Wherefore Art Thou

Time for some good stuff to distract me from the hammering, scraping, painting and chaos.  That trip we took in September seems like it was a lifetime ago!  We are now living what we knew we would face once we got back from that glorious two weeks on our escape from reality and the shore.  Oh, what I would do to go back there...even if it was just for lunch or dinner...in a place with a view and no dust.  The best I can do now is write about it, look back through the pictures and channel my inner vacation mode.  Let's all go on vacation!

More people than I had seen in one place in about 3 months!

Back in September we went to a wedding in Verona, Italy, which also happens to be the setting for Romeo and Juliet!  When you are invited to a wedding in Italy...you go...if you can!  The wedding was for the son of our good friends, Rick and Patty, of Sicily, Portuguese Camino, weekends in NYC and last but not least Italian travel fame.  We were so excited to attend this wedding in the same place we met the bride 16 years ago on an epic night none of us will forget!  She was "just a friend" of the groom at the time. Would we go back to Verona and experience another epic night?  We were more than willing to find out. We left our worries and our cares behind and flew to Verona, Italy to soak up enough good food, good wine, Italian culture and beauty to last us through our upcoming chaos at home!

We stayed in our second agritourismo in Italy and so far we are 2/2 in lovely experiences.  When visiting busy cities, staying in an agritourismo has its advantages and disadvantages.  No, you are not in the thick of the city but you have breakfast and dinner available at the on site restaurant if you want.  You also have things like fresh vegetables, local wine, peace and quiet, owners who are happy to host you and what feels like a more authentic experience.  We also had a car to take us back and forth to the city and to the wedding events.  Added bonus, we got to spend quality time with our friends, the parents of the groom.  

Quiet and relaxing

We arrived on Thursday evening and all we had the energy to do was have dinner with our friends at the on-site restaurant.  It was great to catch up and share a meal together.  The next morning, we headed into Verona for a little sightseeing.  Friday was busy in the city!  After 3 months in our rural community in Nova Scotia, Friday in Verona was crazy!  So many people!  I guess it wasn't the off season just yet.  We dodged and wove our way down the shopping street soaking in all the Italian retail establishments and drooled at every gelato shop.  We strolled through the street market, visited a church...or two, and basically just enjoyed the culture and architecture.  Lunch was in a side street cafe and yes, we followed it up with gelato!  

The rest of Friday and Saturday were wedding focused.  The welcome dinner, in Verona, at a place with a killer view of the river below.  It was an ideal night for the venue with perfect weather for outdoor dining and a gorgeous sunset to top it all off.  I remember walking across the river 16 years ago to the last restaurant I had dinner at in Verona, now we were at the top of the hill looking down.  Pretty sure the food was delicious both nights!

Nice view from the patio.

Italian sunset, beautiful!

The wedding day was slow and relaxed.  With the ceremony about 45 minutes away we had to leave well ahead of time, especially traveling with the hosts.  This gave me a lot of time to roam the grounds and snoop around while the wedding party was getting ready and taking photos.  It was a perfect day! The couple wrote their own vows, which gave so much insight into who they are and their relationship, I may have shed a tear or two.  I will say, Italian weddings are all day, all night affairs!  I just wish I was still an all day, all night woman!  My mind was willing, the body was still on Atlantic time, otherwise I would have danced all night.

Another perfect outdoor dinner

Where they said, "I do"

So beautiful!

The most unique wedding cake I've ever seen.

It tasted as good as it looked!  Those tiny wild
strawberries were amazing!

With the couple happily married we spent the next day being tourists.  We started the day with Mass in a nearby village.  A very unique experience.  Mass was held outside at a park across the street from the church.  The attendees were all local village people and there were two baptisms happening at the mass.  TJ and I tried to translate the homily with our Google translate apps and did a fair job at getting the gist.  What a beautiful and sweet community experience.  I can't possibly express the genuine feeling among the people there that day...community, supportive, friendly, welcoming to all, casual, and just what I feel "the church" was meant to be.  I always pray to be blessed in surprising ways when we travel and I never know, until I know, when those experiences happen.  This sweet mass was one of those experiences.  We could have easily skipped it, but I'm glad we got up and went.  

What a pleasant surprise!

TJ and I spent the rest of the day touring Soave while the groom's parents relaxed.  Soave is a small town famous for its wine and its very lovely pedestrian zone in old town. We enjoyed an Italian lunch, hiked up to the castle/fortress at the top of a mountain, to see the view, which was worth it!  We finished with a wine tasting.  Dinner that night was yet another unique experience.  The restaurant was in a close by village and family run.  Farm...literally, to table.  We chose to sit outside, and the scent of livestock wafted past us periodically just to remind us we were eating local.  We had to laugh about yet another "authentic" experience.  Traveling with Rick and Patty is always fun!  We have had so many memorable days and nights together and this trip just added to our list.  I look forward to our next adventure together!

Let's go see what's up there behind us!

Nice view from the top

TJ and I left Monday morning to make our way to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  We drove to Verona to return our rental car at the train station.  Driving to a busy train station during the morning commute time on a Monday morning when you are also trying to avoid the toll roads makes for something less than ideal.  I am usually the navigator.  Sometimes the map does not sync up with your actual location until you miss the turn at the fork in the road...just saying.  There may have been one or more cross words expressed during our commute to the rental car return that morning.  The rental car return that we "had" to get to early enough to return the car and get on our train...well that return location did not open until 8 a.m. and we arrived at 7:50. No where to park either.  Scowl.  My hyperactive partner whistled down someone on the other side of the locked gate and convinced him to open it for us so we could return the car.  The grumpy gate keeper then proceeded to misdirect us to the train station...thanks a lot dude.  We did figure out we were going the wrong way pretty quickly and made it to our train platform early.  So early that we anxiously boarded...the wrong train.  Yes, boys and girls, we got on the wrong train, and it took off with us.  Our seats did not exist, and two very kind women let us sit across from them.  We determined that this train stopped at the same stops our train stopped at and we could just get off at the next stop and hop onto our train when it arrived.  

Waiting for the right train and laughing at ourselves!

We did manage to get on the right train to Trieste, eat a quick lunch and catch our Flixbus to Ljubljana, Slovenia, and finally get a taxi to our hotel in Ljubljana.  TJ gave me big major thumbs up for managing to pack for a 2 week trip in a carry-on this day.  Dragging a bigger bag on trains, buses and taxis would have exhausted both of us.  Shout out to my new vacuum bags!

We met TJ's sister, Mary Kate and her husband Kirk in Ljubljana and the rest of the trip will provide me with yet another escape from renovation purgatory.