Visitors

I was very happy to host my long-time friend Ally and her friend and roommate Bailey, on their spring break from studying abroad in Barcelona. What a tough student gig they have; I'm sure they really needed the break...They flew into Venice on a Thursday night and we hit the ground running Friday morning with a wine-tasting trip to Valpolicella country, which is just north of Verona. Luckily we had a rental car, otherwise our car never would have survived the twisty-curvy hilly roads. I would go back to that area just for the scenery, but the wine is an excellent inducement to go back!

View from Le Bignele

Our first stop Friday morning ended up being our favorite of the day. We caravanned with some work and volunteer friends, Brenda and Will. Brenda made tasting reservations for us at Le Bignele, which was located at the end of a very narrow gravel road. We probably would never have found it if we didn't know it was there, but the views, friendly host, and excellent wine made it well worth it. We tasted five or six wines, as well as a few kinds of local meats and cheeses, with an excellent chocolate biscotti. We enjoyed all of the wines, even the white wines which tend to be our least favorite, and especially enjoyed their Amarone. It was a fantastic value, too. The girls bought wine for their parents here, and we left with our cars more full than they were when we left the house that morning!

Le Bignele cellar

Our second stop was La Recchia, which was on our tasting list because we like one of their wines, the Muriae, very much. We met a couple more friends, Krista and Jody, here. Even though we had a tasting appointment, the customer service at La Recchia was extremely disappointing. I probably wouldn't go back there, even though we liked a couple of the many wines we tasted. I should point out, we ended up pouring these wines ourself because the winery host basically ignored us, and answered very few of our questions. After visiting this winery, we stopped at a local trattoria for lunch, and it was delicious! When we walked to the seating area, we passed several tables full of fresh papardelle noodles, which became a welcome part of our meal. We all enjoyed our choices and each ordered a dessert. I had probably the best tiramisu of my time in Italy thus far, and everyone else raved about their choices, as well.

Fresh papardelle

Ally and me enjoying the view at La Recchia

We made one more stop before heading home, but it isn't even worth mentioning. When we got home I made a quick turnaround for the Red Cross Canteen, and left the girls happily researching train schedules and lodging options for the next leg of their trip. The plan was to have stir-fry for dinner, but we forgot to take chicken out of the fridge to thaw (whoops!) so we ordered pizza instead. Darn, pizza in Italy.

Saturday morning we plopped the girls on a train to Venice, and Tony and I met some friends at Pigafetta Coffee Shop (the best!) to visit for a while before taking a tour of the Roman Criptoporticus in Vicenza. The Criptoporticus was only discovered in 1954, during repair efforts to one of the local churches that was damaged during WWII. Some very nice volunteers met us at the entrance and we descended two short flights of stairs for the tour. Thankfully there were some English handouts, because our combined language skills weren't quite good enough to converse easily, and there were some really neat facts about the house. Basically we walked through a u-shaped corridor with a number of windows, that used to be the corridor to a Roman home on a major thoroughfare. There were a couple of small rooms off to the sides, which were used to house water and I think as an entrance/exit for servants or slaves. After the tour, we went to Vicenza's main square and had spritzes while we people-watched. We sat there so long, we ended up ordering lunch and a bottle of Prosecco, too! The weather was fantastic (Tony even got a little sunburned) and it was nice to visit and enjoy the day.

Artistic rendering of the Criptoporticus

Inside the Criptoporticus

Vicenza on a Saturday

On Sunday we left Tony at home to relax and catch up on yardwork. To me, those things are mutually exclusive, but what can I say? He's a weirdo. Bailey, Ally, and I went to the town of Camisano to explore their Sunday market. I bought about two pints of strawberries for two euro. Then we headed to the train station for the girls to purchase tickets to other places in Italy for the second half of their break, and had lunch and drink in Vicenza. We walked around for a few minutes so they could see the highlights, and then we hopped in the car to Brendola. We stopped at the unfinished church, walked up to the Rocca dei Vescovi, and then hiked on a gravel road for a few minutes. After we got our fill of hiking, we drove through some vineyards and then came back home. I cooked dinner and afterwards we played Yahtzee and munched on champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, and Venetian cookies, which the girls thoughtfully brought back from Venice as an anniversary present for me and Tony. It was a short visit, but a sweet one!

Ally and Bailey at Rocca dei Vescovi

Feet pic, or it didn't happen!

Celebratory Champagne