We spent the remaining days of Italy back in Vicenza.

My very clever mother-in-law made afternoon tea and crème brûlée for us – amazing! Cakes on the top layer were from a local patisserie.

We went to see the fabulous lights in Vicenza town centre – beautiful as always. It feels so magical and they are everywhere.

We had hot chocolate which in Italy means thick and can be eaten with a spoon. I much prefer this to the hot chocolate that is common in the UK which is usually also very sweet.

We headed to a park where there are bunnies and nutria roaming around. They are all so incredibly cute (the nutria are a bit ratty as they are rodents, but they can’t help that) and just living their lives.

Pizza at my favourite place – Pizzeria Al Focolare Di Faggion Erio & C. S.N.C. I love their pizza.

Snuggles with my best friend. We adore each other and it’s a lovely feeling. It’s one of my favourite things about going to Italy even if I do end up covered in cat fur.

Then it was time for home. We travelled with Swiss Air who both ways didn’t manage for our luggage to make it onto the planes we were on. In Italy there were lots of people in the airport to talk to about this, in Manchester, not so much. We got our cases within 3ish hours in Italy, in the UK, we waited over 48 hours, more than 24 hours over the promised time. Unfortunately by that point, we were already on the plane back to Tokyo, sans one of our cases and nearly all of our winter clothes. You can’t have it all!

I had a fantastic winter break and I hope you did too.
Emily