Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italia

On Sunday the Lopezjoneses headed north into the mountains to Trento.

They were visiting Papa's cousin Ermanno and his girlfriend Lisa. They got to walk around the city of Trento, famous for it's university and arts.

Their first stop was to go underground. The Spazio Archeologico Soterraneo SASS.

Roman Ruins. It is an underground museum, right in the center of town, recreating a roman city complete with squares, a street, homes, and gardens.

It was a very special thing to see.

Next, after gelato, Museo Castello di Buonconsiglio. They visited the city's spectacular castle built in the 13th century.

Lots of galleries to walk through, but the views of Trento from the top were spectacular.

This is where everyone (almost everyone) took a brief moment to remove their masks for a picture.

They even got to see a special tour of the castle towers, which in itself was neat because they literally walked through the castle walls from one end to the other.

One had to pay close attention to things. Like this imagery of a person being beheaded.

Afterwards they walked through the city once more, with a stop at a local drinking fountain.

The twins had the chance to run around a little in a local park. Before heading back home they stopped once more for a drink at Ermanno and Lisa's place - because all eateries close at 6pm in all of Italy, before saying goodbye.
 

Keeping Busy Weekdays & Weekends

Both Ada and Navi are doing gymnastics twice a week. But because of covid, parents are not allowed inside the gym and DaddyQuique does not have a picture for the blog.

Last week the Lopezjoneses headed over to Luca and Cate's house to help harvest olives. Everyone thought it was a fun activity which required raking off the olives from the trees, or by hand and gathering them all into baskets/crates. Navi enjoyed being up in the tree helping out.

Last aturday morning the twins played hooky from school and went on a hike with their cousins in Marostica. It was a beautiful day and everything was green with beautiful vistas of the inland valleys and mountains.

And then they made friends with a donkey! Much time was spent with it. And the donkey enjoyed the group so much it followed them all on this particular leg of the hike until a gate kept him in his place.

This of course was a highlight of the hike for all the kids and the adults.

Sunday the Lopezjoneses made their way to Treviso for lunch with Renata, a cousin of PapaJason. They had a great lunch at her home.

Later, with masks on, they went out for a passegiata within the walls of the old town. There were some very beautiful canals, old buildings on quaint cobbled roads.

They got a special treat, a nutria (Europe's beaver) was out enjoying the day too. A local was feeding the water fowl and the nutria.

On Wednesday the Giro d'Italy began its 17th stage in Bassano. The route passed in front of the Lopezjoneses' apartment in Piazza.
 

Sports

Last week Navi tried out for a local calcio, soccer, team. He did well, but was definitely out of shape. He decided the next day that he did not want to play for the team. He said the other kids were really good and provided a challenging workout, but ultimately practice ending at 7:30pm was the deciding factor for him.

Ada this week tried out gymnastics, at the location her cousin Angese goes to. She liked it so much! She gets two free days and then she can join the team, after clearance from a doctor that she is healthy to do the sport. (Getting that physical may be a challenge - it is Italy)

Navi explored the local rock climbing gym, held at a warehouse turned skateboard park. He was not impressed with the set-up (it was no Mission Cliffs). He did very well, but he did not find it challenging enough. The instructor said he was so good she would recommend he join the higher age group. But, when Navi accompanied PapaJason to pick up Ada from gymnastics he saw the boys team and decided he wanted to try that instead.

The Food

First, DaddyQuique has enjoyed the many restaurants/cafes located on the way to the twins' school. They are now walking on their own to school, one day DaddyQuique decided to wait for them after school while having a beer. Lucky for them he saved them all his bar snacks.

On the Lopezjoneses second dinner out in town they found themselves at a sushi restaurant. AND it was all you can eat, Navi was super excited. Everyone ate quite a bit, a little too much actually. There was some regret as to how much everyone ate the next morning.

La pizza italiana. The twins have been out for pizza several times. Navi's go to is the diavola, pepperoni. Ada's is the classic margherita.

Hopefully by the end of their year in Italy they will try different pizzas, like this escargot pizza DaddyQuique ordered last week.

There have been several family dinners, all delicious and fun. Ada and Navi really enjoy going over to their cousins houses any time.

The gelato. When the Lopezjoneses first arrived and the weather was warm, Ada and Navi would go out on their own in the afternoons for gelato. This privilege quickly came to a pause and needed some fine tuning. They were ordering two scoops and may have attributed to their lack of appetite at dinner. The final straw was when DaddyQuique surprised Ada by meeting her at the ponte vecchio (old bridge) after school and he saw Navi, who enjoys walking home on his own, running down the street with gelato in his hand - this was right before lunch! So now when they go out for gelato, with permission, they are only to order one scoop and absolutely no gelato after school before lunch.