TV in Italia

While not traveling in Europe we end up having down time to kill. Most of the time in the morning or while Curls is making dinner we decide to watch tv.

Most of our favorite shows are only available in Italian. It is really fun to watch Phineas and Ferb, Kung Fu Panda, Johnny Test and many others in Italian. Most of the time we just try to use context clues to figure out what is going on, or if we have seen the episode in English, try to remember the plot.

There is one show we can watch in Italy that's still in English: Mr. Bean (the cartoon). Because Mr. Bean only mumbles, they don't bother to translate it. This means they also don't translate the other English speaking characters. It feels like a little slice of home! We love Mr. Bean.

We're also able to watch some shows online still. Our personal favorite is Studio C on BYUTV. Every week we look forward to a new set of skit comedy sketches.

Bell Towers

Right outside the window of our apartment we have a big bell tower.  It is beautiful.  Each hour and half hour it rings.  And at 7 a.m. we get a full on song plus 7 rings--the Doctor counted, it rings 117 times.  At noon and six, we also get a full-on song.

Why don't we have more clock towers in America?   They simply are iconic of Europe.  I am going to miss bell towers.  I hardly ever have to wear a watch or wonder what time it is.

I Love Dogs!

I Love Dogs. They are so cute.  In Italy you can take dogs to restaurants with you.  Every time we go out to eat there is a dog.  At first this seemed weird because in America dogs are not allowed inside restaurants, store, or shopping malls.  I love dogs and I love seeing dogs everywhere.  Most people keep their dogs on a leash at all times in the restaurant, but they will let me pet the dogs if  I ask.  (My mom and dad learned the word in Italian: Accarezziare). I love dogs.

- Amadeus

Gelato: The Best Ice Cream Ever

When we travel we usually stop at some of the gelaterias that we go to. We have found many flavors that we are wanting to try again and some, not so much. Here is a list of some of our favorite flavors and where we got them:

Cannela (Cinnamon) - Cinque Terre, Monterosso

Sicilian Wedding Cake - Crespano del Grappa

Fig with Cinnamon - Crespano del Grappa

Nocciola (Hazelnut) - Practically everywhere

Pistachio - Practically everywhere
Straciatella (Cookies and cream) - Most places

Banana - Rovinj, Croatia 

Fragola (Strawberry) - Everywhere (Amadeus gives two thumbs up)

Amarena (Cherry) - 

Cremino (Hazelnut with Cream and Chocolate) - Cinque Terre, Monterosso
Meringlase (Mering)-Crespano del Grappa

Our Favorite Gelato Place (so far)

Funny what you can find in your own backyard. After traveling every weekend to a new place, we found our favorite gelato place right around the corner from us in Crespano.

This little town also happens to be the place where we like to do our drawing lessons.

Sunday Excursions

With the plethora of cultural and historic experiences available here in Europe, one of our favorites has been attending Church on Sundays. In the last 6 weeks, not only have we attended a different Ward or Branch (LDS-lingo for a congregation) each week, but we've attended in a different country each week as well.

Despite the differences in culture, language, and history of each place we have visited, the gospel message in each congregation has been the same.

It has also been fun for the boys to see that it doesn't matter where you meet, the Gospel is still the same. Some branches have met in an apartment building, others in a  business building, and very few in a stand-alone chapel.

Salzburg, Austria

Paris, France

Rijeka, Croatia

Rijeka, Croatia

One of our favorite experiences was in Croatia, where we attended during a fast and testimony meeting--the LDS meeting where members share their beliefs. The Branch was extremely small, but it made for an even more intimate and enjoyable experience. When the meeting started, one of the missionaries said he would translate for us if we wanted to share our testimonies. So we did. After the meeting, the missionary told us that it was the longest testimony meeting they had ever had :)

We've also enjoyed the openness of the small branches we've visited. Coming in with our party of 6  can be a sight to behold, but every time we come to a new branch, we're welcomed with open arms and accepted as part of the branch almost immediately. In fact, today we went to church in La Spezia, Italy, and one of the leaders had Parker fulfill his Bishop's messenger duty as a Deacon.

