Exploring

   Yesterday while Aaron was on his way to Pisa for his jump, he talked to one of the guys about where we live. The guy told Aaron about Cittadella, a walled city about 10 miles from our house, and that it was worth visiting. We didn't have any plans today, so we decided to see what Cittadella was all about! 

 This is what we saw when we drove up to the city.

 Looking at the wall from inside.

   The wall was built in 1220 to protect the city during war. It is all original, except for a small area that was rebuilt in the 16th century. The city has a church in the center and several restaurants and shops. It was about 11:30 when we got there, so we stopped to eat at a cafe first. Thanks to our handy phone app that translated the menu for us, we were able to order easily.

Our lunch.

     After eating, almost everything was closed for riposo {their afternoon break} and some stores had signs saying they were closed the entire month {a lot of Italians go on vacation during August}. We always forget! One day we will remember and plan our day correctly. Since everything was closed, we just walked around the city and window shopped.

I love the details on the doors.

     We left after walking down the main streets. On our way home, we saw people swimming in a river {Brenta Viva} that ran under the highway. We weren't in a rush to get home, so we set on a mission to find a way to get to the river. We came upon a parking lot with a man sitting at a table, so we knew that must be the place to park. Aaron talked to the man {with help from some bilingual men nearby} and paid him while I waited in the car. The plan was for Aaron to go see the river, take pictures, and pretty much just scope it out while I waited in the car with napping Connor. After about 10 minutes, he calls me and tells me we have to see it. By this time, Connor was awake. I put him on my back and we met Aaron on the path. We saw some people grilling and another family having a picnic {which we plan on doing this Sunday}. When we saw the river, I couldn't believe how pretty it was...and how fast it was flowing. It was so clear and blue.

 Just beautiful!

Aaron warned me that it was cold, but I wanted to put my feet in. The pebbles were so smooth, but still hurt a little to walk on with my bare feet.

 We all put our feet/paws in.

Of course Connor liked throwing the pebbles.

We only stayed for a little while because we weren't prepared to go there. We plan on going Sunday, and I'm pretty excited!