Visitors, Visitors, Visitors

The month of June brought lots of visitors to Vicenza. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. The beginning of June, on our trip to Cinque Terre, we met up with the Stegall's and Morris'. We met up in La Spezia, right after they flew into the country. Let's just say that they were champs. James and I trained down from Vernazza to meet at the train station and head to their hotel. They were our first visitors that weren't family and I was beyond excited to see familiar faces. Then the nerves set in...as we waited in the McDonald's at the train station, the anticipation of their arrival was getting to me. It had been SO long, and I was SO ready to see some familiar faces. Let me just say that it is so WEIRD seeing people that you know from home in the middle of a train station. The rest of teh day and night slipped away from us...we walked around La Spezia, drank bottles of wine, ate some tasty food (except for Jess- who got food poisioning), and then James and I hung out with some homeless people for a while because we missed our train. Let's just say that after the night we had been having, we felt quite confident in our Italian.

The next morning- Blake and Lora met us to hike up to Monterosso, while Jessica recovered back in the room...bless. It was beautiful hike and it was just like being back at home. We were so glad to be hiking with other people- sharing the views and the experience made it so much more special.


Sadly, James had to go back to work...so we left with the hopes of having Blake and Lora and Jessica and Blair spend their last night in Italy with us. And it did. Sunday morning, I picked up the world travelers at the airport and came to Vicenza. We spent the afternoon walking around the heat, hiked up Monti Berico, and then came home and laid on the floor. (One of the upsides of having marbles floors- they are so cold!) It is so fun to show people around the little town- it makes it feel even more like home. That night we ate at Aeolia’s and introduced everyone to their famous fagotini- delicious pasta stuffed with pear and ham…to die for. Dinner was wonderful- but it was even better to be sharing it with our friends.

A couple of weeks later Mary Kathryn, Kaylyn, and Elizabeth joined. Mary Kathryn and Kaylyn joined from Florence. Kaylyn only stayed one night before she headed back to Raleigh to start another internship, and MK was here for the rest of the summer!! Elizabeth was ending her European adventure and spent the last week with us. IT was really low key- James was leaving, so we were really limited on where we could travel, but we did make one trip to Jeslo- a nearby beach. It felt so good to just get away for a couple of days and do nothing but sleep, read, and get a tan. The best part of the trip was finding this awesome arcade. There was HUGE Fruit Ninja touch screen that I spent wayyy too much money on J Then there was a silly little horse race game, basketball game, air hockey…we loved it!! It was a great way to conclude our trip.

We also watched a SERIOUS amount of Modern Family….and spent the whole week quoting it. Only slightly embarrassing that we watched ALL 3 seasons back to back. Thank you Apple TV, and Wendy for getting us hooked onto it.

And of course, you can’t visit and not go to a winery- so we spent one afternoon at Villa Scierman- a local favorite. This places it awesome. You can taste all the wine you want for free, then buy a bottle, and drink it outside on the Veranda, or underneath an awning of vines. The villa also sells asigao cheese, bread, prosciutto, and olives. Lets just say we spent several hours there…

Let's just say that James and I seriously have the best family and friends ever.