Small Victories

Today has been the first day it hasn't rained in almost a week. Danica and I have been going stir crazy. It was sunny and about 45 degrees so we got brave and ventured out into the neighborhood.





First, we went to the post office. I had letters for friends in France and Poland. It seemed to me that postage from one European country to another would be cheaper than mailing the letters from the US Post Office on the installation. I'm not sure if I was right or not since it cost 4.50 Euro to mail three cards. The Post Office works like the DMV. You take a number for the service you need - stamps, passport, etc. - and wait until they post your number and window location on the electronic board. They also call out the numbers, but I can't count higher than 10 yet and my number was 54. Of course, since I can't read the Italian on the sign where you check in and get your number, I got in the wrong queue. One of the benefits of looking like an Americano in Italy is that you can get away with stupid stuff like getting into the wrong queue when you go to the post office.


Since we were out and about already, we took the long way home to explore the neighborhood. Danica and I decided to presume this sign said "Public Park". When we got home and ran it through Google translate - phew! - we were not trespassing. This park is public green space.

Next we went to check out the main bridge in town which, according to this sign, is 422 years old and designed by everyone's favorite 500 year old architect, Andrea Palladio. You can learn more about the Tesina River Bridge on Wikipedia, but the translation to English comes across poorly.



















While we were walking around, I took some photos of some of my favorite houses in the neighborhood.

This estate is next to the Tesina River Bridge. I needed one of those old panorama cameras to capture the whole thing. The garage/storage area on the right goes on for another 100 feet or so.





This house is on our street, via Vicenza. I like the use of color. The golden yellow and dark orange are common combination in this area, but this is the first home I've seen where it's been paired with hunter green. I haven't figured out the primary purpose for the rollie doors over the windows. Many of the homes in the area have them, including ours. They remind me of hurricane protection on some of the homes on the Outer Banks of NC. My best guess is that they are part security and part heat retention.

This is the street sign on our corner. In the background is another example of the rollie doors over the windows.







This home is also on our street, via Vicenza. I love this place. The landscaping, the architecture - this is what Italy looks like in my imagination. The only thing missing are beautiful people in white linen and expensive shoes standing around with glasses of red wine looking bored because they are too cool to be there.




This house is by the park/green space. The balcony is facing towards the Italian Alps. On a clear day, the view must be breathtaking.







Pam Mason, this picture is for you. You can't see much of the house, but the rosemary bush as a landscape feature is terrific. I like the tiny metal flames in the fence.










More photos of our walk around Torri are available in the slide show. Click on the slide show to go to the photo album and see all the pictures and all my snarky comments. :-)