars much worse than they treat the bikers.....

And I'm not going to even get started on motorcycles and mopeds.

Don't worry mom, I'm fine. Just a little sore with some small bruises.

I promise we will be careful, but just in case, say a little prayer for our daily transport. :)

Nov 9, 2008

Back to Normal

Reamer and I love hosting parties and get-togethers. Especially during football season. We have always enjoyed having guests over to our home. We finally were at a point where we could have some friends over to our house without being embarassed about the mess. We thought that it would be perfect timing to have a few friends over to watch the Alabama game. Especially since two of them were LSU fans and one went to Alabama grad school! Of course we had another Ohio State couple, but they were pulling for Bama to win anyways!

Even though it wasn't a big deal, it just made me feel like things are getting back to normal. Now that the house is finally starting to come together and we can watch American TV shows and football games I am feeling a little more like myself. Traveling Europe and having great adventures is amazing, and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but there is something so comforting about eating hotwings and cheese dip and watching some football with friends! Oh, and Roll Tide!!! (what a game it was!)

Nov 2, 2008

Marostica Italy


This weekend, we went with some friends to an antique market in a nearby town called Marostica. The medieval town of Marostica near Vicenza is located in the beautiful foothills. The charming town is surrounded by the ancient walls of its two alluring castles. The biggest castle sits ontop of the hill looking over the town.

The walls stretch all the way around the city and follow to the top of the castle. After spending several hours doing some treasure hunting at the antique market, we decided to explore the castle's walls and made a hike to the top. The view was exquisite and showcased the charming town.


The castle has a magnificent restraunt that looks over the scenic view. We had an afternoon espresso/cappuccino and enjoyed the feel of sitting a top the hill looking over the town like we were the royal's of the land. We enjoyed the trip and will definately return to try out the alluringly beautiful restraunt that sits in the castle walls for a special dinner.
The town of Marostica is best known for its square which is a giant chessboard. The antique market was held in the middle of the checkered square, so I wasn't able to get a picture of it. Each September of every even numbered year, a human chess game is played in full medieval costume on the square of Marostica. The festival was canceled this year due to rain, and we were unable to attend. We would love to go the year after next to witness this interesting tradition.