Saturday morning we went to breakfast at the little bar, then back up to the Palazzo for the next round of classes.  Today, I’m making a hat.  The teacher doesn’t speak English, but a lady in the class does, so we do just fine.  If the people speak slowly and distinctly, I can follow and understand almost everything.  We again have lunch in the piazza and then back to continue the hat making.  After the class, I go back to the hostel to rest up for Show & Tell and dinner and entertainment.  Passing the bar and fountain…the town center…there are about 20 old fellows sitting around the fountain checking out the activity and girls!  I’m sure these men gather every afternoon while their wives are home cooking a big pot of sauce for the nights dinner!   Later, we gather in the beautiful conference room or perhaps a ball room hundreds of years ago for our Show & Tell.  These are quilts in progress.  Finished tops that haven’t been quilted yet.  These quilts are as beautiful as the ones hanging in the show.  I am hauled onstage to show my hat and the three bunny blocks I’ve done this weekend.  They explain the 125 squash blocks I’ve already made and the 125 bunny blocks in progress.  I invite all the ladies to Dallas to stay with me…and I’ll die if they all decide to come!  At one time!    After showing these quilts, we go to dinner in the Piazza.  It has been transformed into an Italian piazza from the beginning of the 1900’s.  A huge keg of wine sits on a table.  Baskets of fruit and vegetables abound.  There is a man making shoes by hand, ladies spinning wool into yarn, two men making sturdy wooden baskets, young women shucking corn.  Our dinner is very simple, country-style and filling.  The main entree was a casserole of beans and juice, slices of potatoes, day old bread and maybe fennel.  A huge portion that I couldn’t finish.  I cut the bread with the bean juice into small bites and offered it to the cats…they loved it!  It’s plain bread they aren’t interested in.  The music started and the entertainers arrived in costume of the period and sang songs.  Little toddlers danced to the music.  This all went on until about 11pm…toddlers and all!  I had toddled back to the hostel at 10.  Sunday morning, back to the castle to look at the quilts one more time.  Talked to the lady making bobbin lace and the ladies who make knitted hats, booties and blankets for the preemies at the hospital.  Tiny little soft things.  There was also a table with toys, quilts and cloth purses and tote bags made by jail inmates and donated for charity.  Then, i decided  to walk to the Monster Park.  This was built in the early 1500’s.  Where the natural rocks were, an artist carved fantastic monsters.  This was a 1500’s Disney Land!  I followed the road to get there and it was about two miles to the entrance of the park.  It was hot and mostly downhill.  Halfway there I was already dreading the walk back.  I saw only about 3/4 of the carvings and decided I needed to get back to the castle.  I asked the lady at the gate if I could get a cab back to town.  She said it would take over an hour to get there and night cost as much as 50€…which I didn’t have at this point!  She said there were some stairs about 1/3 of a mile back that would take me to the city center.  Bless her!  They came out right at the bar and fountain!  I was going to live!  Rested for awhile, got my suitcase from the hostel and drove back to Rome with friends, Paola and Enza.  They dropped me off at the bus stain near the school where we meet for quilt group.  My bus 62 was right there and left withing two minutes of my arrival.  It lets me out at the end of our street.  I stayed in bed most of Monday and Tuesday recuperating from that walk and the fun, fun weekend.  Will plan to go back to Italy next year for the Bormarzo Quilt weekend.  Will take my squash quilt and the bunny quilt for my Show & Tell.  Maybe the Star quilt I started in class – and my hat, of course!  These ladies are to be complimented and take great pride in the excellent job that was done…setting up the show so beautifully and the quality and talent of the quilts and quilters.  BRAVA!

What a fabulous weekend!  Since I was told the little town I needed to go to,was between Rome and Florence, I arrived at   Termini to discover only a couple of trains between Rome and Florence stop at this little town daily…so I had to wait about 3 hours for the correct train.  Got there just fine and the man was tihere to drive me to Bormarzo.  Got there and found my little hostel and checked in.  A huge room with 4 twin beds, a big desk, 4 chairs and a big bathroom.  Two windows open onto a view of the beautiful valley. I walk up to the Orsini Palazzo – also called the castle -and see the girls who have been setting up the show all week.  The quilts are beautiful, but things are in such a mess, I don’t know how they will be ready to open tomorrow.  They work until about 8pm, and we drive to a little restaurant for dinner.  Had a wonderful 4 cheese pizza with anchovies.  Get back to the hostel and crash into bed.  I’m there by myself tonight.  

Friday morning, I go to the bar in the town center…10 doors down, and have cappuccino and a roll, then back to the palazzo for my class at 10am.  The show is ready and everything looks beautiful.  My class is with a lovely teacher named Susanna and she speaks English.  We are learning to make stars.  Of course, the star I wanted to make is the most complicated…and we never got that far, but I learned enough that I can make it on my own at a later date.  When class ended, we went to the Piazza of the castle and had lunch served by a catering company.  There were several nice, well fed cats who came to see what they could talk me out of and I gave them bites of a chicken salad.  They wanted nothing to do with the bread I offered them.  Walked around the little village inside the castle grounds taking pictures of the picturesque doors and alleys and stairs and then the panoramas.  This whole city is beautiful.  I met a lady this morning who lives here for a few months to study for a counselor exam…and that is about all there is to do here.  I never saw a single shop open.  Or restaurant.  Just a quiet, sleepy town with beautiful scenery.  Even Civita Bagnorigio had more activity.  I went back to the hostel to rest up before dinner and again about 8pm we went back to the same restaurant for dinner.  More ladies had arrived, including my room mate, Marilena.  Another good dinner and back to bed.  Another lady joined us at the hostel.  Her name is Carla.  Carla has beautiful tattoos the entire length of both arms, one across her shoulders in back, another on her chest and down one leg.  Ad she is a retired high school math teacher.  Don’t you know her kids loved her!  Make you rethink tattooed ladies!  She is just precious and sweet and funny.  In the middle of the night there was a scream and a bang as she fell out of bed and hit her head on Marilena s bed!  I’m sure she isn’t used to sleeping on a twin bed.  She will have a big knot on the head tomorrow, but we all get back to sleep.  Speaking of sleep, I’m exhausted and Goingto,shower and go to sleep.  Will continue this tomorrow.

Saturday, Andy and Suzanne went on a tour of the Colosseum, and I decided to go to my favorite restaurant for lunch…Taverna Foro Imperiale.  No reservation.  When I arrived, the place wasn’t open, and there were several groups of people waiting.  Whe the door opened, I asked the owner for a table for one and he said I could sit at one of the four outside tables…each set for two people.  Everyone else was seated in and out and there were two people left…and they did have reservations.  I asked the owner if they could add a chair to my table and share with me…he said no as it would block the entrance.  I went in to find his daughter, Claudia and asked her.  She said, ‘Of course’.  Moved the table over a few inches and pulled up another chair.  I was so glad, because I would have given up the table to them and gone away sad, hungry and disappointed.  After all, I had just butted to the head of the line and got a table that rightfully should have gone to them.  I was hoping they didn’t know I was American!  Acting all ugly!  They were a Mother and son from Charleston, SC.  Delightful people.  He works in Naples part time and she does something with the major donors to the Susan Komen Foundation.  I told them how sorry I was to butt in front of them and hope they didn’t think I was an Ugly American, and the son, Matthew said he had commented that I was  Italian and that’s just how they got things done!  Lynn, the mom, asked me if I knew of her best friend in Dallas, Suzi Poston…and I said I went to Highschool with her.  Had a wonderful lunch and I walked almost all the way home.  Ate dinner across the street with Andy and Suzanne after their big tour.

Sunday, the five of us went back to Fori Imperiale…with reservations…for lunch.  I couldn’t decide if I wanted Cacio and Pepe with black truffles…the dish I get every time, and had yesterday, or try something new like meat filled ravioli with a black truffle sauce.  Claudia said, ‘I’ll give you a plate with half and half.’  That’s what makes this restaurant so great…the food and service are exceptional.

Monday night, I met friend, Liz at L’Eau Vive for dinner.  We had French onion soup and country pate.  The soup was the best I’ve ever had…sure beats Lipton’s!  The pate was very good, but not exactly what we were expecting..thought it would be chicken liver pate, but wasn’t.  This time, we were seated downstairs and the place filled up very fast.  Now, about 8:30, the waitstaff passed around cards to each table.  There were the words to a prayer to Mary in French and English.  A boom box was brought out, and there was a song sung in French.  Then a lady came out and did a ballet dance for about 5 minutes.  Then the prayer to Mary was sung and that was it.  It was sort of a devotional and entertainment in the middle of our dinner.  Altho it was a bit unexpected, it was not offensive and lasted only about 7-8 minutes and we all resumed eating.  As it turns out, the waitstaff are all nuns or missionaries and this restaurant is their mission.  This is now my other favorite restaurant in Rome…food and service are excellent.  Look forward to eating there again.  

With all this eating, I have been walking like I did before it got so hot in August, and my knee is complaining.  My right knee this time which is something new.  Been hurting for several days and very achy at night.  Plan to stay home all day Tuesday with ice on it and give it a rest.  My best advice is: Don’t get old and don’t walk miles on uneven cobblestones.  

