Backblogged!

Having Nanaw and Papa here was a LOT of fun! However, it was also a lot of running around, a lot of late nights, a lot of traveling and very little time for blogging. They were here for 16 days and in that time, we went to 14 different towns, 3 different countries and 3 different regions of Italy. Whew! I took a ton of photos! (600+) So I'm gonna try to do a daily recap, it may be slightly boring to read but I'd like to remember and I know it'll help Nanaw and Papa too. It may take me several days but I should be able to record everything but I did get some nice pictures so skip the write ups if you'd like!


Day 1, I shared photos already. They arrived, we went up to Mount Berico and had dinner.

Day 2, B had to work. So while he worked, Nanaw and Papa, the kids and I went to the Italian mall, ate paninis, let the kids play at Baby World, then had gelato. We met B at work and went to dinner at one of our favorite little restaurants, Regina's.

Day 3, we were getting a late start waking up and trying to decide where we wanted to go. We were contemplating if it was too hot for Soave, when we got a phone call from the PX...we had won a Step 2 Playhouse giveaway! I had put my name and pertinent info on a slip of paper two weeks prior and we actually won. So we headed to post to pick it up! They wanted photos for their little paper of the kids in the playhouse, then they cleaned it up, we ate a quick lunch at Burger King and we were able to bring it home.

We opted to grill at home for dinner, so the kids could play.

Day 4 we decided to visit the nearby zoo and the towns of Marostica, Nove and Bassano del Grappa. Nove is known for their ceramics. The zoo was up first.

 

After the zoo, we attempted to go to Nove. Nove is known for it's ceramics. Many of the shops make/produce collections by Tiffany and Co, Lenox, William Sonoma, Ralph Lauren, etc as well as their own pieces which obviously look more Italian. However, those crazy Italians and their schedules....everywhere was closed by 1:30 on a Saturday so we ended up eating in Nove, then moving on to Marostica.

Marostica is a walled city with 2 castles, that is known for it's Live Human Chess match which occurs every other year, on even years. They're preparing for one this September and while Mom and Dad won't be here then, we took them so they could see the town, the huge Chess board painted on the town square and to explore the medieval city.

 

After walking around Marostica for a few hours, we moved up the road to Bassano del Grappa. Bassano dates back to BC, so we wanted to check it out. Though we didn't spend much time there as the kids were tired, the adults were grumpy and hot and we still wanted to try to return to Nove. {which the places were still closed and it was a bust}. We definitely plan on returning though. It is very rich in history and was a big part of WW1.

 After Bassano del Grappa we headed home. Our local little town was having a Pizza in the Piazza cookoff. There were 6 or 7 pizzerias/restaurants from our local comune all in one spot; seeing who would get the most orders. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately I didn't take my camera.