La Dolce Vita

Am I supposed to keep this thing going?

elizvrooman — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:09:29 +0000

I’m not so sure.

Memory Lane

elizvrooman — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:32:04 +0000

Well, here we are. The final day of our life here in Italy. We leave very early tomorrow morning for Los Angeles. The time here has gone by incredibly fast, but when I think back, we have done so many fun things! I have been looking through some photos today to make myself even sadder about leaving I suppose. Some photographic reflection:

That’s that.

Climbin’ Peaks

elizvrooman — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:10:58 +0000

Flora, Chase, Mark and I went on a lovely hike yesterday.

We climbed the highest peak around and could see Umbrian hilltowns in every direction. It was beautiful and a nice way to finish up our Umbrian hiking adventures. I cannot believe we are leaving tomorrow morning. Three months flew by.

An Underwater Piazza

elizvrooman — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:40:32 +0000

Piazza San Marco is incredible. When it rains, the piazza floods, that is just the way it is. There is no real drainage system for flooding because there is just more water under everything. The bars and restaurants stay open and serve cappuccinos to customers inside who literally are standing in water up to their knees.

They set up these long flat boards across main parts of the piazza where the water is simply too high to wade through. I was told that a fun activity for the local Venetians is to watch tourists slip and fall off the edges. Somehow, I didn’t fall. Sorry about the blurry photo, there was so much water everywhere.

Oh Venice.

elizvrooman — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:24:03 +0000

The day we spent in Venice was both soggy and spectacular. It rained most of the day and there was high water, really high water. There were too many beautiful buildings and canals surrounding us that the rain didn’t really get us down. Okay fine, I did get a little frustrated when my socks got wet, just because wet socks are the worst and everyone knows that.

Of course there are no cars allowed in Venice, many of the streets and alleyways are so narrow you have to walk single file. So everyone has a little boat outside of their house to get around in.

Buon Capodanno

elizvrooman — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:16:02 +0000

We could not believe the fireworks we were watching from our terrace. We are staying in a really small community on the outskirts of Venice and Padova so we certainly did not expect fireworks nearby. But there they were, in our backyard. We got a little excited.

Twenty Ten

elizvrooman — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:45:49 +0000

Abano treated us to a private fireworks display and a party at the local restaurant organized by gangsters. The last day of ’09 was one devoted to walking. We strolled through the canals, botanical gardens, and university corridors of beautiful Padova. In Piazza Della Frutti, we encountered a string of specialty stores and produce stands similar to Pike’s Place Market. Some of the prettiest pasta these eyes have seen was on display there.

Buon anno!

Abano

elizvrooman — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:39:02 +0000

Alas, suburbs do exist in Italy. And, like most things here, they’re far superior to their American counterparts. Bizarre turn of the century architecture amidst the heaping brick stacks of old. We took a bike ride to nearby Padova, northern Italy’s academic capitol. Several canals split the town into colorful slices of dizzying archways and churches on stilts. We strolled past the department of Astronomy where our dear friend Galileo taught. Perhaps we’ll return at night and see what he saw, or something like it.

Northbound

elizvrooman — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:53:05 +0000

Tomorrow we head out on our last adventure. We are going up to a town near Venice and Padova. I have only been to Venice once and it was just for a few hours. It was summer and the streets were overflowing with tourists. I am hoping that will not be the case this time around. Padova has the second oldest university in Italy. Actually it may be the second oldest university in Europe. Either way, old. There are also beautiful original paintings by Giotto so we will definitely see those. I am looking forward to it, but I know that this will be our last trip, so I feel a tinge of sadness.

Black Sheep

elizvrooman — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:51:42 +0000

A new addition to the animal kingdom here was born about a week ago. She is an adorable black and white baby lamb. Can a person just say lamb because the fact that it is a baby is implied with the word lamb? Anyway, she usually spends her days either prancing around or nuzzling with her mom.

And here she is nuzzling.

Now the list of Le Compre animals is as follows:

3 dogs
3 cats
1 turkey
2 geese
2 roosters
4 chickens
2 ducks
1 horse
4 sheep
1 lamb
9 humans