November - Italy again. Verona this time.

No sooner than I get the laundry done from our trip to Budapest, than Michelle calls from work saying that they are sending her back to Vicenza, Italy, again to teach her financial planning course to soldiers preparing to leave the Army.  She can either fly or drive ... are we interested?

Italy ... again?  Hell yeah!

In an Audi rental car this time ... another first for the Knowlands.  And, wow, what a sweet ride!

Wednesday, November 20

Drive day to Italy.  Snow is forecast in the Alps so no stopover in Innsbruck, Austria this time for cappuccino and apple strudel :(.  But we make good time, and 6 hrs later, we are in warm, humid Italy, settling in for a nice dinner of homemade pasta, and of course, wine.  When in Italy, our new habit is to order a bottle of white (hers) and a bottle of red (his) and take the remaining bottle(s) home with us.  If there is any remaining in the bottle that is.  But the convenience of refilling your own glass at the table makes it worth the extra euros.  Only in Italy, where the wine is that cheap and that good.

Michelle only had to work a half-day on Thursday, so we do what every good traveler does when they find themselves in Vicenza ... travel to Nove where world-famous ceramic manufacturers seem to congregate.  You can shop in the 2nd floor of the warehouse while they are making the dishes on the first floor.  And the prices you pay....OMG.  Vietri is Michelle's favorite, and a dinner plate runs $46.00 retail (one plate).  And Michelle paid $8 (20% discount for using cash).

It's a warehouse, right, so shelves upon shelves of ceramic dishware. 

 

Multiple styles. Multiple rooms.

The fun is in the hunt.  Especially in the back room of damaged/seconds.

Too bad the Audi is a 2-door!

 

Two hours later, we continued our Vicenza ritual with a visit to a vineyard.

http://www.lepignole.com/en/index.php

 

This was a small, family run vineyard with great enthusiasm for their local grapes. Each wine wasn't just for tasting, it was for story-telling.  The grape, the soil, the process of picking, drying, storing, fermenting, bottling. Such fun.  After spending more on wine than we did ceramics, and literally filling every spare space in that loaded-down Audi with wine, the tasting room was closing and they invited us to tour the rest of the facility.  Oh, yes, please ....

 

Even in the storage rooms, they were letting us taste the product.

Such family pride. Amazing.

 

 

Friday, November 22.  Day trip to Verona

 

It's a tough act to upstage warehouse shopping and wine tasting/buying, but Friday did not disappoint as we woke up to blue skies, sunshine, and almost balmy temps.  Hell yes, train trip to Verona weather.

 

We were tempted to go back to Venice because ... well, it's Venice, and Venice is so lovely with it's canals and bridges and mazes of narrow streets, and only a one-hour train ride..  But, we figured it was good to expand our horizons so we headed off to Verona, only a 30-min train ride!

 

a good day to be traveling by train.

lunch. wine. fresh pasta. view of the Roman arena.

 



Gates to the city ... something you just don't see anymore

Romeo o Romeo ... where for art tho?

Juliet's balcony = big attraction in Verona

 

The large piazzas were starting to set up outdoor Christmas markets.

Every big square is filled with small cafes or vendors

or fountains

or both....

I did miss the narrow, twisting streets of Venice.

Opera house on a hill.

 

Navigating is hard work ... on land, on sea.

 

 

Saturday

 

Time to head home.  I've gotten quite used to the pace of these short trips to new places.  You walk walk walk .... eat eat eat .... and then go back to your familiar surroundings and routines.  Because snow was predicted in the Austrian Alps, we decided to break up the trip back to Germany and stop in the small town of Bolzano, Italy, just at the border.  Actually, Michelle saw "Bolzano" on list of must-see places in Italy which was reason enough to add it to hers ... especially since we drove right by it on the Italian autobahn.

And a very cute town it was.

Setting up Christmas decorations while we were there.

 

It's snowing in the mountains, but the fresh fruit/vegie stalls were still open.

naturally, a very cool church in the town center.

 

 

narrow streets that I love

 

What a view...

Goodnight Bolzano ... glad to have visited.

Yeah, we did drive through snow on our way back thru Austria ... and the weather was cold in Germany, but we had warm thoughts of Italy (and lots of wine) to lift our spirits!