Vicenza, the old homestead

We ventured from Bologna to Vicenza for a brief stay.  Vicenza is home to Caserma Ederle, my first duty station as a US Army Soldier and the first home Kathie and I shared together as husband and wife 25 years ago.  Its a great little town, clean and friendly, plus we had laundry to do and the base is a lot cheaper than on the economy.  So we popped onto post, washed a few loads and cruised base a little to see the changes, there were plenty.  In all fairness we were here 7 years ago when we brought our daughter, who was born on base, and son on vacation, however its always fun to see the changes.  We were hoping to attend an Independence Day parade, afterall I carried my company's guidon across the parade field back in 1991, but the field is now host to a couple buildings and the celebration happened before the long weekend, so we missed out.  We also missed seeing our friend Tiziano, he was on vacation and I realize the importance of vacation.  Hope it was awesome Tiziano.

SETAF and US ARMY Africa HQ:

 

Never forget our fallen Soldiers, they have paid the price enabling us to exercise our freedom.  

 

We spent a nice day in Vicenza walking around town, first hitting up a bar for an espresso.  We had the place to ourselves and struck up a conversation, as best we could, with the elderly gentleman running the place even though he spoke zero English.  He told us his wife and her family spoke good English, his brother in law was a Colonel in the Carabinieri and had worked on Caserma Ederle, but after a couple years of trying to learn he gave up.  We chatted about our vacation and how we started in Sicily, he immediately chimed in about his time in Messina and that his family was still there.  He did also hit two particular notes, first, he charged us 1.10 euro for an espresso, at the bar, which was the first time we paid over one euro on the trip and had a couple times paid under a euro.  He smiled and nodded when I pointed this out.  Its true things get more expensive as you go north.  Secondly, and most importantly, he talked about how nice a day it was and that we should go walk the town, mano nella mano (hand in hand); naturally we followed this advice.

We went up to the Santuario di Monte Berico to check out the church and the great overlook of the city.  They were working on the exterior but the interior was beautiful, however service was being conducted so we only stayed briefly.

 

 

From the Monte Berico overlook you can see the green roofed building on the right side, the Basilica Palladiana.  Palladio was a renowned architect who lived in Vicenza and created some beautiful buildings.  The basilica is on the main square, Piazza dei Signori, and this link shows one of the walking tours of the city you can take.

 

We had lunch on the piazza, people watching and enjoying some tasty pasta.  Most striking to me on the square is the clock tower

 

The flowers on the church door were so pretty.

 

Kathie's favorite fountain, she loves the uniqueness with the kids.  We have a picture of her from 1991, with her mom and while she's 9 months pregnant, in front of this same fountain.

 

When we were stationed here those 25 years ago we had a favorite restaurant, the Conciglia d'Oro, where a local national friend on base worked as a waiter.  We used to frequent the place about once a month or so, the best that a young enlisted Soldier could afford, and Gaetano would scoop up our daughter and take her all over the place, back in the kitchen, wherever Megan wanted, while we ate and enjoyed ourselves. Well the place has expanded, moving just a little down the street and running a huge restaurant and hotel, so you guessed it, we stayed there.  The room was nice, very modern and great wifi as well as open space.   The breakfast was good, the price was right and we enjoyed some kick ass seafood pasta.  I got the big and little shrimp cooked in tin foil, been on the menu for a long time, and it did not disappoint. We enjoyed an appertivo of proscuitto and bufala mozzarella.  Kathie enjoyed lobster linguine, both meals were huge and we each left pasta on the plate.  Speaking of plates, Kathie's plate was literally a square that measured from her elbow to the end of her fingers, just enormous.  Naturally we had prosecco, the local wine of the region and oh so good!

 

 

 

I hope we get to return to Vicenza sometime in the future, it is a beautiful little town.