sorry it has been so many days since i last updated. i haven't been able to get internet.
let's see what has happened...
on saturday vivian and i took the train to eindhoven for queen's day/visiting her family. we woke up early (after an evening of queen's night in nijmegen) and finished gathering our things for our italy trip. we walked out of the house and it was raining so by the time we got to the train station i was soaked. good thing i did my hair that day. everyone was already intoxicated by our 12 o'clock train and so the ride was interesting. when we made our transfer, everyone started shoving to get on the train and i thought i was for sure going to fall over with my huge bag on. when we got off the train in eindhoven, the train station was PACKED. take a look at this picture:
we of course were trying to go the opposite direction of everyone else. then we took a little bus to veldhoven where vivian's parents live. here is me and my backpack (somehow i added 10 lbs in a week.......)
it was so great seeing jan and ines again. she has such wonderful parents. we sat and talked for a while. this is a picture of jan, koen (ines's son), vivian, and ines the next day.
after a little nap, we got ready to go back into the city for the big queen's day celebration. vivian rode her bike and i rode on the back of it. it was VERY fun.
i could not believe how much trash there was everywhere. i didn't see one trashcan all night. everyone just threw their things on the floor. it was like walking through a dumpster. we had a blast hanging out with vivian's best childhood friend, sander. they have been friends since they were four. by the end of the night our feet were absolutely disgusting. ew.
we woke up in the morning and had breakfast. jan bought me my very own hagelslach, which is sort of like chocolate sprinkles, but very popular for breakfast in holland. you put them on bread with butter, but i've been using peanut butter. it makes me a happy girl.
jan and ines drove us to the border of belgium (in turnhout) to catch the train to brussels. in brussels we took a plane to venice to visit my friend from school dom. i keep calling him dominic, but am trying to get used to calling him dom, which is what he prefers. he picked us up at this tiny airport and we drove to trieste, which is where he is living at his family's wine vineyard. we went to his favorite pizzeria for dinner and it was DELICIOUS. vivian and i had this vegetable pizza....mmmmmm. when we pulled into his gate, i asked how many people lived here. only him. you would not believe how beautiful it is, but i would think it would get very lonely.
his family purchased the wine vineyard in the nineties after years of being wine distributors in new york. his father is italian and his mother is american. so he is working as the "boss" here in gradisca on the vineyard. it is really amazing. they have about 100 acres of grape vines and built this cantina in 2004. it is gorgeous. the colors are my all time favorite. so they pick the grapes and put it into the fermentation thing (oh this is so embarrassing, i hope dom doesn't read this. i can't remember things very well.....) the difference of good wine and bad wine is partially due to how much time is spent in the wooden barrels (which also have a special name). then they have a little truck that comes and bottles the wine after 24 months. but next week they are starting to build a bottling plant area. the wine is excelente.
we took a little trip to this river close by and then drove to a nearby town called chividale (sp). it was a bit rainy, but i loved the buildings. we stopped for a drink and i ordered a "latte" thinking that i was going to get a cafe latte. instead i got a warm cup of milk. at first i was a bit nervous, but oh it was soo good. no wonder babies like warm milk. we also had some mini pizzas.
we spent the evening making home made sauce. it took about two hours. 2 carrots, 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 a bottle of white wine, 6 cans of tomatoes, and ground beef. it was so fun. then we topped off the night with a visit to the best gelato place in town. i had pistachio and chocolate. ohhhh it was so great! i definitely went to bed with a full, satisfied belly.today we took the train into venice, but i am going to write about this later. time to watch a movie.
ciao,
e.
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