La Spezia, Italy

Lord Byron's first trip in Italy

         Our first trip in Italy was Padua. Its over 500 years old! Did you know they have 2 cathedrals in Padua. My favorite is the St. Anthony's cathedral. It's so big and beautiful! I can't wait to go to Venice and Milan.
                       

Venice: Beautiful and Chaotic, the Disney World of Italy

We spent the day in Venice on Saturday, and when all was said and done, it lived up to its expectations, the good and the bad.

Is it crowded? Yes. On a day in the supposed “off-season” it was canal-to-canal tourists. Curls and I noted that it was much like a day at Disney World…you’re constantly surrounded by crowds of people from all different countries, and nearly all of them are carrying a camera.

The hardest part we found while spending the day in Venice wasn’t seeing everything we wanted to see, it was getting past the stress of getting there and getting around. For long periods of time, especially on the walk from the Santa Lucia train station to Saint Mark’s Square (which is a good 30-40 minute walk), you find yourself squeezing by tourists and in between narrow walk ways so much that you forget that you’re actually in Venice. Several times, I had to stop and remind myself that we had made it…we were walking the streets of Venice.

Incidentally, getting there can be a little stressful as well. We opted for the cheaper route, driving to the Venice-Mestre Train Station (not the Mestre Ospedale Station…we made that mistake). Parking across the street is 12 Euro/Day. Taking the train in is 1.25 Euro one-way. As you spill out onto the island from the train station, it’s a bit of a mess as well.  If you like wide-open spaces, you won’t find any in Venice.

We decided in our 6 hours touring around that the most important thing to do is to simply relax and take it all in. Drown out the constant noise of crowds and annoying tour groups and just enjoy the surroundings. Here were some of the sights that made us say, “Ahhhh, Venice”:

The Campanille

 

Piazza di San Marco

 

The Harbor

The Bridges (including the Bridge of Sighs)

Another great thing to do is to get away from the hustle of the crowd and enjoy some of the non-touristy areas. You’ll know you’ve found them when you find yourself among people without cameras around their necks. We found our slice of the real Venice by the Naval History museum. We even found a second hand store (a small corridor attached to a church where nice older Italian women are happy to give you a deal). Your money goes to the children the church supports...though I didn't get pictures of it, it's just down from the Naval History Museum in this area: 

by this Church

Overall, Venice is beautiful and chaotic, and definitely worth another visit!

Proof

Someday, many years from now, we’re going to need proof for our kids. Proof that we actually did all these crazy trips in a 3-month span. Proof that the whole experience was as rewarding as it was challenging. Proof that this world has so much excitement to offer.

What I’m finding though, is a different kind of proof, one that I wasn’t expecting:  Proof that being away from our everyday lives and going on an adventure like this leads to closer family ties.  Now, it’s not totally true that I wasn’t expecting this…I hoped being together in a foreign country would bring us all closer, and, especially, would further build a bond between the brothers. But for all I knew, the extra close, non-stop contact might also burn us all out.

Now, of course there have been battles, and it hasn’t been all roses, and sometimes you need proof that things were hard, people were grumpy, and everything wasn’t perfect:

 

But in spite of the difficulties, every once in a while you see something like this:

or this:

or this: 

And you say to yourself, there’s proof that this was all worth it.

Garbage is Funny

When we arrived in Italy the first thing we were shown in our apartment was the trash bags.  Italy has a system of recycling that I have never seen before.  It is quite tricky at first.  Yet after awhile I wonder why we don't do this in the U.S.

Okay so they have this nifty chart that lists how you are supposed to throw things away and then you have to coordinate the type of trash with the color and type of bag.

Okay are you confused?  Yes so were we.

It has gotten quite funny though as you stand in front of the 6 different containers and wonder where do you throw away a band aid.  We have had several times where we have voted where things should go.

