We first got gelato on our walk to Castel Vecchio Bridge. After that we made our way to Juliet’s house (and saw our another Apple store) and walked through what I called “Rodeo Drive.” Seriously, there must be a lot of money in Verona because those shops. Wow. They had a perfume shop with armed guards out front. We were getting close and Lily told us she needed to go to the bathroom. You know, a needle in a haystack is a good analogy for finding a public bathroom in Italy. We decided to just play it safe and find a McDonalds which happened to be at the opposite side of town. After that detour we we headed back to Juliet’s house. It’s exactly how I remembered it small and crowded. A small tunnel (large archway?) that you walk through to get to the courtyard that has the balcony and statue of Juliet. The girls and I took a quick picture and then we looked through a few shops to find a few things for the girls. We had no luck finding anything so we headed back to the van and walked passed the Verona Arena which is an amphitheater (think smaller version of the colosseum in Rome) and there were crowds lining up. Andrea Bochelli was performing and I was so bummed we had to get back to Venice because that would’ve been fun to stay in the piazza and hear the concert. Who knows, maybe it’s crazy crowded and was a good thing we needed to leave.
When we got back to the van, Andy had a thought to go back to a piazza the opposite direction of where we went after Juliet’s house that has an open market and he was certain the girls would be able to find something they’d want. We paid for more time at the parking meter ticket kiosk and walked back through town to the market. The girls wanted to do some shopping for a very specific thing-a Ciao Bella shirt, in cursive, in burgundy, navy, and pink. Tall order since we had been on the hunt for one in all the touristy places and hadn’t seen anything close. At the first vendor we went to Taylor looked through a few shirts and I heard, “Mom! They have it! A Ciao Bella shirt!” Sure enough there it was, in cursive, and they had one left in Taylor’s size, burgundy, of course. Another tender mercy for my girls to see how much Heavenly Father cares about them in the most trivial things of their lives-a shirt. Taylor had been talking about this shirt that she had dreamed of and we kept telling her maybe it’s just that, a dream and the shirt didn’t exist. But of what a happy moment for Andy to have that prompting to walk all the way back and to find this vendor of the hundreds there. So special. Ella and Lily got the cutest pink Italia jackets as well as their navy and pink ciao Bella shirts. Shopping success!
We were running behind schedule and knew we would be in traffic getting from Verona back to visit with Carla at her house in Mogliano Veneto, just outside of Venice. (Stefano and Luisa were in Bern Switzerland at the Temple so we missed seeing them again.) Sure enough there was traffic, lots of it. As we were getting closer it was dark and getting late, the kids were hungry and begging us for McDonalds, again. We caved and stopped at the Golden Arches for the second time on our trip. (Seriously, it seems unreal just saying that because we never ever eat there back home and here we were having it a second time.) There was a grocery store across the parking lot and we stopped to get some chocolate and plum cakes. And by some I mean we bought at least a dozen chocolate bars and 2 boxes of plum cakes. Our kids lived off of plum cakes for breakfast, lunch, snacks... they loved them. They are like a pound cake in the shape of a Twinkie (without any filling). So our kids diet for 2 weeks consisted of plum cakes, pasta, chocolate, and gelato. No wonder they wanted a hamburger.;)
It was getting late and we made it to back to Carla’s and she fussed over the kids and made us feel so welcomed. We were able to tell her about Nordfelt and Andy called him and she was able to talk to him. I had to hold back the tears as I listened to her talk to him. It was so special. She was walking on clouds and beaming with tear filled eyes. It was such a neat experience. Stefano called their home phone while Carla was on the phone with Nordfelt so Stefano and Andy here able to talk to each other as well. After the calls we put the kids to bed and we had a nice visit with Carla. Italians talk very fast and although I don't speak Italian, I understand most of it because of the Latin roots that are similar to Spanish. But Italians talk very fast it’s hard for me to pick out the root words and then I get lost pretty fast. Carla speaks in a way that I always understand exactly what she’s saying so it made for a nice conversation all in Italian with no translation for me necessary. It was a lovely evening and I’m so glad we were able to share that with Carla. We learned more about her life and I have such a special place in my heart for her. She’s such a loving person that you can literally feel her love for you. We visited well past midnight and we called it a night. We had a plane to catch in a few hours and a long 24 hours to get home. We took a selfie with Carla and said our goodbyes before heading to bed. It’s hard to say goodbye when you don’t know when you’ll say hello again. It’s a bittersweet moment because you’re so happy that you are there to be able to say goodbye but hard because the hello might not be for a very long time.
It was a trip of a lifetime! It far exceeded any and all our expectations. We grew closer as a family and to Heavenly Father and Jesus. It was a spiritual experience that we weren’t expecting. We are forever changed because of our experiences we had. Grateful doesn’t even begin to express the feelings I have that we were able to have this incredible trip as a family. Italia-you have a special place in all our hearts forever. You treated us well and we can’t wait to come back again. Until then, Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment