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| Last Sunday we all went for a bike ride through the country side to a spot along side a stream for a picnic. We rode between vineyards and cornfields, not a pairing I envisioned seeing here. Natasha (Gesi's mom) and Bashkim (Gesi's dad) packed us a feast. Bashkim made a fire and they cooked chicken, fish, and also roasted veggies over it, then served it with rice (warm from home), a green salad, and bread. It was nice to sit in the shade along the water. This picture was on the way home and I felt bad making everyone stand in the sun (hot hot hot) but it was so pretty, in the back you can see the Italian Alps. |
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| Bashkim brought up a tray of coffee for Gesi, Natasha, and I. Is there anything sweeter? |
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| Sunday also happened to be Natasha's birthday. These were two desserts Bashkim snuck home from the local Gelato store for an after dinner surprise. |
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| Monday, the next day, Gesi, the boys, and I went up to a small town, Moggio, to visit Giovanna (two trains and a bus to get there). Giovanna was actually on an AFS exchange to Oklahoma the same year Gesi was with us and came to visit us in Oregon at the end of the year for a week. We stayed over at her family's house (used to be her Grandma's and now the family goes for summer and winter). She made us a lunch of lasagna, eggplant parmesan (silkiest and best I have ever had), and tiramisu for dessert (all from scratch). They told us lasagna is only made with bechamel and bolognese. We fill ours with a cheese mix they do not. |
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| I was trilled to see the Italian gardens and was on the look out for a real Italian garden growing covolo nero but I think it is too hot, wrong time of year. I did see lots of other veggies (and rainbow chard!). Here is a picture of one of the fagiolo bean plants. |
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| We went for a walk up a little ravine to a swimming 'pool' made in 1917 by Italian soldiers during WW 1. It was a touch chilly, which was welcome. This is Giovanna, her dog Perro, and Gesi. |
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| On the way home we passed this bush/tree (honeysuckle, I think) and it looked like there were small humming birds moving oddly around it. Turned out they were really large moths, their bodies were about 3 inches long and they had these GIANT tongues they were drinking with. The tongues were at least 4 1/2 inches long. The boys so wanted them to come land near their faces, here is one picture of an attempt. |
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| Real actual Italian prunes growing in a real Italian's yard! Ours are ripe at home too. |
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| We found a dead stag beetle. I like the faces here. There were also a lot of snails, various sizes and stripes, etc. We liked noticing the differences between them. We saw cute tiny skinks too. Also, we did not see them, there are some poisonous snakes in this area. I thought there were no poisonous snakes in Europe. |
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| The second (sadly also the last) day there is was rainy and cold. We had planned a long hike but didn't really bring the right clothes, it was still a very pleasant day. This is a picture from the house. Oso was delighted to find an Italian version of RISK and we played an extremely PAINfully long game of Uno as well. |
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| Bunny Huggins and Masala Pop in the foothills of the Alps! |
It's hard to believe we are almost at the end of our stay. I am not really ready to go yet! We'll be excited to see Paul though, that is for sure. He leaves a full day before we do and we have overlapping layovers in Turkey (we don't leave the airport) then onto Africa. Tomorrow we are going to a day trip to Venice or as they say here, Venezia.
