Italy Day 2-The Mecca of Cheese

I have imagined going to Italy ever since I can remember. I had this romantic, charming country all built up in my head. I expected to be disappointed and let down on this trip...only because it just couldn't be as charming as I had made it out to be, in my head. To my disbelief, it was everything I'd ever imagined it was.

The Italy you see on the travel channel, or in the movies...I was there. It is real!

Andrew graciously let us borrow his car for a drive to the northern, Italian alps. This, I am pretty sure was the highlight of Noah's trip. He got to drive a manual through Italy. And he got to drive up winding roads. I don't really get the joy, but almost every three minutes Noah would pipe up, "Helen Joy, I absolutely LOVE this!" The drive there was breathtaking. I couldn't believe what my eyes were beholding. Quaint little villages nestled in rolling, green hills, with magnificent mountains towering in the background. Literally the stuff of movies.

Rolling hills...

An Italian "Baby on Board" sign. This sort of cracked me up a little bit:-)

Barclay was having a hard time adjusting to the time change...or he was just crying as usual:-(

*Photo disclaimer:

I am a photographer. But I do not enjoying photographing:

a.landscapes

b.zooming in on people I do not know ( no matter how cool the photo could be)

c.standing like an idiot in front of every single touristy thing and smiling the same way.

d.taking pictures of my food

I get stressed out every trip I take because I sort of feel this pressure to deliver amazing photographs, but every time I'm experiencing things, I just want to take it all in, instead of taking pictures.

I just feel like saying...google image a picture of the coloseum...I was there...etc

But, my lovely husband loves all things touristy:-) And now that I'm home with my pictures uploaded...I'm rather glad he instisted:-) Although I will treasure my memories in my heart forever.

So sorry for the non-creative, regular pictures....of breathtaking things:-)

Back to the story...

Asiago was the destination that day. Yes, that's right, it is named for the cheese...or should I say, the cheese is named for the town.

It was pretty deserted when we arrived, everything was closed up, but what an adorable city! I think tourist season was over. Lucky for us!

The road to Asiago. I love that the sign says "STELLAR".

The beautiful grass was blowing in the wind.

We visited their beautiful WWI memorial.

Interesting fact. Italians are all about WWI...not so much WWII (because they were on the wrong side). Everywhere you look is memorials to WWI but not one to be found of WWII.

My sweet little bundle of joy at the base of the memorial, overlooking rolling hills.

Barclay and Noah with a beautiful farmhouse in the background.

Me and my little papoose. Seriously, 90% of the picture of me, I am wearing Barclay. It's great if you're feeling a little fat that day. Feel fat? Wear a baby!

Around lunch time, we then started looking for any sort of restaurant. Again, we had trouble finding one. We did stumble upon an old cheese factory.

Alberto, the shop owner (probably with generation after generation of cheese makers proceeding him).

Fresh milk...just saying that aloud makes my mouth fill with spit.

Oh the cheese!

So we ended up buying a lot of cheese, then stopping by the grocery store for bread, and a tomato. Pretty much a perfect lunch.

On the way home, we took a different route. We took the windiest road I've ever traveled (Noah was in heaven) down to a river in a valley.

The river.

The road it took to get there.

The beautiful river! It was such a gorgeous shade of blue and green.

I love this picture of me...and no baby strapped to my chest.

Smiley boy!

HANDSOME husband! Seriously, the whole trip...he just kept getting more and more attractive. I am framing this for myself for sure!

At the close of the day, after visiting yet another closed restaurant;-) We ate on top of a hill, overlooking the city. I had butter/thyme Gnocchi.

Heaven.