Playing Tourist, Part I

A recent bright spot in this otherwise rainy, foggy winter: my friend Sandra just came and visited for almost a week, and we had a great time exploring! The trip deserves more than one post, because we managed to do tons of stuff. This is just a preliminary entry!

I would first like to state, with UTTER PRIDE, that we conducted our adventure BY CAR. I drove, and I wasn't even a total disaster - Sandra was my incredible navigator, and thanks to her we actually did not get lost even ONCE. Is that a miracle, or what? If you've ever driven in Italy, you know what I mean. Below, our trusty vehicle.



No joke!

Along with a beautiful little road trip through Tuscany, we visited the hills outside Bologna and the mosaics of Ravenna.



Notice the little fish swimming around! This is my favorite site in Ravenna, under the pulpit in the church where Dante is buried. If you pay 50 cents to a machine next to a dark little window, the lights go on and you can see this water-filled room with a mosaic floor, fish, coins, and pretty columns. I love it.



We enjoyed all kinds of mosaics, too.



Most important, however, was the FOOD!



This is some enormous piece of pig that was marinated in milk and wild fennel. It was good, too - but way too much for the two of us. We did our best, but we couldn't eat it all. That may have been our general feeling about Italy, too. It looks delicious, but there's sooooooooo much to see and do - it's impossible! Better to pick and choose the most yummy, succulent bits. So we left the rest for next time.