Winter has come to Vicenza

Took these the other day from the upstairs balcony. In my previous six years here, I think it snowed three or four times and it was usually gone within a day. In my first month here this time it has already snowed three times and this time the snow has been here almost a week. So much for global warming. I absolutely hate winter, snow and cold weather but I have to admit, the view of the Alps is quite breathtaking this time of year...

I'm in a bad way.

I'm going through possibly the worst "bad health" stretch of my life right now. In fact I have not been more than 75% for about 3 months now. I finally dragged my goat-smelling ass to the clinic yesterday and found out that I have some kind of upper respiratory virus/infection. I'm currently on my second day of antibiotics as well as some kind of medicinal inhaler and I am praying that they work their magic and quick because I just cannot take this much longer. I'm starting to forget what it feels like to be healthy and have energy enough to do more than lay on the couch with a blanket over me. As you can imagine, it has not made the big move down here very easy, particularly the unpacking and such.

Buon Natale!

Luca is learning how to stand

Luca is now about 7 months old and learning things at such a rapid rate that I fear he might be walking by next week. I'm kidding of course but consider this; he learned how to crawl in about one day a few weeks ago and since then he has been trying desperately to stand up. He often goes from a crawl position to balancing on his hands and feet with his butt straight up in the air but gets stuck there. And then yesterday, Virginia had to do some housework so she put him in his little bouncer thing. When she came back into the room a few minutes later, he had not only worked his way out of the bouncer but this is what she saw:



Luca might be a superbaby.

We're moved in.

But still living out of boxes somewhat. Blog posts will commence once we get a little more settled...

Moving day...finally!

We finally move into our house today. We got a phone line turned on yesterday so we might be online sometime today if I have time to set it up...

Sign of the times.

This past weekend we were at the PX on base to do some last minute birthday shopping for the X Man. The wife kept him distracted, I grabbed the stuff and took it out to the car. As I walked back in across the parking lot, I could not believe what I witnessed - there was a really large woman, probably in her late 30's, driving a huge SUV and due to both the size of the vehicle and the amount of room it took up...combined with her enormous girth, she could not get into her vehicle. She had to ask some random woman who was walking by if she would back her truck out of the parking space for her so she could get in. The woman gave her a strange, hesitant look but obliged and obviously didn't know how to drive a stick because she stutter-stopped the vehicle out a few inches at a time and at one point actually almost hit another car. Kind of made me wonder...if she had hit another car, how would that have gone down with the insurance company?

Probably not a big deal to some people, I just found it a bit strange, never having witnessed anything like that before. If you're so big that you have to ask strangers to back your car out of parking spaces because you can't fit then maybe it's time to drop a few pounds. I'm just sayin.

The X Man is 5 years old today

Seems like only yesterday we were welcoming you into this world and now you're growing up so fast...happy birthday buddy!

"The Mother of all Pizzas"

You may have heard me rave about the ristorante/pizzeria in our hotel. Every meal has been great, ranging from fantastic to otherworldly. The place is family run but mostly by the two sons, Luca and Dario. On the menu, there is a pizza called "Pizza Luca" that has intrigued us since our first meal there. It has: Cheese, tomato, proscuitto, mushrooms, hot salami, asparagus, peppers, artichokes, wurstel, tuna fish and anchovies. Now my theory on Italian pizza is, simple is better. I prefer no more than one or two toppings; any more just fills you up too much and gives you heartburn, plus too many different flavors ruins the taste. I normally opt for pizza with olives, pizza with spinach and ricotta cheese, or pizza with proscuitto e funghi (ham and mushrooms). But every time we eat there, the X Man tries to goad me into trying the Pizza Luca since he is convinced that it is named after his little brother. I always tell him there is no way I am attempting to tackle that monstrosity. However, last night I was feeling froggy so I decided to go for it, if only to see the beast in real life. In the interest of full disclosure, I asked for no anchovies (yech!). The X Man ate a small slice and I ate the rest and we barely finished half of the thing.

To see all of the pics, CLICK HERE!

A few pics of the house

Virginia put them on her Facebook page...someone let me know if the link does not work...