Tuesday night, went to a party in Trastevere hosted by our wonderful Rental agency, Roma Rentals.  If you ever need a long term or short term rental, please contact them.  You are dealing with an American company, a lease in English and exactly what you would expect from a professional American agency.  None of this flying by the seat of your pants, willy-nilly  Italian landlord mess that we dealt with our first three months.  Met a lady from Sweden who has lived in Rome for 36 years, and her daughter.  Both lovely and interesting.  And a friend of Liz’s who has been here 6 years and is from New York…another interesting lady.  The party was in a restaurant next door to the agency, and they served finger food and wine.  Even had a man playing the accordion.  Nice gathering.

Since I’m always early for events…never know how long things will take and planning for an emergency, I arrived in Trastevere about an hour early.  A lady was playing a cello in the piazza in front of the church, sitting in a chair, a lovely dress and red high heels.  People wandering thru the piazza and sitting on the steps of the fountain.  Children playing, church bells ringing, a seagull swooping around and around before alighting on the church roof.  A little boy about two years old got a coin from his mom and very cautiously approached the cellist to drop the coin in her box.  She he did and the lady smiled and nodded her head to him, he squeezed with glee and ran back to Mom.  I got a couple of euros out and gave him one at a time for him to drop.  Each time he seemed to get braver and then ran back to Mom hugging himself and being so pleased!  It double my giving pleasure to see him so happy and excited about giving to the cellist.  

I am leaving today for a Quilt Retreat until Sunday.  It is in the ancient town of Bormarzo.  Take time to Google this place.  I will be taking a class on Friday and Sunday and on Saturday, I’m touring the Monster Garden.  The Disney Land of the day back then.  Our classes and the Quilt Show will be I. The Orsini Palace.  I’m not sure this town will have wifi for my iPad, so you might not hear from me til I get home.  I hear there is a bar where we can get cappuccino and a croissant for breakfast, but no restaurants.  Food will be brought in for lunch and we will drive to another town for dinner.  There is a B&B with two rooms and I’m staying in a hostel with my English speaking buddy’s sister…who speaks no English.  Good for me!  Will force me to practice and the more I have to speak Italian the better it is getting.  So, until the next time I have wifi….

This is sort of going to be ‘a week in review’.  Last Wednesday, I resumed my Quilt Group meetings after our summer break.  We meet in a school and it was closed all summer, so we didn’t meet.  I stopped off for lunch at my Mexican restaurant and was glad to see the owner, Gabriel.  The ladies at the quilt group seemed glad to see me…lots of hugs and kisses.  Three members gave me little blocks they had made over the summer for my squash quilt.  They brought quilts they have made for the Quilt Show and Retreat this week in Bormarzo.  Their work is outstanding!  Still life, landscapes, cat, people, all beautifully depicted in fabric.  Several asked me when I was leaving, they thought it was the end of September and seemed relieved that it was the end of December…and then they said, ‘When are you coming back?’  

THURSDAY, I met one of the friends in the Jewish Ghetto for dinner at Fonzie’s…a Kosher hamburger place.  The burger was wonderful, as were the fries!  Just like home.  No cheeseburgers since meat and dairy aren’t combined in a Kosher kitchen.  Small price to pay for such a good burger and fries.

Friday, I spent several hours just walking around town and that evening decided to try a French restaurant near the Pantheon.  I heard singing in a church close by and popped in to see what was going on.  The place was packed and standing room only…all nuns and priests…all in different habits.  The singing was in English.  A cardinal was presiding over Mass and speaking in English.  After the service, I asked a pair of nuns what was the occasion.  There are 5000 nuns and priests in Rome for a religious convention and each language is being celebrated in a different church.  They had been to St. Peter’s the day before to meet the Pope.  It really is normal to see groups of nuns and priests every day in Rome, especially in our neighborhood so close to the Vatican.   The two cutest sights this week were a group of nuns in their habits wearing lime green baseball caps over their veils.  Another sight was a nun carrying a pizza box and five more nuns trailing behind her..hope it was a large pizza with all the toppings.  Now to the French restaurant…L’ Eau Vive.  It is in a Pallazo – a very old palace.  Downstairs the room is lovely with a statue of Mary surrounded by fragrant lilies.  Tablecloths, crystal and candles on each table.  I was taken upstairs to a beautiful room with curved ceilings and beautiful frescoes painted on the ceiling.  I thought perhaps I was taken upstairs because I wasn’t dressed properly or because I didnt have a reservation.  Several other people came and were seated upstairs with me.  I ordered the Friday Night Special…giant prawns with rice and a curry sauce with peas.  Absolutely delicious!  All of the waitstaff are young women from various countries in their native dress.  The ones serving me were from Vietnam and Kenya.  I noticed they all had a necklace with an identical medal..and I assumed  they were some sort of religious order.  It turns out they are nuns and this restaurant is their mission.  Can’t wait to return and try more dishes.  When I left, I exited thru the downstairs dining room and not a soul in there…so everyone was being seated upstairs.  Maybe there are reservation formthemda lesl downstairs at a later time.  I ate at 7 when it opened and was gone by 8:15…very early dinner times for Italians.  The food is too good to not have the place fill up on a Friday night…and reasonable prices.  

