We were able to have Tyler's sister, Erica, and her husband, Dan, visit us for ten days. And we had such a great time with them! It was so nice to have family out here and now we are just even more anxious to be back home to see everyone!
We did a lot in the 10 days that they were here. They were able to see Tyler play in 2 games, we went to Pisa, Bologna, Rome, and a tiny little town called Ferentino... which ended up being quite the adventure out of all of them... but I will get to that later in the post!
They arrived on a Saturday evening and we knew that they deserved to relax after a long day of traveling. For dinner, we introduced them to a very traditional food that is very specific to this area of Italy. It is called "piadina". Tyler and I really enjoy it so we thought that they might like it as well and we were right ... how many times did we get piadina, guys?? I would say at least half a dozen times while they were here :) Piadina (Pe-uh-deen-uh) is basically this specific kind of bread that they make, almost like a flatbread or tortilla. You can buy it at the grocery store but nothing compares to the handmade ones that you can go get at a piadinaria (that word is quite fun to say ;)... you can get piadina filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, anything really! I really love getting "zucca e patata piadina". Im sure you can guess what patata is and zucca is pumpkin. I'm sure that it doesn't sound that appealing but it is one of the most popular piadinas to get here. It is very rich so you can only eat so much of it but it is just so delicious! Erica already tried looking up piadina recipes so we are going to try them out this summer... maybe if they turn out decent I will make piadinas for everyone :)
Sunday Tyler had a home game. Besides the game where Tyler scored the game winning free throws earlier in the season, this was by far the next best most exciting game! They were down by, I don't know, maybe 15 or 20 at one point and they fought back and won. Tyler had a great game with 22 points and 15 rebounds so I am so excited that they were able to see such a great game!
Monday Tyler had the day off so we decided to go to Pisa for the day. Tyler and I hadn't been there yet so I am so happy the four of us got to experience it together. Pisa is beautiful! What an incredible sight to see the Leaning Tower and churches by it! We were typical tourists taking millions of pictures and we ate lunch right outside the Leaning Tower.
The rest of the week we just relaxed in Forli. We showed them around our town and hung out drinking great Italian wine and playing card games. It was fun to just relax with them just like we would back home!
On Saturday Tyler had to leave for his away game so I took Dan and Erica to Bologna. We walked around for a few hours and they were able to see the beautiful church Tyler and I were able to see a few weeks ago.
We had been planning to go to Tyler's away game because it was only and hour outside of Rome and we thought it would be perfect to go to his game and then spend some time in Rome on Monday with Tyler on his day off. The three of us took the train early Sunday morning to Rome. We found a really cute hotel and grabbed some lunch before catching the train to the town Ferentino where Tyler's game was.
Ferentino is literally in the middle of the mountains in Italy. It really is beautiful but it is so small(approx 20,000 people) that the train station is about the size of a two-car garage. We usually buy our train tickets out of self-service machines or at the window where someone is working. After buying them you have to validate them by stamping them in this little machine that hangs on the wall. There was no self-service machine nor was there anyone at the window to buy return tickets back to Rome, yet in this tiny building they had three machines to validate the tickets. We were just cracking up at the fact that they had three of these machines in this shed of a train station but we had no way of buying tickets to get back to Rome. We decided we would handle the matter after Tyler's game and we later found out we could just pay the man on the train who comes around and takes the tickets.
Tyler had given me a number for a taxi so that we could get a ride to the arena. I knew this was probably going to be difficult for me to communicate with someone because I knew that they were not likely to speak English in such a small Italian town. A lady answered the phone and I first asked if she spoke English. She got a man on the phone and I asked if we could get a taxi to the train station and he said "Yes, ok, 15 minutes!" I was like "Perfect! That was not as bad as I thought it was going to be!" 15 minutes rolls around, 20 minutes rolls around, 25..... Still no cab. Clearly the man did not understand me. So I try calling back and no one answers. I called three times and still no answer. So here we are, stuck in the middle of the mountains in some small Italian town. Just great! We were trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do and how we were going to find our way to the arena when my phone starts ringing. It was the lady that I had originally talked to but this time there was no one who "spoke English". She had no idea what I was saying so I started speaking in Italian as best as I could and not to toot my own horn or anything... but I am so proud of myself! :o) I started speaking very slowly and trying my best to say what I thought were all the correct words and she finally understood me! 15 minutes later a cab showed up and we made it to Tyler's game 10 minutes before it started. It was a good thing we got there so early and I am thankful we didn't have to walk through the winding roads in the mountains!
Tyler's team ended up losing but he had another great game (22 points, 12 rebounds) so it was still worth it getting to see him play. We didn't get back to Rome until about 11pm but our hotel had a rooftop bar and we were able to enjoy a beautiful view and a cocktail. We called it an early night so that we could enjoy a full day of sightseeing.
I am convinced that Italy has the most beautiful churches in the world. Although I haven't even experienced other churches in other countries, Italian churches are just breathtaking. We were able to see a few more churches in Rome and I am loving it more and more when we are able to visit churches. Everything is just so intricate, beautiful and I am always in awe.
We were able to see the Colosseum and wow! Incredible! I felt so lucky to be able to see it. We took a tour and learned a little history about it but honestly if you are just able to see it, that is all you need. Just being able to walk around it and see it is unexplainable. The Colosseum is also right next to the Roman Forum which is ruins of ancient Rome. Again, just amazing to see what has survived from so, so long ago. Whenever Tyler and I are at places like the Leaning Tower or the Colosseum or the cathedral in Milan, we are like "Are we really experiencing this right now?" We have gotten to visit so many historic things these past few months and we don't take it for granted.
My favorite part of the day, besides The Colosseum and the Roman Forum, was seeing the Trevi Fountain. I just loved it! It is so beautiful and it was fun tossing coins and making wishes. Among the other places that we saw were the Pantheon, San Pietro in Vincoli, Monument a Vittorio Emanuele II, and Santa Maria Maggiore. There is so much to do in Rome and we only had seven hours to do it in, but I think we packed in a lot in those seven hours!
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| Santa Maria Maggiore |
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| Santa Maria Maggiore |
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| Santa Maria Maggiore |
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| Santa Maria Maggiore |
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| Colosseum |
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| Colosseum |
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| Colosseum |
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| Colosseum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Pantheon |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Trevi Fountain |
The ten days flew by and Erica and Dan left early Wednesday morning. I feel a little guilty sending them back to that snow! Is it ever going to warm up there?! I really do not want to come home to snow! Hopefully by May it will warm up :) Ok this post is long enough.... Until next time! :)
