What we've been up to lately....

My apologies to everyone for the recent lack of blog posts.  Things have been a bit unsettled around here, with moving into the house, not having internet for awhile, and still not having our car.  Thankfully Donovan is able to ride his bike to work everyday and I have plenty of things at the house to keep me busy.  But now that we're in the midst of enjoying a four-day weekend we've had the chance to get out and explore our surroundings a bit more.  Here's a look at the last few days...

To start off, a few nights ago Donovan and I decided to try out the trattoria that's across the street from us.  The special for the evening was "linguini con i garusoli."  Sounds good, right?  Well, despite not knowing what we were getting, that's what we ordered.  Who knew marine snails were so yummy.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of my plate, but a quick Google search will give you an idea.  And truthfully, they were quite delicious!

On Friday, we rode our bikes to Lago di Fimon, which is a lake about five kilometers away.  The lake itself was a bit of a disappointment, it was certainly not a place I want to go swimming, but the ride through the valley to get there was really pretty.  I took the camera along hoping to get some good photo opportunities, but of course as soon as we got to the lake it started raining, so we turned around and rode straight home and didn't even get the camera out.  I know, how lame is that.  I did, however, get a picture of the next wave of the rainstorm approaching.  We got back to the house just in time, since this one turned out to be a real downpour. 

For dinner that night, we did our first bit of "real" cooking and tried a new Giada recipe, Pasta Ponza (recipe can be found here).  A shout-out to my friend K, who shares my love for all Giada recipes and gave me the cookbook containing this particular one.  The dish came out super yummy and we enjoyed it with a nice bottle of vino bianco.  

On Saturday we explored the area of Monte Berico, which provides an excellent view of Vicenza.  There's also a basilica at the top, the Basilica di Santa Maria de Monte Berico, and a 700-meter-long staircase that was built in honor of the Virgin Mary.  The staircase has 150 arches to symbolize the 150 Hail Marys in the rosary. 

Halfway point of the staircase - the basilica is at the top

Looking down the stairs

Vicenza!

 

Downtown, with a good view of the Basilica Palladiana