Memorial Day in Northern Italy

After spending 10 days in Spain with our long-time friends Mike & Anna, we went to Italy with some new friends, Jacob and Jessi Berg. We drove down together, took a small detour to Lucern, but made it to Italy in good time. We got to see two very different sides of Italy. We went from the pottery-producing small town of Nove on Saturday to touristy Venice on Sunday. We would have pictures of our favorite pottery place, La Ceramica VBC, but both Tally and I accidentally erased them. Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back. At the ceramic store you can watch them shape, fire, and hand paint the pottery. Then you walk upstairs and see all the beautiful masterpieces. They make a lot of the pottery for Williams-Sonoma, Tiffany & Co., Banana Republic (Jade, did you know they sold dishes?), Mikasa, etc. Tally and I picked out our future beach house dinnerware. We got a neat cake plate, 2 mosaic trivets (hot plates) and a little pink polka-dotted piggy bank for the babe. That will be our gift to her...but we'll have to fill it up with money first.

We stayed with Jessi's parents, Frank & Beth. They were so wonderful to us and made us feel at home. Plus, they showed us several cool towns nearby that are little gems of the Italian countryside. Frank is a retired US colonel so he took us on the Army post to show us what things are like for some of our overseas soldiers. We ate lunch on base which was quite a treat since it was American food. 2,000 soldiers from the post had just been deployed so it was kind of a ghost town. It was sad to think some of them might not come back. We are grateful for their sacrifice and pray they come back safely.

After the base, we went and saw a little town called Piazzola Sul Brenta. This is the plaza with what looks like an old palace.

We bought gelato (yum!)and as we were walking around, it started sprinkling. On our way back to the car, the sprinkling became sudden downpour and we all got soaked. When we got back to the house, the pool the guys set up was full of water and ready for fun. Although the rain had let up, it wasn't warm enough to go swimming but we put our feet in!

On Sunday, the forecast called for a full day of rain but we took our chances and went to Venice anyway. So did everyone else. It only rained for a few minutes which was fantastic because we forgot an umbrella.

Everyone gets their picture taken with the pigeons, but Tally thinks birds are the dirtiest creatures in the world. Can you tell?
San Marco Basilica

An archway on the outside of San Marco Basilica

We love the gondolas and were amazed by how many boats there are around Venice. I guess Italy usually taxes boats with a luxury tax but Venice is exempt because boats aren't a luxury - they're a necessity.

In response to Elisa's comment - YES! We went to Murano, the glass-making island. We got to watch a demonstration. Here's one of the guy making a snail.
On Monday, we drove around and saw a couple small towns. Our favorite was (name, Jessi?), where we went in a room where Galileo once hid out and had meetings with other scholars. It has now been added onto and turned into a restaurant. How does someone buy a place like that? That would be cool to own a piece of history. This is a wine cellar below that used to just be a cave that filtered cold air into the room above. It's good to know they had air conditioning methods in ancient times too.

Jessie loves her Gelato

Galileo's observatory...too bad for scaffolding.

We ate a lot of great Italian food. This is a huge olive tree in front of one of the restaurants we ate at.

We also got to see Padova, Vicenza, Citadella, Camisano, and other places that I can't even remember the names of. It was fun to hang out with the Bergs and the Pettys and watch little Abram as he begins to crawl and maybe walk soon? He also discovered his middle finger and sometimes flips everyone off without knowing it. In the picture below, it looks like he's doing it the Italian way too! It's pretty cute. We're so glad the Bergs live close to us in Zurich and can't wait to hang out with them again. Ciao!

6 Months and Counting

According to my weekly email, she's almost 1.5 pounds and about a foot long. She's going to start getting fat now, lucky me. I can't wait to squeeze those chubby little legs someday! This is a pic of her profile in 3D. It's kinda trippy but it makes it way more real. Now the debate begins...does she look like a Price or a Lang? This other pic is the regular ultrasound photo of her profile. She's been kicking and moving around alot which is always fun. In fact, she's doing it right now. The baby says hello everyone!


My Belly
I know I just posted one like this, but here's the latest. Tally just barely took it before I posted. Look at that glow! I keep bumping into things with my belly which could be hazardous to both of our health. I started working again this week for GS and I'm feeling great. It doesn't leave me much time though to do things around the house or to get ready for the babe. I'll have time...someday, right?

