And one thing leads to another...

January 16, 2011

We woke up semi-early in the morning because my roommates and I wanted to take a tour of the Duomo, but when we got there we realized that it was closed on Sundays! It was kinda  a bummer but we were all in agreeance to just walk around and see what we could discover today. Well one thing led to another and we ended up walking for practically four hours. We found this one big building that we thought we could go inside of, but there was so much construction that we decided to pass it by and just keep walking and as we walked around the corner we discovered this enormous antique/flea market that surrounded this entire pond. It was cool just looking at all of the little trinkets and Lauren is really into old jewelry and bought a ring and necklace. After the flea market we could see the top of this cool looking temple in the distance so we decided why not walk to it and take pictures! So we did and it was just really neat looking. From there we saw huge hills in the distance and started walking towards them and we walked along this little creek with cute little bridges over it. We ended up realizing we were way off our map and had no clue where we were, so we asked a lady on the street where the Duomo was and she pointed us in a certain direction and after walking straight for a little while we figured out exactly where we were!

 Of course we walked up an appetite so we stopped in this little bakery and bought this big cookie that was filled with chocolate and it was pretty good, but had a unexpected slight lemony taste. Danielle and I had planned on going to the Duomo for church at 6 so I uploaded some pictures and music until we left for mass. Her and I both put cute dresses on with tights and we got to the proper entrance of the Duomo and asked the guards if we could come in and they said we only could if we were staying for mass, so we went in expecting the place to be backed, but there was barely anybody there and like half of the people that were there were in jeans! Clearly we overestimated it! They had pamphlets in the seats that gave an outline of the mass with the Italian responses, as well as the translation of the readings in English, French, and a couple other languages. It was absolutely FREEZING in there because I guess it would be quite difficult to heat such a huge place and they kept the entrance doors open. We also discovered there is an English mass on Saturday nights, so I guess now we know what to expect, but overall it was a fantastic experience! We went to pick Marissa up from the school (she was there using the internet) and when we got home Lauren had made gnocchi for dinner and I cooked a couple more carrots and had a glass of wine.

I forgot to mention that the other day Danielle and I did a load of laundry and here like I said earlier they are very economic friendly so they don’t have dryers, so you have to hang stuff outside or on a drying rack. Well when we were unloading our things out of the washer (which spins so fast I swear it eats the clothes) my one shirt that used to be canary yellow is now pea green and we have no clue how? Also after hanging things outside for like 2 days they still weren’t dry, but I got a nice surprise of bird poop on my one shirt. Clearly laundry is not our forte. I also discovered bites on my arm the other day – supposively their mosquitoes here are vicious – they itch sometimes but I keep forgetting to buy cream for them, but after a few days they still haven’t gone away!

A pretty church we just happened to pass.

The flea/antique market around the pond.

The cool temple we saw from afar.

The little creek we walked along.

The lady pointed us in the right direction right under these arches.