El Mare, Parco Vulci, and FOOD!

After doing some reading on the terrace, and getting my stuff packed for tomorrow's trip to Florence, we all had lunch.  It is a little ridiculous now at the end of the day looking back on how much food I have consumed today, but it was all so good.  I was telling Manuela that we made fresh pasta in class yesterday, so today she got fresh tortellini for lunch.  That was our first course (with bread of course).  She was apparently in the mood to fry things so we had fried lamb (yes, lamb), fried potatoes and my favorite....wait for it.......FRIED OLIVES!  haha, turns out that Manuela is about as obsessed with olives as me :)  After that, I was about ready to explode, and then she brought out the pastries.  Now, we all  know how much of a sweet tooth I have, so when I saw these desserts, I couldn't pass them up.  I had a strawberry torte and a chocolate cream puff (the cream inside was a mix between chocolate mousse and nutella!) with an espresso.  At about 5:00 Manuela, Felice, Catie and I got ready to go to Tarquinia, a nearby bigger city for the carnival.  We met up with 2 other people and Felice drove us there.  We got to the Fair (which looked much like our county fair or something similar) but it was "full" or they weren't letting people in, so we went to "el mare," or the beach.  It was beautiful.  My first time in the Mediterranean!  We walked down the boardwalk, and by the water, and then all stopped for gelato.

"El mare" from the boardwalk

Manuela, my host mom at "el mare"

 After that, Felice drove us to Parco Vulci, which is the Etruscan museum, and an ancient castle, and is surrounded by the most beautiful landscape. (Check back for pictures on Sunday)  We watched the sun set there which was magnificent, and then we got back in the car.

Sunset at Parco Vulci

My host father, Felice

The sounds were magnificent.  Everything was so still and tranquil, and all you could hear was the running water of the stream from below.

Family Photo

Another Family photo with Bruno in the background (not sure how he is related to them, possibly Felice's brother)

We then drove through the small town of Canino and then Tessennano where Felice is from and he showed us his old house, and the city (which is home to 400...so tiny!).  We stopped at his farm too, which was pretty impressive.  It was a full working farm, and his farmhands live in a house on the land too.  He showed us all of the animals, and the brand-new, just born that day baby calf and baby sheep.  He has 2000 sheep!  There were soooo many.  We stopped to pick up pizza for dinner (it was about 9:45 by now) and went back to eat it.  Manuela got one pizza PER PERSON!  So I ate the equivalent of a small Lino's pizza with Rucola, Tuna, Mozzarella and Tomatoes, and then she brought out more pastries!  I couldn't eat anymore so I said that I was full, and her response, "ahh, just loosen your belt." haha  At this rate, I hope my pants still fit after 5 weeks!

I leave for Florence in the morning, and am SO excited to see Tuscany!   A dopo!  ("until later")