Amazing Week!!

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Hi Guys

Wow, not sure how to put our amazing week into words, but will try 😉.

Our holiday to date has felt like a dream, actually being in the places that you have heard about it but are so far away, it is still hard to believe we are actually here.

We left Salzburg on Sunday morning, to cross the border into Italy. Wow, while I have loved visiting every country so far, it has always been about getting to Italy. So much so, that when we came to the border, I shed a few tears when we crossed it. This was a place that I have grown up hearing about, tasting food and wine from and listening and trying to learn the language too.

I think the tears were a mix of excitement, relief to be here and also a little guilt. It feels as though it should be something that I got to share with Dad. To hear him tell Andrew, Mum and I, of the places he visited when he lived here, of the antics that the boys got up to. Of where he used to go ice skating etc. Anyway, there is my sob sorry for today 😊.

Our first stop in Italy was to visit family in Conegliano Veneto. This stop was to visit 2nd cousin Jana and her family. We met Jana, her daughter Sara (only person who speaks English) & Andrea in Australia last year when they came to visit. We thought it would be nice to catch up with them while we are here again.

They were so friendly and welcoming. They booked us into a beautiful hotel near their place. They picked us up from the hotel and took us to their winery a few klms away. Fabian and Jana started the winery in the 70s, just the two of them, and wow have they created a amazing business. Sara showed us around the factory, explaining how they make the Prosecco, which they distribute all over the world (to Sydney in Australia so far).

They then took us out for dinner to a small local restaurant. Everything that is served in this restaurant has been grown and/or bred on the farm in which the restaurant is located. They only serve wine or water (again, what they can make on the farm - very much River Cottage style, for those who know the show- Leanne 😊. We had something like a tasting menu, which was a bit of everything. We are ruined for life of any pasta that we may have back in Australia!!

We started with tiny bread rolls which had salami inside them (Northern Italian style salami). It was so good!!! Then we moved onto polenta with a cream style cheese (not sure what it was, but it was fabulous). Then out came an anti-pasto selection of olives etc. Then there was the pasta, 3 different types, am struggling to remember them all , but one was linguine funghi (mushroom) so fresh, it was amazing.

Egg Quiche/Frittata thing, which was nice. Polenta Chips (need to make some of these).

We think we have forgotten, as it was a week ago, but it was amazing. Dessert was lemon gelato, plus a rolled cake with cream (number 1 dessert according to fabian), and a berry tart (so-so). We then each had a shot of red grappa (Grappa with berries in it). Deliscious!

We had a lovely night, getting to know them more and us them. Hoping that they can come back to Australia to visit again.

The next day, Sara had a surprise in store for me. Her Aunt wanted me to visit her before we left. She explained who her Aunt and Uncle were. They were Maria and Aldo. They came out to Australia 25 years ago with Aldo's mother (my grandmothers sister). At the time they didn't have any children and Maria had wanted to take me back to Italy with her. It was wonderful to see her again after so long. Just after she had left Australia, she feel pregnant with her daughter and her daughter has just made her a Nonna (grandmother), so we were able to meet her grandson while we were here.

From there, we were leaving to go to Venice for the afternoon. Of course, as it seems to be thing with our holiday, it was raining and cloudy, but it is still Venice! We caught a ferry ride to St Marks Square and visited the Basilica there. It was stunning, attention to detail was second to none. Due to the weather, we decided against a gondola ride.. got to leave something to come back for.

We did however, go shopping in Venice. So many shops, so many laneways. You could be there for days and still not see it all. Murano Glass is made in Venice (or on the island of MUrano) which is a part of Venice. So every second shop has something of Murano Glass. What amazed us is the range that was available. There was a lot of the same items in the shops, but each shop seemed to have 1 or 2 items different to the rest. I could have spent a lot of $$ here to buy some beautiful items, but had to restrain. There were in particular some nice red lampshades for sale in one shop - they would look very familiar to Sarah 😊.

It was probably a good thing that we only had the afternoon in Venice, as I could have kept shopping. We were also happy not to have driven across to Venice, as it costs $50 Euro a day just for parking your car. Expensive place to stay!

Monday Night saw us arrive at my cousin's place Sara near Treviso (yes, another Sara). Sara and husband Mario speak English, so we were able to talk with them, which was great. After 3 weeks of struggling with language, it was nice to be able to have full conversations with a group of people.

Sara and Mario's house is beautiful, they live there along with Danielle (their son) and his wife Kathy. Who also have their own children, Steve and Erica. Sara and Mario look after Danielle and Kathy's kids while they go to work. Steve (4) and Erica (2) are amazing little characters. We grew especially close to Erica over the 3 nights/4 days we were with them. She doesn't speak any English and we couldn't speak Italian to her, but we figured it all out. Every time she walked into the room, she would yell out "Hey" and you would automatically reply with "Hey" back. The only English word she knew!

Sara and Mario also have a daughter Belinda who came to visit with her children, Sylvia and Vanessa. Two little cuties.

We went out to have a real Italian pizza for dinner and then gelato for dessert. The pizza was awesome, such a thin base and beautiful toppings. We did a bit of shopping and Sara/Danielle took us up into the mountain to a Ski Village, which would be packed during winter. Very pretty and stunning views. They also make a liquer on the mountain which is called "Niente" which in English means Nothing. It is a party trick that Mario has, when guests to come and visit and say they want "Niente" (Nothing), he then pulls out a bottle and pours this drink. So then, they have to drink the Niente. Quite funny and cheeky, but very much Mario's personality.

Usually when you visit family on holidays, it doesn't always feel like a holiday, but visiting these two families, has been a huge highlight of our trip and something we both enjoyed immensely.

With so much more to see, we reluctantly left Sara and Mario's on Thursday and headed back into Austria. Reason for this, is that we wanted to go trough Brenner Pass.

Brenner pass is an amazing area, the road passes through many tunnels (Arlberg Tunnel, 14km long!!) and on bridges clinging to the side of the mountains. Simply amazing. We wound our way through to Innsbruck, where the next post will continue.

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