WARNING:
LOTS OF PICTURES
Jason and his friend, John Lasater, taught a two week workshop in Italy this summer. I went for the last week of the class and then our families stayed an extra week to do a little sightseeing and so that Jason and John could get in some painting time. When you are the teacher, you don't ever have time to paint. Of course, while we were there Civita Castellana was having record breaking temps. I think the highest it got was 110 degrees with a heat index of death. The streets are made of black stone, and while that is very pretty to look at in a picture, it just adds to the heat when you are there in person. You couldn't really be outside for a good portion of the day without melting, and the whole town basically shuts down between 2-5 in the afternoon, so I would sit on our bed, directly in front of the fan (no AC in Italy) and stare at the walls and celling. Not going to lie, it was a tad boring. I did read but I finished my books rather quickly and since we had limited data, I couldn't watch shows on the computer. Thankfully, the last three or four days were beautiful and once I left the apartment in the morning, I didn't go back until bed time. We would drink gallons of water every day and John's wife, Kara, and I both got excited on the first nice day because it was the first time in a week and a half that we had felt the urge to pee. Sometimes it's the small things, you know?
Overall, those three beautiful days were enough to let us leave Italy with dreams of returning and truly loving our time there.
P.S. Rome is super cool.
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| this song was constantly playing at the restaurants and cafes in Civita. I let the girls listen to it and they LOVE it and have already picked up some Italian from it. |
Big Thank You's to Aunt Kat, Bebe and Bubba, Aunt Abi, and Aunt Kara for helping the girls have a great time while we were gone.
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| Mary Poppins in Memphis with Aunt Kat |
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| Elaina asked Bebe to throw a birthday party for Pink Bear. |
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| Bubba and the golf cart are both big hits with the girls! |
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| Carousel time with cousins |
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| By Claire |
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| By Claire |
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| Aunt Abi was BRAVE and hosted all of her nieces for a sleepover. I think it was 10 girls in all! |
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| Fun at Aunt Abi's house |
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| Riding around Memphis with Aunt Kat |
SCENES FROM CIVITA CASTELLANA, ITALY
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| This KILLED my glutes. |
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| Face Time with the girls in the only air conditioned place in Civita, the hotel lobby. |
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| Trevi Fountain in Rome with my Audrey Hepburn sunglasses (a gift from Aunt Kat) |
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| We had passes to go inside the Colosseum but it was way too hot to stand in line for a couple of hours. Next time!! |
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| Inside a museum at the Vatican City |
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| Italian Nocturnes |
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| We had breakfast here every morning. It was called The Club and was a very popular place for morning coffee and evening visiting. |
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| The fountain in the square of Civita |
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| This was Ms. Gena's balcony. She is a 92 year old woman that loved Jason and John. She spoke no English but we always had fun "talking" with her. She constantly gave us food. |
Someday I will return and it will NOT be during a heat wave. I love you, Civita, but that heat is a game changer. Or just install some AC, then we'll talk.
