At Villa Maser
Toos with Palladio in Vicenza. 
Gelato in January.
Four generations.
Feta? Yum!So my mom and Toos came this week for a short visit. Only five days this time!
Lem and I went to the Treviso airport Friday morning to pick them up. They flew Transavia, a budget airlines that operates out of Holland. For any of you looking to fly to Venice from within Europe, look at Treviso airport! Now that they've completely remodeled it, it is a wonderful airport. Everything is new, it is small, and buses run regularly to Marco Polo airport or Venice.
Well, anyway, because this is northern Italy and it is January, the flight was delayed for an hour and eventually diverted to Marco Polo because of the fog. The two other flights coming in that day were cancelled. Lem and I spent an hour hanging out at the Treviso airport, riding the escalators and having a snack. Once we saw the flight was diverted, we headed to Marco Polo to pick them up there. I was just glad they didn't get routed to Trieste.
Saturday we went up to Asolo and to see the Villa Maser. It is one of the famous villas designed by Palladio, and it has amazing frescoes. We were the only ones visiting and it was so cold inside that we could see our breath, but it was beautiful. Lem behaved himself and didn't touch anything! Although after he saw the worker kick the stone doorstop, Lem went around and kicked all of them.
Part of the fun of Villa Maser is the little hike you have to take to visit the Carriage Museum. You climb up this rock road through vineyards and come out at the top of this hill. There is an old farm building that has been converted into a museum of horse-drawn carriages. Lem wanted to climb in all of them.
Afterward we drove to Asolo, the city of a thousand views, an old walled city that sits on a hill overlooking the valley. It was famous with writers. Robert Browning lived there, and Freya Stark is buried there. We had a delicious lunch of bruschetta and then looked at all the shops. Everything is on sale now!
On Sunday, Mom and Toos went to Venice on their own. We needed a day of rest, and I didn't want to spend the day carrying Lem and fishing him out of canals.
Monday, we headed west, to Soave and Verona. In Soave (actually, the village was Illasi), we visited a olive oil place and went wine tasting. At the olive oil place, we were lucky to get a tour of the facility, and learn all about olive oil. The woman said to always use extra virgin olive oil, because it is the purest and best. Regular (not extra virgin) olive oil, is created using a chemical process and isn't as healthy. We bought all things olive oil and then headed for the wine.
After the vino (which was delicious), we kept heading west to Verona. We had lunch at a chic cafe on the Piazza Erbe, then walked 20 minutes to see the Bascilica di San Zeno. He is the saint who converted Verona to Christianity. It is a beautiful church but the bronze doors and crypt were closed (as most things are on Mondays in Italy). We walked back and had an amazing hot chocolate near the Castelvecchio. Italian hot chocolate isn't like what we are used to. It is so thick it is almost like pudding. As Toos said, it was "sinful."
Tuesday we had a lazy morning and then went into Vicenza. We went first to Monte Berico, and then downtown for lunch and shopping. We ended the day with a gelato. I think that is the first time I've eaten ice cream while wearing gloves.
Wednesday morning we stayed near home. It was market day in Grisignano, so we did some shopping and then had lunch at home. There is nothing better than fresh fruit and vegetables, bread and delicious Asiago cheese.
It was wonderful to have visitors, and I wish they could have stayed longer.
If you are interested:
