Bella Befana Bazaar at Aviano AFB

Not much to report this week as I have been running around town with errands and attending my Italian as a Second Language class. However, on Friday a friend and I attended the Bella Bafana Bazaar at Aviano Air Force Base. http://bellabefanabazaar.com/photos/ This is similar to an upscale arts and crafts show back in the states but with vendors from all over Europe, and more food, wine and beer than you could want! My friend and I arrived early enough to be one of the first 25 entrants into the hangar where the show was being held. The organizers of the show had cute little signs they walked around with telling us to spend money to support the activities on post and how many shopping days were left until Christmas, but most importantly, shipping dates to get things home in time for loved ones. Then, in true military fashion, the Chief opened the bazaar with a few words and shopping encouragement. As the people in front of us ran through the banner, we walked in behind them and received $20 in free bazaar bucks, which was awesome since it paid for my bottle of homemade Moscato at the end of the show.

Our first vendor was the German nutcrackers, smokers, and ornaments handcrafted by Christian Ulbricht. Beautiful items. The craftmanship on these items is simply amazing. I really enjoyed the frog nutcracker and the large old world Santas, too bad my purse strings weren't that deep today. I purchased a small item for a present and we continued on our journey. Check them out here: http://www.ulbricht.com/

We passed by the silk oriental rugs and the handmade furniture, although my friend was hard pressed to pull me away from a dark wood hutch I absolutely fell in love with. I am not sure my husband would have been pleased with a $1790 purchase, but there's always next year! My favorite olive oil lady from Bonamini, http://www.oliobonamini.com/eng/visite.php, was there. From her, I got another jar of pesto and some black olive spread. Both are out of this world delicious! We passed by some wine makers and sampled a little Moscato at our second wine stall. Unfortunately, it was a little dry to me. We continued to pass many vendors before stopping at a man who had Turkish puzzle boxes from Orhangazi, Turkey. http://www.pandoraspuzzleboxes.com/turkish_puzzle_box.htm Beautifully handcrafted, the puzzle boxes have a little puzzle you must first solve to release the key. Once you get the key, then you find the secret lock location. This opens the box which is lined in velvet for a wonderful jewelery box for any girl. I hope my nine year old appreciates the inlayed dolphin on hers. (It only took my husband and I 10 minutes to figure out how to open it. Hopefully one of us will remember come Christmas morning when the poor thing will thing mom just gave her a big wood block.)

We then tried some yummy homemade bruschetta where we purchased the ever delicious risotto with asparagus. http://terradellupo.com/ We came back later to sample his soup and wow!  It was phenomenal. I think it was some sort of bean soup, but it was good! Next to him was a lady who had hand crafted kitchen bowls, platters, cutting boards, utensils, and many other items, including a chess set. I thought of my husband wanting one, but he would prefer one from Marostica, so I opted against it. We continued to peruse and came upon the man with the chocolate! www.cremacioccolata.it I tried the marmalades first. He gave me the chocolate with orange which just melted in your mouth and left you with orange zest pieces. I mean who doesn't like orange and chocolate? Then he gave me pineapples and rosemary. Eh, not my first choice. The rosemary was really strong. After purchasing some of the chocolate and orange marmalade, I tried the dark chocolate candy and it was out of this world! Much better than I expected!

After the chocolate, cheese from Holland was next! I could have stayed at this booth ALL DAY. His cheeses were mouthwatering and had just the right blend of herbs and spices. http://olddutchcheeses.com/ He had several gouda selections and after several minutes, i decided on a butter gouda, an herb gouda and a jalapeno pepper one for the hubby. The guy also had some Belgian waffles that were prepackaged and ready to eat. I picked up some chocolate covered ones for the girls and they loved them.

I stopped by one wine booth for another present, a small wine set which includes a seal cutter, corkscrew and thermometer. I hope the special recipient enjoys it!!  My friend picked up some German beer for her hubby. We passed the pewter folks from Nove, Italy. They have many items made from pewter to include winestoppers, pewter figurines, glasses, etc. We browsed through the pottery from Nove and some pieces from Tuscany. Nothing really caught our eyes. Then we headed down the main strip and stopped near the lady with the Russian santas!  http://www.russiansantas.com/ Amazingly light pieces, they are all hand carved out of wood from the Linden tree which is carefully selected and dried for two years! "Carvings are traditionally carried from village to village to be exquisitely hand-painted by selected, talented artists. In some cases, figures travel over a thousand miles and it may take several weeks to complete a single piece. The magnificent painting on each woodcarving is unique to that artist and usually portray scenes from the winter holiday seasons and characters from Russian folklore." Of course I had to purchase these from Svetlana too!

Then we found some more wine, cheese, salami and grappa. This is where we found the moscato my friend and I both enjoyed. It was all homemade, sweet with flavor and very smooth. It was a definite buy! The cheese and salami had some wonderful parmesan, which of course I purchased, and some salami which I tasted but did not buy. Wild boar salami was not too delicious and the rest of the salami seemed rather fatty. We turned around and decided to try the blueberry grappa liquer. I have never tried grappa before so i figured, why not? Big frickin' mistake! Holy cow. Do you know the alcohol content in this stuff? Another friend and I tried to swallow this but it was strong and burned the back of my throat. When asked about its alcohol content, the guy told us it had 22% alcohol, but that grappa normally has 40%! Wow, just wow. Cleared my sinuses up but good! We then visited the handcrafted wood barrels and unique gifts at the next stand. There were signs tell you to purchase your barrels for Christmas. Now the barrels were large in size, although there were a couple smaller ones. I am not sure what I would do with an empty barrel, perhaps refill it with wine, but they were nice!

All in all, the bazaar exceeded my expectations which is good because I have a love affair with craft shows and have been to several with many artisans, food vendors and crafters. It was a different pace and a little smaller than I am accustomed to but in all, it was an enjoyable time!  It comes twice a year, so if you have a chance to experience it, stop by!! (Oh and while you're at Aviano, be sure to visit Cinnabon in the food court!!)

Pumpkin fest

Well it's not like American's pumpkin fest but we enjoyed some unique food. We visited a little pumpkin fest today in Ghizzole, and for a little town, it was quaint. It was interesting to see the different types of pumpkins they had since it wasn't just the orange kind we are used to in America. Since it was called a Zucca festival, there was alot of various types of squash too. There were some guys carving pumpkins and melons. Fantastic! I had a chance to try the Pumpkin spritz, not my cup of tea, I think i would have preferred a pumpkin ale had there been one. We had some delicious cheese and hung out until the food tent opened. After all, we went for the pumpkin ravioli and gnocchi. After making it through the throng of folks entering the food tent, we placed our order to sample the zucca tortelli and gnocchi di zucca, and for dessert, a little pumpkin treat. I didn't expect the pumpkin raviolis to be sweet but they were. They were cooked in a butter and sage sauce which added to the flavor of ravioli. Then we tried the pumpkin gnocchi. It was a little heavy but I didn't see much difference in the taste from the regular potato gnocchi. It had a faint taste of pumpkin. After that, we tried the pumpkin dessert and let me say, it was delicious. It was similar to a pumpkin pie but in a torte shape. I am sure we could have had more of that! We purchased a couple pumpkins and headed back home.

Now if you go and are looking for a festival like we'd have in the States, you'd be disappointed like i was. However, if you go just for the food, you will be pleasantly surprised!

Here are few pics of the carvings!

Bassano del Grappa

Yesterday we took a girls' adventure to Bassano del Grappa, another one of Italy's beautiful little town. The ride of course was breathtaking as we got closer to the foot of the mountains, and as we walked through the town, you knew you were near the foothills by all the hills you walked. For the most part, Bassano del Grappa is most known for the Alpini and the Alpini bridge, a famous bridge that was rebuilt several times after being destroyed with the lat time being during WWII. The Alpine soldiers, or Alpini have always revered the wooden bridge and Bassano del Grappa. After the destruction of the bridge, they took up a private collection and had the bridge completely rebuilt. The town is also known for its grappa, a traditional  after-dinner drink made from pomace (discarded grape seeds, stalks, and stems). We didn't try the grappa but I am sure it's a good strong drink.

We walked through the 3 piazzas lined with cobblestone walks and engaged in a little shopping. We made our way through the winding streets to the Alpini bridge. This beautiful bridge, and the surrounding town, had a northern Italy feel with a little German influence in the houses and architecture.We took some pictures with the large mountains and small waterfalls in the background. I loved the weeping willows along the banks of the river too. The view just reminded me of the varied scenery this country has to offer.

