A long post, without pictures

I am very disappointed in the Internet connection here. It is difficult to attach a picture. Until I figure out how to do it, I will only be writing about our travels. Before we caught the train to Montebelluna, we walked around Venice for a few hours, watching kids play soccer and just enjoying our last bit of time in this beautiful city. When we finally made our way to the train station, we almost missed it. The schedule said the train was to leave from platform 7, but we found out later, with just a few minutes to spare, that the train was leaving from platform 2. Good thing Arrigo asked an attendant, or we would have missed it. As an FYI, the train system is called Trenitalia. Fanny picked us up from the train station, and it was a short 5-minute drive to hers and Nicola's house. This was going to be our home for the next four days. We will be sharing it with their children, Sophia,11 and Agata, 8; their three cats, Charlie, Otello, and Silvery; and their dog, Lucky. With Arrigo and me, it was a full house. I felt bad that I couldn't communicate much with Agata and Sophia. Sophia is learning English in school so I could speak a bit with her. I mostly communicated with Agata by using sign language, laughter, and simple words. Arrigo has been able to practice speaking Italian a lot since we have been in Montebelluna, so he was a hit with the girls and they loved his humour. Day 1 - Arrival in Montebelluna By the time we arrived, we hadn't eaten since breakfast and we were starving. Fanny felt like she was being a horrible host letting us starve. I guess she thought she should be able to read our minds and know we were hungry. I suppose I should have told her about "Mind Reading 101" at the U of A. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying Fanny and her family's company. The girls were very entertaining, especially Agata...she's quite a little rascal. Their house is tiled throughout - tiles on the support posts, walls, floors, stairs, and even the garage floor. Not just plain tiles either, but colourful mosaics. Can you imagine tile in our garages? Everything is made of stone and the floors are all made of ceramic tile. The garage floors are even made of ceramic tile. Try and imagine nice ceramic tile in Canada, not only in the bathroom and kitchen, but on the garage floor too. It wouldn't take long before the tiles would be destroyed from the snow, salt, and mud. If our houses had tile like they have tile here in Italy, our houses would be unaffordable, almost like they are now ha ha. The only problem though... the homes take four to five years to build because they have to make them earthquake proof, and they are made from cement. There are a lot of regulations to follow. Arrigo thinks it takes so long to build because the workers take a lot of coffee breaks. Day 2 - Visiting Fanny and Nicola dropped us off at Pierina and Gianni's house in the morning, and they went to visit Nicola's sister in Milano, so we spent the entire day with Pierina, Gianni, Sylvia, and Antonio. Pierina and Sylvia were very happy to see Arrigo and were delighted to meet me. Sylvia and her boyfriend, Antonio, could both speak English, so at least I had a chance to participate in the conversations. Pierina spoke a bit of English. I felt bad that I couldn't contribute more to a conversation. Pierina's husband, Gianni, couldn't speak English at all, so I couldn't speak to him. I'm sure glad I had interpreters with me. Pierina cooked lunch for all of us. There was a lot of wine on the kitchen table - I think I counted three bottles. Not only do they drink wine at dinner, but at lunch too - wine flows freely here! Pierina made gnocchi! But it was better than any gnocchi I have ever tasted. It was a special dish called Gnocchi di Roma. They enjoy their food here and preparing special dishes for us. Sylvia's tiramisu was also the best tiramisu we have ever tasted - and with that...dessert wine. I think I'm going to gain weight. After dinner, we went next door to visit Zio Zeno, Arrigo's uncle. He was happy to see Arrigo, and to meet me. Arrigo' family are very nice people. It's nice to see such a loving family. Zio Zeno was smiling the whole time. We showed him a video of Arrigo's family from the Sunday before we left. Zio Zeno was happy to see the family. He was waving to the video as if they were right there. It was funny and nice to see. We recorded a video of Zio Zeno to play to the family when we get back to Canada. When we returned to Pierina's house, we ate dinner. I don't know how they don't gain weight here...the food is delicioso. Day 3 - We're Trapped On Monday morning, Fanny took the girls to school and the dog for a walk, and she told