The Winter-Shirey’s Come to Visit

During the last 2 weeks of May, Asa, Erin, and Jeff came to visit us and we had a fantastic time hanging around Piacenza and doing a bit of traveling.

Our big trip was down to Tuscany where we spent 3 nights in the countryside. Our apartment was in the tiny village of Gambassi Terme and it gave us great access to the Via Francigena which is the old pilgrimage route between France and Rome.

The route goes right through the wine country and has lots of nice hiking offshoots. We had a lot of fun exploring the trails, one of which turned into a huge adventure.

We took the Bob strollers on this hike thinking we’d be mostly on the dirt road. It started out by going up a mountain and straight back down the other side at which point we came to “The Decision.” The Decision involved us being at the very bottom of a canyon and deciding whether to turn around and go back up the steep LONG hill that we had just spent 30 minutes coming down or to continue on a path that kind of looked like a path that went straight up with a 75% grade. I mean it was straight up. We decided to continue onwards, but it took both parents to get the strollers up the hill. The moms pushed the Bobs and the dads pushed the moms. We got to the top after a lot of laughing and sweating and then our mouths dropped open because the so-called path completely disappeared. We looked down at a meadow borderded by forest and a river and with a big “what the hell” started down. Jeff Shirey went ahead to scout out a way and Erin and JJK slid down the rocky dirt until reaching the meadow.




Once in the forest we found a trail that crossed a stream. Erin and Jeff took off their shoes and Bobbed across while Jeff and I threw big rocks into the stream to create a bridge. Making it across we continued on only to find that the trail turned into a water-logged mud bath. Luckily Erin found a way around through the trees and we made it through with only a little mud. Of course we ended up at another stream-crossing at which point we made a another rock bridge and pushed the strollers across. At the other side, Jeff Shirey magically produced a bottle of wine and 4 cups from his backpack and we lounged at the stream with a glass of wine while the boys threw rocks into the water.


Once we connected up again with the Via Francigena we felt obbligated to stop at the closest winery to finish off our long hike with some wine-tasting. It was a fabulous ending to a fabulous day.

Other than the Tuscan countryside, the Winter-Shireys also saw Florence, Venice, the little town of Bobbio outside of Piacenza, and Parma. The Parma visit occurred around 5pm when we decided to simply head to the train station and catch the next train to Parma. It was a fun, spontaneous decision and we had a good time having an apertivo and picnic dinner in Parma. The only glich was that Noah became ill and ended up vomiting during the entire trip. This stomach flu brought him down for a number of days of endless vomiting, but the rest of us somehow managed to mostly avoid getting it. We all had a bit of something, but nothing getting even close to Noah’s full-blown sickness. We were super lucky considering this happened right at the beginning of their trip.

At home in Piacenza we had a lot of fun just hanging out. The boys enjoyed click-clacking around in their hot pink, plastic, high heels. The whole trip was absolutely fabulous with "BIG SMILES" all around.

Milan

We had to go to Milan to have some documents notarized at the American Consulate so we made a day out of it. We took Noah to the Duomo and to see some of the sights, but we all seemed to enjoy having a picnic and hanging out in the park the most. Of course, Noah’s favorite part of the trip was the train ride. He is still talking about taking the train to Milan and often times informs us that it is time to go to the Station to take another train ride.

Strolling Around

Strolling around town is a big part of our day. We walk to and from school, we walk the dogs, we walk to the park, we walk to go hang out in the piazzas, and when we have nothing to do, we go for a walk. Noah really enjoys these passeggiate or giri and often likes to take Dodo out for a stroll too.

Piazza Cavalli (Noah's favorite part of town)

Via XX Settembre

This is our street, Via Romagnosi. Our door is at the very end on the right.

First Day of Italian Preschool

Noah started school on April 19^th at the Istituto Sant’Eufemia and has loved every second of it. Everyone who works at the school appears to have taken some sort of happy pill. We’ve never seen anything like it. I think the happiest people on Earth all congregated together at Sant’Eufemia. It’s a total trip.

