Vicenza

Vicenza

We awoke in Venice at 9 am in order to quick dress and join other guests at a delicious breakfast. We ate sugar coated croissants, filled with a tablespoon or two of apricot jelly, cheese and ham, canned peaches an pears, yogurt and granola and delicious cappuccino from a machine. Upstairs we went  afterwards and back to bed for about an hour after our grueling day in Venice. Upon leaving, we spoke with the office attendant and asked for a taxi to the train stations. Seeing that we only had backpacks, the young man said, "I will call you a Taxi, but the station is but 700 meters away." That was music, and hellacious for us to hear after our trial of finding the hotel the night before. 

We strolled along and found it quite easily, then purchased our tickets to Vicenza.  We didn't wait long to board, and were on our way to my birthplace. We wanted to go on base, so we wandered around a bit to happen upon and army service person, and asked about a bus to the base, but after a bit we were ready to take our bags to the room. We walked about a mile through a mostly residential area and found our cool accommodations, Key Hotel. Modern, clean and friendly, it had comfortable beds and had a nearby sushi restaurant and a grocery. Our map wasn't the best, but we eventually made our way the the city center. Along the way, we stopped into a glamorous caffeteria and ate eggplant parmigiana and lasagne bolognese. It was delicious, but we were scolded for placing our personal water bottles on the outside table. We realized near the end of our tour of the city that we may have missed out on several points of interest because we had not purchased a pass to view the inside of several churches and other buildings of interest. 

In the town square, we ran into a couple of Anerican moms pushing baby strollers and chatted with them for a few minutes. They stated that while the base was not tough to get to, it was rather boring with nothing of interest to see. We crossed it off our list to places to visit in Vicenza.  The architecture of the city was of course beautiful, with towering old towers, lovely churches and statues, with a gorgeous paved square. I loved waking the streets imagining my mother, dad and sister and I strolling around many years ago. The colorful buildings with bougainvillea on the windowsills and the antiquated ceiling walkways warmed my heart. We had the obligatory gelato in town at a friendly place, stopped into a couple of stores and bight a golden Baylor blouse for Rachel, an interesting cat tank top for Kristin and a fun holey white top for me.
I dragged Rach to the city park, which was a joy! A cool bridge to columned pergola was a perfect place for a mother daughter picture, and statues lined the walk around the perimeter. The best part for Rachel was the bunnies. She delighted in watching the cute black and white and brown creatures hopping around. We passed an outdoor Zumba class in session, and we're disappointed to not join them because of our clothing, a dress for me and an inappropriate Zumba top for Rach. 

After a lovely day tour of Vicenza, we walked back to our room late in the day with a decision for our evening meal to be made. We realized that we might want to enjoy the temperate evening air, so we purchased some Limonada and soda water at the convenience store on the way to our hotel. We quickly decided on Sushi and walked to the nearby restaurant. What a meal we had! Delicious rolls and salmon sushi, plus that yummy fried veggie dish. An affordable €30 including wine and dessert. The quick walk home was refreshing, and we relied to our room for some reading and a sweet drink, with leftovers for tomorrow.