If you are looking for a real Italian feeling town, look no further. Bassano del Grappa is your choice.

Cemeteries

On one of our walks, we had the chance to visit an Italian cemetery. Now of course it is something I don't make a habit of doing and we certainly aren't Ghost Hunter types, but we just had to see it. "Wow", was the first word that came to mind. Where we bury our dead in a beautifully manicured graveyard, with mowed grass and flowers, the Italians use tombs along the wall. Some of the walls held family plots, others were individual burials. Each tomb had the family member's picture on it and were adorned with flowers, rosaries and such. There were some tombs in the ground, and the ground was gravel rock. Some of the grave sites on the ground had wooden boxes on top of them and flowers, herbs, or little trees growing from them. Most of the tombs were made of marble or granite and some even held two people. In the back of the cemetery was a large family tomb with a wrought iron door attached. We had the chance to walk in and it housed about 8 family members, including the patriarch of the family. I truly enjoyed visiting but after a while, we had to leave. There was one crypt that seriously looked like a vampire crypt and I am pretty sure the engraving on the headstone read "Forever in our hearts and minds". It was all black marble and the tombstone was a large black marble pointed piece of art, sort of shaped like a book standing up. That particular plot, or maybe it was the large family one in the back, gave me creeps and I had chills going up and down my spine. I got the distinct feeling that someone was telling us to "Leave Now." So we did, and when walking up towards the front of the cemetery, i felt ten times better. Now on to my next ghost adventure, a boat ride out to a haunted island!

Out and about in the neighborhood

Today, after Italian class, my friend and I decided to grab lunch. It was 12pm and according to the Italians, lunchtime. Mind you, do not try to find a restaurant open past 1pm for lunch, it just isn't happening. We drove until we found a place that was hopping, because if the locals are eating there, then it must be good! It was called La Paesana, Cucina Casalinga. We walked in and immediately, heads turned our way and it was as if a small hush fell over the crowded room. Geesh, we really stood out. Not knowing if we should wait to be seated or not, we let a group of guys walk ahead of us. We found a table, following what the guys did and it was at that moment the waitress said "no" and directed us back up front, where she seated us at the door. When she made the group of guys do the same, i felt better about being moved. The waitress came by and asked us, in her best Italian, what we wanted to drink. That is one phrase I now understand I replied "uno liter Acqua Naturale, per favore" and within 2 minutes, we had those drinks. Now during lunch, most of the restaurants run a special or  menu fizzo (price fixed menu) that only gives you three choices from the first, second, and third courses. First course  is pasta, second is meat and third is vegetables. We chose the pasta with ragu and one with pomodoro sauce, in other words, a meat sauce and a traditional tomato sauce. Then my friend chose the chicken cacciatore too. I only opted for the pasta, however I tried a piece of her chicken cacciatore and dang, it was GOOD. The whole cost of our meal was 10 euro a piece, a just for the record, the Italians do not split a bill the way we would. Everyone chips in for the whole bill. Strange but it's how they do it. When we left, we felt excited that we ventured into a traditional Italian trattoria, a family owned restaurant, and survived the lunch. Now on for some homemade gelato!

And by the way, I made the chicken cacciatore for my family and my picky 9 yr old daughter actually told me I could make it anytime! Now that's a compliment!

Bonamini Olive Tour and wine tasting

In true Italian fashion, I got to go on an olive oil tasting tour and then a wine tour. We started our morning off at Bonamini, a family owned olive mill located near Verona, Italy. http://www.oliobonamini.com/eng/visite.php

We drove up and saw some wonderful groves of olives and more olives, there were even a few pomegranate trees and grapes. Our wonderful tour guide, Sabrina, began to share with us her love of olives. She met her husband in another town where she went to university and received a degree in economics. The olive mill actually belongs to her inlaws but she successfully runs the business now. Harvesting of the olives occurs in a small window of 60 days, from mid October to mid December. It is during this time, the employees are working around the clock. The oilves picked in the morning are processed within 6-8 hours, and therefore in the machines and being pressed by lunchtime. The evening olives are processed late evening. She told us they barely get sleep during this period but since it is the only time of year to harvest, they do what must be done. And the olive oil produced during that timeframe gives them enough supply to selll for a whole year. Pretty darn impressive.

