Past two weeks....

So, after Paris, we've been in Ariccia for the past two weeks. We have been all over Italy again, and finally made our trip (last Thursday) to the Vatican City. Susanna, who is one of the historians at the Palazzo Chigi, was our tour guide for the day. One of the great things about our teachers, who have become our friends, are our tour guides. Also, since they live and work in Ariccia and Rome, they have connections all over the city. One of Susanna's friends is a restorer in the Vatican and he was working on an ancient mosaic. We got to go behind the scenes and see them working on the intricate design to preserve the original tiles. We met the restorer and got to watch his tedious work as he chiseled the tiny replacement tiles into the exact shape so they would fit exactly in the tiny missing spot of the mosaic.

We also had the privilidge of having Marco, who is a WW2 expert because he lived here through it all, take us to Anzio to see where the allied forces landed.

There is a beautiful United States cemetery that we visited, it was pouring down rain, but we still among the thousands of white marble crosses looking at all of the names. It felt so good to see the American flag flying.

We made our way to Frascati for lunch, and tried to buy some wine but everything was closed. (In Italy, most small towns close for one day out of the week, and they are all also closed on Sunday).
Today was the best day of the past two weeks. We visited a local olive harvesting farm just about ten minutes away. They don't just harvest their own olives, but the locals bring their olives there and pay them to press it (hot or cold press) into oil. We got to go into the olive orchard and see the ladies stripping the olives from the trees with their little hand held plastic rakes (they looked like toys we used to play with in the sandbox). They even let us pick some! They drag large net tarps underneath each tree to gather the olives.

Afterwards, we went into a large warehouse where they were putting the olives into large vats, separating them into different crates based on how ripe they were, then pouring them into a crusher, then to the presser, etc....
The fresh oil is BRIGHT green, and so much lighter than the oil we are used to buying in the states. Also, the unfiltered oil (which tastes the best) is very cloudy, and we were able to buy some (which we weren't expecting, since it wasn't a retail place). They best part was the bruschetta they had for us at the end. They toast their bread over an open fire, then pour the fresh oil over the bread. We tasted the oil from the hot press and the cold press, I liked the cold press most. It was such a neat experience, unbelievable everyday life for these people.

Tomorrow we are headed to Venice for the weekend!! I'll be home in 3 weeks and a day!!!