A goose festival
It turned out that the weekend we went to Mirano was the town’s annual Goose Festival. In Italian, goose is “Oco” and in Mirano a popular board game is called “Togo De L’Oco”. For the festival, a life-sized board game is set up in the main square. Bleachers are set up for cheering crowds. A band plays. Lots of people are in costume. It is very festive. Once the game is over, the crowds jam through the streets where vendors have set up various wares. I bought a really cool hat.
So when we arrived, Lina’s restaurant was still very busy. Her cousin Rafael came and picked us up and took us to the festival. Then we walked over to another cousin’s house and had some wine, cake, cookies, and conversation. Well, the best we could with Google Translate. Once Lina was ready for us, we all returned to the restaurant.
Here we had a fabulous meal. We all shared our stories and then looked at the photos of the family reunion we had in 2011. Everyone remembered that day well. It was really wonderful to reconnect and connect with cousins. Click here for photos.
Since the restaurant is open 7 days a week, Mike and I decided get out of her way and drive to Mirano for the weekly market. By the time we got there, most vendors were closing. But one had some beautiful yarn and I of course couldn’t resist. It started to rain, so we went back to Lina’s and took a nap. Got up in time to drive to Sarah’s house for dinner.
Here we enjoyed the company of Andrea, age 7, and Asia, age 20. Andrea is a cutie. And a talented artist. He drew a sketch of Mike free-hand that is very very
good. Career-wise, Asia is in a holding pattern, hoping to get accepted to college to study Viticulture and Enology.
On Tuesday we set off for the nearby town of Stra to tour Villa Pisani. It’s a huge villa of 114 rooms built by the wealthy Pisani family in 1720. More about this in the photos. Click here.
We returned to Lina’s for lunch, another delicious feast.
Then another nap. We were both cold and damp and starting to feel not so good. We offered to take Lina out for pizza, but instead ordered delivery. There was another guest at the B&B and he joined us. It was nice to have a lower-key meal with just Lina.
Wednesday after breakfast we set off for San Marino. The drive wasn’t bad until we got close to the Republic. Then the cloud cover came. We could hardly see the road. With only the white line in the road and Google maps guiding us, we very slowly made it to the top of the mountain and found our parking place. Still, it was so foggy that it was hard to see street signs. We found our hotel, which is quite nice. We settled in a bit, then thought we’d go out for a short walk and try to find some food. Well, the walk was very short. And no food. The roads all have at least a 30% grade and for us old folks that was rough. Especially since we weren’t feeling so great. One restaurant that looked interesting, Cantina di Bacco, didn’t open until 7:00 so we returned to the hotel for a nap. We went back promptly at 7 and were not disappointed. The atmosphere is very charming, the service great, and the food was excellent. Click here for a few photos.
However, both of us were feeling so poorly that we didn’t even want a glass of wine. Now, that’s feeling bad, right? It was then that we decided to not stay the 3 days as planned and to head home in the morning. That turned out to be a good idea. My sinuses were flared, so were Mike’s, and his ears were bothering him too. We’re recovering now, thank goodness.
Yesterday we drove to the Ikea store in Pescara and picked up a desk, a bookcase, and a rug to put in our middle room and set up a study area for me. Today I start studying for my driving test. This is going to be a challenge, and I am a bit anxious about it. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
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