Summer in Italy

Oh gosh. We've discovered cioccolato caldo--which literally translated means hot chocolate. But this is no ordinary hot chocolate my friend. Oh no. It is served in a little cup and has a similar consistency to warm, runny pudding, but soooo much better. We've taken to dipping our pastries in it. Max will order a chocolate croissant and then proceed to dip it in the hot chocolate. Talk about chocolate overload.

This morning my intention was to take a 5 minute train ride with the kids to the neighboring town of Spello. Nothing went as planned. We missed our 11am train and sat in a bar (cafe) eating pastries and cioccolato caldo (see above) until the 1pm train. The train to Spello costs .80 euro--which is about a dollar U.S. The train ride is 5 minutes. Imagine my surprise when we got to Spello and I couldn't get the door open on time and the train took off, whisking us away to the next town. The australian woman next to us tried to tell me that the next town Assisi, was much better than Spello anyway.

Once in Assisi, I imagined that I would turn around immediately and get back to Spello, but no train went back that way for 1 1/2 hours. I called my friend Natalie in a panic--what should I do? She suggested that I take the bus from the station up to Assisi and visit--but, but, how do I get tickets? where? where does the bus come? Sheesh, it's difficult enough taking the bus when you have a schedule in front of you and you can read the language. It was hot--90+ degrees. Max and Ella were saying, "Mom, what are we doing here?"

I decided to brave it out and take the bus. "Vorrai tre biglietti per l'autobus a centro storico in Assisi." Now, I have no idea what this actually means, but I was trying to tell them that I wanted three tickets for the bus to downtown Assisi. Luckily, Assisi is Tourist Central and the woman was clearly used to dealing with people unable to converse in her language. She was quite nice and nodded, "si, si" as if I made all the sense in the world. Took the bus up. Wow, Assisi is gorgeous and INCREDIBLY touristy. We walked up the hill to the church, wandered in and around the church, paid 3 euros to use the bathroom, bought some really awful pizza and a bad prosciutto panino (sandwich), bought some postcards and checked out the tourist gadgets. They actually sell miniature crossbows, daggers, spiked balls--the tourist shops looked like torture chambers. What in the world? I know very little about Assisi except that it's big in the Catholic church. But really, what's with the weapons. Odd. You've got miniature jesus hanging next to miniature weapons. Something seems a little off.

We missed our bus back to the train station-more waiting. Finally caught a bus, then train back to Foligno. We were wiped. But it was a wonderful adventure.

Later Andrea took the kids to have gelati in the square, so Natalie and I took the car to Bevagna. Beautiful fields filled with sunflowers passed by. Other fields with rolled hay--ahhhhh, love those. Bevagna was a gorgeous town--the light was fading. We sat in an empty piazza drinking cappuccinos and watching the light reflect off of the buildings.

Thoughts on Italy: Italy does not have marshmallows or maple syrup. We do not have gorgeous green cars or cioccolato caldo.


			Sunday, July 1
	Oh gosh. We've discovered cioccolato caldo--which literally translated means hot chocolate. But this is no ordinary hot chocolate my friend. Oh no. It is served in a little cup and has a similar consistency to warm, runny pudding, but soooo much better. We've taken to dipping our pastries in it. Max will order a chocolate croissant and then proceed to dip it in the hot chocolate. Talk about chocolate overload. This morning my intention was to take a 5 minute train ride with the kids to the neighboring town of Spello. Nothing went as planned. We missed our 11am train and sat in a bar (cafe) eating pastries and cioccolato caldo (see above) until the 1pm train. The train to Spello costs .80 euro--which is about a dollar U.S. The train ride is 5 minutes. Imagine my surprise when we got to Spello and I couldn't get the door open on time and the train took off, whisking us away to the next town. The australian woman next to us tried to tell me that the next town Assisi, was much better than Spello anyway. Once in Assisi, I imagined that I would turn around immediately and get back to Spello, but no train went back that way for 1 1/2 hours. I called my friend Natalie in a panic--what should I do? She suggested that I take the bus from the station up to Assisi and visit--but, but, how do I get tickets? where? where does the bus come? Sheesh, it's difficult enough taking the bus when you have a schedule in front of you and you can read the language. It was hot--90+ degrees. Max and Ella were saying, "Mom, what are we doing here?" I decided to brave it out and take the bus. "Vorrai tre biglietti per l'autobus a centro storico in Assisi." Now, I have no idea what this actually means, but I was trying to tell them that I wanted three tickets for the bus to downtown Assisi. Luckily, Assisi is Tourist Central and the woman was clearly used to dealing with people unable to converse in her language. She was quite nice and nodded, "si, si" as if I made all the sense in the world. Took the bus up. Wow, Assisi is gorgeous and INCREDIBLY touristy. We walked up the hill to the church, wandered in and around the church, paid 3 euros to use the bathroom, bought some really awful pizza and a bad prosciutto panino (sandwich), bought some postcards and checked out the tourist gadgets. They actually sell miniature crossbows, daggers, spiked balls--the tourist shops looked like torture chambers. What in the world? I know very little about Assisi except that it's big in the Catholic church. But really, what's with the weapons. Odd. You've got miniature jesus hanging next to miniature weapons. Something seems a little off. We missed our bus back to the train station-more waiting. Finally caught a bus, then train back to Foligno. We were wiped. But it was a wonderful adventure. Later Andrea took the kids to have gelati in the square, so Natalie and I took the car to Bevagna. Beautiful fields filled with sunflowers passed by. Other fields with rolled hay--ahhhhh, love those. Bevagna was a gorgeous town--the light was fading. We sat in an empty piazza drinking cappuccinos and watching the light reflect off of the buildings. Thoughts on Italy: Italy does not have marshmallows or maple syrup. We do not have gorgeous green cars or cioccolato caldo.