I was beyond excited for this day to start!
A few of the guys I met in Crossfit said they also liked to swim and would go one day with me. This time only one could go. I was just so excited to get back in the water! It had been way too long for me, over a month!
When I woke up I was wide awake and ready to go. But I must say there are some weird things you have to do here in Italy compared to what I'm used to at an American pool. And I'm glad I got to ride over with someone who had been before, so he could prepare me before I walked in. Things you must bring: shoes to go inside the building, flip flops, swim suit, cap and goggles. Sounds like everything would be normal but nope. They don't want you wearing your swim suit to the pool. It must be "clean". Also, you can't wear your flip flops to walk inside the pool you have to come in in regular shoes. Then once inside the first section of your locker room you must take off your shoes and put them in a cubby/shelf and put on your flip flops. Then the next room is where you put on your swim suit. Most people then usually put on their swim cap and goggle inside the locker room but I just waited till I was about to jump in the pool, as usual for me. You can also keep your swim bag in the locker room but I'm so used to bringing my with me where I go. Once you got on the pool deck you have to sign in on a sheet of paper. Your almost ready to get in the pool! But first, you have to shower off with the showers that are on the pool deck. (Make sure you walk in on the sensor side or they wont turn on). Let me tell you, these showers are not warm! Time to get in the pool!! One other nice thing is they do have extra equipment like they do at most pools in the US.
I must say, I get out of swimming shape really quickly! But it felt so nice to just swim around and be in the water again. Now that I know what to expect and what to do I can't wait to go back!
My friend, Mary, and I decided to try something new today since for Crossfit the workout was just go run a 5k. So we decided to try one of the spin classes. I hadn't done spin in so long and I must say I forgot how great of a workout it is and how sweaty you get! I am definitely going to be doing spin classes more often.
This weekend on base they were having one of their biyearly bazaars, with all different types of vendors along with lots of wineries and breweries. Since Preston was still at work I decided I would go check it out to see if there was anything I must have before he came :) I must say I did a lot of wine and food sampling. There was so much good stuff. One thing I really wanted was an old wine barrel they made into table and bottle holder, but was a little out of the price range I would spend. Definitely should check it out if your here when they have them.
I saw one of my Crossfit friends at the bazaar and she was telling me that the bazaars in Germany, at Ramstein and Spangdahlem, have way more vendors and are a little cheaper than the one here since they don't have to pay an extra fee like they do here. I definitely want to find out when those bazaars are and make a trip up there to them.
After Preston got off work we had a little time before his sponsor was going to take us out to dinner in the Aviano area. She took us to what everyone here calls the Guinness Bar, not sure of the actual name but it has steak and pizza in it. This restaurant is located in Aviano square, so not far from base at all. Preston and I got the chicken fajitas to share. The people behind us had it and it smelled amazing! It was really good. The only thing I would change would be to give us a little more chicken, we had way more veggies than chicken.
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| (Chicken Fajitas) |
After we went next door to get some gelato for dessert. We got chocolate and vanilla. Was still good but not the best gelato we've had so far.
Now to head back to base to go play cosmic bowling. Preston and I had been bowling once since we've been here but not cosmic. Not sure if the lights were out but there was no spinning disco ball or colorful lights like most other bowling alleys have for cosmic bowling. But was still fun to play with the lights off and neon lights on around the alley. Bowling is always a fun cheap activity to do when you can't think of anything else.
May 31
I had told Preston about my spin class and how I really enjoyed it and he said he would try it one time with me. I had found out that there was a new spin class on Saturday's and Preston said he would try that one with me. Boy did we both get a really good morning workout! This one was completely different than the one I had done the day before but still a great workout. Both of us were definitely feeling the "burn" in our legs. I'm glad he came with me and also that he said he would come again with me sometime!
Time to start the day now!
Since we didn't have time to go to the bazaar after Preston got off work yesterday we waited till today for him to go. As I had seen some really nice but expensive things yesterday, so did Preston. We both really liked some of the antique furniture they were selling. If only we had tons of money to spend :) But the one thing we did buy was some more cheese. We got to sample all different types of cheese from this one vendor. They were all so good! We had a hard time trying to choose which one we wanted but finally decided on one that had garlic in it so we will have lovely breathe :) but can't remember the name exact name. We then just wander around looking at what all the vendors were selling and also sampling some wine, beer, more cheese and other foods.
Today I saw another one of my other friends from Crossfit and she was telling me that the bazaar in the winter here is a lot better than this one. They have tons of Christmas things and also more vendors. I can't wait for that one!
Preston and I weren't sure what to do this afternoon but glad one of his friends said him and another guy were going to the base pool. I was so excited since I was just talking about going sometime this weekend.
The base pool is actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be. Its a big square with a big slide, diving board and lap lane. Preston and I decided to get the summer pass since we both knew we would definitely be coming back a lot this summer.
We stayed at the pool for a couple of hours but had to leave in order to shower and make it to the movie theater on time. We were all going to see Maleficent at the Italian movie theater. They play certain movies in English, more on the weekends though.
But after getting ready and before we went to the movie theater we needed something to eat. We thought we would get try and get a little taste of home. No better way to do that then going to the Italian McDonalds! This one looked way fancier than most back in the US though. Preston and I both got the Big Mac, fries and coke. Can't get much more American than that! :) Even though back in the states I hadn't had McDonald's in months I was actually kinda craving it and also just wanted to see if it tasted the same. First, when ordering I didn't know you had to pay extra for one of the small ketchup packets. It was an extra 0.25€ which is an extra 0.34 cents in US dollars. Yes, its not a lot but I'm used to just getting as much as I want. I still have to get used to all the differences here. But all in all the burger still tasted really good for how unhealthy it is.
Now to see how different the movie theaters are here in Italy.
I do like how cheap it is here, even in Euro, its only 5€ per ticket. Also, you have assigned seats, you can specify where you want to sit but we both forgot and were just given 2 seats at random. We were lucky and got near the back in the middle. One thing I did find weird was that they always have a 5 minute intermission for every movie. But I guess if you usually can't hold it throughout a whole movie that does make it nice. They still have the regular snack bar for you to get popcorn, candy and drinks at. But here you have 2 options for popcorn, sugar or salt. We went with salt, next time I want to try sugar since it looked really good. Before the movie started all the previews were in Italian, so we had no idea what they were saying but was interesting to listen to.
All of us actually like the movie, Maleficent. Was a little different than the Disney Sleeping Beauty but I liked it. First Italian movie theater I would say was a success!
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