Treviso, a Beautiful City by Hart

A little info about Treviso: The river Sile, which runs through & around Treviso does not come from the mountains as most rivers do. Instead, it comes out of the ground (there is a place near-by where you can see the start of the river, & we will definitely visit it). Sile has a pretty constant height/current/temperature because of this. It flows to Venice, & long ago it was used to bring goods from Venice to the Northern part of Italy & other parts of Europe. Huge wooden boats would be filled up with goods & then they would be pulled by animals upstream (there are paths/roads on both sides of the river) to the center of Treviso where they would be unloaded. Where I walked with some moms from the kids' school the other day, there were the remains of some of these boats, almost a boat graveyard, because they stopped being used when cars became popular. The boats I saw decomposing in the river might be 200 years old!

I have been exploring the city as much as possible these days, since the weather is still very good. We've had two downpours (one lasted a whole day & the other was only at night) so far. I'm trying to walk as much as I can since it's the only exercise I'm getting & we're eating all this pizza & gelato. I made my way to the tourist information center & picked up a bunch of pamphlets, but haven't gotten a chance to look at them yet. I definitely know my way to the grocery store, the post office, the pharmacy, Piazza San Marco in the middle of town, & all the way across town to Porto San Tomaso. It takes about 15 minutes (without kids walking with me) to get across town from the South to the North. The city is bustling at times, with people walking in the streets (in fact, this morning there was a bit of a Disneyland -unreal- vibe). Other times, when shops are closed for lunch from 12-3:30, everything is pretty deserted; it's peaceful. Either way, though, it is beautiful; the narrow streets, the cobblestones, the arches, the water flowing through the town, the people, (& Ellie would say, "the dogs" - there are so many little dogs here!).

I am also trying to get the kids some exercise, so I've taken them on walks too. Yesterday after school I took them to see the decomposing boats in the Sile. Today, we walked to the market which is on Tues. & Sat. mornings. It is similar to a swap meet, but everything is made in Italy instead of made in China. The kids dictated stories to me about these walks, so you can read more about that soon.

Finally, for tonight, I'm including a sunset photo from our balcony. The apartment we are in has some major issues (mainly childproofing), but I love the clouds with the silver linings!