Life in Italy

view from our terrace

We've been so busy settling into life in Italy that I haven't even sat down at this computer long enough to upload photos and write up another post yet.  The 'gelato' post was one I wrote a long time ago but just finished adding pictures to the other day.  So, to sum up our month of August: after receiving the keys to our new (OLD!) home, the moving van blocked our entire street and unloaded our household goods on one of the hottest days of this hottest summer on record.  It got to the point where, when the poor men asked me to which floor the current box being hoisted off the truck was heading to, I said : "the attic, I AM SORRY!"  We had three days to unpack, during which Paul was only here about half the time due to paperwork mishaps, but fortunately the girls were gone during the day, playing at the child development center on base.  After our first actual night staying in the house, Paul left the next morning at 5 am to return to the States for 10 days. WHAT?!?!  (not his choice, of course...it was for a continuing education that his commander here wanted him to complete...why he didn't do the training before they moved us, I don't know, but he spent half the week prior trying to get the trip details ironed out, but that is typical of the Air Force so not a big surprise really...)  So - move to another country with a not quite 2 year old and 4 year old?  Sure.  Spend the first 10 days in the new (did I mention old??) house without my husband and figure out how to LIVE there on my own?  Not my idea of fun.  No internet service yet and barely working A/C during the sweltering days made for one crabby mommy....but, we made it work.  We had a lot of help from our dental clinic family, thank goodness!  The girls and I explored a bit on our own and were happy to discover a few other American neighbors and one of our favorite finds - a Panificio ('bakery') just around the corner from our house.  The house is working out well...we weren't sure how Clara and Vivi would do sharing a room but it has been (mostly) fine.  Clara is such a light sleeper but I think she is getting used to it.  Everyone is breathing a bit easier now that it has cooled down - of course, they installed another A/C unit but not until after the heat wave has ended.

Looking out our front window during the Basket Festival

Luckily Paul returned in time for the big festival here in our town, Sagra dei Sest - the festival of baskets - during the first weekend in September.  It featured baskets, of course, and many other handmade folk-type items like things made out of wood, soap, local honey, etc.  There were many vendors and we enjoyed being directly in the center of it all, literally - they told us that unless we parked our car on the outskirts of town and walk in/out, we would not be able to leave as all the central streets would be blocked.  But, no need to leave as all the excitement came to us!  One of my favorite moments was on Sunday afternoon as we joined most of the Italians for riposo - 'rest' or nap time, and awoke to a VERY loud band playing outside the window, and Clara clapping along from her bed. :)  We ran out to the terrace to check it out:

(Please excuse everyone's 'bed head' hair :) and the fact that they were squinting so terribly - it was so bright after our dimmed-for-napping bedrooms! Vivian is not plugging her ears but actually trying to shade her eyes!)  It was a lot of fun.  And so much history - this was the 339th basket festival here in Polcenigo.  339th!!  As Americans we can hardly even contemplate that kind of history.  We learned from the architect who did the renovations on the house we're living in that building is 400 years old.  That includes the old sink, original fireplace and tile in the old kitchen downstairs, but he said that the tile in the entryway is "only" 300 years old.  Wow.

We love our terrace and have spent every nice evening grilling and enjoying the evening there.  Our river behind the house has been a source of constant amazement: after our first week in the house, the water flow slowed from a solid slow stream to absolutely nothing.  Niente!  I imagine that it was to everyone's horror, as they made laborious preparations for the festival, that the river remained dry with nasty looking dried algae and it stank, as even Clara noticed and often wrinkled her little nose, saying "stinky!"  Amazingly, the first night of the festival was cancelled due to steady rain, and the next morning, our river had returned!  In fact, during just the last few days it has swelled an unbelievable amount, to a rushing mountain river.

For now, we continue to set up house.  Armed with my new vacuum cleaner, today I won the battle against the spiders and other assorted insects that make their way in (there are only screens on a few of the windows), but I'm not sure if I will win the war.  And I try not to think too much about the fact that after we gave some of our empty packing boxes to a coworker of Paul's on his way out, he found the largest scorpion he's ever seen in one of the boxes.  The boxes had been stacked down on our lower level for some time before he took them....I haven't seen any so here's hoping that the scorpion made it's way in after the boxes were in his house!  We were told to expect small scorpions, but he says this one was 6 or 7 inches long...oh, be still my heart.

More later on our explorations of the nearby area, including the Castello that I am gazing out at as I type while enjoying a glass of vino from a local vineyard, and our misadventures on learning how to drive in Italy....for now, please click on the link below to view some pictures of the house (sans furniture - we'll post some "after" photos soon), two beautiful little girls, and Polcenigo, our town.  Enjoy - we sure are!

