Bassano del Grappa

Why take a train ride to Bassano del Grappa?

The obvious reason is to visit the town famous for one of Italy's favorite after dinner drinks, Grappa.  Having a little glass of this will help you digest even the heaviest meals. Of course they only take it for medicinal purposes.  
Once we got there we found that this town has much more to offer than just Grappa.  

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Yes, even over here Danna finds fabric stores.
This picture is for Sandra, Patti and Cindy.

On our map it showed a picture of Temple Ossario, looked great from the outside but it is closed for interior renovations.
















We walked through town to "Ponte deli Alpini", a symbol of the town.  

The bridge is a wooden structure rather than the usual steel and concrete ones you see everywhere else.

Original bridge was built in the 16th century and has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Now it is a pedestrian walkway linking the two sides of the river.

We stopped for a picture on the bridge with the castle in the background.

The river banks are lined with colorful buildings whose construction has a German influence.

The town loves the Alpini and here is a statue recently placed at the West entrance of the bridge.  It is called "Il Bacio" or "The Kiss".

Here is our version.
Notice how similar Danna's hat is to the Alpini's hat.

At the "Poli Grappa Museum" we saw small stills through to ones that could keep a family happy for months.

There is a tasting room and we tried a couple of different flavors.  The flavor varies depending on the type of grape and distillation method used.  A couple bottles were brought home so we will let you know if Grappa really works as a digestive.









Now this is aroma therapy, you could smell a variety of the different types of Grappa.

On our way back to the train station we stopped for a gelato, guess what they even had a Grappa gelato.  Very cool, refreshing and 40% alcohol content.  While having our gelato we met a couple from Trento, Giorgio and Roberta.  Conversation started when Giorgio, as he was going up for seconds, told me the coffee gelato was the best.  What was going to be a quick gelato stop resulted in a great conversation.  You meet the best people over a gelato. Hopefully we will get a chance to visit with them or just share a gelato later this summer.

Time to go home but we will definitely return for a longer visit later this year.

The trains have been fantastic for all of our adventures. Ticket agents through to train punctuality cannot be criticized. We will definitely miss them when we go back to Canada.

How to make your wife happy?

Sometimes the smallest things are the most appreciated.
(I got extra points for this one). For the past few weeks we have had to walk to the laundromat to dry our clothes. Today I went to the hardware store and purchased a clothes line to put on the balcony. With the high temperatures the clothes are dry in only a few hours. Total cost was only €7.00 which is less than what we were spending every week at the laundromat.

Happy Wife = Happy Life!

This week we decided to have prawn tacos for dinner.  Simple thing to make if you have all the ingredients.  We were only missing sweet shredded coconut, sour cream and Panko bread crumbs. Substitute natural coconut, Greek yogurt and regular bread crumbs for our Italian version. Thanks to www.miss-delish.com for the recipe.





Earlier in the day we headed off to the market. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies to choose from. The white peaches were juicy and ready to eat or to make a Bellini to wash down the tacos. Not like the genuine Bellini but not bad at all.

Every corner you go around there is another shoe store, that is woman's shoe store. Here are some casual shoes that are a must have I have been told, and only €109.00.

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Keeping with the shoe theme we have been noticing the high heel shoes being worn in the old town where most of the streets are cobblestones. Do these women have to attend special classes to negotiate the cobblestones or are they just lucky? We have seen several women with casts on their arms. All of this got us thinking so here are a couple of pictures showing the high heels. Our next photo project is to be at Treviso's emergency room to see how many women are treated for sprained and broken limbs.

More to follow on future postings.

Italian Birthday Party

We went to Elisabetta's birthday party. To our amazement it was also her sister, Alessandra's birthday. Both sisters on the same day, now that is family planning.

Here we have a picture of our dinner being cooked by Elisabetta's cousin. With it being so hot today special
thanks to the chef!

Not your regular charcoal BBQ, this one used the trimmings from the fig trees to supply not only the heat but also additional flavour. It takes more time to cook but you would not believe how tender, juicy and full of flavor this chicken was. Grilled veggies,yes I will have seconds.




Here are some of the guests at the party.

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Alessandra (the other birthday girl) and her Mom










After dinner we had some ..... You guessed it gelato. Now this is my idea of what heaven would be serving every night for dessert.








No matter what your age gelato always tastes great.

Here we have two ladies fighting over the Italian version of "Fifty Shades of Grey". I have at least 47 shades of grey hair, only 3 more to go.

