This is Leopold. You never can tell what he'll be up to.... here's last nite's fun.....Last nite, around 9:30, we decided to walk the dogs to our usual spot, Campo Santa Margharita. Most Venetian dogs walk unleashed. We sort of admire that actually, but our two dogs haven't become completely Venetian yet. We do let go of the leash from time to time to see how they'll do. They actually do pretty well. But, by and large, they get hitched up before we open the apartment door. And off we go....... Read Full Story
Health care is a global topic this year, and is most certainly on the minds of every American I know. Everytime we meet an American vacationing here in Italy, one of the first questions we are asked is what is the Italian health system like. Since we've just had our first surgical experience in a hospital here, I thought this would be a perfect topic for blogging.A bit of background info is needed first : My husband Mike was having some abdominal pain, which, after doing some research on WebM... Read Full Story
Today, August 15, is Ferragosto. It's a national holiday in Italy. Basically what that means is just about everything will be closed, and Italians will be heading to either the beach or the mountains for a long weekend. Ferrogosto is a celebration of the harvest, and also a celebration of the Assumption of Mary into heaven, and dates back to Emperor Augustus. I haven't quite figured out how they mixed a religious holiday with a pagan festival, but, they did. What we've noticed is that ar... Read Full Story
Laundry here has been one of my biggest adjustments. I'll admit it- I'm a clothes dryer girl. I like my towels warm and fluffy. I really love my blue jeans soft. But-- we have no clothes dryer here. There's no where in the apartment we could even squeeze one in. I have no idea why everyone here in Italy hangs their clothes on the line, but it appears they all love it. I'm sure people could have dryers, but no one does.I have a love/hate relationship going on with clothes pins. I just can't se... Read Full Story
(No, this isn't the next Harry Potter book, although the title is a good one for it, and ... I could have used Harry and his wand on this adventure!!!)Now that we've gotten completely through the incredible administrative maze which is required in order to obtain your health insurance documents here in Italy, I can sit back and write about that whole adventure. This was ALMOST as daunting as obtaining citizenship. Almost. At least we had some previous experiences to draw on, we were somewhat ... Read Full Story
We noticed a poster advertising the 3rd annual Carcofi festival on Sant 'Erasmo, and I thought it might be interesting to go see what it was all about. It was on a saturday that we had nothing planned, so I put it on the calendar. I got out the vaporetto schedule, determined we needed to take the # 13 from Fondamenta Nuova to Sant 'Erasmo, and worked out that if we left Piazzale Roma on the # 41, we could switch boats at F. Nuove and get out to Sant' Erasmo around 10 am.Sant Erasm... Read Full Story
We've been here a year- hard to believe!!! The rented, furnished apartment has worked out beautifully, in fact, we love it. We've been managing with whatever we brought over in our 4 suitcases well, but, to be honest, from time we found ourselves wishing for some of our clothes, or something or other from around our home back in the States. When the house sold we would have to empty it, so the plan had always been to ship just a few select items over to Italy when it came time. That time came... Read Full Story
One of the things we've had to adjust to living in Europe is the difference in electricity. Having traveled here many times before, we thought we were ready for this. In previous years we've vacationed here, so we were used to bringing converters for our laptops and other electrical appliances that traveled with us. When we packed our suitcases for the move over to Venice, we made sure we had the converters with us. Upon arrival, we soon discovered we needed more of them. We looke... Read Full Story
People ask me every day if there are any things I miss about the US. My usual answer is "very little". That is true. We've acclimated well, I'd say. And the few things that we sometimes wish we did have, we have managed to find substitutes for. For example- I like Tootsie Rolls. But-- there are so many other lovely desserts and sweets here, I have no problem giving those up.Seeing as I was recently in the US for a few weeks, I had the opportunity to indulge a bit,and get my ... Read Full Story
The weather has been gorgeous lately, so we've been taking advantage of it to work in the garden. All the flower beds needed a good weeding already, and trees needed some pruning. Just about everything is done now, we can sit back and enjoy the rest of the summer with just some maintenance to the flower beds here and there. I need to go scout around in the next few days to find geraniums for the flower pots in the back yard and on the terrace.After alot of garden work the last few days, w... Read Full Story
