July 9 - Lake Garda

We started our day our usual way with a breakfast of croissants and coffee on the terrace. After morning nap (which was a fantastic ritual), Lily and I got to watch up close the making of the yummy truffle pizza we ate our first night in Lake Garda. We're trying to figure out where to put a brick oven pizza at our new house in South Bend! : ) Anyway, we picked up our pizza and then stopped for wine on a hike and picnic. Lily wolfed down a pear while we waited for her daddy to buy the wine. It was such am impressive pear eating that passersby stopped and commented! Seriously. Lily loves the pizza, as evident by these photos.

The picnic was great, followed by some swimming at the beach. We then stopped for gelatto...which was a daily occurrence. We then watched a Christmas gift for Grandpa Pfromm get made.

We ate dinner outside as usual, so that Lily could run around. She was pretty feisty this evening. She climbed up the steps to a shop that had closed and just wouldn't walk away. You can see her cute little rump sticking up as she peered in.

The other memorable thing about this night is the baby picture. The print shows a bunch of babies in planters. Lily loved it! She kept going up to it and kissing the babies : )

And finally, the beautiful purple flowers that covered so many buildings. Corey was experimenting with the camera settings and took a couple of really great shots. [July 9, 2007]

A Day on the Lake

We rented a boat and spent a few hours cruising, or should I say put-putting, around the lake. We ended up going with a pretty slow motor, thinking it would be best for touring '_'

Lily loved it! She napped twice (you can see her tucked out of the sun under the bow, and on her daddy's lap). We had a picnic on the boat and did a little swimming. The swimming spot is the one where the water looks turquoise/geen. Lily loved to help drive the boat! I bought a new hat for the trip. It was a really fun day! [July 8, 2007]

Lake Garda

The next leg of our trip was spent at Lake Garda. We stayed at hotel Catullo with a great view of the lake. The first photo is looking out our window. The evening shot is from the terrace on our floor. Every single time we walked out on the terrace, Lily perfected her other new vacation word - "Wow" (pronounced more like WOOOOW). Very cute. You can see from the beach shot all of the beautiful mountains around the lake. Also of the aggressive swans. The one chased the other all over the beach. They were walking right across sun bathers!

Coming into the city you wonder if you are heading the right direction. Primarily traveresed by pedestrians, cars come and go amidst the throng of people with stop lights that direct when it is your turn to head in, vs. another car to head out. The old stone bridges and arches are barely wide enough for one car!

Our first dinner we ate outside at a hotel right next to ours. There were about 6 kittens running around which kept Lily entertained. We had a fantastic pizza with black truffles, then strolled around the brick streets where Lily made new friends and Lily (and her dad) played with the string display. [July 7, 2007]

Last Day in Venice

Our last day in Venice, we did ate out for lunch. The first photo is Lily sitting in her own chair where she ate quattro fettucini. She looked so grown up I had to take this photo. It all goes too fast! We did some shopping, buying a few more glass lights for the new house to hang over the counter in the kitchen.

We finished the day with a gondola ride, complete with serenade. Lily loved it! She eventually fell asleep and we enjoyed some wine...contrary to the setup we photographed below, Lily was completely sober. [July 6, 2007]

An Evening Out in Venice

The hotel staff referred to this outfit as Lily's "sexy outfit". You can see why. We headed over to a restaurant that received high ratings in a tour book. However with the time change, Lily was crashing early. We sat out in a piazza and enjoyed a great meal of seafood while Lily slept. There was also a street performer playing the violin nearby. It was very nice. By dessert she woke up. There were locals playing soccer in the square. One of the grandmas gave Lily a ball too, which she kicked around the square. There was also a play loud music and dancing going on, so we ran around and danced ourselves silly before finding our way home through the maze of streets. [July 5, 2007]

Balloon Fun

A sweet little boy gave Lily his green balloon when he (and his dad) noticed how much she liked it when he was passing by. Lily was throwing it and chasing along the square in front of the train station as people sitting along the steps watched in amusement. Eventually, the balloon landed in a big pile of seagull poop, so I took the balloon and threw it away. Lily was so upset! She couldn't understand why I took it from her. It broke my heart! And I bet left the observers speachless as to how a mom could be so mean '_' [July 6, 2007]

"Playing Around"

We enjoyed a visit to the local playground. Lily moved right in on the little boys. There we in the park with their grnadmother, whose name that didn't know...but the Itlian word for grandma is Nonna, Nonno for grandpa. There were a lot of grandpas there too. Very cool. Lily had a blast! [July 6, 2007]

Life is Good!

Hangingout in the piazzas, chatting people up and getting oggles over, window shopping, and gelatto. Does it get any better?!? [July 5, 2007]

Murano

Day 2 we headed to Murano, the glass blowing island. Little did we know it would be such an expensive trip! We ended up the proud owners of a new chandelier and all new glassware. Beautiful stuff! It will be arriving in Indiana in September. We were give a tour of the glass blowing factory and had the opportunity to watch the 3 men (father, brother, and son) blowing the glass. Lily learned the word 'hot' as she watched their big glass ovens. [July 5, 2007]