What a day!

Sant' Angelo in Vado: Well, to start out the day, we went to Sant' Angelo in Vado, an old town somewhere near here. It had a beautiful stream running through it.





























There was a church that we passed by that has holes in the wall specifically designed to catch pigeons for a tasty meal. MMMMM. I don't think they really use them for that reason any more, but still.





I also found out that for a while, when people would buy a building around here, they would cover the old stone walls of the building with plaster. Now, people buy the buildings and chip the plaster off so the stones will show. Like they always say, "There's no school like old school." It applies everywhere. I often look at the buildings and see something that I only thought existed in paintings. There is something about...Italy...that is just so picture perfect. It's amazing.





































On our way to the next town, we stopped on the side of the road to look at this really pretty cascada, or waterfall. The funny thing is it's located right behind an industrial...place. Driving through there you wouldn't think that something this calm and peaceful would exist right there. Really pretty.















Urbana: This town is freaking awesome!!!! The first thing I saw was this war memorial for local people who fought and died during WWI and WWII.



There was a pretty big battle fought in this area apparently. The Germans parachuted in just behind the house where I'm staying now, and the Americans parachuted in somewhere in the other direction. There was a lot of bombing and fighting going on right here. In fact, there is a memorial about 3 miles away from the house where someone, a civilian, had stepped on a landmine and lost his leg. This red, white, and green one is the memorial at the Belforte park.



Anyhoo.













This is one of the Duke's grand houses. Yes, it's a house. He has many, so I hear. And he has a hunting lodge (not a house, a hunting lodge) that is just as big but styled more like a castle. It's kinda crazy.





















This is what I call My Little Rain Forest. I know it's not really a rain forest, but it's sooooo green and tropic looking compared to Utah. Compared to anything I've really seen, actually.











There are lots of vines just hanging there, and when it's raining or the spring sun is melting the winter snow the water just rushes out. I could have stood there looking at My Little Rain Forest forever.

















This is an Ape. Not an ape like the monkey relative...it's pronounced ah-pay. It's a three wheeled vehicle if you couldn't tell already. When kids are 14 they can start driving the Ape, and when old people can't pass the drivers test anymore, for some reason they are allowed to drive the Ape. It only goes about 24 miles per hour. Still, it's pretty cool. It reminds me of the taxi-things in Sri Lanka.

















This is me sitting on a bench in front of a pretty stone wall with flowers and chipping plaster.


















Okay, I know this isn't a great picture, but that's fine. This is a tunnel that we've driven through twice now, and it's uber-long! The second time I went through, I tried to hold my breath until we got out. WARNING!!! NOT BREATHING MAY RESULT IN LIGHT-HEADEDNESS AND EVENTUALLY DEATH!!!! I gave up when I got light-headed. And it just kept going on, and on, and on. So I took a picture of it.


















At the House: I finally got a picture of the house. So there.



I also finally got another blanket for my bed. It's cold where I sleep. When I went to put the blanket on my bed, I found this:



A crazy ladybug with WHITE spots instead of black! Cool, huh? I thought so.


Here's a fun story. I was reading my book on the couch and then I started to get tired. So I put the book down and laid down to take a nap. Well, all of a sudden I started feeling little tiny paws crawling up my legs, and lo and behold...Miss Kitty!!!! I love that cat. She's so adorable. Anyhoo, she crawled up my legs and curled right down and took a nap with me. It made me happy. :)










Festa Time!: Well, first off, today is the Day of the Rupublic, the equivalent of our 4th of July. So everywhere we went there were Italian flags hanging everywhere. But besides that, it was also the...dedication...sorta...of the park here in Belforte. They've been trying to finish it for quite some time now. There was a big festa next to the park, and the twins Paulo and Primo played and sang. They're really good.






Some people were trying to raise money for the school or something, and they had this 'game' where you paid money to pull these cork-skrew-things out of the board, and whatever color was on the bottom determined what size plant you won. Me and Grandma won five plants.











Big Adventure: Well, this festa was pretty cool. I enjoyed it. It would have been nice to see kids my age, but apparently most of the teenagers here go to the 'disco' in the evenings. Not my kind of crowd from what Grandma tells me, but oh well. So, since there weren't any boys my age to dance with, Grandma got this thirty-year-old guy named Patruzio to dance with me.





He's a nice guy, but he's....very interesting...and...quite the sweet talk. I wouldn't ever want to be alone with him. Nice, but kinda out there if you know what I mean. Anyhoo, he tried to dance with me, but I didn't know the steps (Grandma doesn't think he did either) so I kept tripping over his feet. And I didn't understand anything he said to me because, well, I don't speak Italian and that's mostly what he spoke. We finally gave up our stumble step, and just kinda stood there talking. He asked me if I drink and offered to go get some wine. So I had my first taste of alcohol. Just Kidding!!! Of course I told him I don't drink, and he kinda looked at me funny then he asked if I can have orange soda or coke. So he ended up getting us both some coca-cola, and we just stood there watching the twins play. Then he turned to me and asked if I wanted a cigarette. Um.....no. I told him I don't smoke, and he gave me that crazy look again then shook his head and said, "No drink, no smoke. You are a....you a okay girl." All right! I'm okay!!!! WOOT!!!!

Anyhoo, he was kinda weird and I won't even tell you how awkward saying goodbye was. I'll just mention that he did the kiss both cheeks thing, but I went the wrong way first and then he...um...he stroked my cheek. Yup. Definitely awkward. I hope I don't have to see him again. So yeah. It's all part of the adventure.