June 5 2013 update

Yesterday we visited two churches to search the Archives. Joel, our family history expert, is awesome. We have found over 100 names and he estimates we might get to 200 by the end of the day. In the church in Santa Guistina we walked the aisle where Luigi DeZanet and Guilia Pangussat (my great grandfather) walked and were married. In Sospirollo, we went inside the church where my grandfather (Poppa) was baptized. We also walked through the cemetary in Sospirollo and found several DeZanet sites, including a Gilda DeZanet, who Aunt Rene had written down 35 years ago as someone they were supposed to visit back then. Not sure it is the same person, but maybe!

It is amazing to see these places and to see the original birth and marriage records. So far we are back to the mid 1700's.

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It's now night time. We drove to Belluno and we're staying at the park hotel. Google it. It is an old villa. It is so cool. The best part of the day is when we found the house my great grandmother was born in. It is an amazing story that I will share later. Headed to Cortina tomorrow. Off to bed. Goodnight. I love you family!

June 5 2013 - recap of Monday's adventure

Okay, so let me share Monday's adventure. As we started the day, Mom (Sylvia) the shopper let go of my arm and headed for a shop window to see something that had caught her eye. She missed a step and down she went. Cut up her arm a bit. We carried on. After a day filled with activities, it was time to get to the dock to catch the boat for the airport to pick up the rental car. It is quite a walk through hoards of people with seven pieces of luggage up and down the bridge steps to cross the canals. That said, all went well. So far....


We got to the airport and left Mom, Aunt Rene, and Kenzi and the dock while we went to get the car ... And the adventure gets better.

The had our reservation, we got the paperwork and headed for the lot. We had to go back because we couldn't find the lot. We ended up in a parking garage, found an English speaking man who offered us a ride to the lot. We took him up on it and all was good again. We got to the van and found it severely damaged on one side. We tried to drive, but it is manual transmission and i couldn't figure out how to put it in reverse. So we went to the rental booth, but no one was there. So we hiked back to the airport and waited in line to speak to the agent. She made a couple calls and said, go back to the lot and by the time you get there, a different van will be there for you. When we got back to the lot, the worker was there, but no van. So we waited. It arrived and off we went. But now we needed to find the boat dock by car. We failed with one attempt. Stopped and asked for further directions from someone who didn't speak much English. We tried again, but still couldn't find the road. So we got close and I ran the rest of the way, then we walked back to the van with the luggage. We loaded up and headed for Belluno. It was a beautiful drive. Upon arrival, we go on the lookout for a hotel. Not so easy to find. It's now dark. About 10 pm. We finally see a hotel. I go in. No vacancy. They recommend an alternate. We drive and finally find the second hotel. No vacancy. The desk clerk calls around. No vacancy anywhere in Belluno. So we need to drive to Feltre, about 35 km away. We get a bit lost. So I stop in a bar to ask directions. On course no one speaks English. I keep saying the name of the town and they draw me a map. We find Feltre. Find a hotel and go inside. They have rooms!  We check in, it now everyone is hungry. They reopen the restaurant and make us this huge spread to eat. We eat and up to our rooms. So our trip of roughly 115 miles takes seven hours total! Quite the adventure!

June 4 2013 - found

We found about 30 ancestors. Mostly through the line of my great grandmother (Noni) guilia Pagnussat. Very exciting. Back to do more research tomorrow.

June 4 2013 family history research

I still need to write about the adventure from yesterday, but this morning we met Joel, our family research specialist, at 8:45 a.m. At the church in Santa Guistina. The priest wasn't there and no one knew about our visit, but Joel kept talking and they agreed to give us access to the archive. The books are very cool looking and nearly 200 years old. We are allowed to look at one at a time.

So far we've found a number of people on my great grandmother's side (Noni's side, who was my great grandmother and poppa's mother). So far we've gotten back six generations to approximately 1820's.

Later today we go to San Gregorio to look for more. Still on the Pagnussat side. Then plan to drive to Sospirolo to see what we can find on the DeZanet side.

June 2, 2013 Sunday best

Today was Sunday. We got up early to go to church, but ran into a few transportation snags that caused up to miss it. Darn! So Mom (Sylvia) did some shopping. We took three of Kenzi's friends out to lunch. We tried to get into San Marco, but couldn't. I took a lot of pics and we walked a ton. It was avoid day!

June 1 2013 Venice and Kenzi

We made it! Flight was fine. Delta was great with a wheelchair at each location to get Mom around and us tailgating along. Upon arrival, we got a shuttle ride to the water taxi stand then took a 15 minute ride to San Marco square. A short walk to the hotel worked out fine. We got checked in and slept for a couple hours then went to dinner. It was fun. We then met Kenzi at 8 pm along with her professor and two friends. Then went out for gelato - it was really good. Venice is a cool place! So vintage looking. We are all tired. So off to bed soon. I'll try and get some pics posted tomorrow. We are going to Padova for church tomorrow. We love you all!

May 31 2013 Away we go

Well, we're out of the gate, as they say in horse racing. An uneventful trip to the airport (thanks for taking us Matt). Mom (Sylvia) got a full pat down through security. Aunt Rene called and her flight from Kansas City was delayed by two hours. Good thing she had a five hour layover in NYC.

Mom is in her seat playing video poker. Robyn just finished some home work.

Italy here we come!