This one's for you SUSY . . .

My mother loves cheese. It is probably her favorite food. It is especially delicious when pared with crackers, olives and maté. Her favorite of the cheese variety has and always will be - Asiago. Now, before my little trip to Italy I thought that the name of that cheese was the brainchild of some clever marketing exec. who wanted to make it sound exotic - who knew that it was actually named after the town of its production?! That is where Asiago, Italy comes in and this is where we spent last Thursday, so . . . . . mom, this one's for you - - - - -

The bell tower in the center of town, all great towns need a bell tower

The town has many hotels for it is a hot spot for winter skiers:)

Most of the buildings are intricately painted with some kind of pattern and others have full fledged pictures.

Cele and Lisa doing a little window shopping

Who would have thought? A store that sells only mushrooms - I guess asiago in known for more than just cheese:)

Looking towards the center of town - bell town and church, that is all an Italian town really needs

Fountain in front of the church - love this shot, its like the horse is splashing through water

They had some Delicious treats when we got hungry - full of nutella and cream

We also stopped at this wood working store where all of the furniture is hand made and to order - it was beautiful:)

This is Cele's favorite

Now we are getting to the good stuff - here you go mom - this is the sign next to the store and factory of all your favorite cheeses:)

yup mom, that's right - that is all different kinds of Asiago

. . . yet more kinds

Cele and Lisa taking a break on our long walk around the town

Here is the path - such a beautiful walk

Lisa getting a little air!

Asiago is also where a large battle during World War I was fought and over 54,000 solders lost their lives - here is the monument to that sacrifice

Lisa giving her momma a kiss overlooking that sacred land and space

Picture perfect, right?

After all that walking and visiting we had to stop at one of THE BEST pasta places in all of the world - they have a list of 10-15 different kinds of sauces, you choose what you like and your waiter tells you what pasta would go best with it - here we have nioce with marzcapon sauce topped with an aged beef and a mushroom, olive sauce with thick spaghetti noodles - DELICIOUS! I have never tasted anything quite so fresh and good. I hated Olive Garden before Italy and I hate it even more now - it does not have Italian style cuisine, they should change their slogan to "When you are here you are not in Italy, more like Cincinnati"

(Stayed tuned for tomorrow when I show you our trip to Austria and Germany - It. Was. Awesome. Here is a hint - mountains and lakes and Olympics and more . . .)