Southern Spain & the Connellys

The Rock of Gibraltar

Our trip to Spain was better than we could have imagined. We got to go to Southern Spain & Madrid including Sevilla, Utrera, Rota, Ronda, Gibraltar& Cordoba. We also got to participate in an authentic Spanish fiesta where the girls wore feria or Sevillana dresses. We ate Spanish food & Tapas and the weather was warm with a bit of a breeze most days. We were also able to speak a lot of Spanish which is such a treat. We had to learn or re-learn words and we started speaking with the Spanish theta. It makes me wish we could speak Spanish in Zurich!

Days 1 - Saturday- Madrid
We couldn't catch a train down to Sevilla as early as we wanted to, so we killed some time in Madrid. Not a bad place to get stuck for a few hours.
This is a park we went to in Madrid called Retiro

Tally watching a Spanish Futbol game

A main plaza in Madrid by the Atocha train station

El Jardin inside the Atocha train station...there are hundreds of turtles in that pond

Arriving in Sevilla

Day 2 - Sunday - Church & Mothers day
It was cool to visit a ward in Spain and to see what it's like in another country. Here's a picture of their relief society (don't worry, I took it after). Our friends had the elders over for dinner so they could call their moms. Happy Mother's Day!


Day 3 - Monday - Sevilla
We loved this town and would go back and visit again. The cathedral boasts that it has the most square footage of any cathedral in the world. We walked up to the top of the tower (34 ramps, not stairs b/c the bell ringer used to ride his horse up to the top every day) where we saw a beautiful view of the city. We want to stay in this hotel someday.
Beautiful 5-Star Hotel in Sevilla

Cathedral in Sevilla

Christopher Columbus is buried here

View of Sevilla from the cathedral's tower


Torre del Oro - This tower used to be plated in gold and was used to defend the city. What do you think of it in black & white? I love playing around with the pics. I think I'll ask for photoshop for my birthday this year.

Day 4 - Tuesday - Rota & La Playa
Prices & Connellys catching some much needed rays

Tally playing with Jay's beach toys


Day 5 - Wednesday - Ronda
Ronda is a city built on a plateu with this huge gorge running through it. It's like nothing I've ever seen.



La Plaza de Toros - The bull fighting ring in Ronda

Moorish Baths

Day 6 - Thursday - Gibraltar
The views were spectacular, there were wild monkeys running around, and you could see Africa. What more could you ask for from one place? Oh, they had caves too. This cave (last pic) is where one of the first or oldest human skulls was said to be found. It was also said to be the Gate to Hades. Now it has neon light effects and an ampitheatre. Wouldn't you want to play there if you were a band?






Day 7 - Friday - Hanging Out & Feria Fiesta
We decided it was a day for a little R&R. The question is...who took more naps: Jay or Tally? You decide.




Later that night (Spainards don't get the party started until after 10pm or 22:00), we had a blast with Mike & Anna's & their friends at this party. One of her best friends, Maria, was so great to me. She's Anna's friend who has also been her Spanish teacher. The whole time she spoke to me in Spanish but slowly enough that I could understand and she would explain words I didn't know. I wish Maria would come visit us in Zurich! We had fun dancing, eating and talking...it's what we do best. Well, except the dancing part. They do that best. I looked silly but it was fun to try.


Day 8 - Saturday - Cordoba
We got to see a really interesting cathedral here. It was a Moorish Mosque that was turned into Catholic cathedral when the Christians took over. You could definitely tell which piece was designed by which group of people. You could still see the signatures of the artists who built the columns and did the art.




Days 9 & 10 - Sunday & Monday - Madrid
Mike came to Madrid with us because he had to go there anyway for business. When he wasn't in meetings, he showed us around a bit. We got to go the the Museo del Prado and the coolest part was that we got to go to the front of the line because I was pregnant - THEY noticed! It was a good thing we got to go right in because there was a huge line. We went back to Retiro Park and saw the lake in the middle. I guess we missed that the first time. It is a beautiful park. We also walked by the Royal Palace, but didn't have time to go in. We'll definitely go inside when we go back.





Tal & I got to visit the temple (it was closed) and Tal took some great shots. The one of the two of us we had to set up by leaning the camera against a wall...it took a lot of tries but we finally got it. Tal is getting to be quite the photog - and this isn't even our nice camera!





We had a blast with the Connellys and hope to visit again next year...but this time with a little babe for Jay to play with. He's such a cutie. I could do a whole post longer than this with all the pics I took of him this trip. Thanks guys for having us! We'll see you in Zurich in a few months!