Vittorio Venato

This week it was quite hot in Treviso. Even the locals were saying it was hotter than usual. We decided to get a bit closer to the mountains.  Maybe it would be a bit cooler there. Got on the train at 9:38 and headed up to Vittorio Venato which is about 50 km North of Treviso.  



On this trip we had to change trains and get onto a small inter city train.  It was nicely air conditioned which made for a pleasant ride.  



Arrived in Vittorio Venato to start our walking tour. When you exit the train station you walk into a beautiful park complete with ponds for the ducks and swans.  
We came across a beautiful bronze statue that seemed to be floating in midair. The picture does not do it justice.



Of course there was a fountain in the centre of the park to cool things off.  Just to get into the right mood we stopped for a cappuccino and pastry.  We have noticed that life in Italy always starts with a cup of coffee!  



On our way to the tourist information booth we saw this amazing memorial to all the lives lost in the wars.  You could almost feel the pain of people who had lived through these times.



This area was the scene for numerous conflicts over the ages.  Here is a fountain that quenched the thirst of the first Italian troops that freed the city in 1918.



















Everywhere I go I have a feeling that lions are watching me.  














The tourist information suggested we walk to the old town first to see the historical points of interest first and then go to the Duomo at the other end of town.   After a 10 minute walk we arrived at Piazza Flaminio.  From the following picture you can see that we are nestled in the edges of the mountains.  The square is paved with stone from the local area.  At 12:00 the church bells tolled letting us know it was time for lunch, we decided to wait for a while and do more sightseeing.
















Went around a corner and found a stairway leading up the mountain.  It was too hot to go all the way up but we did have a view of the rooftops.  On the left side is a wall that was constructed in the 1st century.  Looks pretty good considering how old it is.



This statue is a recent arrival. Not sure of the history but we believe it is a reproduction of the original statue that may have been damaged.

















We then started our trek to the other end of town to view the Duomo and War Museum, about 3 km that would have been easier if it had not been so hot.  



Here is one of the three original gates to the city. For defensive purposes the gates were very narrow when first built. As time went on they were widened and now cars and trucks can travel through them.

















Along the way we came across a couple of novel ways to announce the arrival of a new family member.  Can you guess what these proud parents had?

We have seen notices on buildings signifying that they are or will be renovated.  The exterior shell of the building must remain virtually unchanged but the interiors are being update.  This is a good thing as the plumbing in the 14th century was not all that great.

After our walk we found that the Duomo and War Museum were closed. Tourist info centre gave us the right information as to their location but forgot to tell us that both of them are closed on Wednesdays! After the long hot walk we sat in the shade to cool off and then started walking towards the centre of town.


That walk made us both hungry and thirsty so it was time to find a restaurant.  The cold beer and sandwich were perfect way to end our visit to Vittorio Venato.  

Sandy beach at Caorle

Last week I had pictures of this beach but this week we were lucky to go there again. Since the sun was shining bright and it was about 38 plus degrees it was a perfect beach day.



Relaxing under a beach umbrella with friends, you could not ask for anything better. 



Sitting on the beach gives a different perspective as to how many umbrellas are out here. They are close to each other but still better than being randomly set up. Some areas are reserved for the hotels. Rentals available and they range from about €12 to €20 per day, closer to the water the higher the price. Or you can be like us and use your own umbrella and not pay anything.

There were people laying on the beach and cooling off in the water for as far as the eye could see. You could walk into the Adriatic for a few hundred meters and the water only came up to your knees.

It is always better to share your umbrella with my Bella Donna or in English my Bella Danna.





Monday June 18. - Shopping & Laundry day.

Well, so much for having fun at the beach. Monday is our laundry and housekeeping day. Even though it is hot it still takes too long for towels to dry in the humid air so off to the laundry.






In the local market there are lots of wines to choose from. For a sipping wine with dinner you cannot go wrong.



Everywhere we go there is lots of olive oil to choose from. Some of the finishing oils are very expensive.

Grocery time includes having the pack mule along to carry the bags. Today he got off lucky as we only needed a few things.

Today was another hot day, 38 degrees at 18:01.

Veal stuffed with cheese and Speck topped off with fresh lemon juice. Time on the microwave says 19:56, looks as if we have altered our dinner time to fit in with the locals.

A day without gelato is like a day without wine, or was that sunshine. Who cares because we had both with dinner tonight.

After dinner the dishwasher was put to work. Wondering what that thing is on the wall that looks like an air raid siren? Would you believe it is the kitchen exhaust fan. It makes enough noise to scare the pigeons away so I guess it serves double duty.

Thought I was joking about this being laundry day,here is some of the the laundry we did at home and it is not dry yet!