Pictures of the house

House inspection today

We have our house inspection this afternoon...I'll try to get some decent photos to post on here in the next day or two...

10 random facts you probably didn't know about me.

1. I grew up in New Hampshire but have never downhill skied in my life.

2. My favorite color is blue.

3. I've never eaten at a Wendy's.

4. I once stole a t-shirt at the mall in college but I felt so guilty that I went back a few months later and paid the owner for it.

5. I think sandwiches are the perfect food.

6. I'm secretly addicted to my son's online Spongebob Squarepants game.

7. I've never broken any bones.

8. I once burned an entire forest down when I was a kid.

9. I peaked in 2001.

10. I've never eaten the worm.

Update

So here we are, back in Italy. You cannot possibly imagine how good it feels to be back here. The only way I can describe it is to say that it feels like we have come back home. I've run into several people who still remember us and all have been very welcoming. It's not a very big community here which makes it easier to get to know a lot of people and develop friendships. As I've already posted earlier, we were lucky enough to find a beautiful house in the absolute perfect location back in our old town of Caldogno. Everybody (myself included) was quite surprised that we found a place so quickly. Unfortunately we won't be moving in until around the 19th of December, which means we'll be in this hotel for another 2 weeks. I'm not happy about that as I hate living in hotels but all things considered it could be a lot worse. I think it took us almost two months to find a place in Germany when we went there.

We do have an address and I have a cell phone number so if anyone needs it, send me an email and I'll pass it along.

All in all, we're very happy to be back. The X Man is pretty excited and is trying to speak Italian, God bless his little heart. He can't wait to start school and we can't wait to send him. I'm also excited at the fact that Luca will grow up with Giampi and Agnese, just as the X Man did. But for right now, we're all extremely anxious to move into our new house. The next two weeks are going to drag by very slowly I'm sure...

Update coming soon...

I'll post an update of what's going on here soon but in the meantime, here's a picture of me and the X Man from Thanksgiving dinner at - where else? - Giampi and Agnese's house...

We found a house. And it's beautiful.

Things just keep getting better and better for us. When we knew we were coming back to Italy, there was of course only one place we would consider living: Caldogno. Caldogno is where I lived my entire six years here before. We have several friends here, including our old neighbors, Giampietro and Agnese who pretty much adopted us when we lived here before and are surrogate grandparents to our two kids. As I mentioned before, Giampi is adamant about walking the X Man to school every day once he starts. For all these reasons, we were determined to find a place in Caldogno. We had a long list of things we were looking for however and I anticipated that it would take at least a month or two to find something that fit the bill. I was also prepared to accept the fact that we probably wouldn't find a place that matched our list 100% so we'd have to sacrifice a few of them. Turns out I was wrong on both accounts.

We'd gotten word that a high ranking officer living one street over from where we used to live was leaving soon and his place would be coming open. When I mentioned it to Giampi the other night, he not only knew exactly which place I was talking about but he also happens to know the couple who owns the place really well. He called them immediately and it turns out the people had moved out the day before so he set up a meeting for us to look at it. I didn't get my hopes up because the two places we looked at prior were disappointing. But both the wife and I - and even the X Man - were blown away when we saw it. It has everything on our list and more. Three bedrooms, as well as a couple other rooms that we could use as bedrooms. Big front yard that I can use for my kettlebell workouts as well as play soccer or catch with the X Man (something we didn't have in Germany). Huge two car garage. Big garden for the wife as well as rose bushes and other flowers around the yard. Huge, furnished kitchen as well as a big porch/terrace right off the kitchen. No less than three balconies; one in the living room, one in the master bedroom and one in the guest bedroom. Downstairs, there is a finished basement with a huge rec room and a separate room we'll use as a gym/hobby room. There is also a big brick fireplace/stove in the basement that is perfect for barbeques. When Giampi saw it, he went ga-ga; he said they are coming over the first chance they get and we're going to cook some big steaks on it. And one of my favorite features: built-in air conditioning in almost every room! I had anticipated looking at a few other places before we made a decision but the place was so perfect that we took it immediately. Fortunately the owners liked us - I'm sure that Giampi being there and me conversing with them in Italian didn't hurt. Perhaps the best part is the location, about a two minute walk to Giampi and Agnese's house. Giampi says that as soon as we move in, the X Man will sleep over their place a lot so they can get his Italian up to speed quickly and he can start school. We're very excited. For those of you who saw our house in Germany, I honestly think this place is nicer - the only difference is that it's not in the middle of the Heidelberg Altstadt (sorry Eric), an admitted disadvantage. I may not live in the shadow of a castle anymore but we've got more room, a yard for the kids, a garden for the wife, and neighbors one street over who are practically family.