Sabrina began to tell us about the oilve and the cycle it has. An olive tree takes about 3-4 yrs to produce fruit.. Once it starts producing, it can produce forever. Their oldest tree is 150 yrs old, however, in other parts of Italy and the world, there are olive trees well over thousands of years old. Truly miraculous and unimaginable to any American. While the trees currently had olives on them, the olives are hitting their most crucial time in their growth cycle. Right now, the olives consist of pulp, pits, and water, which makes up about 50% of the olive. At this stage though, the olive is starting its production of olive oil, which comprises about 17% of the olive. By the time harvest occurs, the olives will have reached maximum maturity.

During the harvest time, they lay nets along the bottom of the tree and rack the leaves and branches to remove the olives. (At this point, I would say you need to see "Under the Tuscan Sun" and watch the olive harvesting part to fully grasp the idea.) The leaves and olives drop to the net and once the tree is complete, the net is rushed to the porcessing room. What I am most excited about is that during the harvest period, YOU can offer your help and participate in the harvesting of the olives. I am so there!! What a true Italian experience.

Sabrina took us into the processing room where we learned about extra virgin olive oil, only the best for your body, and how EVOO is determined. This of course is based on acidity levels of the oil. This mill only produces the EVOO but apparently there are a few different kinds based upon the taste and type of olive harvested.Once the olives are processed, they are moves to the holding room where they can be stored in large vats or placed into dark bottles. Apparently, use of a dark bottle for EVOO is imperative if you want great tasting EVOO. Additionally, and in case you ever wanted to know, your olive oil is good up until 18 months after the date it is placed in the bottle. So sorry, buying it at Costco will not saving you money in the long run since 1) the jar is light colored thus ruining the taste and 2) it might take you a long time to use it all, so extreme couponers, beware!

After learning about the olives, we entered the tasting room. She set before us little cups of 3 different types of olive oil and then after each taste, we tried it on bread. (Sorry there were no Italian spices to be had for the olive oil and bread snacks, that is not the Italian way, but thanks to Maggiano's for putting it in my head that Italians eat like that all the time) When you have warmed up your olive oil by holding it in your palm and covering it with the other hand, then you take a small sip and let it sit on the front of your tongue. Then you make this weird slurping noise to get the EVOO to the rest of your mouth. (Word of caution, it is not a shot glass so downing EVOO like it's a shot of whiskey will make your throat burn!) The stronger the EVOO, the more burn you can receive in your throat. Oh and if you want to know what it smells like, it's grass I tell you, grass. And honestly, I did not enjoy tasting Olive oil straight up. But you know it didn't stop me from shopping and getting some nice soaps, lotions, and EVOO for some gifts.

Soon after we made our way to lunch just around the corner to a little winery that served lunch. We enjoyed a nice risotto with asparagus, an antipasti platter and a little dessert cooking. In addition to the food, we had a small wine tasting which included 2 whites and 4 reds, none of which I enjoyed. But I was there for the friendship and experience so no complaints otherwise! In all, this is a wonderful tour and when you get to Italy, make sure you visit an olive mill. I cannot wait to harvest the olives and to have that wonderful experience too.

Marostica Chess match, a must see!

If you happen to be in Italy in an even numbered year, and during the first weekend in September, you must check out the Live Human Chess Match. This match is performed 3 times during the weekend, two night shows and one afternoon show. The game is only played every 2 years and only during the month of September.

The premise of the game is this: The King's daughter had two suitors who both wanted her hand in marriage. The princes were prepared to fight to the death for her hand. However, the King came up with another idea, a chess match, in which the winner of the game received the first daughter's hand in marriage. The loser received the second daughter's hand in marriage. This was of course a ploy to keep peace in the kingdom and with opposing kingdoms. So the pawns and other characters in the game are played by actual people who dress in costume and move as instructed by the caller. The event itself began at 9pm, and after an hour and a half of telling the story and the processional fanfare, we finally made it to the match. Unfortunately, my girls who had been up since 6am, fell asleep before the first chess move was called.

Apparently in our game, the black queen check mates the white king. The game itself lasted maybe 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, we had more fanfare and more opportunities for the flag corps to show their talents. Then all the particiapnts in the show and game lined up in the square, which I might add looks like a large chess board, and the archers took their aim to light the castle on fire. As the fireworks display slowed down, it looked as if it was raining stars down the front of the castle. It was a glorious site.

