benvenuti in italia

day 1

Martin and his van

Zdeněk and I taking a break from the drive

At 9 am Martin and Zdeněk picked us up in Martin's van. Zdeněk laughed at how big my suitcase was as compared to his little duffel bag. He asked me how long I thought I was staying in Italy...ha ha ha. The girls had already been dropped off at Eleanor's house, the lists for Eleanor written out and left on the kitchen counter, girls hugged and kissed and crowns exchanged into euros. Many, many thanks to Danny's father and to his brother John and family for giving us the money to take this trip to Italy. We never thought we would be able to go...

The Alps

After a few chuckles over the amount of luggage we were bringing (tsk, Americans!) we were safely packed into the car and on our way to Northern Italy. We headed across the border into Austria, through the Alps (WOW!!!), Innsbruck, then into Italy. Vinyards and apple orchards as far as the eye could see. A fragrance of wisteria mixed with apple blossoms and herbs with hints of barrel wood soaked with the fruitiest wine. The weather was gorgeous, sunny, blue, cloudless skies and a delicate breeze whipping by bringing new scents on its heels. Arriving in Trento, Italy where in the mid 1500's was held the Council of Trent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent)

We got settled in our hotel, Hotel Venezia, thoroughly ecstatic that Zdeněk speaks fluent Italiano. Our window looked out onto the square with the duomo (cathedral) and the Alps in the background. Pretty cool!

The view from our window

Duomo Trentino

Piazza di Trentino

Policeman...Italian style

After freshening up and changing clothes we walked around Trento and took in some Italian food. Pizza, pasta, salad and afterwards a stop at a gelateria for gelato. By now it was 10pm at least and families were still milling about the square. Zdeněk told us that most Italians and Italian businesses follow the "siesta plan". Working from morning until lunch they then take the afternoon off to eat and hang out and rest and then back to work around 5 or 6 pm (most restaurants don't even open for dinner until at least 7) then a late dinner and family time until late in the evening. While lying in our bed in a room overlooking the square, we heard laughing, singing, and children running around until 2 am. People were meandering around in the wee hours of the morn with gelato...fascinating.