I'll post pictures after we move in and get settled, which should hopefully be in about a week or two. And rest assured, if you're one of our friends or family, we'll have plenty of room whenever you want to come visit!

A chance meeting with a legend, 15 years in the making.

I first became familiar with Roberto Baggio way back in 1994. The World Cup was coming to the US for the first time ever and, as I am a soccer junkie, I devoured every little piece of information on all the teams and players that I could get my hands on. Now, you have to remember that this was the early 90's and there was no internet or satellite TV. Information on international soccer was hard to come by back then. I read about this guy named Baggio who was recently name FIFA world player of the year. He seemed interesting; he was a Buddhist who wore his hair in a little braided ponytail, earning him the nickname "Il Divin Codino" ("The Divine Ponytail"). I watched every single match that I could in that tournament and I even was able to get tickets to three matches played in Boston (actually Foxboro). The highlight was when my friend Dave and I scored tickets to the quarterfinal between Italy and Spain. I wore my AC Milan shirt and Dave wore his Inter Milan shirt which caused a lot of stares and rebukes from Italian fans (probably a good thing I didn't speak any Italian back then). Italy went ahead through the "other" Baggio on the team - Dino Baggio - and soon after Spain equalized. Just when it seemed we were headed for extra time, Beppe Signori took a ball at midfield and fed a streaking Baggio (Roberto this time). Baggio calmly collected the ball, dribbled right past the keeper and scored the winning goal from an almost impossible angle with about three minutes left in the match. We were going crazy, it was pandemonium. I then watched as Baggio almost single-handedly brought home the World Cup for Italy. He scored an incredible 5 goals in the knockout stages, including two against Nigeria in the first round - one to send the game into extra time and another one to win it in extra time. Then the heroics against Spain. Then another two in the semifinal against Bulgaria to send Italy through to the final. Alas, Baggio was hurt in the final and could not continue the magic. Sadly, the defining moment of his career was when he missed the penalty that handed the World Cup to Brazil (although, even if he had made it, Brazil still would have won if they'd converted theirs). For me, it didn't matter; I was a Baggio fan for life.

Baggio had actually made his name at World Cup 1990, four years earlier, but I was in Basic Training with the Army that summer and missed everything. He had scored a goal against Czechoslovakia that was not only voted the best of the tournament but was also later voted the second best World Cup goal of all time.

I followed his career as much as I could back then but without internet or satellite TV, it was difficult at best. I mostly had to settle for write-ups in World Soccer magazine. In 1998 I enlisted in the Army full time and came to Germany and watched Baggio almost lead Italy past eventual champion France, losing in the quarterfinal to them. Two years later I asked for, and received a transfer to Italy, to the city of Vicenza. I ended up taking a little two bedroom apartment in a small bedroom suburb of Vicenza called Caldogno. Looking back, I can only guess it was fate that had brought me to Caldogno. The 2000 European Championships were only a few days away and so I walked down to the sports bar (conveniently called "Bar dello Sport") to inquire if they would be showing the matches. Indeed they would. When the first match came on, I made my way down and took a seat and as I looked at the walls, a familiar face stared back at me; the entire bar was adorned with posters, pictures, photos, newspaper clippings, memorabilia...everything of Roberto Baggio. I figured he must be a bigger star in Italy than I thought but imagine my tremendous shock when they told me that Baggio was actually from Caldogno! I was floored - my favorite soccer player of all time was from the little town that I had just landed in. It was unfathomable. I excitedly told them - or least tried to tell them as I spoke more French than Italian back then - of my love for Baggio the player and how I was actually at the match back in 1994 and they were instantly impressed. They could not believe that an American not only knew so much about soccer but that I had long been a fan of their beloved native son and had even seen him live in a World Cup match. Caldogno is a very small town and everybody knows each other so it came as no surprise that everybody in town had known Baggio since...well, pretty much since birth. He wasn't still living in Caldogno but the rest of his family was and he still spent quite a bit of time there so naturally my thoughts went straight to when I would be able to meet him in person.

