Weekend Update

We stayed around Vicenza this weekend because John Ralph was incredibly busy with work.  However, the nice weather and a fun Jazz festival (check out the video of the parade that went my our house, below) made it a lot easier to mix a little play into our otherwise work filled schedule.  

On Saturday night, we grilled and made it out to the square for the very end of the Earth, Wind, and Fire concert.  We listened to the first half in our apartment while we were eating.  Unfortunately, we locked ourselves OUT of the apartment, which resulted in us only making it to the concert to hear the last song (which was, thankfully, Boogie Wonderland!  The best of all!)

This is right around the corner from our place.  We were at the back of the crowd, which meant plenty of room for me to make my own Boogie Wonderland, and plenty of room for John Ralph to enjoy a cone of gelato.

Sunday was b-e-a-utiful, so we headed out to the park to enjoy the weather.  A friend brought a pup he was dog-sitting, and we all took advantage of the first real opportunity to stretch our legs in some nice weather.  

After our romp in the park, we headed back into downtown to wander through the antique market.  Since nothing good comes from shopping on an empty stomach, we decided to stop halfway through for a spritz and some snacks.  One thing I love about Europe in general, is that when you order a drink, you always get a plate of snacks to go with it.  This one particular bar is really good, giving you chips, tortillas and salsa, little sandwiches, and pretzels.  Thats a lot of bang for your buck...eh, euro.

Here's a little look at what market day looks like.  The camera we use when we're just walking around has a fisheye lens on it, so it distorts the pictures just a little, however, I like the way it gives you a really big picture of what things are like.  Just to give you some perspective, the right end of the market tents is where the stage for the concert was set up.  Our apartment is down past the clock tower and around the corner to the left.  

We typically just wander through the markets, but on Sunday we found this really neat wooden bread bowl (and got a free wooden spoon to go with it).  I cant decide if I want to put some mineral oil on it to make it the same color as the spoon, or leave it in its old (kind of dirty) form.  Either way, I imagine it looking awesome on a farmhouse table I'll one day have.  (Both Papa's, don't you want to start collecting scrap wood for that project?)

Anyway, that's what we've been up to!  Not too much is going on this week except a few small projects and more work, of course.  We leave on Friday to head to Garmisch, Germany for the Brigade Ball.  I'm sure to get a lot of great pictures at that.  I hope everyone has a great Monday.  Ciao for now!