Is One Hour Enough at the Beach??
Cities listed in this post:
Molina, Italy
Chioggia, Italy
This week started out nice and slow and then gradually picked up some speed in the middle, before a final crescendo at the end. As always, birthdays are pretty constant in our family during the month of April. This past week, we celebrated Jasmine's birthday on April 7th and Weston's birthday on April 10th. Jasmine and her family enjoyed a relaxing day together down in NE Arizona, where they currently live. Weston and his family enjoyed some good food at home in Louisiana, in spite of the power being out for a day or so and then the lovely "boil order" for their water supply that followed. They've had some doozy storms down in the South this spring, and it ain't over yet, y'all. We are so grateful that they are all safe and doing well.
Spring comes in many forms throughout the world. While it is often hot, stormy and volatile in the Southern U.S., the weather is unpredictable and bipolar up in Eastern Idaho, with a mixture of very convincing sunshine and then a surprise snowstorm and freezing temperatures to keep everyone in "check". Over here in Italy, it's been a slow start to a typical spring, with lots and lots of rain and cooler than usual temperatures.
My "Wednesdays in Italy" group had to postpone our most recent outing TWICE because of the weather. I was in charge of this adventure because I was the only one who had been there before out of our group. As I kept an eye on the weather, both of the past two Wednesdays were predicted to be "garbage" and were not conducive to this hike. I was worried that the Molina Waterfall Park might even close down on those days due to the weather: very cold (upper 40s) with substantial rain.
But none of that was the case when we finally went on FRIDAY, instead of our usual Wednesday. It was the beginning of another 4-day weekend for some portions of the military in Vicenza, which happened to include Scott. Yay! Three couples went on this adventure, plus one extra lady (without her husband). The weather was perfect!! It was warm and sunny, but not too hot, and we headed out first thing in the morning.
It's roughly a one hour drive WNW of Vicenza to get to Molina. It is a very tiny town up in the mountains and canyons north of Verona. The Parco delle Cascate di Molina costs 8 euros to get into the park and then you can spend all day there if you want. There are many places with picnic tables and there are restrooms strategically located around the park, as well, which is so handy.
Also, last year the tiny village of Molina was pretty much deserted as we walked through to get to the park entrance. But this time, we saw a few people out sweeping, using a leaf blower, trimming olive trees, etc. It was reassuring to see that people actually do exist here, ha ha.
Chiesa di Sant´Urbano in Molina di Fumane (The St Urban Church in Molina, built in the early 1900's)
Drone footage: (3 min, 49 seconds)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7fn5eMkoWRnDU43Y7
In the photo below, see if you can find the drone . . . (click the photo to zoom in)
A lovely speckled flowering plant that I wish I knew the name of . . .
Video of the pool flowing into the waterfall: (9 seconds)
Scott is across from me below . . . you can barely see his red t-shirt.
Video of Scott, enjoying a quiet moment next to the waterfall above: (5 seconds)
Video of that same waterfall, but from the bridge above it: (15 seconds)
*I tried to get videos of all the waterfalls (especially for my mom, who LOVES waterfalls), but I had to also keep them short so I could make a video montage on Instagram.
Video of one of the last waterfalls we saw: (6 seconds)
First, you have to hike up a small hill to get to the beginning of the line. There, the attendant hands you a "leash" that is attached to the swing and instructs you to walk over to the opposite end of the zipline, up the stairs and to the starting point. The tether is much like a retractable leash for your dog. It extends as you walk down the first hill and retracts as you walk up the other hill. Because I'm very short, I needed the entire length of the leash in the middle section of the path, ha ha.
Video of Andrea pulling the swing up the stairs: (5 seconds) She went first.
Once you're at the top of the starting hill, you just lift up the front bar on the swing, climb in, clip the safety chain in place, and when you're ready, then off you go!
Video of me flying above Scott on the zipline: (13 seconds)
Video of a charming courtyard of homes as we walked back through town at the end: (9 seconds)
We all thoroughly enjoyed being in nature and smelling the clean forest air, feeling the mist from some of the waterfalls on our faces, and getting a satisfying workout in.
In the middle of the week, I got a surprise video call from Abdo, down in Morocco. I had just finished exercising and I looked terrible, but I answered the phone anyway. He and his family had been to the mosque for morning prayers and were about to eat breakfast. He introduced me to his mom and day, his uncle, and his twin sister and younger brother. I was embarrassed at how I looked, but nobody seemed to mind. Then, Abdo stepped outside to chat with me some more, and I got to see several of his friends and neighbors walking by as they returned home from the mosque, too.
We made some plans for when I come down to Agadir next month, and I am really excited! I still have yet to ride a camel in Morocco, so Abdo and I will do this together while Scott is at work. I also asked if Abdo could accompany me to the Souk Market, since I've never been to one before and I would prefer to have a friend with me, especially someone who knows the culture and the language. He wants me to meet his family in person, too, so I am especially looking forward to that.