And it very nearly happened very quickly.

By the end of Euro 2000, I had become a regular at the sports bar and the owner, Daniele had started to sort of adopt me as a local due to my love of calcio (soccer is called "calcio" in Italy) and the fact that I was spending money regularly in his bar. Towards the end of the summer, Daniele's eldest daughter Elisa told me that the bar was hosting a special dinner for Baggio. It was only for family and close friends and was invite only, but she asked if I would like to come meet Roberto. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I was in heaven. I graciously accepted and the next three days dragged by. Then disaster struck. I received an sms from Elisa telling me to come to the bar. I arrived and she apologized as she pointed to the TV - it seemed Baggio had signed with Serie A club Brescia that day and they had to cancel the dinner as he had to go do the press conference and media crap. I was devastated. I had missed my chance. The only thing that consoled me was the fact that I would be in Caldogno for at least the next year and a half so there should be plenty of chances to meet him.

But as I've said so many times before...it was not to be.

I ended up staying in Caldogno for six years altogether and never once was lucky enough to meet him. There were plenty of near misses in those six year. I saw him driving his BMW X6 through town two or three times. A few times I arrived at one of the bars or cafes in Caldogno only to be told that Baggio had been there earlier to say hi or have a drink and that I had missed him. Through friends in Caldogno I had been able to receive his autograph on a few items - my favorite of which is my 1994 Italy World Cup jersey with Baggio's number (#10 of course) on the back. But I never got to meet the man in person. In 2004, we were driving back from the European Championships in Portugal. We stopped for dinner at a little bar in a town about three hours south of Vicenza called Voghera. As I chatted with the locals during the match I gave them my usual routine - I lived in a small town outside of Vicenza called Caldogno and asked if they'd heard of it. They said of course, it's the hometown of Roberto Baggio, but they seemed unimpressed. One guy then proceeded to tell me that Baggio spends a lot of time in Vorghera bird hunting (He's an avid hunter, something I always found funny, him being a Buddhist and all). In fact, they said, he was just there a day or two ago. Can you believe that? We stop at a random little town in Italy and just happen to just miss Baggio...again. It seemed that the fates that had brought me to live in Baggio's hometown were also conspiring to keep me from actually meeting him.

And there's more.

One Sunday afternoon when the X Man was about a year and a half old, the wife said she's taking him for a walk and asked if I want to go. I was half asleep on the couch so I said no. I awoke a couple hours later to her excitedly telling me that she had seen Baggio. Baggio's parent lived pretty close to us and as she walked past their house, sure enough, Baggio was in the driveway talking with his father. He saw the X Man and gave a little smile and wave. Had I gone with them, I would have met Baggio. I kicked myself. When we found out that we were having a boy, my first thought was that I wanted to name him Baggio. Of course the wife hated it so it never came to pass. I brought it up again with our second boy but it was shot down again just as quickly.

When we left Italy in 2006, I was rather dismayed at the fact that I had spent six years Baggio's hometown and had never once met him. The fates had indeed been cruel to me...and there was still more cruelty to come. Upon visiting our neighbors, Giampietro and Agnese for the first time since leaving, they informed me that the person who had moved into our apartment after we left was named Anna Baggio. That's right...Roberto Baggio's sister. My first thought was that if I could meet her and tell her what a huge fan of her brother I was, perhaps she could arrange a meeting. Eventually I did run into her and told her that I was a huge fan and such but no dice. Giampi and Agnese informed me that apparently Roberto and Anna were not on good terms and never spoke to each other. Once again, the fates had gotten my hopes up, only to bring me crashing back down.

Only this time, the story has a happy ending.