Yesterday, I wrote a long blog about the end of our Lake Como trip and on to Florence, but my fat finger hit the wrong button and it erased.  So I’ll try again.

One day we went to a little cemetery in Curate Urio where the villa was.  You can almost always spot a cemetery in Italy because it will be surrounded by tall thin cedars…maybe  Cedars of Lebanon?  This had a very large Pyramid with a man’s cameo in marble, his name and date in Roman numerals which left my mind years ago…maybe by 4th grade!  Almost every tombstone had a picture of the deceased in a little frame.  Some of the stones have little areas built in to,plant a live plant, others have vases for live or silk flowers.  A lot of the photos were of men in Tyrolean uniforms and death dates corresponding with WWII, so they could have been part of a military unit close to the Swiss border.  I just love the Italian cemeteries for their chaotic beauty and the greenery surrounding them.    We had a wonderful last meal at Hotel Posta and a good nights sleep.  The next morning, I took the boat to Como, a short walk to the train station and I went by train to Florence…to meet the group when they arrived by car.  After checking into our Hotel Alba Palace, I ate dinner down the street…not very good.  It wasn’t very good the last time I ate there either…so don’t know why I went back.  The girls arrived and we walked down to the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy that is always a feast for the eyes…and nose.  I noticed walking by outside that you get a burst of perfumed air on the sidewalk…to lure you inside.  If you ever are in Florence and need an elegant, but somewhat expensive gift, this is the place to shop.  Now if you want a lovely, but inexpensive gift that is 100% Florentine, here’s where…go away from the Duomo over the Ponte Vecchio and turn on the first street.  Walk down a bit and you will see an Ivy covered tower apartment on your left.  Across the street is a tiny paper shop where they sell the hand painted Florentine paper.  You can buy rolls of the paper…good for dollhouse wallpaper, or crafts.  And they have small boxes of various shapes and sizes covered in the paper.  Good for little earrings, rings, trinkets or paperclips.  Practical and pretty and won’t break your pocketbook.  The next 2 days, Andy and Suzanne did day trips to Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano and I wandered the streets, popping into shops and churches.  I had a two hour lunch at a favorite place…Cinchiale Bianco..the White Wild Boar.  Evan took me there for my birthday dinner in 2009.  I love the wild boar sauce on pasta and this place makes the best and gives the heartiest serving of the sauce.  I took my time eating the pasta and then dessert…biscotti and vin santo…holy wine.  I left when it became obvious that my table was needed.  The Italians will never rush you from your table, often hard to even get them to bring the check.  They will never bring it until you ask for it.  That night, I found a new place for dinner around the corner from the hotel.  The waitress brought me a complimentary plate of foccacia bread with rosemary to start…hot and fragrant.  I had half a perfectly grilled chicken with more Rosemary.  New great place to revisit!  The next day, the girls did the museum tours and I again wandered the streets and visited with my artist friend, Masri and his family.  They are closer to getting a visa to live in Dallas where he will open a studio, a gallery and teach painting.  I will take lessons from him to learn how to paint dogs and cats.  We headed for home on the train the next day by train and started the washing machine as soon as we got home.  Real life in Rome resumes…til the next adventure.