us she was going to be gone for half an hour. We decided we wanted to go for a walk, but couldn't get out of the front yard because there is a gate we didn't know how to open. All the homes here are gated. OK, let's go back inside. It turned out that we were locked out of the house too because unbeknownst to us, the door locked automatically when we closed it. We were trapped. We waited for Fanny to come back, and waited...and waited...and waited. When she finally came back, she was very apologetic. We were all joking that she is a bad host - first, when we arrived, she didn't feed us; and now we get locked out! We quickly forgave her though. For lunch today, Nicola prepared a special pasta dish for us. They enjoy preparing special meals for family. Later in the day, we went to Asolo. The most beautiful town I have ever seen has got to be this town. The roads are only wide enough for one-way traffic because the streets were originally intended for horses and walking only? It's just like you see in the Tour de France - narrow streets through small towns. One might ask "How is traffic not chaotic?" There is a timed light at each end of the main thoroughfare so each direction knows when to go. Arrigo was always holding my hand because I have a tendency to just bolt. You shouldn't bolt onto the road here because the road is narrow and windy. There are shops and cafés on both sides of the street, and I would tend to bolt from one side to the other. Fanny bought a cup to match another cup they have at home. We continued on our hike up to the top of Asolo, where there was a fort/castle. The view from the top was fantastic. On our way back to Montebelluna, we stopped for pizza. Nicola opened the hatch back, and out fell the cup and saucer that Fanny bought. It was broken, and boy oh boy, was Fanny angry with Nicola. I must say that listening to an argument in Italian is much more enjoyable than listening to one in English. Once the argument was over, we ate pizza as if nothing happened. Fanny told us it was known as the most famous pizza in the area, and she was right. Delicioso! Another fabulous day in the beautiful country of Italia. Day 4 - Our Last Day Today is our last day in Montebelluna, and the first thing on the agenda... the post office. We wanted to send the two papier-mâché masks that we bought in Venice home. We didn't want them to get destroyed during our journey. Now that that's out of the way, we can go for a cappucino. The cappuccinos here are much better than in Canada. Come to think of it, I don't drink cappuccinos, but I know cappuccinos in Canada are too strong for me. Maybe it's the milk, but I don't need to add sugar...it's smooth. Before we knew it, we had to start making our way home for lunch. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some ingredients to make sandwiches for our ride on the train to Cinque Terre tomorrow. This evening, we go to a city called Treviso. We stopped in a candy shop and bought some marons, candies that are made from 90 per cent chestnuts and 10 per cent chocolate. Arrigo bought them because Fanny mentioned that she craved them during her pregnancies. He also bought a sweater for the cool evenings ... wait, there are no cool evenings. I guess he'll have to wait until we get back to Canada to wear it. Fanny and I bought shoes. We were both happy that we got such a good deal on shoes. Actually, I'm excited that I bought shoes made in Italy and that they were such a good deal - double whammy! I couldn't come to Italy and not buy shoes. I think we will be buying a small suit case for all the stuff we buy. When 7:30 rolled around, we had to head home for dinner. We had a choice between ravioli or another kind of pasta I haven't heard of, but made with Zia Lina's pasta sauce. There was no question... we have to have Zia Lina's home made pasta sauce. There's nothing like home-made pasta sauce, especially when it's made with love. Pierina and Gianni came by for a visit after dinner and the wine flowed freely again. We were all laughing at my several attempts of taking a picture using the timer on my camera. Fanny took a picture too and I accidentally deleted the picture because I can't read Italian. Stupido Ellen! It's time to go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow morning to catch the train to Cinque Terre. We had a very enjoyable time with family. I really like Arrigo's family, but then again, who wouldn't? Fanny and Nicola welcomed me with open arms. Entertained by Agata and Sophia, not to mention the cats and dog. They made us all laugh. When we got to the train station, we realized we forgot our sandwiches we made for our train ride. Yet another reason for Fanny to think she was a horrible host.