Our Third Visitors--My Parents!! [PART 1]

After almost a year of being apart, I was finally reunited with my parents on April 6. My mom and dad took the big trip across the pond successfully. I can say that my mom has officially gotten over her fear of flying. Besides being a bit cramped, the trip went well. Since it has been a month since they've been here I will try my best to remember every detail. My parents arrived in the evening so we went straight home. Mom and Dad were introduced to their very first Italian pizza. Yum! Dad tried some red wine and, after a few sips, actually liked it. The next day, they slept in pretty late. I think we really got going around lunch. So, we took them to post to try to get them signed in, but of course the place to get the permanent pass isn't open on weekends, so we figured we might as well wait till after our big UK trip. We took them on the short tour of post and then we went to Viridai (spelling?) Garden Store. In the afternoon, we spent time on our top porch sitting at our new patio table sipping on wine. It was quite relaxing and nice. That night we took them to our favorite place...Aeolia's. This is the restaurant where I took my cooking class. At this point, mom was starting to not feel well. :( Our good friends Jackie and Zach Johanns came to dinner with us. We really had a lot of fun. The next day (Sunday) was Easter Sunday. Our plan was to go to the sunrise service, but mom was really not feeling well that morning, so we didn't go. By the afternoon, she started to feel a lot better, so we began to ride around...realizing that it was not only a Sunday in Italy, but it was EASTER Sunday in Italy..so yeah, nothing was open. Mom was all ready to shop, but that was a no-go! So, we just took them for a walk around downtown Vicenza. On Monday, we had a lot to do to get ready for our big trip to Ireland and England. If I remember correctly, we spent the day planning, packing, and reserving tickets for tours. Our flight left Verona Tuesday afternoon. We took the cheap airline..Ryanair. It wasn't what I expected. I was expecting a much smaller plane, but it was just a normal plane. The cool part to me was to board it we had to go outside and walk up the actual stairs of the plane. I felt like I had my own private place or something.

So off we went!!! A couple hours later we arrived in Dublin, Ireland. We were able to get a cab very easily from the airport to our hotel. We stayed at the Edgan's House. It was a little bed and breakfast near Dublin. It had easy access to buses that took us into the city center of Dublin. The first thing that caught my eye was the pedestrian crosswalks. They really made it so you wouldn't get confused as to which way to look for cars.

Of course, because of force of habit, I still continued to look both ways. The first evening we rode the bus to the city center and just walked around. We were so hungry, so the search was on for some food!! We finally found a place in the Temple Bar district. And we ate...

... FISH & CHIPS with MUSHY PEAS!!!! MMM..I loved those mushy peas, they were much tastier than I thought they would be.


The next morning, Dad, Thomas, and me went into town. Mom stayed at the B&B because she felt so bad. We rode the bus into the city center and then got on one of those hop on, hop off tour buses. I am officially a fan of them. Your able to see a lot in a shorter amount of time. It's great for quick trips. We visited Trinity College to see The Book of Kells. The campus was beautiful! I can't imagine going there everyday for classes. We couldn't take pictures in the room that contained The Book of Kells, so there will be no pictures of that.

 Another place we decided to stop at the last minute was a park. Boy, am I glad we stopped there. It was absolutely gorgeous. I so wish that there was a park like this near me. I would just go sit out there everyday and stare at the lakes and the flowers. The grass was such a vibrant, lime green type color. Most of the grass in Ireland looked that way. It's the brightest grass I've ever seen in my life.

Dublin Castle isn't at all what you'd expect it to be. For starters, it's in the middle of a parking lot and is actually now an area that houses different offices. Well, boo..I thought I was going to get to see a for real castle. There is some sort of "castley" type area you can pay to see, but we skipped it to head on over to the Guiness Factory!

Our next stop was the Guinness Factory!! Now, this probably would have been a little bit more exciting for me if it were a Wine Factory since I do not like beer. But, I had a "When in Rome" moment in Ireland. I decided, okay, I am in Ireland...land of beer. I am going to have to at least TRY to drink a beer, right?! Well, the Guinness Factory was certainly neat and I am now officially certified in pouring the perfect Guinness, so I guess if my career as a speech-language pathologist fails I have a job lined up at any bar that serves Guinness. However, I wasn't very successfully in drinking my so called "perfect" pint of Guinness. Um, yeah, so sorry to Irish, but Guinness is the most disgusting thing I have ever had to drink. BLEH!!! There are a series of shots as I tried to drink the beer..they are highly entertaining, but I'll probably just put one picture of it on here. The top was the best part because you can see all over the city. It was gorgeous.

 The ride back to our main bus stop was once again beautiful..the lime green grass made me smile. You could see some storm clouds in the distance...made for some neat pictures. Here are a few. They were taken near the Dublin Zoo.

Mom felt better that evening, so she joined us for dinner!! It was just a short walk from our B&B. And of course, we had fish&chips...again. :)

For the next day, we had a tour set up to go visit Wicklough, Glendalough, and the Avoca Weaving Factory. Ireland has the most gorgeous countryside. I am really glad that we took a tour away from the city. The tour showed us sites of where films such as P.S. I Love You, Braveheart, and Far & Away were filmed. We also visited an old monastery in Glendalough. We received a tour of the Avoca Weaving Factory where we also ate lunch. It's amazing the work that goes into making a scarf, for example.

 And I'll leave you with a few photos of the place and area we stayed in. Next stop...London, England!!!

Go Figure Moment

So, I have a "go figure" moment to share. Thomas and I had signed up to go on a marriage retreat in Germany for a weekend. I've really been wanting to go on one of these. So, last week he informs me that he may have to pull jump master duties for an airshow jump occurring the same weekend. He wasn't sure if they would interfere or not...it was sort of depending on when the marriage retreat bus was leaving and when he'd be getting back from the airshow. And of course, he couldn't find out when exactly the bus was leaving. Now, yesterday he was told that he would have to choose...go to the airshow or go on the marriage retreat. He could not do both. So, without my knowing it, he made the decision to go to the marriage retreat for me. I thought it was so sweet of him because he needs one more jump duty to be a full blown jump master (side note: I forget what the actual term is, but once you have passed the jump master course I believe you are considered a qualified jump master, but it's not until you have performed two actual duties that you became what I am calling a "full blown" jump master...okay end side note). Thomas is such a career oriented soldier that this really meant a lot to me, because I knew how important these jump master duties were to him. Well, now we enter my "go figure" moment that I mentioned to you earlier. Turns out the bus for the marriage retreat is leaving on a Friday...in the morning. Oops. Guess who already obligated them self to work that particular Friday. Mhmm..you probably guessed right...Me. Now, how's that for irony? My career is the one getting in the way of us doing something, not his. Ha! So, good news for Thomas...he gets to perform his jump master duties...bad news for Rachel...I don't get a trip to Germany and get abandoned for a night or two (okay, abandoned was a bit dramatic). To my family: I'm pretty sure this deserves a "that just figures" statement, right? Hahahaha...all you can do in moments like this is laugh and say go figure.  Lesson learned. :)

Adventures with Our Second Visitors

On the day after Christmas, another part of Thomas's family arrived; Terry (mother-in-law), Joseph (brother-in-law), and Will (another brother-in-law). They got to the house around 900 pm. So, the evening consisted of opening Christmas presents and visiting.

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!