Also you get fined if they find you are putting the trash in the wrong place and you can only have one bag a week.  Well we have 6 of us and so we are trying to figure out how to manage this.  We thought we would try to put some in our neighbors various trash cans (It is just one man living next door), but when we went to check our can was already half full before we put anything in it.

You see our neighbors (other random people) had already thought of this.  We laughed and then wondered how we would manage such a task as garbage.  I think the idea to separate out the trash and recycle is a great idea, but maybe a policy that is in place for bigger families (maybe they already have this and I just don't know about it yet.) I know Italians have this down and it is like second nature for them, perhaps we will have it become second nature to us as well.

On Agriturisme and the Best Italian we have EVER eaten

Before coming to Italy, we had heard about the Agriturisme--the farm homes that rent out rooms and feed their visitors with homemade goodness straight from their farms. On Thursday night, we had our first taste of an Agriturismo, and it was even better than we were expecting. A little place only a few minutes away from the small town we're living in, our Host University paid for us to enjoy a dinner there. 

Over the next 3 hours, we enjoyed every possible bit of Italian goodness from homemade gnocchi, to grilled vegetables, the best meat you could imagine, and a semi-freddo pastry that has no equal in the U.S. Needless to say, eating Italian in the US will never be good enough again! 

We didn't get many pictures since we were too busy enjoying the food. In fact, Curls kept telling me to take pictures of the boys with their food, but every time I'd stop eating to take a picture, it was usually too late. So here's the best I could get:

 

When you give a kid a camera

1. Everything is a photo opp. And I mean EVERYTHING. Cars. Sidewalks. Trees. The Back of Dad’s Head. A Brother’s Thumb. It didn’t take long to implement the “Only Get Your Camera Out and Take Pictures When We’ve Reached Our Destination” rule.

2. Every picture you take, your child has to take as well. Yep. We saw a lot of THIS in Padova today. I expect to see a LOT more. 

Padova: Look Ma! No TomTom!

In our world of readily available maps, GPS devices, and directions, I have to say I was a little scared at the thought of navigating around without a GPS here in Italy.  But I forced myself to accept the challenge of reading a map again, and go exploring. Of course, that didn’t mean I couldn’t start small either. Trip numero uno: Padova. About 45 minutes from where we are in Paderno.

Now, I have to admit, I wasn’t completely without GPS help. With the help of my iPhone and a little WIFI trick, we were able to activate the map and get our GPS location. When we traveled outside of the WIFI service, the direction capabilities may have been gone, but the phone would still keep track of my location. This worked for the first half of the trip down, though I lost all reception about 15 minutes outside of Padova.

So, trick numero due: Follow the street signs. The first thing I’ve learned about driving in Italy is that you can find your way around fairly simply thanks to all the street signs in and around the cities (the 2^ndthing I learned was how crazy driving is here, but more on that in a moment). If you don’t know the exact address, you can just follow signs to the city and make your way there as you go. This second method worked ok, though it did eventually lead us to making our 1^st official site visit in Italy at an Ikea.  And Ikea in Italy has gelato, so we got another 1^st in, Behold!

From there, we were able to get basic directions back into the center of town by asking an associate (knowing some Italian is definitely recommended…thank you Duolingo). From there, we enjoyed the old town tour of Padova, including the largest cathedral I have ever been in (no pictures allowed…not even drawing was allowed! One too many art students, I guess).

Now, as promised earlier, a word on driving in Italy. The driving guide we got from the program that we’re teaching in here has an appropriate description of the driving experience, one that I learned in the first few minutes of driving: “Driving in Italy (and Europe, in general) demands that you are a ‘mature’ driver. By mature, we mean that you have the ability to drive anywhere without experiencing extreme irritation, frustration, and trouble”. I would add: the bigger the city, the more “mature” you need to be. 

After day 1 of driving here, I can only report: I love it here. Anyone who knows my driving will know that I fit right in with frustrating and irritating driving. Back home, people drive at (or even slightly below) the speed limit. Not here. The speed limit is only a suggestion! Heck, so are no tailgaiting and 3 seconds distance rules! This is my kind of driving experience.