After two and a half long years in Germany, I recently got my old job here in Italy back. We arrived here last Sunday and the only place we considered living is of course Caldogno. Our friends and neighbors are there and Giampi is adamant about walking the X Man to school every day. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and a few days ago I remarked to the wife that, since we are still in the hotel, this was the first year in my life that I would not be enjoying a big Thanksgiving dinner as none of my American friends here had invited us. She said "why don't we do it at Giampi and Agnese's, I can cook Thanksgiving dinner there?" It was a great idea and thankfully Giampi and Agnese had no plans and agreed. So went over around noon as Agnese was preparing lunch. The usual routine is that Giampietro goes out to get the pane (bread) and always takes the X Man with him so he can show him off around town. Never once had I ever gone with them but for some reason I told Giampi that I wanted to go as well. We got the bread, then took a slight detour to Giampi's brother Lino's house to say hi. We rang the bell but there was no answer so after a few minutes we started to walk home. As we did, Giampi leaned in and whispered "That's Baggio's papa" in my ear as he nodded towards the two men across the street in grubby workmen's clothes unloading stuff out of a truck and into the empty garage. I stared intently, trying to size up the man who had blessed the world with the brilliance of Roberto Baggio. As I did so, Giampi exclaimed "Oh, that's Roby!". Sure enough, the other guy working with him in grubby clothes, doing manual labor with his father was none other than Roberto Baggio himself. Il Divin Codino.

I froze. Giampi started crossing the street towards them and I followed. He greeted them warmly (remember, everybody in Caldogno knows each other) and Roberto said he'd be out in a second, he just had to finish putting the load in the garage. He came out and exchanged pleasantries with Giampi. And then...finally...15 years after first hearing the name Baggio...8 years after moving to his hometown...2 and a half years after leaving his hometown without ever meeting him...I was face to face with Roberto Baggio. He extended his hand to me, and I shook it. Never have I ever been so glad that I can communicate in Italian as I told him how big a fan I am, how I was at the World Cup match in 1994, how I lived in Caldogno so many years but never got to meet him. It was a short meeting as Baggio and his father obviously had a lot of work to do but after so many years and so many near misses, it was a thrill I will never forget.

And if we ever have another kid...

Happy to be back in Italy.

This is the seafood meal I alluded to in my last post: Spaghetti alla scoglio (spaghetti with clams, mussels, prawns and shrimp)...

Italia: A Sort of Homecoming

Well, we are finally back in Italy albeit it not without incident. As you all know, our usual routine when coming to Italy is to leave on Saturday, stay overnight at a small town in the Austrian Alps called Heiterwang, then conclude the journey the next morning, traveling through the Fern Pass en route to the Brenner Pass It splits up the driving for the kids, as making the drive all in one day would be too much for them.

So, we left Saturday right at noon and headed south. As we got further south on autobahn 7 towards the Alps, it started snowing harder and harder. By the time we hit Fussen, right on the border, it was reaching blizzard proportions. The Fernpass can be treacherous even in decent weather so there was no way I would even attempt it in a blizzard, especially with a baby in the car. I was starting to think that I should have opted for the Munich route; it takes longer but it's autobahn the whole way. To my chagrin, the normal road between Fussen and Heiterwang was closed so we had to take a detour. Not a problem normally but a huge problem in a blizzard because the detour was on a smaller road. We finally reached Heiterwang and I started to breathe easy as we could now check into our hotel and relax...but it was not to be. The Heiterwang Hof was inexplicably closed, as was our fallback, the Forellen Hof. I was right on the edge of the Fern Pass and suddenly feeling very nervous. Just then, as if on cue, Luca started crying. I drove on, planning on checking into the first hotel we came to but there were none. Panic was starting to set in - it was dark now, the roads were practically undriveable, there was no hotel in sight and I had a 5 year old, a crying 6 month old and my prized wine collection in the car. One little slip and I might lose everything. The choice was clear; there was no way I was going to make it any further so I did a nerve-racking three point turn in the mountain road and headed back. We drove all the way back into Germany and searched several little towns for a hotel but everything was either closed or had no room. We finally did find a hotel about an hour north of the Fern Pass with room and checked in, my nerves still shaking from our near disaster.