The trip was a short one from post and we went with the outdoor recreation folks on post. We enjoyed everything about the event but hope in 2014, the kids can stay awake.

Nove - Pottery Shopping

If, and when, you visit Northern Italy, you MUST make a trip to Nove, Italy, the epicenter of Italian ceramics.Because if you love pottery, you will think you have died and gone to heaven. We took a late start in the morning but managed to arrive prior to Reposo. Our first shop was nothing to write home about it, so I'll skip the little hole in the place. Our next stop was a place called Elios. Most of the ceramic shops in Nove either look like someone's backyard garage or a warehouse, so the front of Elios didn't phase me. When we walked into the shop, i knew right then and there I would be coming out with something in hand. I immediately fell in love with their hand painted and designed pumpkin platters and pitchers. It only took a matter of minutes before I decided on the platter and pitcher. Then i set my eyes on a rooster statue and thought, every good country home needs a rooster and he was going to be mine. After leaving there we headed to another store right up the road from the store, it's a place frequented by Americans and refered to a as VBC. The lower level was indeed the workshop area, but when you walked up the stairs, the ceramics pieces went on and on. There are several unique pieces but several more pieces made from popular companies like Lenox, Tiffany, and Pottery Barn. I found a fall themed pie dish holder, a leaf platter, two olive oil holders, two spoon rests, a mug for a friend, and a trivet. In addition to these items, I had to have a chicken to my rooster and therefore, picked up my first chicken pitcher.

Nove is also home to the original "Chicken Pitcher". According to the history of the the chicken pitcher, during the Renaissance period, the Medicis were the wealthiest and most powerful family in Italy. In addition to the vast amount of land, the family were also immense patrons of the arts – many timeless musicians and artists owe their fame to a Medici. Giuliano Medici was a bit of a party animal and was known to throw a bash at the drop of a hat. The Pazzis (a rival family) played on this trait and had an internal contact suggest to Giuliano that a party be held in the little village of Gallina. He’d never had a party there before and that, in and of itself, was a good enough reason so plans commenced. The Pazzis planned on attacking Giuliano in the middle of the night as he slept off the copious amounts of wine he’d ingested earlier. The attackers snuck into Gallina and had to cross a yard to get to the sleeping Medici. Fortunately for him, the yard happened to be full of chickens which began cackling in a flurry of excitement when the intruders entered. The guards were awakened by the commotion and caught the would-be assassins before they could get to Giuliano. Of course, this was cause for another party and Giuliano commissioned ceramic wine pitchers to be made in the likeness of the chickens for their lifesaving warning. A chicken pitcher is now given by Italians to friends and family to help ward off enemies and misfortune.

We returned two days later, and earlier in the day, and finished visiting a few of the vendors we originally missed. This time we visited Ceramiche Larry, a man you makes some really nice sign pieces. I of course purchased one of his signs and am awaiting its completion. We also visited another popular store, Ancora. This is another shop that also makes pieces for Lenox and Pottery Barn. After visiting a couple more little shops, we headed back home. I enjoyed the trip and look forward to traveling back at the end of September to check out the new holiday pottery they will have!

Here are a couple of the locations I visited:

Ceramich D’Arte San Marco
Via Martini 46
36055 Nove
(+39)0424-590003

Caramiche Artistiche Ancora
Via Martini 26/28
36055 Nove
(+39)0424-5900023

La Ceramica VBC
Via Molini 45
36005 Nove
(+39)0424-590026

Ceramiche Artistiche Marco Pizzato
Via Molini 67
36055 Nove
(+39)0424-590082

Ceramiche Larry S.K.G. s.n.c.
Via Martini, 50
36055 Nove (Vicenza)
(+39) 0424 590108 

Ceramiche Elios s.n.c.
Via Rivarotta, 18
36061 Marchesane Bassano Del Grappa
(+39) 0424 590888

