“On the road again…”

For some reason that song pops into my head at times, except I say “All alone again”, instead of the “on the road again”.  So yeah, Mark’s gone again.  He was supposed to come home in 2 weeks, but the cargo plane bringing them back here backed out so now they have to stay an extra 3 days.  Yay.  Some of the guys, the ones flying the jets back, get to come back on time, but the ones taking the cargo plane back get to wait 3 more days.  Pretty much sucks.  It’s bad enough that he’s gone for 2 weeks, but when there’s absolutely no reason for him to be there for an extra 3 days, it slightly, okay, REALLY annoys me.  The AF acts like they only have 1 fricken cargo plane!  They have hundreds of the stupid things.  So instead of getting a plane up there to bring everyone home, they’d rather pay for 150+ people to spend 3 more nights there.  Gotta love the logistics of the AF at times.   Grr…
Abbie has been extra screamy lately, which wears me out.  She’s getting pretty good at walking by herself now, so naturally, that’s all she wants to do.  Try to put her in the cart in the grocery store and it’s a full-on battle.  Screaming, tears, kicking.  *sighs*  Two and a half weeks seems like a REALLY long time right now.
And when the guys finally do get back, Mark will have to work later than he normally does.  During our usual routine, I obviously deal with Abbie all day while Mark is at work, but Mark usually gives her her bath, and he gives her her night bottle and puts her to bed.  Those 20-30 mins that he has her are very nice for me.  I don’t find myself counting the minutes down to her bed time as much when her daddy is here to help out.  But he’s gone now, and then it’s a while of working late so he won’t be home to do her night time routine, and the another TDY.  So between now and NOVEMBER he’ll get to do her night routine for maybe a week.  Ugh.  That wears me out just thinking about it.
But on a positive note, we’re going to Prague in August for a week.  Mark’s been there before but I haven’t so I’m SUPER excited to see that.  We’re going to drive, and it’s about a 8.5 hour drive.  So researching everything there is to do in Prague should keep me occupied while Mark is gone.
 

Trieste

Last week we took a day trip to Trieste, which is about an hour and a half from us.  It’s in the very south east corner of the northern tip of Italy, right next to Slovenia and Croatia.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be quite as beautiful as it was!  The weather was perfect when we got there and EVERYONE was at the “beach”.  It was more like a rock wall that they all laid on, but whatever works I guess.

 

The main square in Trieste

The Roman theater, built sometime during the second half of the 1st century.

The harbor.  There were tons of sailboats around Trieste.

View from near Castello di San Giusto

Roman ruins by the church and castle of San Giusto.

They turned parts of the castle into museums, with lots of ancient artifacts.  It was pretty neat!  These are mosaic flooring made who knows how long ago.

Views from the top of the castle.

       

They had really old furniture in part of the museums.  I like how this picture turned out, but I have no clue how old this table is.

San Giusto church

Arch di Riccardo, built in 33BC.

All of the rest of these were taken at Miramare Castle.  It had beautiful gardens surrounding it, along with hiking trails.  You can go inside to tour it, but we didn’t.  Maybe next time we’re there.  

My new favorite place

Saturday we headed to Verona with my parents.  Actually we stopped at Nove on the way, which is a place known for its ceramics, and my mom and I bought a few things.  I definitely want to go back there to check out more shops sometime.

Verona is probably my new favorite place in Italy and it is about 2 hours from our house.  It is probably most noted because this is where Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” takes place. Part of the charm of Verona is that it’s not as touristy as most places in Italy are.  People usually choose to go to Venice or Milan over Verona.  But Verona has a quaintness about it that I really liked.  Check out the crosswalks made of rock tiles.

Piazza Bra

The Lirica Opera House

The Roman amphitheatre, built around 30AD, is the 3rd largest in Italy.  They still hold operas in it today during July and August and it can hold 15,000 spectators, although in it’s glory days it could hold 30,000.

Typical street in Verona.  LOTS of shopping here.

Juliet’s House.

The whole “Romeo! Romeo! Where fore art thou Romeo?” scene took place on this balcony.

Right next to Juliet’s house was this store that sewed writing on things, so we got a hot pad that says “Noi Amiamo Abbie” which is “We love Abbie” in Italian.

Abbie was trying to figure out how to lick the gelato like her daddy was.  They were both getting a kick out of it.

“I’ve got the jet, dad.” which is fighter pilot talk for “I’m in control.”

 

Tombs of a rich family who lived in Verona long ago.

Abbie’s favorite mode of transportation.

Abbie’s newest mode of transportation.

 

Anyway, as you can see, Verona is absolutely gorgeous.  Come visit us and we’ll take you there!