"Quando piove, si riversa" - "When it rains, it pours"

Geeze, it's been a while, hasn't it? This post is really long, so top up your coffee (with Bailey's) and get comfortable!

January is almost done (Happy Birthday Dad, Happy Australia Day Oz Smiths, Southalls and Spadaros)

It has been somewhat rainy here, but that's not really what the title is about. Since we arrived in Italy, I haven't really had much to do other than enjoy the down time and take a few pictures and write the odd blog. Things have turned around a bit - between a Birth and a Birthday and Capodanno and Real Work and Computer Problems and a Houseguest, our days have been flying by!

A Birth and a Birthday and Capodanno
Terry's sister Teena finally (2 weeks late) had a baby girl - Teegan - on December 28 in Vancouver. Of course, we haven't met her yet, but we've seen some pictures of Teegan with her big brother and big sisters, and it looks like she is pretty loved, we can't wait to see her in person!
The very next day, Terry turned 35, so we went out for pizza and beer to celebrate. Instead of a cake, we had panna cotta for dessert. It is our new favourite, but doesn't hold candles too well!
On New Year's eve (capodanno), we went up to Centro to watch the fireworks from Piazza Italia, then went to our neighbour's house where we played cards (sette e mezzo - seven and a half - kind of like blackjack) and had a few drinks to celebrate.
Pictures of Terry Boy's birthday & New Year's Eve (facebook)

Real Work and Computer Problems
In early December, my boss gave me some work to do. It's work (and money) that I enjoy, so I was getting my little computer all set up to get back at it. Then I decided to see how 'tough' my little toughbook is by pitting it in a no-holds-barred match against the marble floor. The marble floor won. So my little computer spent about a month in a coma, and Meryck and I had to share a laptop - meaning that neither of us were able to work nearly as much as we should have been. I won't go into the details for fear of boring you to death, but Terry was able to fix the computer and get me back online a few weeks ago. By working some very long days, I was able to get some work done before my contact was even back from holidays. Crisis averted.
No pictures, sorry.. I could post a screenshot, or a picture of the laptop in traction.

A Houseguest
In mid January, we had our second houseguest, Sean. Terry and I have both worked with his dad at Forest Protection, and have met Sean a few times. He had a couple of weeks to kill in Italy, on his way home from Turkey. We showed him around Perugia, and took him to our favourite pubs. He and Meryck went to the 'discoteca' (night club) a couple of times, and Sean explored Perugia and Assisi on his own.

Over a round of darts at the pub one night, Sean and I decided to take a day trip to Florence. (Terry and Meryck had to stay home and work, the poor dears). By the time we had things figured out, it was about 1:30am. So after 5ish hours of sleep, we dragged ourselves to the train station and headed out. I've been to Florence before, but this time I had an agenda. (poor Sean) I wanted to see Michelangelo's David. I had seen the replica that stands outside in Piazza della Signoria, but it was partially covered for restoration. This time, it was completely covered, so we couldn't see it at all. We decided to spend the 8 euros and go into the Accademia to see the real thing. I'm not a real art connoisseur, but I have to admit that seeing the real David in person was incredible. We ignored the descriptions that told us how we were supposed to feel as we gazed upon his face, his hands, his.. ahem (you know!) Even though we're not pretentious art historians, it was pretty awe-inspiring, to say the least.

There are a lot of synonyms for the word penis, I just couldn't choose. But Florence is famous for its phalluses, so there is plenty of opportunity to whip out your favourite synonym.

Another thing I had missed doing the first time in Florence was to climb the cupola (dome) of the duomo (cathedral). The architecture of the dome is pretty interesting, and you can (for a price) climb to the top between the inner and outer dome. The stairs are very narrow and uneven in places, but it is very worthwhile. You can practically touch the frescoed ceiling, and the view of Florence is amazing.
Pictures of Florence (facebook)

On Sean's last full day here, we took him to Orvieto. This is another town nearby that we had been to before. The duomo there is my favourite so far. Because this was a return trip for us, we wanted to see the things we had missed the first time around, and we did. We parked in the town of Orvieto Scalo (which seems to mean Orvieto stopover), and took the funicolare up the hill - it seemed safer than the one we had found at Gubbio, but lacked the character, fear and hilarity. Funicolare: check! Next we walked down Pozzo di San Patrizio (St. Patrick's Well). This is a very large well that has a double helix stairway (picture a strand of DNA) - basically an 'up' and a 'down' stairwell. Seems simple? I guess you would have made a good 16th century engineer. Well: check! From the well, we hopped a bus for the very short trip to the duomo, where you can get tours of the underground caves. We arrived at 12:23, just missing the 12:15 tour. None of us were too thrilled about waiting four hours for the next tour, so we stopped in to see if the tour left late - luckily, she told us that the next English tour was at 12:30. (yay) So our guide, Deborah, led us through a few of the 1200 man-made caverns beneath the city. Some were 3000 years old, while some were dug as recently as World War 2. Over the years, many have been used as wine cellars, dovecotes, stables and olive oil mills. The erosion of the cliffs over time have left some of the caverns open to the sunlight (but fenced off). In other places, the passages between the caverns were so narrow and tight that you almost had to crawl up stairs. Underground: check! I still love Orvieto, and will definitely go back if I get the chance!
Pictures of Orvieto (facebook)

So it's been a good year so far for us, we're looking forward to more travels, more visitors, and, of course, spring!!