Here is a YouTube video of the Souk Market in Agadir:
On Wednesday evening, after I taught another family history class on the base, I drove south to Marnie Parker's house just as the sun was setting.
On one of the evenings, everyone has been asked to dress up "fancy", whatever that is for each person. I don't have anything fancy here in Italy, but I knew that Marnie does!! She's been to many Military Balls over the years . . .
Marnie had several dresses for me to choose from, but many of them were too small (they were her daughter Lauren's from several Proms), so I really only had a handful to choose from. Thank goodness I found one that made me feel like a million bucks!
In packing for this retreat, I did a Google search to learn how to pack a sequined gown for travel so that the sequins don't catch on each other. You carefully fold the dress in between layers of tissue paper! How perfectly genius. And I even had some on hand already from all the packages I've sent to people from Italy.
Because we are friends from my neighborhood back in Idaho Falls and because I have a grasp on what it takes to live in Italy, Aubrey has asked me to be her "personal assistant" during the retreat. If someone needs something from the Farmacia (pharmacy), or has a question, etc. then I will be the one handling those tasks. I won't be working "hard" because after all, it is a retreat. We will be staying at an old Italian villa south of Florence in a tiny town called Greve in Chianti. I will be driving down after church today (Sunday). It takes just over 3 hours to get there by car. But I won't be traveling alone. A lady is coming down from Austria and meeting me at the train station here in Vicenza this afternoon, and then we will be picking up one more passenger from the Florence Airport on our way down. I hope it will be a fun week and that I will learn some interesting things!
Scott and I walked down the street to get some black thread for a sewing project on Thursday. The trees are starting to bloom outside the walls of Caserma Ederle (the Army base) and they are so pretty!
After we found the thread that we needed, we stopped in at the Vaniglia Gelateria next door. I've been whining that I've been here for almost a month and haven't had any gelato . . . Life is good, so we must eat some gelato whenever possible.
Now it is time to answer the question that is the title of this blog post: "Is one hour enough at the beach??"
Scott and I had planned to spend a portion of Saturday at the beach near Chioggia, but things were piling up as the weekend drew closer. We had to slim down our expectations and leave earlier than I wanted to, so that we could get back in time for my 4:00 haircut.
It is usually one hour to get to Chioggia and the beaches at Sottomarina, but this time it took us 1.5 hours instead. We think it was because not only was it a SATURDAY, but it was the first WARM Saturday so far this spring. That meant that a LOT of people were thinking the same as us - what a fine day to be at the beach! Traffic was slow and congested, which was tiring at times. But we made it.
As we walked from the car to the water, we discussed how much time we would actually have there, and it would only be ONE HOUR. We had time for one hour at the beach and then one hour for lunch back in Chioggia (the islands have a long connecting bridge), before we had to drive back to Vicenza. Well, this was one of those times when you get what you get and you don't throw a fit . . .
Scott, sitting down to remove his shoes before we hit the sand . . .
I made a couple of videos specifically for my sister, Melanie, and my mom. They both love the sound of the water, as I do, and I thought they would especially enjoy hearing it from the other side of the world.
Video #2 of the waves at my feet: (33 seconds)
As we drove to our usual parking garage in Chioggia, we navigated through some GNARLY traffic on the way there. We just crawled along, trying not to run over all the bicyclists and pedestrians that were everywhere. As we arrived at the garage, we learned that it was completely full. That was a surprise, and disappointing. We had passed another parking garage on the way to this one, so we turned around and went back through the gnarly traffic to get to the second one. But it, too, was now full. That's when we decided to just go home . . .
A little over 3 hours of driving to spend one hour at the beach. Was it enough? Not really. But was it still satisfying and meaningful? You bet.
I am always leery as I go to get my hair cut here in Italy, because of the language barrier. I have had an A-line cut for the past several months and I have loved it. But I also really miss being able to pull my hair UP when it gets hot, and it's been too short in the back to pull it up lately. I typed up what I needed in Google Translate before I went to the salon . . .
As for the rest of our family . . .
Amber and Weston drove an hour or so from Stonewall to Texarkana to watch the eclipse. While they watched it "live", Scott and I watched it online. We messaged back and forth with Amber throughout the experience.
Meanwhile, Jack has been having lots of fun, as usual, up in Minneappolis.
We got this video of him trying to blow out a trick candle for his birthday on April 6th. What a cute laugh he has!!
Video of Jack: (41 seconds)
Look at those darling bowling shoes . . .
Everyone is doing fine. I still haven't heard from Benson and we still haven't seen Avery. Hopefully that will change very soon.
And lastly: I love this photo of my two sisters, Melanie (left) and Charmaine (right). Melanie and her family recently spent a few days in the San Diego area, which is where Charmaine also lives. They look a lot alike, even with different hair colors!
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