Another digital slideshow by Smilebox

Gelato or Bust

Since it goes without saying that we are making it a priority to sample as much gelato as often as we can, the phrase "gelato or bust" was right up there with "La Dolce Vita" as top contenders for the title of our blog.  For those of you who have never sampled the most amazing ice cream on earth, please, start planning your trip to visit us as soon as possible because you will not be disappointed.  And if you've tried gelato in the US or even elsewhere in Europe, or perhaps the stuff that they sell in supermarket freezers and label gelato, you have tasted only a poor simulation of the real thing, my friend.  No, I'm not exaggerating.  This is ice cream on a whole new level! When we traveled to Italy while living in Germany, we often just skipped lunch and ate gelato instead, and occasionally even made excuses to indulge twice in one day.  It is just that good.

According to wikipedia, the history of gelato dates back to frozen desserts served in ancient Rome and Egypt made from snow and ice brought down from mountaintops and preserved below ground.  How cool is that? Literally!  Even ice cream in Italy is a historical tradition.


Fortunately for us, though perhaps unfortunately for our waistbands, we only have to walk about 50 paces down the street to our local gelatteria.  Almost every night after dinner our children begin their "gelato" chant and it is just so delicious, that it is hard for us to refuse.  And why should we?  La Dolce Vita, indeed!  I believe that after "ciao," "gelato" was Clara's second Italian word.

Hilfer and Frazier girls enjoying frozen treats and gelato cone seats.  The only reason they are drinking smoothies is because they had already had gelato earlier in the day.  My favorite part of this photo is actually Liz posing through the glass in the shop, though it's difficult to see her through the glare.  :)  

Gelato makes our children act very silly.  

 



So as we continue our search for gelato or bust, we will be sure to chronicle our favorite flavors and gelatterias so that we can share them with you when you visit!

Polcenigo, Friuli-Venizia Giulia, Italia

We are very excited to have found a house in the small mountain village of Polcenigo.  We looked at many houses, including one on the outskirts of town with cornfields on one side and a vineyard on the other for "neighbors", and one that was part of an old farm villa that was quite large and backed up to a quiet little chapel, a fresh water spring, and a mountain path but was unfortunately too far from the base, but ultimately decided on this very old home in a little valley.  We're not sure of the actual date, but the old kitchen includes an ancient-looking stone basin sink in the corner.  (That one will probably be the guestroom as thankfully there is a new, updated kitchen upstairs.)  It's connected to another building and it has no yard at all, only a terrace-deck, but it backs up to the river running through the center of town and is only steps away from the piazza (town square), complete with pizzeria and gelatteria less than 20 paces from our front door.  Speaking of the front door, it is one of those big barn door affairs, with a regular sized cut out door in the middle of it.  It looks like the original (OLD) door.  It has three floors and windows overlooking the river on one side and quaint old buildings on the other.  From the terrace you can look up the hillside to the old castle ruins and just a few steps in the other direction takes you to more mountain hiking.  I don't have any of my own pictures to post - hope to remedy that by the end of this week - but if you google "Polcenigo", you'll see the above photograph with the river, and you can read more about the town and the nearby grotto if you wish.  The parking situation, as well as no yard, is one of the negatives - we'll have to park one of our vehicles in the public lot that is just to the right of the bridge that this photo was taken from, a short distance from the house, and we'll need to find a teeny-tiny car to fit in the minuscule garage next to the house.  Not a lot of storage either.  However, Americans lived in this house previously and we've been told by other Americans in the town that it is very safe and they always feel comfortable there.  We decided to make it work for the experience and cultural opportunities - this house definitely felt like the most "authentic Italy" to me.  We can't wait to further explore the area!

Arrivederci, USA!

Goodbye USA, hello Italia!  

Welcome to our blog, where we will record our adventures in Italy and living la dolce vita, "the sweet life, full of pleasure and indulgence." Leaving last week was bittersweet, as saying goodbye to our families and friends was especially difficult knowing how long it might be before we see them again, but we were so excited to begin this new chapter in our life.  Vivian and Clara were thrilled to ride on an airplane and their enthusiasm was only slightly dampened after sitting on the tarmac for an hour before even taking off for our first of three flights - their parents were less than enthusiastic, I assure you. (thank goodness for gadgets is all I have to say about that!)

 However they exceeded our expectations and behaved very well on the planes. Clara was asleep before we even took off on the overnight international flight to Ramstein, Germany and slept most of that flight and the following to Aviano Air Base, Italy. Vivian loved looking out the window and reporting all that she could see.
    We arrived tired but happy to be here, and our fantastic sponsor family, the Fraziers, had everything set and ready to go for our arrival. They took us out for our first pizza dinner that evening and showed us around the areas surrounding Aviano.   More details and pictures to come!