I was now faced with the daunting prospect of having to backtrack all the way to autobahn 8 and take the Munich route the next day, which would take about an extra 3 hours. I woke early in the morning and went out to clean the snow off the car. This simple task took about 30 minutes and was made more difficult by the fact that I had no snow brush or ice scraper, no gloves, and nothing but a pair of dress shoes. If I ever hated the cold and snow - and I always have, with a passion - then I really was not liking it now. I asked the guy at the desk if there was any chance that the Fern Pass would be passable that morning, he checked on it and said it should be but that we should have breakfast first, relax, and give them time to clear the roads. I did NOT want to do the Munich thing so I did as he suggested. And sure enough, the Austrians had the road through the Fern Pass cleared and passable. When I reached the point at which I finally turned around the night before, I got a slight chill - there was no guard rail and the drop was at least a couple hundred feet. Thank the Lord Jesus that I turned around when I did as who knows what might have happened.

We arrived in Vicenza somewhere around 2 in the afternoon and as we did so I looked the temperature gauge in the car; 50 degrees F. I told the wife "Thank God we're in Italy and I won't have to deal with the damned snow anymore". We checked into the hotel and had one of the very best (and cheapest) seafood dinners I have enjoyed in quite some time. Then the X Man and I went to the hotel bar to watch the Milan match. Things were finally as they should be. I honestly could not remember the last time I had felt so content and I made mention of this fact several times during the course of the evening. Finally I went to bed, ready to wake the next day and start in-processing.

I awoke this morning, took a shower, got dressed, looked outside the window and was greeted by...wait for it...a blizzard.

That's right - a freaking blizzard, reminiscent of the one we had survived in the Alps. I weaved my way onto to post only to find that they had closed it due to the weather so I got a couple DVDs and am now holed up in our hotel room for the day, held hostage once again by the snow.

I wonder if there are any job openings in Hawaii?

We'll be right back...

Movers come today and internet will be turned off shortly so there will probably be no blog posts for the next week or two during the transition. In the meantime, I invite you to sit back, relax, and let your worries and cares melt away as you enjoy the most relaxing piece of music ever written...

Italy Move Update

Well, we're getting close now. This is our last weekend in our house and it's really starting to hit me that we're leaving very soon. In fact, I'm starting to get that twinge of sadness as I walk around Heidelberg now at the thought of leaving this beautiful fairytale of a city. We have certainly lived a charmed life here over the past two and a half years and we've savored every minute. If it were anywhere else but my beloved Italia, there is no way we would ever leave this place. But alas, Bella Italia beckons and I must heed her call.

So the movers come on Monday to start packing our stuff. They say it will take three days but I'm hoping they can do it in two due to our compacted schedule. Our house inspection is Thursday morning, then assuming that goes well I should finish clearing housing and everything else on Friday and we are planning on departing Saturday morning the 22nd. As usual we will stay overnight at our favorite little inn in the Austrian Alps and then arrive in Italy on Sunday the 23rd in time to start my new (old) job on Monday the 24th. We will be checking into the hotel at the Dubliner (where else?!) this Tuesday so I probably won't be online next week.

My last day at work was yesterday so the end of an era has passed. We had my goodbye luncheon on Thursday and I received a nice plaque, which is customary when someone leaves. And, to my great astonishment, I was awarded a $1,000.00 bonus for what the chain of command deemed my "above and beyond" performance. I was quite shocked to say the least but the bonus will certainly come in handy with moving costs and whatnot.

The X Man is getting excited but he seems a bit curious and cautious about the move. He knows he will be starting school when we get to Italy but he is worried because he can't speak Italian. But we keep reassuring him that he will learn it quick and I'm already practicing with him. He still remembers a lot and occasionally he will utter a word or phrase in Italian so I know he's trying. I'm not too worried about it though because Giampi and Agnese say they will have him fluent in about two weeks and I believe them as he was more fluent in Italian than English when we left two and a half years ago. His main concern is his toys of course. He needs constant reassurance that all of his toys will go with us to Italy.

As I mentioned, we'll be checking into the hotel at the Dubliner this Tuesday but there are a few places around town that have free wireless so I might be online here and there next week. If not, then the next update will be from Italy...with a bicchieri di vino!