Italia!

I am in Vicenza, Italy and staying with Erica, Mrs. Ashby (her mom), and Erica's two children. My flight arrived just before 7 pm and Erica was waiting at the airport. We drove about an hour back to Vicenza from the Marco Polo airport, drop my bags and walked into the center of town for dinner. I tried a traditional Spritz with Erica (neither one of us were enjoyed it) which was also served with potato chips - yes, odd. However, it needs to be noted that we did finish the drink since we didn't want to be rude (rude Americans in particular). We also ordered a mimosa each (made with FRESH) orange juice and some bruschetta to share. That was a bit of an ordeal but quite funny with our waiter. Bruschetta was ordered, he says no and turns us to the panino page but as we are looking he says, "we also have bruschetta!". We were very confused to say the least but when he served us, evidently he didn't even give us whatever it was we thought we had ordered, so he said something about, "I just charge you for a margherita". Oh Italy, you are already so interesting...makes me miss Europe even more.

Tomorrow we rise bright and early (and I mean bright and early) at 4:30 or 5 am to catch the bus to Parma for our tour. I have no doubt there will be plenty to share!

I am SO happy to be here!
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Lunch @ Gatwick Airport

I caught an earlier bus to Gatwick, dropped my bag, and made it through security in record time. There was another American on the bus named Steve, he was here on business from Nebraska working for a small company that makes t-shirts so he was here to make licensing deals with bands/companies. Pretty cool gig and now he is off to Spain (and was very late for his flight!).
I'm plenty early for my 3:50 pm flight, so I've grabbed a bit of food for lunch from a place called EAT. where Kate and I ate when we were last at Gatwick as well. Sparkling water and an avocado, chicken and basil sandwich. I have some crisps stashed away in my bag from last night's Tesco stop, so I have a nice little meal to keep me busy while I wait for my gate to be posted.

Breakfast Scone

A cheddar cheese scone from Harrods - it's the best cheese scone I've ever had and I scout it out at least once every time I visit London. If you know of a better one, please share!

The scone was for breakfast this morning as I pack and make my way out of the hotel in a few short hours. Off to finish putting everything away and then to Boots to cram a few last things into my luggage.
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