The next day, we got them all signed in at the base and showed them around the px, commissary, etc. After that we went to one of the local malls and a garden shop.
Then we showed them Monte Berico. You basically walk up a bunch of steps, walk down a few streets, and you will see a big church. There was a beggar woman outside the church. Joseph and Will were real tickled to see a real gypsy beggar. They had to take a picture. When you reach the top of Berico you are greeted with an amazing view of the city of Vicenza.
Our next outing during their first week was a day trip to Venice. This was my 4th time in Venice, so I am pretty well acquainted with the city now. I got to visit with my friends the pigeons again. But, this time, we got to take a gondola ride!! Seriously, you cannot go to Venice without riding in a gondola. It can be pricey, but if you have a big enough group then the price per person really isnt as bad. But, you get such a different view of the city when you are actually floating down into the canals as opposed to looking at them from the tiny bridges. Our gondola driver was true gondola driver. He has been doing this for 35 years?!?! And he even sang while driving the little boat. It felt like something out of the movies. Incredible experience. I highly recommend taking a gondola ride.
We didn't make it to Murano Island. I swear one of these days I will make it there to see the glass being made. Everyone got to try Nutella Crepes. MMM..they are so yummy.
During their first week, I also introduced them to Nove. Of course they loved it!! Joseph even bought a full set of dishes!! So exciting! The guy in their recognized me (he's always asking me to tell my friends about this place) and he GAVE me a Tiffany and Co. platter as a GIFT!!! He said "Here, gift for you for telling your friends about us." I was ecstatic!! Aeolias' was one of the restaurants we went to. It was amazing as always. They gave us a limoncello at the end...Joseph especially liked that. He even bought some to take home. Going to Regina's (Walter's) was of course a must as well. Walter was real happy to see us and it seems Rebecca has forgiven Thomas..last time she barely looked at him and this time she couldn't get enough of him. She is definitely warming up to me a lot more. I even got a hug from her this time. They are such a sweet family. Throughout the week we discussed our plans for New Years. We wanted to do something epic! Paris was at the top of our list but airplane prices were high as well as booked up. So, we decided to take a roadtrip!! Mission? Drive straight to Paris, spend New Years weekend there, start driving back on Monday, stop in Chamonix/Monte Blanc for the night and venture back to Vicenza Tuesday morning. The ride to Paris was quite enjoyable. We were greeted at the French border with a huge blanket of snow. It was the most incredible sight.
We arrived in Paris around supper time. We managed to find a place to eat. It was delicious. We had the special which was a steak with shallot sauce and tiny little potatoes.
The next day we visited the Lourve. They say it takes about 2-3 weeks to see and take in everything in the museum. We tried to see as much as we could and made sure to catch the Mona Lisa. I was shocked at how tiny it was!! Here is this museum filled with large beautiful paintings/pictures and the one picture that a mob (literally a whole mob) of people are pushing to see is the tiny one of a women who really does follow you with her eyes no matter where you stand. Leonardo DiVinci must have done something right.
After we left the museum, we took the long walk to the Eiffel Tower. It felt like it took forever to get there. And it was a huge tease!! We'd walk and you could see a little more and a little more of the tower. You'd get to a certain point where you'd think.."Oh, it's gonna be right around this building." And then it wouldn't be. It was like this the whole walk till finally we rounded the corner and there she was in all her glory. You have to walk far away from the tower to get a good picture with it.
I tried my hardest to do the whole "making a heart around the tower with your hands" picture, but failed miserably. I was quite disappointed. We went to a couple of shops and then heading back to our hotel to rest up/get ready for our New Year's Eve celebrations. Once ready, we got back on the subway and headed to the Eiffel tower. Once off the subway, we all realized that we had to pee..and we had to pee BAD. We're talking bladder hurting kind of pee. Well, of course, all the porta potties were locked up with no one in them. So, needless to say, the boys said we needed to find a bush. Forgive me if this is TMI. But, beside the Eiffel Tower were some bushes that the boys chose to pee in. Now, it was dire, so I popped a squat in the bush while the 3 boys circled around me like body guards on Britney Spears (like that analogy Joseph?? Heehee) and I did my business. It probably wasn't my finest hour, but little did I know that peeing in the bush wouldn't be my only finest hour that evening. In fact, about 15 seconds after stepping away from the bush and feeling so relived, ready to take on New Year's..I felt the ground below become very very slippery. It was like slow motion...I could feel my body begin to fall, so naturally I began screaming before my body flew up in the sky away from the ground. After that point I felt my butt and back immediately hit the ground..or should I say the big, slippery, gross pile of mud. Stupid rain. So, there I was on New Years Eve with mud caked on my backside. Will came to my rescue by grabbing his foe-Burberry scarf and wiping me down. Bless his heart, he loved that scarf and was so excited when he found it in Venice..Im pretty sure you could call him a true friend. Haha!
The tower is amazing at night. But, it is even more amazing on New Years!! At midnight, lights all over it went into a blinking frenzy. It was truly a beautiful sight.
The rest of the evening involved emotional brother to brother talks and missing persons. Will somehow got separated from our group. Thomas searched and searched, while Joseph and I waited. We almost got on the subway to head back to the hotel b/c Will is smart...he would know to head back to the hotel. I wish we had because little did we know that not only was that the last subway of the night, but Will was on that exact subway. He had even helped a girl who had a seizure just moments before we walked down the steps of the metro. We saw her being hauled out as we headed down. We were literally right near each other and never knew. After what felt like hours and hours, we finally got a taxi and made it back to the hotel. And there was Will, safe and sound. He had apparently knocked on the door shouting.."Terry I'm so sorry." Poor Terry..I can only imagine how worried she was. We finally went to bed at 430 am. We awoke the next morning around 1130, got ready, ate some lunch, and headed down to the fashion district to see the stores and the Arch of Triumph. We were able to buy some amazing oil paintings, see the arch, see a girl have a freak attack because the police wouldn't let her cross the street illegal, watch Will get pooped on by a pigeon, and see a man who was obviously cracked out on something. It was quite a trip to say the least.
The next morning we started back towards Italy and made a stop in Chamonix, which is a town in France near the border of Italy/France that is home to Monte Blanc. Monte Blanc is a mountain that Thomas wants to climb before leaving Italy. We basically just visited the shops and rested up before heading back to Vicenza Tuesday morning.
The rest of the week was a bit non-eventful. I became sick and had to stay home mostly while Thomas went back to work. Joseph and Will made a day trip to Florence by themselves. They got home safely around 1145 pm. Apparently the Morocan cab drivers were harrassing them to let them take them home, but we had warned them about using unmarked taxi cabs such as these.
Friday, January 6th, was my 25th birthday. I wasnt about to let sickness get in the way of having a good time. I trucked through the coughing and blowing of my nose to make it through the evening. I had a lot of fun with my friends here. There was interesting turn of events towards the end, but everyone eventually made it home safe and sound.
The next day I paid for going out on birthday big time. I was feverish, weak, coughing, sneezing, stopped up..the works. Our company left on Monday around lunchtime. They had a 24 hour layover in London and finally made it home to Texas Tuesday evening, I believe. It was a quick and eventful two weeks. The house is very quiet now. Routines have begun again and I am slowly getting over this whole being sick thing. We will probably be spending the weekend finally taking down Christmas decorations. Next week I am going on a cheese making tour with our FRG and have a meeting that I am looking forward to. I will blog about the two next week. So until then. Ciao!
