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!

Napoli Futbol

Yesterday was the day that all of Karl's dreams came true...we went to a professional soccer game here where our home team (Napoli) won 2-0! We went to the game with Greg and Judy and had an amazing time. The fans were absolutely out of control (and we loved it!)- they set off fireworks in the stands, almost stampeded us getting through security, and were so loud that I actually had to cover my ears a few times or risk hearing loss. We miss football season back in the states so much, but this just about made up for it! The crowd was so die hard that they actually have a huge net that goes over the section where the opposing fans sit so they won't get hit with anything (even though it didn't stop the Naples fans from throwing water balloons and bottles of soda at them).

San Paulo Stadium After the goals, the crowd set off fireworks and the stadium filled with smoke Karl and I after the game outside the stadium...hot and sweaty, but excited nonetheless

On a side note, we wanted to let everyone know that we're moving into our house tomorrow and it can take up to 60 days to get internet (we're hoping we get it sooner than later), so our blog might not get updated as often. Please do keep up with us though, and you can always call my cell if you need us (the number is on the bottom of the previous blog). Hope to be up and blogging soon! Ciao!

Capri

This past weekend, Karl and I took a trip to the island of Capri which is about a 45 min boat ride from downtown Naples. We were celebrating the sixth year anniversary of when we met and had our first date and we couldn't have picked a more romantic place to go. Capri is becoming a vacation destination for celebrities, so there is AMAZING shopping (every designer you could think of) and restaurants. There are great views from all over the island and the weather was great for us. We did a lot of window shopping and had a nice lunch and really just enjoyed walking all around the center of town. Before leaving, we stopped at a produce stand and got wonderful fruits and veggies for dinner...it was a perfect end to a perfect day. (To look closer at the pictures, you can click on them to blow them up)

A nice shot of Naples from the boat as we were leaving the Port Another shot of downtown Naples I took this from the boat as we were coming up on Capri The port at Capri- we had a nice bottle of wine there in the evening and watched all the boats come in and out More Capri from the port To get to the center of town (which is at the very top of the island), you have to walk if you don't have a car...this is the road there Karl at the port with the carnival behind him

The view from the center of town (seeing how far down the port is, you can only imagine how long it took us to hike up) We had a nice lunch here and it gave us time to really soak in the view Karl with the Gelato...mmmmm This was a fun find for us- it is a HUGE tiled map of Capri (probably the size of our old living room)

A Quick Update!

I wanted to give everyone an update on what's going on with our new Italian life! Most importantly, we have FINALLY received our move-in date and we will be in our home Sept. 18! We are VERY lucky because most people move into their house and then have to use loaner furniture for at least a month until their household goods arrive, but ours is already here and we will get all seven crates, our express shipment, AND all of our appliances on the 18th- that is going to be an insane day!

Another exciting bit of news is that we have bought two cars and are almost done with the registration process (it takes FOREVER)! Karl has a silverish-blue Honda Civic and I got a purplish-blue VW Polo and put some pictures of my wonderful new car below! I have been forced to learn stick shift since that is all that you can get here and I haven't hit anything yet-yet being the operative word. Driving has actually been the hardest part of the transition because the Italians are so crazy. Karl and I think it's so funny that Italians are so slow at EVERYTHING except driving- in a rush to go nowhere I guess.

I LOVE MY NEW CAR!!! This past weekend was also the anniversary of the day Karl and I met each other...awwww! Saturday marked the six year anniversary that we met at the Western Michigan game in the North End Zone and six years ago yesterday was our first date! We celebrated by going to the island of Capri for the day on Sunday and I'll put up those pictures tomorrow! One last thing, I have a cell phone finally and the number is 39-340-714-6365! Ciao!

Boating Adventure

Last weekend, Karl and I went down to the Amalfi Coast (about 2 hours south of Naples) and went out boating, snorkling, and cliff diving with a few other couples. The weather was fantastic- not a cloud in the sky and about 98 degrees- and the water wasn't too cold either! We left in the morning and drove to another base to meet up with the group then we drove down past Sorrento and parked at a little beach between the mountains. Down at the docks, we rented speedboats and took off towards the nearby islands. We first stopped at a clump of three small islands to do some snorkling (after some persuassion, I actually did strap on my snorkel gear and got in the water and I'm so glad I did)! The water was as clear as bath water and the fish were amazing and luckily no sharks. We then went over to the island of Capri and spent a lot of time there- Karl and I snorkled hand-in-hand through the Green Grotto (an amazing cave at Capri) and then we enjoyed some beers on the boat. Our last stop was to go swimming and cliff diving at a beautiful beach on the coast (Karl was brave enough to jump 40 feet or so off the cliff- I was brave enough to watch).

After spending the day on the boat, the whole group went to an awesome dinner at a restaurant that sat on the top of a mountain- we sat there for hours as they brought out course, after course, after course and so on (I was stuffed after course 2)! The pictures we took don't even do that day justice- the water was bluer than in the Caribbean and the villages on the nearby coast seemed almost magical and like something from a postcard. For anyone planning to visit in the summer, this trip is a must!

The beach we left from on the boats Looking behind us at the beach- incredible! Passing a town while on the boat Relaxing on the bow More of the beautiful Amalfi Coast Mine and Karl's feet- I am definely tanner than Karl This is the first island we stopped at- it was neat to see all the houses on the islands because there are no bridges- people can only go to the mainland by boat More of the islands This is at the island of Capri (on a clear day, we can actually see Capri in the distance from our balcony in our new house) The Green Grotto and the caves we snorkled through