Anyway, Noah really enjoys school and has not shed even a single tear. As per their request, with which we wholeheartedly agreed, Jeff and I took turns going with him the first week to help him adjust to being there. It was so great to participate because we also got to see what it was like and we were able to meet the other kids. There are 20 students in his asilo (preschool) with 3 teachers, Federica (Chicca), Elena, and Daniela. Noah immediately took to all three of them, but formed a special bond with Chicca. He talks about Chicca all the time and is excited to go back to school to see Chicca.

We bought Noah a little book about a little girl going to an asilo and Noah immediately related to it. Suddenly Chicca and Elena were both in the book along with Isabella, a girl from his school. There’s also a little boy in the book that looks a lot like Noah so of course he talks about himself in the book. When he comes home from school he likes to use the book to show us what he did at school. The first day that he took a nap there, he was totally prepared because that was what happened in the book. It was so cute. He even asked to take his book to school that day to show Chicca and Elena.

Last week he fell in love with Giulia and low and behold she was also in his book! He tells us things like, “Ecco la Giulia! Si lava le mani. E ecco Noah che asciuga le mani” (Here’s Giulia! She’s washing her hands. And here’s Noah drying his hands). It’s super cute. We’ve never seen Noah react like this with another child. He’s never been the sort to play a lot with the other kids, but he actually plays with Giulia and then tells us all about how they played together and that he wants to go back to school to play with Giulia. When he sees her or talks about her he gets so excited that sometimes he jumps up and down. It’s hilarious!

Pasqua/Easter with the Fava Family

We spent the day with Fede's family out at their country house in Rivergaro (about 20 minutes from here). We followed both the American and Italian traditions for Easter starting with the egg hunt. Noah really enjoyed finding his 12 eggs that we colored together. It was quite the novelty since they don't dye or hide eggs in Italy. Instead they get huge chocolate eggs that you break open to find a surprise. Noah's choco-egg was larger than his head and he loved breaking it open.

We ate like kings for the entire day. The lunch/pranzo lasted 3 hours and had a starter, then a second starter, then the first dish, then the second dish, then the third dish, then the fruit, and then the dessert and coffee. I'm not sure how I managed to eat so much, but just when I thought I might actually be able to move again, I heard the table being set once more! After all that we also ate dinner. It was like a double dose of Thanksgiving.

B.C. ate an egg and next thing you know Noah had to eat one.

Hanging out in Piacenza

Noah decided to take Dodo-Baby for a walk.

A succo di mirtillo/blueberry juice mustache.

Maggie and B.C. have made a million friends here. We can't go 10 feet without meeting another dog.

Maggie's favorite spot in the apartment.

Via Romagnosi 65, Piacenza

Here's our place! Our apartment is in the yellow building on the corner. Our place has the two windows on the right on the 2nd floor (which in the U.S. would be the 3rd floor). Our shutters are open and we have a window box outside our living room window. The other one is our bedroom window. This is the view of our apartment from Piazza Duomo. The entry door is on Via Romagnosi which you can see there at the corner. Our kitchen window looks out onto that street. That's Jeff and Noah on the other side of the grass.

Noah watching a concert from our bedroom window. You can see the clock up above on the palazzo (that functions as our house clock!).

The kitchen...

Our living room. That's a kumquat tree that I bought in the market in Piazza Duomo.

The bedroom. You'll notice the love seat now functions as Noah's bed. The closet acts as a railing so he doesn't roll off. Hey, this is much better than the famous drawer that he slept in at 5 months. :)

Hanging out in Piazza Duomo.

There's always something going on outside our window. Usually it's the outdoor market or the organic farmer's market, but this time we woke up to a morning concert and a huge flower market. Dancers took the stage later in the afternoon and then at 4pm the Statue of the Madonna came out of the Duomo with a million people behind it and they paraded around town to celebrate the Festa della Madonna del Popolo.

Outdoor market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Yesterday we bought umbrellas there when it suddenly started pouring. Last Wed I bought some socks and a wine opener. :)