CARNEVALE 2013

We successfully signed our lease for the apartment this past Friday and will be given the keys tomorrow! Our move in date is officially Friday starting at 8am sharp, when the first of the movers should arrive.

It seems to be quite a process to get an apartment in Italy, although I haven’t figured out if it is because we are Americans with the military, or if it is just how it is. The contract is short, quite the opposite of the nearly 30 page document we had to sign in NY, but there are so many agencies and organizations that need signatures.

Things to know about the Vicenza billing systems:

Gas will be placed in the tenants name and will be billed each month.

Water will remain in the Landlords name. The LL will pay the bill each month and then bill the tenant once it is paid.

Rent includes base rent and maintenance fees, such as the elevator maintenance, stair cleaning, basic things to be fixed in the apartment over time, heat and AC cleaning and garbage taxes. [They have a very well thought out recycling system here.]

Electricity is a fun game of chance. Supposedly the tenant is given an estimate every 2 months. This estimate is based off of the prior year, so if you are a new tenant and a family of 8 lived in your apartment or house before you, you will receive an estimate based off of them! Then, every 6 months an actual person will make the trek into your apartment building and look at your meter. You will still need to pay the estimate every 2 months and then hope that at the end of the year you do not owe something like 800 Euros, or if you overpaid...good luck seeing a refund. Apparently from what I hear AIM has a monopoly over Vicenza and can pretty much do whatever they choose.

           

We have been strongly advised by both the military and by many locals to take a picture of our meter every month. Then, every 2 months call AIM with the numbers we have noted and ask them to readjust our ‘estimate’. PJ and I have also been strongly cautioned to keep very organized records of payments made because overpayments will not be credited towards the next month. You will lose that money!

If you report something to be fixed or an issue to the landlord that is within the realm of their responsibilities, he/she must fix the issue within 15 days or the tenant is allowed to hire someone to do it and not pay rent in the amount the tenant paid for the labor. That would have been nice in NY when 2 years later they were finally fixing the building façade!

WEEKEND FESTIVITIES

Our weekend was spent in Venezia [Venice]. PJ and I had looked at the Carnevale schedule and had previously booked our train to Venezia and a guided tour of hidden stories. Unfortunately Saturday turned out to be the rainiest day we have encountered here thus far, but seeing we already spent the money on the tickets, we were determined to get there.

Keep in mind all of our rain stuff is in storage until we move into our apartment.

We made the train and, after bobbing and weaving through the maze-like streets and alleys, we made the tour. Minus the rain and cold, the tour was really nice and we were told some old legends about a few of the buildings. Unfortunately, with it monsooning out, we wanted to get home and into some dry clothes, so after the tour we ate a quick lunch and headed back to Vicenza.

The story has it that the devil took the form of  a monkey and,
to make a longer story short,  destroyed part of the facade.
An angel statue now sits where the hole was to protect this building.
Get the full story here

Our dressed up tour guide.  

Scuola Grande di San Marco
The tale states that a boy murdered his mother and took
her heart. As he was running he tripped on the bridge steps
outside of this building. He dropped her heart and upon hearing her
voice speaking to him, he jumped into the water and perished.
A beggar was standing in this doorway and etched
the boy running with the heart into the wall. The etching is still there.
Get the full story here

On Sunday we woke up to clear blue skies and warmer weather so we decided to try a second day in Venezia. We once again hopped a train and arrived around 3pm. We had learned from our previous day mistakes, and found our way through the streets much easier as we stopped at the many shops along the way. I bought a Giglietto Mask, PJ refused to buy a mask of any sort, and we headed towards Piazza San Marco. 

Some info on the Venetian Masks

We were able to watch several performers and see the best dressed competition of the day, which lasted until about 6pm. DJ Set/happy hour began and Piazza San Marco became a massive outdoor club, playing a lot of American and Italian mixes and laser lights. PJ especially enjoyed the new Will.i.am song haha! I bet no one in the 9^th century [when the original Piazza San Marco was constructed consisting of trees and a small chapel, i.e. the original St. Marks Basilica] could have imagined this taking place on the piazza!

After a busy weekend, Sunday night brought the Superbowl which started at 12:30am our time. PJ and I lasted until half time, and seeing as the Patriots were not in it, we went to bed. AFN doesn’t even play the Superbowl commercials and staying up until 4/4:30am did not seem appealing.