Week 1: Benvenuto in Italia

I have arrived! I had an eight hour layover at JFK where I wrote my first blog and walked……….alot! Then an eight hour redeye flight to Venice!!!!!!! When I arrived I was warmly welcomed by Giulia & Simone. First order of business was coffee to fend off the jetlag, then a quick lunch before dropping me off at Francesca’s apartment so I could settle in. After I unpacked there was time to kill, so I decided to seize the day!!!!!! Go for a walk in my new hometown!!!!! I played with the lock of the door to make sure I knew how to lock it then off I went to see what Vicenza had to offer. I stepped outside and it started raining. So back upstairs to grab my raincoat because nothing was gonna stop me!..............except the lock to the apartment!  Leave it to me to get locked out of my apartment with keys in my hand!  I tried twisting and turning the key, pushing and pulling the knob simultaneously but that evil door would not budge!  So there I sat in the hallway until I heard someone coming up the stairs. Leaping to my feet I chased the footsteps to the floor below and asked for help.  The lady I met was kind and patient and showed me how to open a fricken door!  I am now an excellent Italian door opener!

View from my balcony!

My Italiano Famiglia! I met everyone at the Visa Global Vicenza office….my Italian famiglia!  They are all welcoming, funny and kind! They like to tease me for several things, but mostly my wardrobe or lack of sleeves and squatting at my desk (don’t ask)! Every day at the office someone cooks lunch and we eat a delicious hot workmade lunch! In the evenings one of my newfound friends takes me out for either a drink or walk and then of course an Italian dinner. I have eaten many different things, but what I appreciate the most are the fresh vegetables and most of all the mushrooms! However I am going through meat withdrawal as I adapt to the Italian cuisine. But leave it to Simone to win my heart with a meatfest on Saturday, barbecuing on his new grill ! There I go again talking about food! As promised I am eating my way through this adventure! Check out the pictures at the end of the blog because you will never guess what I ate! What I enjoy most about my Italian colleagues is being able to relate to them in some way.  Whether  it is siblings, ideologies, hobbies, heartbreak, animals (especially cats), tattoos, or dirty jokes it has been humbling. A week ago they were strangers to me, but they have welcomed me into their homes and introduced me to their families. How did I get so lucky?

Happy hour!

 Festival of meat thanks to Simone and his new grill!!!!!

I went from winter to summer in a day!  Other than the day I arrived, it has been 80 degrees and when the sun is down it is about 68 degrees. Every night I ask whomever is hosting me that night if we can eat outside to breathe the fresh air, sneeze a whole lot of pollen and enjoy the sun setting beyond the hills.  Did I mention there are snow-capped mountains in the distance? I love them. Something so peaceful looking at mountains with a hint of white on the top. It reminds me of when I was going through cadet basic training and no matter where you were you could see Mount Rainier. I remember doing a ruck march at sunrise my feet hurt, I was exhausted, and well life just sucked. But I looked up at that snow covered mountaintop and just for a moment felt no pain or stress, just peacefulness. Unfortunately it has been very hot and hazy here, so capturing these beautiful rigid peaks in a picture is still to come. But I can tell you they are breathless. 

The landscape is my favorite. Spotting churches perched on the top of hills in every direction makes me want to discover the little town beneath it!  Although the busy village streets and historical buildings are a close second! I have meandered into downtown Vicenza on my dinner date with Sara, cruised through Montecchio, strolled into the seaside village of Chioggia with Simone, but my favorite was an evening in Garda!  I have only had a glimpse at all of these places, so now it is up to me to explore the depths of each unique place! If only I had a way faster mode of transport……I am fast on foot, but there are faster ways to see my new home……..

More pictures at the bottom of the blog, but here is one to start! 

Panorama of Vicenza

So I bought a bike!  I want to see and do as much as possible so I now have a sweet ride to get around Vicenza. Simone is an avid biker and, like me, loves the outdoors so I have a partner in crime for some of my excursions!  So much for not planning…………we have already planned several biking trips in the surrounding hills. I cannot wait!  Every day I bike to work and if I did not hit the snooze alarm I also bike to the Crossfit box in the morning. It was not until Friday I discovered it had a bell!  I plan on ringing my bell at everyone because it is such a happy sound for this smiling gal! It did not take long for me to get my bike legs back, but I think my derriere….or in Italian my dietro feels differently.  My route to work is just over a mile on small roads so I can bike with no hands almost the whole way! Ahhh the breeze through my hair!!!!!!

By the time Friday came I needed a night to myself.  It had been 5 days of adjusting to my surroundings, time zone, and staying out way later than normal.  Normally I got to bed around midnight but I am not use to arriving at home after 10-11 o’clock every night.  Some nights I purposely drank a lot of wine, Spritz (local drink made with Prosecco which is from this region), and Grappa hoping it would help me unwind from a fun filled day. So Friday after happy hour, I raced home on my bike (I need to name him any suggestions?) threw my shoes off and flopped on my bed. Less than five minutes I was bored.  I knew I had to write this blog, but it was too beautiful outside to sit when there is a whole city for me to explore! But it was too late to ride too far on streets I was not familiar with.  It was too early to eat because Italian restaurants open late and I was tired of sitting…..even in a relaxing bar with outside seating for a drink.  Man Italian life is hard……..Hah! The answer is easy!!!! Crossfit!!!!  Something familiar like home in an unfamiliar land was the key to dilemma!!!!!  After a good sweaty workout of the day it was time to shower and start another adventure! Finding food!!!!! Yes! It was time to test the bike at night on some local streets.  Safety first! I was decked out in my headlamp, old school army reflective belt, and an LED strobe light. Off I rode into the night up and down a familiar streets to search for something yummy. I settled on pizza with of course local heavenly mushrooms.  I didn’t think this through as I had to get the pizza home, but leave it to me for seeking a challenge.  Biking with a pie in hand was a piece of cake! I think next time perhaps a bottle of wine?!?! 

