Monday was another day for the girls and I to head out on our own in the car and see what we could find...we turned in a different direction though and we got our first glimpse of the mountains that lie to the north. Asolo, "the city of one hundred horizons," was our first destination, not too high up into the hills, but far enough up to provide excellent views of the surrounding countryside. We knew Monday wasn't a great day to look around, especially in less touristy locations, as many things are closed, but we still had great fun just being in this really cute town nestled in the foothills. We arrived in time for lunch and found a cute (you can't use that word too much in describing what we are seeing) pizza restaurant. Julia tried and really enjoyed a salmon pizza. Though tourist information was closed, our pizza server was more than happy to point us in the right directions...two sites to see are the Queen's castle in town and the Rocca guarding the town from the top of the hill. Neither were open but both provided great views. I had read a tourist report that walking up to the Rocca was 1,100 steps - so when I saw a sign saying it was 274 steps to the top I thought it was going to be far easier than I anticipated. (If you are going to use hyperbole and have it understood as such, you need to go bigger than 1,100!) But after making the climb, I think she may have counted the actual steps she took and not just the stairs. The hike up was really steep but well worth it. 
Next stop was the town of Bassona del Grappa, most famous for creating the after dinner drink, grappa. Again, we parked and walked through the cute walled old city, the best view of which we found from the old bridge designed by Palladio. We, of course, had to test their gelato to make sure it was still good there too...it was.
We drove home through several more cute towns. The girls have been spending much of their car time with Julia reading Clockwork Angel aloud to Rachel - since Julia does not get carsick but Rachel does - and making plans for the decor and menu of the future Rachel's Robot Restaurant. We walked home from parking the car via the grocery store and bought what we needed to have veggie burgers, chips, and salad for dinner before starting the Game Challenge. The girls made a list of all the games we can play here and we are going to see who is the best at each. So far we've learned that Julia is by far the fastest player of Blink!, we don't really know all the rules for Go Fish!, and even though I am the best Rummikub player :-) somehow I couldn't win a game (though we played five rounds). I conceded chess, taking fourth place, while Jim had to show Rachel though she may be getting pretty good he can still take her down in seven moves (he tricked her and she won't be fooled again!). The Challenge continues!
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