Buon Giorno!
(good morning)

Pardon my spelling in this post, please.

I hope this finds you well. I am excited to say that today brings with it the second half of the Palace tour. This building is magnificent. I wish you could see it with your own eyes. It just hit me yesterday that this place, my classroom, is the Pope's former summer home. This is where He vacationed before there was the Castel de Gondolfo. I will try and post some pictures ASAP. Yesterday, we took about 10 hours and toured the surrounding towns that make up this region. Charming!
Our morning began with a drive through the town of Gensano.
The architecture there is a bit nicer than what is seen in Albano if you ask me. The homes are beautiful and the main street is lined in large trees. Wow.
We were shown where the grocery stores, shops, etc. are and there is a great market that is open each Monday morning. From there, we drove to Friscata (my favorite, so far). It is breathtaking. The buildings are large in scale and the city as a whole has more wealth, it seems. There is a palace there that we will be revisiting...It is gorgeous. I'm quickly running out of good adjectives.
Next, we drove through Merino. This is the site of an adored festival that occurs during each harvest season. The fountains are drained of water and filled with wine that has just been made with grapes of the local vinyards. I think we have a field trip to the festival. I look forward to the authentic experience it will provide.
After Merino came Roca di Poppa, or Fortress of the Pope. The name signifies the area that belongs to the Vatican. It is vertically built, meaning that the neighborhoods are constructed in the side of the mountain. We were able to stop on the side of the road and take pictures. We then drove on to Nemi. You may be familiar with the lakes of Nemi and Albano (very historic in this area.) It was a site. Beautiful waters and lush vegitation. We hiked through the neighborhoods and found some impressive views of the lake from WAY UP high! Lunch was wonderful...the best meal I've had yet. You cannot appreciate pasta until you've had homemade noodles. I had a delicious portion of fettucine casareca with butter and sage. Yum, yum. Elvis was our server. (as in Presley.)

I'm sad to say that I haven't gotten one honk, pinch, or whistle. Actually, I did receive one honk when I crossed the street; however, that was only because the driver did not care to stop for this pedestrian.

Pray for us all. The world around us is starving for knowledge, and without that, we perish. As for me, I'm going on a mad search for real pizza. You know, the kind that has stuff on it. This is why Italians are thin. They eat yeast-less bread with nothing on it but fresh tomato sauce. It is good, but I need substance!

Until we meet again...