Day 1- pizza and ice cream with Ryan Alberto Marco Andreas and debbie riding around the streets seeing the town square and cathedral- tricking us asking which side is heavier

Day2- shopping for albertos girlfriends Julia birthday present ! A watch which later became a vitali bicycle haha ! White with a brown basket and seat, I'm so jealous and want to import one home !

We had a lovely home booked pasta lunch and sat down in the apartment we were staying with all the friends ! Practicing our Italian and trying to pick up on their conversations.
Later in the evening we had Dinner on the street a Beer and plates of pasta and breads !
After this we used the internet to relax and catch up on things back
Home, while Alberto used photo shop to make pictures for his girls birthday haha funniest photo shop ever !

Day 3- Ryan and i went to breakfast across the road from our new house :) had a fantastic chat about our life direction and events in the past ! We spent the morning tieing up loose strings for julias birthday! Today we are off to Venice, the town built on water... Guilia showed us around Venice all afternoon and evening, taking us around the canals, watching gondolas. We went to drink sprites at a local venezia restaurant ! We did aperitivo where you purchase a drink and then help yourself to the food out on the tables. After this we walked around to the Rialto bridge and other canal areas to reach a dinner place where we ate fried panacotta, la mozzarella in carrozza which is mozzarella in batter.

Day 4- today we left for cento albertos real home, Packing our over night backpacks as we would be sleeping at his home with his mumma and puppa ! We arrived in cento to a large yellow house with big shutter windows on the street, inside was an outhouse area with 2 stories, picnic table setting, fooZball table, bar and mini kitchen... Then you enter a courtyard which leads to the main part of the house ! It's 3 stories, with the all important Italian kitchen on the bottom story. We met roberta and unberto his mother and father, they were loving doing everything to keep the Australian visitors happy ! While Roberta prepared lunch, tortilini, meat, red wine, desert wine, parmesian cheese and balsamic vinegar, we wandered through the town of cento to pick up gelato for desert after our Italian feast ! Haha. Cento was a small town with a Castle, churches and many orange and yellow buildings ! It was alot quiter than previous towns we had seen however it was a Sunday !! ... We all sat around the table for lunch and chatted away for hours until around 5:30pm haha lunch started at 2:30pm ! His parents spoke limited English so Alberto did his best to keep the conversation going and we did our best to keep our Italian language flowing haha, we had learnt quite alot of the language however more about how to order ice cream and Beer; ask for the bill, and how much things cost haha so didnt really help in this setting :p

Later in the evening after a sleep and re stringing of Albertos guitar, we has drinks at a local hang out and then met up with some of his cento friends. We drank and ate endless amounts of food in his outhouse area ! We had tigelle, this is cooked bread and you fill it with different types of formaggio (cheese) and hams or even nutella !
Wow I actually haven't eaten this much in my life it was unbelievable. After dinner around midnight we played some foozball however the Aussies unfortunately lost haha !

Bologna- San petronio
Meridiana- line where the sun cuts the line through the roof

Formaggi fresci- fresh cheese
Affettati- meat plate

Dinner- meat with herbs and garlic salad
Doctor visit haha .. So much attention to a little cough ! Was so kind

Florence- bar gelateria vivoli !
San Maria novella
Saint Mary of the flower (del fiore)
Baptistry- doorway to heaven
We went up the dome (cupola) of fiore
Lunch at il latina- melon prescuito, mixed pastas, wines
Statue of David replica in piazza Della singnoria
Uffizi- all famous artist statues here and paintings inside
ponte vecchio- bridge with shops on side with gold
Palazzo pitti
Twin church of novella- Santa croce
galleria l acedemia
Old pharmacy

Lake of garda- I was in my element here, laying by a crystal clear lake, sailing boats cruising by and mountain peaks in the background. Wow such a relaxing time ! After several hours at the lake Alberto, edwardo Ryan Andreas and I went to the supermercato to purchase some meat, wines and Beer !

We drove to Andreas homestead, it was a 3 story farm house situated on the side of a mountain overlooking the lake ! Our dinner lasted for 5 hours, it was a typical traditional night for an Italian group of friends ! We prepared the meat while eating different cheeses and breads, once the chimney was ready we cooked the meat in there that had been covered in oil and rosemary ! Drinking red wine, eating meat that was perfectly cooked while chatting in only English to help albertos friends work on their English was a combination for a awesome night of festivities ! The 2 dogs of the house were German shepards such friendly animals luckily haha so playing fetch with them made me miss my dogs at home a little less !

Waking up to a view of the lake and breakfast already served on the balcony table was not a surprise after all the special treatment we had been receiving from albertos friends !

Vitali bikes Italy - import !

Language lessons-

Salve- hello
Ciao

There-
Lo- masculine
il

La- feminine
Le

O- masculine
i- more than one masculine
A- feminine
E- more than one feminine

Bwon giorno- good morning
Bwon a seira- good evening
Bwon a Notte- good night

Ciao/ arrivadieci- goodbye

come stai- how are you ?

Bene e tu ? Fine and you

Come ti chiami- what is your name?
Come vi chiamate- what are your names ?

Mi chiamo Ross- my name is Ross

A piu tardi- see you later
Chi vid iah mo- see you sometime

I would like 2 flavours in a Cone/ cup - vo ray due goosti in un con e/cuppetta

Caffe ma- kya- toe. Expresso with milk
Caldo- warm
Freddo- cold

Caffe- expresso

Un bic i air e di aqua perfavore botilllia- bottle of water please

E stato um pye Che re - pleased to meet you

E stato um pye Che re comoshirtee or vee .....

Da port ah via - take away
Da man jar ye via- to eat somewhere else
Da man jar ye qi- eat in

Un altro birra - one more beer

Grazie Millie per........ l'acqua- thankyou for the water

Felice Byon compliano- happy birthday

pwoa por-ta-chi il Conto per favore- can you bring us the bill please
Doh biamo pug-a-re -We have to pay

Tempo- weather and time
Bel tempo- nice weather

1 glass of white wine please-ono Bic-air-re di Vino bianco per favore

Vino rosso- red wine

I would like a Table for 2 please- vo ray un tavalo per due per favore

Un diamo- let's go

SfasaRnn- open
Chiuso- closed

Binario- platform

Scusa/ scusi ( more polite) un photo per favore

Mi piace la vostra caza- I like your house
Hy
Ti mostro - I show you

Grazie mille per farci star e a casa tooa -Thankyou very much For having us stay at your house

We have appreciated it alot - noi abiamo apprezzato molto

Grazie millie per averchi (us) avermi (me) mostrato bologna

For a living- come di professione

La tua- your
Bocca- mouth
La Bella vita- a beautiful life

Cane- dog
Camere- room
Pian...o- gentle
Non fare la cacca qui- do not s*** here
Bravo cane- good dog

Calle or via - street

Sto scarrresundo

White sweet wine in Verona- mascato

As you can see we learnt many different sayings that were useful during our stay. Stay posted for our octoberfest blog ;) xo Ross and ryans Italy blog which will be more detailed than this one.

Time- Alle- until / e after