A beautiful spring day

So I just posted two days ago but I went on an amazing hike today that I just have to share. There is a lake like right next door to the house, when I arrived in March it looked like this

People ice skate on it in winter

Anyway today as I walked past it looked like this

I carried on past the round the lake into the forest, while I was walking I was really puzzled why I could hear a cuckoo clock as there were no houses nearby, then I realised... it was a cuckoo BIRD because they have those here! Then it got really annoying, like a cuckoo clock that is broken and won't stop cuckoo-ing.

spot where i realised I could hear a cuckoo bird

I carried on walking through the forest up to another lake 

and then carried on to an amazing lookout spot. On the way I saw a deer running through the forest, I have come to the conclusion that while I love animals, especially my furrkids Moose and Ruby being near wild animals doesn't really float my boat, in fact it kind of freaks me out (I know it was just a deer, but it was quite large...). At the lookout point I sat in the sun and found out that my camera has a whole lot of amazing functions including a pet setting, a "photo taken through a window" setting and of course a panorama setting so I got abit snap happy.

panorama!

the dolomites (not sure which mountain?? rosengarten perhaps??)

panorama!

panorama

what I'm trying to show here is all the little villages dotted throughout the mountains

my lookout seat

and finally, this is our house! we live in a flat on the top floor, beside it is a barn.

So today was a really nice day, I had a chance to spend sometime outside enjoying the natural beauty of the place. I really needed it as yesterday was a pretty rough day, Joe and I got stood up by a landlord when we went to view a flat and then Joe went to pick up his permit of stay to find out they had made a mistake with his birthdate so now it will take another three weeks. This is particularly annoying because my visa application cannot begin until Joe has his permit of stay so yesterday was very much an "i hate Italy" day. However there are some good points, the people we know here are lovely and wonderful and so eager to help, one of our friends has managed to find out who we need to go speak to about the process for getting me a visa, so that's great (and totally kind of her as its not her problem) and we'll be going to see them next Tuesday to  find out more information. Also this delay means I won't be back in Italy to live until sometime in July (hopefully, if everything goes smoothly from this point on) so we have delayed the apartment hunt for now as it was mainly just bumming us out.  

I'm now planning what we are going to do for our long weekend and Italy's good points are shining through again, I'm paralysed by choice as there's so much to see and do and all we have to do is pack our bags and jump on a train to go and experience it. 

I will let you know what we decide and how the adventure went next week

Ciao for now