The Whole Shebang

Ok, get ready for the longest blog ever. I am going to lump last week into one. I will try to be brief and entertaining. :-)

We are going to start at the Chalet. The Chalet is an outdoor bar in the park. Some of the girls and I will go to Zio Zeb pizza, order some pizzas and then walk over to the Chalet to enjoy a bottle of vino and the outdoors. I can't get over the location of the Chalet just yet. Europe is very diffent, case in point, the Chalet is positioned between two playgrounds and there are some toys AT the Chalet so that the children (we have seen infants to 13) that stay later than we do (we tend to leave around midnight) have something to play with.

Here is the actual bar. :-) We have got I would like a bottle of white/red wine with ___ glasses in Italian down pat. That's Lauren in the corner of the photo.

I have met two absolutely amazing people that I adore, John and Jane. John is in the program with me and Jane is his wife. They are, without a doubt, two of the most entertaining and kind people I have ever met. For instance, they are staying at a very nice palazzo (palace in Italian) and invited the entire class over for dinner one night. Here is a view of the backyard.

The food... oh the food. Jane is one of those people you wish you could be, but more than likely you'll never quite get it right. She and John run a business of their own, but oh no, she doesn't stop there, she is an amazing cook. She and her friend made all of the food for the dinner and I can say that I have never enjoyed an ENTIRE spread before in my life. Usually I will find one or two things I like, but not all. Not the case here, it was all delectable. 

The Palazzo is in the city walls of Amelia, and this is a view from the backyard.

So, the people that live and own the house are direct decendants of the original owner who was a Pope... or a Bishop... hmm... I'm going to have to look into that. Not a Pope... maybe a Cardinal? Maybe I should have waited to have my first glass of Prosecco until AFTER the tour.

The Palazzo is used as a B&B. In order to get a bathroom in one of the rooms, without affecting the structure of the home, they purchased this swanky piece and built a bathroom in it. SO neat!!

The view. I never get sick of these views and I hope you don't mind. They are not likely to stop anytime soon.

The Palazzo at night. I want a Palazzo. :-)

Suffice it to say that was my favorite night thus far. 

Next,  we went back to Crazy Johnny's (the place where we got the HUGE appetizer). It was just Lindsey, Lauren and I (I promise, I will start taking pictures of people soon) and Isabel and Michelle (two other friends) were at another table. 

Crazy Johnny's (that's not the actual name of the bar, I don't know the real name, but Johnny is the owner and he is crazy) is an experience in and of itself. The menu changes daily, so they don't print one... so you have to try to translate while listening to the waitress (NOT EASY). We have started asking for her notepad so we can read it. So we have had octopus here before, and weren't particularly wanting to have it again so we made sure not to order anything with Popoli in it... or so we thought.

Lauren and I ordered gnocchi and Lindsey ordered pan fried fish with basil... or did she? When her meal came out this is what she got:

A heaping bowl of baby octopi. YUUMMM!! I mean, they really do not taste bad. If you like fried squid (calamari) you'll like fried octopus. It's just the visual you have to get around.

So dinner was lovely and as we were wrapping up a huge group of handsome young men came in and sat at a few tables near ours. As we were getting ready to ask for the check (and finishing our 2nd bottle of wine... I'll help you do the math, 3 girls, 2 bottles) the boys sent over another bottle in exchange for a picture with their birthday boy. This is another example of, Amelians just like Americans. I can't imagine doing this in the States, walking up to a tourist and asking to take a picture with them, but it is always sweet and endearing. 

We took the picture and then started chatting. Amelia is a small town, and you know you are in a small town when you, as the outsider, start to make connections. Such as, our Italian Language teacher is apparently married to one of the guys that had been in the group, but left a little early. Turns out the group is the Amelian football (that's soccer for you American's) team and Monica's husband is the coach. I think Amelia could institute 2 degrees of separation and succeed easily.

To keep it short, we drank the third bottle of wine (only after enticing Isabel and our waitress to help), got another plate of fried octopus (the boys sent it over) and then dessert (the boys sent it over) then we went home.

A few days later we tried a pizza place that is quite a hike away, but has a view that is worth it. This is a picture of a house that we all claim we will own at some point in our lives.

This is a field of sunflowers. I cannot wait for them all to bloom. My mind cannot comprehend how beautiful that will be. 

View

The columns leading to the house we will all own one day. :-)

THE view. That is Amelia. It was an overcast day, so the pictures aren't as great as I would like, but you get the idea.

Nighttime view.

That's all for now! Ciao!