Venice

Venice

I attended a Benvenuti class for spouses. It’s basically  a 3 day welcome to Italy class that the Army Community service supports. Day 1 of class was spent in the classroom, meeting new people, enjoying an authentic Italian meal made by our instructor and planning out the trips for the next two days. For the second day, our instructor had a choice of Verona or Venice, either way it was going to be HOT. Thankfully she chose Venice since I had already visited Verona extensively when we got lost in that fair city. So we met early the next day, took the bus to the train station and hopped on the train to Venice. It was about 10 euro for a roundtrip ticket on the not so fast train. There are two trains, one that is nonstop to Venice and another one which takes about an hour since it makes a stop at every station. I did enjoy the train ride and at our first station, we saw the famous Orient Express. It was long and blue and seemed so mysterious. It was on its way to London and headed to Venice to pick up its passengers. But the cost, for a week on the Orient express, was 6000 – 10000 euros!  Wow!! I’ll be saving my money for that trip. We arrived at Venice around 9am, found the clean bathroom that only cost 70 cent euro, and headed into the city.

When we exited the train station my senses overloaded. The beautiful site of the waterway, the excessive  heat slapping you in the face, the smell of the city and the sounds of the many visitors was AMAZING! We bought our ticket for the water taxi, which we used on the way back to the station, and headed off towards Rialto Square. When our instructor said “Adiamo” she was off!  Julia was a woman on a mission to glide smoothly through the winding streets of Venice. A glide she did, quickly. But I am glad she knew the city because I would have been lost in the first 5 steps! Not knowing the history of the town or the significance of Rialto Square was a mistake on my part. I am sure I would have wandered through the city without seeing some of these wonderful landmarks and sights.

As we wandered the streets I took in all the sights, the wonderful shops, the gondolas moving along the waterways as we walked over the bridge, the smell of fresh bread baking, and the delivery guys with their carts shouting “PERMESSO” in a sing song way as they passed. As we hurried past many shops I vowed to return to partake in the shopping again soon. We followed the signs to Rialto bridge and stopped for a few moments to view our surrounding areas and partake in some good photo ops. We then came upon the open air market, unlike any market I have attended yet in Italy. Under the roof tops, near the water, the seafood vendors sold their fish. They brought inventory right from the boats that docked inches away from you. I recognized maybe half of the seafood, the rest was a wonderous lot.  Then we moved on to the fruit and vegetable stands that lured you in with the wonderful colors and promise of sweet delight when you bit into a once a year harvested zucchini plum. Which, by the way, was a sweet as it promised. The beautiful array of colors from the pepper bushels was amazing, arranged like a small flower bouquet of peppers. We peered into the meat and cheese shops, salami, prosciutto and pepperoni, hanging all around. The smells the permeated the piazza awoke the senses, urging you to partake in sampling and the art of buying. We rounded the corner and found the clothing and wares market. A small fountain sat in the middle of the square where free flowing water offered you an opportunity to fill your bottle. A music and opera hall lay at one end and the vendors lined the streets.

We made our way to our lunch destination and were greeted by wonderful young Italian men that spoke wonderful English as we perfected our choppy Italian since our Benevenuti instructor made us order in Italian. I had a pizza with artichoke, zucchini and mushrooms, different, but delicioso! Our wonderful waiter even provided us with a little bite of tart filled with pureed eggplant. Um that was not so tasty. After lunch we headed to St Marks Square. Now, not really knowing what I was in store for, or the importance of St mark’s Square, you can say I was IMPRESSED by what I saw. The Basilica was breathtaking. The frescoes on the front of the church were beyond beautiful and then four horsemen that sat atop the Basilica were daunting and omnipresent. As I turned around I saw the statue of the lion holding a bible, the symbol of the Venetian republic and another statue, that of St Theodore. This spot, according to history is where executions used to take place. The Toree Dell’Orologio the clock tower since the mid 14^th century, overshadowed the square and when the clock bells struck, a figurine like statue came out and hit the bells until it retreated back inside the tower. The ‘Torre dell'Orologio' was built between 1496 and 1499 to hold the large blue clock with golden decorations to represent the signs of the zodiac.  The clock indicates the time, as 24 hour time, as well as solar and lunar phases used to calculate the tide, in order to know when it was favourable to set sail. Down the center and to the sides of the piazza you will find restaurants with musicians playing outside. It was at this very moment, as I took in the sights, sounds, and smells, something clicked in my head and I thought to myself, “Damn, I’m here, I’m actually in Venice.” I can’t even begin to describe that feeling but I can say that realization opened my eyes to the rest of my journey here in Italy. We took the water taxi back to the train station and headed home. It was a whirlwind of a day but a whirlwind I won’t soon forget.