Thinking of You!

Last week I just couldn't resist taking these pictures-it's such a beautiful view we wanted to share it with everyone! I also wanted to let everyone know that I figured out how to call us from the states (sorry to those of you who tried to call using the number I gave you before!). If calling from the US, dial 011-39-081-303-6190. Miss you all!

Random Pics

I thought I would share some pics from a few different occasions that I never got a chance to post about before. Karl and I live in the heart of the Campania region which makes it easy to take day trips to some pretty amazing places...have I mentioned how lucky we are to live here?!

Last weekend, Karl, Kerry, Andy, and I went to the Castle St. Elmo in Vomero (part of Naples about 20 min. from our house). Vomero is on the top of the mountain that overlooks downtown Naples and we had the most spectacular views of the city!

From the top of the castle looking at Naples, the port, and Mt. Vesuvius Karl, Andy, and Kerry with the volcano. Kerry and I found each other in a job orientation training- we went to Tech together and knew each other through our friends (we were both in sororities and hung out with the same fraternity all the time). Kerry and Andy (her awesome boyfriend) just moved here from Prague and live about 10 min from us. Kerry and I are getting a VT Alum chapter going out here and it's so great to have a friend so close (we even have Italian class together). Karl and I (the volcano we live on is the one in the distance) Moving onto another night...Karl and I are so lucky to have so many great friends here and we had an awesome time celebrating Karl's 27th bday bowling with two of our fav. couples, the Zook's and Chaney's. This is Judy, me, and April. The husbands...Greg, Jason, and Karl Karl lovin on the ladies Another memorable night was when we went to the Oktoberfest celebration at the NATO base with our neighbors. Each year, the Germans at NATO put on their own version of Oktoberfest....you know, beer, sauerkraut, sausages, pretzels, and more beer. We had way too much fun and we left before Karl could start dancing on the tables like the true German he is. These were the steins we got :)

Our wonderful neighbors (me, Lisa, Kevin, Mark, Rick, and Cindy)

Weekend in Assisi

Great news from Italy...we finally got the internet today! Now I can blog much more often and keep everyone better updated with our Italian lives. Sorry in advance for such a long blog, but I just had so many great pictures to share with all of you! The last weekend of October, Karl and I took a long weekend and went to Assisi, Italy (northern Italy in the Umbria region) to celebrate Karl's 27th birthday. We had a truly unforgettable time; Assisi is the most beautiful place I've ever been to and there is soooo much history there! Assisi is the hometown of St. Francis and St. Clare and it is famous worldwide for it's art and religious mouments (this is the area that started the Italian Renaissance). This midevil town is remarkable and built with pink stone on a steep hill (it was finished being built in the mid-1200's and has barely changed since).

The view of the walled town of Assisi as you drive up

A view of Assisi from above at the Rocca Maggiore (one of the castles that guarded the town in the 14th century)

Me and the valley

The streets of Assisi are postcard perfect- cascades of flowers fall from wall sconces and sunlight seems to fill all the tiny streets

The Temple of Minerva in the Piazza del Commune in the center of town. Assisi was built on top of a Roman city that was very active around 1 B.C. and the Temple is what you can see of the old city (the original Roman Forum of the city in located under the Piazza). Our hotel was actually right across the street from the Temple. The Temple of Minerva is said to be the best preserved Roman temple in Italy after the Pantheon in Rome.

The Duomo di San Rufino dates back to the 16th century and under the church is more of the Roman city (Karl and I went underneath and walked some of the original Roman streets). View from our hotel room :) This is a very historical church- the Basilica della Porziuncola. The basilica is built around the little chapel that St. Francis preached from and spoke to his followers (the Porzincola). Another shot from the Rocca Maggiore Watching the sun come up in the morning is amazing as it burns the fog off the valley Sooooo beautiful! A view from the Rocca Maggiore of the Basilica di San Francesco (the famous church of Assisi). As art lovers, this is where Karl and I spent a lot of time- every wall is painted with a fresco detailing the life of St. Francis. This is where many of the famous works of Giotto, Lorenzetti, and Cimabue are located. We couldn't take pictures inside, but we encourage you to google the Basilica and see some of the art. Italy is going to make me fat! mmmmm.... A view from outside the Basilica di Santa Chiara. This basilica is home to the famous crucifix that spoke to St. Francis and inspired him to renounce all his worldly possessions and the "repair the church". Nighttime was so peaceful here- we spent both of our evenings just walking around the empty streets and taking it all in.

A view from the other window in our hotel room Trying to catch the nun on camera Outside the Basilica di San Francesco Karl with the monestary behind him Looking up at the Rocca Maggiore

Welcome to our Villa

We have FINALLY gotten some pictures up of our home in Italy! The house isn't completely ready yet and we have some furniture being made right now, but we're close enough to being done that we don't mind showing it off a little bit. Karl and I finally feel as if our lives are calming down a little bit and I'm even starting Italian classes and working next week. We are doing some traveling this weekend to celebrate Karl's birthday (it was the 23rd) to town called Assisi where St. Francis spent most of his life. We'll get pictures up next week sometime! Some more good news is that we finally have a home phone, so we are connected to the world (still waiting on internet though). Our home phone is 039-081-303-6190. Enjoy the house pictures!

Sorry we took pics at night (it doesn't do the place justice)- this is out by our gate in the driveway This is part of our lawn and patio out back Our living room/dining room/kitchen (I never said our place was big) Looking from the dining room into the family room- you can see the back hall that leads to the downstairs bath and guest room Dining room/wine area Our kitchen (it's actually pretty big for Italy)- they don't have dishwashers or garbage disposals here! Guest room for all of you that come to visit :) More of the guest room Going up the stairs- our bedroom door is on the left and to the right is the bath and study/guest room #2 After you turn right going up the stairs

Our bathroom- just wanted to show off the bidet (so strange) Our study/guest room- there's a wardrobe and full-size aerobed in case we have lots of people visiting! In our room- those baskets are holding all of my shoes...I need to stop shopping....Looking from the doorway into our bedroom- the french doors lead out to the patio on the second floor I spend a lot of time here since I haven't been working :)

Our study (we still have to get the TV put up and we have some furniture being made for this room- it's a work in progress) Looking from our bedroom onto the upstairs patio- you can see the Bay of Pozzuoli and all the lights in the background Sunset from our roof patio I love Italy! During the day looking from our roof patio to all the vineyards

All moved in!

Sorry it's been so long since anything's been posted, but life has been crazy recently! We still don't have internet (and could be a few more weeks before we do), so I have to wait until I go to one of the bases to get online and it makes it hard to get pictures up (but I promise some as soon as possible)! Karl and I are happy to report that we are officially in our new home and we love it; waking up each morning to the sunrise over the Bay of Pozzuoli seems like a dream come true. There are still a few boxes to unpack in the study and some pictures to hang on the walls, but we are basically unpacked. Karl left this past Sunday for Bulgaria and will be gone a couple weeks, but I am staying very busy with cleaning and shopping for the house (IKEA isn't too far from our house). We haven't gotten to travel much recently and it looks like our next major trip won't be until Thanksgiving when we're going to Tuscany and Germany for Christmas, but I'm sure we'll get some day trips in when Karl gets home. I am happy to say that I have been driving a lot more and still haven't hit anyone (yay!) and I think stick shift is starting to become second nature (though I did get lost today and thought I was on the verge of a meltdown). I promise by the time people start to visit I won't freak out on the road anymore! We're just about ready for visitors and should have the house ready by November, so let us know when you're ready to plan your trip! We miss and love all of you and hope to talk/see you soon!