Asiago!

Ciao, this weekend was awesome! It was a nice relaxing weekend. We didnt see too much, but the scenery was amazing, and what we did was really fun. We left Friday around 4:30pm, from IDEA Verona, took a bus-like the kind you take on group trips (band tour) It was decent, unfortunatly the AC wasnt working. It was uncomfortably HOT and stuffy in the bus. And i tend to get a little car sick, if im hot in a moving vehicle. I tried to sleep on the way there, but that didnt happen because it was so hot :( But we finally got close to Asiago, which IM still not totally sure where it is. But I think its close to the Austria border. It was about a 2 hour drive in total, to get to near Asiago was about an hour and a half, but then you still had to go up the mountain, which made me a little nervous... Up a mountain in a bus... It was a curvy road up, with i think about 14 turns. they had numbers that counted it for you...how nice. The bus driver would get to the turn-slow down...drive, get about halfway to the other turn, and speed up! then slow down to turn...go....speed up, slow down, turn. etc etc etc. and the bus is not small at all. it got pretty close to those guard rails....and its a long steep way down. SO we finally got to our hotel. It was nice, i really liked it. It was very close to a ski slope. So it would be really awesome in the winter. Our room had two beds, which were very close together-side by side-, and then bunk beds. Sarah took one of the two beds, and laura and i took the bunk beds. We had a TV!!! a bathroom, and a balcony. the balcony had a nice view of the ski slope. The room in general made me feel like i was in Switzerland or Germany. Not Italy, the whole trip i felt like i was in Switzerland, but since its so close(to Switzerland), maybe thats what they were going for. Friday night we had dinner in the hotel, good, but not the best ive had. Then we all went to a local bar. Claudio described it as a piano bar... it was not a piano bar...at least not what i think a piano bar should be like. It was kinda like a Murphys/dance place. except noone danced except people in my group, but i dont think this was the type of place Italians dance... It wasnt really into it at first, but then a live band started to play and it got a lot more fun. The band was great. They played a few American songs and a few Italian songs...well probably half and half. IM really amused by the random american songs they play here...live and on the radio. SO after that we went to bed. Saturday we got up early and ate breakfast. Then headed to(walked 30 minutes to) the cheese factory, which i was super excited about... until we got there. its this kinda run down factory. maybe run down isnt the right word...but (this is gonna sound dumb) but it looks like a factory. I guess Ive been to too many like bottling companies that i just expected it to be something like Fitz or Schlafly(which i guess technically i havent been to the bottling part...) Not really sure why i expected that, but i did. So we got to watch them make cheese... in huge vats of some liquid. this whole time its smelling like cheese...and not the good smellling like cheese. I couldnt even hear the guy talk cuz theres 40 of us and the machines are loud. so then we go to another room, which smells worse. then to the best part of the whole trip to the cheese factory..... da da dum!!!! the storage room of the cheese!!! It was amazing!!!! Shelves and shelves and rows and rows of cheese!!! YUMMY, each wheel of cheese costs 250 Euro...probably worth every euro. then we got to taste it! mmmm. we had two kinds-fresh and older. the older was the better. then we went and did some shopping in the market in Asiago. Then walked back... had lunch, then had horseback riding!!! YUp, i went horsebackriding. it was fun! i had never been before...ever! I was pretty nervous. the height of my horse didnt look too bad until he got me on there... its high up! My horses name was Martina. She was a good horse, behaved, know what she was doing...except she didnt like having the bit in her mouth. so she would pull her head forward and tug on the reins...and then id give her some slack...cuz i didnt want to get thrown off, and then the instructor would tell me to keep 'short reins short reins' We went riding through the woods. and we would randomy trot, which i didnt know horse owners/instructors in the states dont have riders trot until they are more experienced, because its a little dangerous i guess... I was fine...i caught on pretty quick. After riding for about 45 minutes we went back and hung out and watch some tv. a group of us went to one of the common rooms they had that had a tv and couches!!! and watched tv. we watched MTV which was a countdown. Had some good songs on there...some i hadnt heard some i had, a mix of English and italian. Then we watched Fivel goes West! (in italian) then had dinner. As much fun as it is sometimes watching shows in italian...its just not the same... after dinner we went to the 'bar' in the hotel and got some hot chocolate. sometimes you can say hot chocolate and they know what you mean...this guy did not. so we said cioccolato caldo. chocolate hot.... oh he gave us hot chocolate alright...but he forgot the milk..well ok he said latte? but we thought he was talking to someone else. so sarah and i think he just melted chocolate and poured it into a cup. it was amazing! but not quite what we were wanting... then we went to one of the girls room and hung out. We turned on the tv... MARY POPPINS!!! great movie right??? it was in italian... mary poppins is not as good in italian. the voices dont match right, and they change the words of the songs... so now when i get back to the states...im gonna need to watch Mary poppins in english. then night time... oh it was so dark and so quite there! a nice change from Verona. Then sunday we went to a prehistoric village...which was really a 10 minute hike (i wore flip flops that day because i did not expect to have to hike) through grass...then the prehistoric village turned out to be two huts... good times. then we headed to get some cheese, which i bought some. then lunch, then to the world war one museum. that was really coo, unfortunatly it was all in italian, but the pictures and artifacts pretty much said it all...i guess i just missed out on what happened. Asiago was apparently in the middle of the war. the border would change (if i heard claudio right) so sometimes it would be in austria...only almost felt like i was gonna fall off once. that time we went up and down hills more and then more trotting. then headed home... on the way home we stopped at a town thats known for its grappa. which is a really strong alcohol. we went to a place that had taste testing... i was not much of a fan. it was pretty strong, and the kind i had did not have a good flavor. i heard the honey one was good though. i had blackberry? they even had grappa flavored galato! i didnt have it though... well i better go, ive been on this computer way too long! ciao!