Today, we went to a fortified church. These churches were surrounded by high walls, often up a steep hillside. In case of attack, the town’s folk could go to the church and be protected. At this first fortified church we saw a little house with two rooms where couples contemplating divorce were locked into for two weeks. One bed, one table, small quarters. They worked it out – or killed someone is my guess. Food and well water would have sustained the people during a siege. At a later fortified church, apartment like housing was built for every family in the town. Even today, food is stored on the church grounds in case of a disaster. We saw Bram Stoker’s house where he lived in Transylvania. Toured a beautiful church that is under reconstruction after being burned. The town has statues of big Emus that are painted…sort of like the Pegasus statues in Dallas…or cows…is it in Chicago? At some time, the town was famous for their emu farms. I. Sorry I don’t have the names of the town’s rolling off my tongue…but Romanian is pretty unpronounceable for me…and the spelling has different letters that our alphabet doesn’t have. I will say that every Romanian town we have been in has been clean, with wide streets and beautiful parks. And flowers are everywhere. They are in gardens, pots, hanging baskets, window boxes, in and around churches. At home this time of year, all the flowers would be cooked…but this country is a-bloom! One of Romania’s biggest crops is Sunflowers. Huge fields of them all over. Now for a little Italian lesson…in Italian, sunflowers are called girasole. Gira means to turn – where the words gyroscope and gyrate comes from – and sole means sun. And, in case you don’t know, sunflowers turn to follow the sun during the day. And, when it rained, the sunflowers all bowed their heavy heads toward earth. More to come….
Will be telling you about the houses and food later.

Yesterday was a day of doing nothing.  Reading, sewing, eating stuff we bought, laundry, a nap or two.  Then last night, we went to dinner in the next town over at the Hotel Posta.  The dinner was wonderful.  I had perhaps the best grilled salmon I’ve ever eaten.  Everyone loved their dinner.  

Today, we took the boat to the town of Como…just four towns away.  We walked around and had a very good lunch at a little outdoor cafe.  I found a fabric store and didn’t find anything I wanted.  Walked around some more, bought a gift and we took the boat back.  Now we are trying to decide what place to go to eat.  Think we are going for pizza and Bill & Suzy are going to another restaurant for date night.  We are kinda tired.  Early dinner…early to bed.  

today, after coffee and cappuccino, we took the boat to Bellogio.  The lake is beautiful, with tiny towns all along the shores…each with their villas and churches with bell towers.  Everywhere there is a profusion of flowers, birds flying and ducks swimming in the lake.  Boats tied up at the shore and sailing or motoring in the water.  Our boat ride takes a couple of hours of pleasant relaxation.  In Bellagio, there are shops, restaurants and hotel entrances at dock and street level.  At several intervals along Main Street, there are flights of stairs that go up to two different levels.  We trek up to a restaurant where we ate the first time we came.  A couple of us had pasta with anchovies, one had pork in gravy and grilled veges.  Andy had a beautiful grilled fish and Suzy had a spinach soufflé with grilled veges.  After this delicious lunch, we split up and went exploring and shopping.  Went to the old church with the curious mosaic over the main altar. It depicts a man lying on the ground, surrounded by men on foot or horseback, and one man has a huge mallet raised over his head getting ready to smash the prone man’s head.  I don’t recall a Bible story of this, but it could be a local martyr or saint.  After a nice day, we re-boarded the boat back home…but we had to go one town past ours.  We caught the city bus and it dropped us off near our villa.  I stayed at the cafe and read my book while the other went home for an hour.  We met up for a pizza at dinner time.  We got a 4 cheese pizza with anchovies added.  In Rome all of the 4 cheese pizzas are white…but here in Lake Como, the add tomatoe sauce…making it a red pizza.  Both good, just different.  We went home, full and happy to our comfortable beds.  Sleeping with the windows wide open under a duvet.  Heavenly!  Loving this cool weather after the heat of Rome.  We plan on a day of relaxation at the villa tomorrow…reading, sewing, laundry and eating some of the grocery store we hauled home on Sunday.  Back when there is something of interest to report.  Ciao!

We went to a little cafe and had cappuccino then went to the little town of Cenobbia for lunch.  We had pasta with a crabmeat sauce….delicious.  Then we drove to the grocery store and loaded up.  Even after lunch and being full we bought enough for three weeks for Cox’s Army!  We are only going to be here five days!  We had drinks on the patio overlooking Lake Como and then rested a bit before dinner.  Our dinner was in a glasses in room overlooking the Lake as the sun was going down.  The service was excellent and the food divine.  Andy and I had fried lake fish and shoestring zucchini fries.  White and red trout, sardines and something else…with tartar sauce.  Suzanne had horseradish encrusted salmon with poppy seeds, Suzy had grilled asparagus with a fried egg on top and fish eggs.  Bill had a pasta.  For dessert, we shared a chocolate volcano cake with fresh berries and vanilla ice cream.  We all agreed we would eat there again.  By the way, there are 109 steps from the street to our front door.  Up and down a couple of times a day works off a few calories…I hope.  

Tomorrow we are off by ferry to Ballagio at the head of the Lake for lunch and some retail therapy…shopping!  Hoping for a pretty, sunny day like today.  Buona Notte!