We shall see what my limits are on Saturday when I go on my first hilly bike ride with Simone! Here I come Vicenza! 

Me on my sweet ride to/from work!

Small town girl in Milan. On Thursday Simone and I went to the Fiera del Mobile, which is a Furniture trade show. We had a list of vendors we wanted to seek out because they have shipments to/from Italy from/to USA.  I am not the Uptown girl Billy Joel sings about.  Big cities, crowds, and traffic are all like daggers to the little sanity that I have!  One perk was driving an Audi! Simone wanted to get some work done, so I happily volunteered to be the chauffeur. It was fast and furious ride until we were just outside of the city. It took us over three hours with the last hour slowly moving to the Milan fair complex which was not even in the heart of the bustling city!

I am not a sales person, customer service yes, but sales……… I am very self-conscious if I can look and play the part.  So dump me into the fashion capital of the world and I would like to crawl into a Crossfit box and never ever leave! I own two pairs of heels: a pair of black kitten heels and the other pair I wear almost daily: my lifters!!!!!!  I choose to wear the black heels even though my lifters are way more sexy…………….I think they are sexier because I feel more confident in them! Although not wearing my lifters was a good choice for this mission, turns out the black ones were NOT a wise decision either!  My feet were blistered and ached after five hours of walking in a pencil skirt and a sweaty blazer. On a positive note, the show was very interesting and cool to see so many high-end brands foreign to me.  The whole operation was impressive! But we had a job to do, so we did not get to walk through many of the exhibits.  We plotted our course and got a few leads! The last two vendors were American and each time my sale pitch got better, perhaps I can get the hang of this! 

Me at my favorite exhibit at the Milan Furniture trade show. Anyone guess why it is my favorite?!?!?! Well if you do not know I love lots of color and this was by far the most colorful!

Behind the wheel! 

Garda need I say more? Garda was an unplanned adventure after a long day in Milan. After checking off the last vendor off our list it was time to plan our escape before the herds of cars exit the city…..Ah but we were too late. Another hour of city traffic but little did I know Simone had a planned surprise pit stop to relax, drink, and eat after a taxing drive in the car.  Surprise! We arrived in Peschiera del Garda, the first town against Lake Garda.  The villages is beautiful and the more we walked the more excited I became. For me heaven is not in the clouds, but near water.  I must’ve been in my paradise because like that ruck march many years ago my feet no longer ached in those silly little heels! Simone kept telling me about a village called Garda, his favorite on Lake Garda. I was listening to his every word to hear more about this dreamland and asking…begging for more details.  Spontaneously he questioned, “Do you want to go now?” I did not want to ask too much of my host so I asked a question in return, “If you had to spend an this evening on Lake Garda where would you go?” We arrived in Garda just as the sun was setting and it could not have been a more perfecto choice!  We strolled….I bounced through the small, quaint streets.  The shops were closing, but the lights from the restaurants gave the village a warm glow. Watching the sunset on the water with a Prosecco in my hand melted all the anxiety from the day. This was my favorite part of the trip so far. I hope I repeat this phrase many times in this blog. 

We have arrived in Paradiso del Lago di Garda!

Crazy T in heels being funny in the streets of Garda!

Sipping Prosecco as the sun sets over Lake Garda 

Peschiera del Garda the first, but not my last lake side town I will be visiting

Downtown to “old” Vicenza, the historical part of the city.

Vicenza behind me!

After a few sales calls a seaside detour in Chioggia also known as “little Venice!”

Wisteria is everywhere!  

I fell in love……………………with a cheese! Burrata cheese is in the family of mozzarella but spreads like butter and melts in your mouth.  I can buy it in the local market, so this will most likely be eaten as much as possible!  The below pizza is served where you put the toppings on yourself.  My toppings is ham and burrata! I ate half the burrate all by itself!

Black risotto with a pumpkin puree topped with crab.  What makes it black? Cuttlefish ink which is similar to the squid ink.  This was my first dinner and I think my favorite of the week………besides eating burrata by itself!

Apparently Francesca is a spy for Visa Global!   My first lunch at work Simone’s girlfriend, Frederica made my favorite desert in the ENTIRE world: Tiramisu!!!! It was homemade & Dairy free (One of the Visa employee’s is lactose) with chunks of dark chocolate. It was very good! Before I left many people recommended I eat gelato as much as possible, but I got other plans……..I will be eating as much Italian Tiramisu as I can!  I only had Tiramisu twice this week and both were AMAZING!!!!!! How do they do it?!?!?!?!?

Above is a Tiramisu on the left and on the right an Austrian dessert Sachertorte from a hilltop restaurant in Altavilla that I also ate the below dish!  

At the same restaurant, is my dinner below. Any guesses?!?!? 

The yellow brick is polenta (completely different than the American verison), fennel above it.  To the right is a vegetable medley with EGGPLANT one of my favorites! The green sautéed plant is a bitter but flavorful vegetable called chicory.  And for the meat……………………Black Beauty!  I always wanted to try horse and now I have!

I never had scallops served from its shell!

Sea bass! Often salt is not used, but if your dish needs more flavor drizzle a tough of olive oil

Stay tuned for my next post on Over the Vicenza Hills!

Ciao!