For some reason, I kept waking up this morning in increments of about every fifteen minutes since six. I guess it was meant for me to wake up instead of lying in bed. I finally got up at eight.
At around eleven, we found out that the some of us who stayed this weekend were able to go to Citta di Castello for the day. I was thrilled because I heard it was a small but dainty city.
We weren’t all quite sure at what time we were leaving until all of a sudden Dr. Webb comes in asking if we were going to go; then we all fled out the door. We ran down to the bus station for Jen and me to buy our tickets, but it was too late so Mr. John Rose let us use his and Dr. Webb’s.
Citta di Castello was a fairly close city; we got there in less than an hour. When we arrived, the first thing we always do is check the bus schedule to see when would be the right time to leave. After that, I had to go buy tickets to return to Sansepolcro for me and Mr. John Rose and Jen had to buy two tickets, for her and Dr. Webb. It was lovely to be able to speak in Italian and have the saleslady understand me.
The next thing was for us to find the Information Office. Luckily that morning, I glanced at a map of the city and had a slight clue of where it was; but to be sure, I went back to the saleslady and asked her for directions, in Italian! We arrived to the information station shortly after. We were all able to get maps of the city.
Since today was Saturday, there was a big market out in the main piazza. The market had just about everything from clothes to raw food; but for some reason, this market closed a lot later than the one in Sansepolcro.
As the market came to a close, it was time to meet up with Dr. Webb, Mr. John Rose, and Mrs. Mary Susan for lunch. On our way to meet them, we also saw Bekah and Chelsea a well; they joined us for lunch too. Our lunch was probably the first ‘Italian timed’ lunch I’ve had. All of my lunches usually last no more than an hour, but his lunch lasted almost two! After lunch, there were not many places open because of their closed hours from one to four in the afternoon. Instead, the “ragazze” walked around the city to a lovely church. This church used great accents of gold to bring out their sculptures, frames, and a few of their paintings.
In the side chapel of the church, it looked like someone just had a wedding. Everything was decorated with cal lilies and lacey ribbons. This church, or any church in Italy, would be perfect for a wedding.
The church had such great detailing in all of its frescos. There were domes after domes covered in artwork. The main dome in the church, right above the altar table, was painted with many people. The people seemed to be rejoicing in a blissful occasion. By looking at the painting as a whole, it just made me want to smile. Everyone in the fresco seemed to be connected in some way or another.
After walking around the church, we left. As we walked out the door, there was an exquisite park on the opposite side; it looked as if it was waiting for us. It was a regular ‘fun day’ in the park; I have not had one of these days since I was in grade school. It was nice to be reminded of old memories. In the center was a statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, the King of Piemonte and the King of Italy in areas where the Pope was absent. All around him were trees of great heights to cover for shade and gives the park a calm feel. We felt like little kids running around the park taking pictures. There was a wall on one of the outsides that was pretty far up. But the wall was so thick that we saw a few people sun bathing and napping on it. I would be scared to fall; but all of us jumped on the wall and took pictures. There was such a beautiful backdrop that it was hard not to take pictures.
We all left around four because Dr. Webb and Mr. John Rose had an appointment with the Belgians for tea at our palazzo. It turns out that the Belgians had stood them up; no one arrived or called.
It was getting late, so Dr. Webb and Mr. John Rose figured that the Belgians blew them off. All the girls decided to go to the cinema to watch an Italian movie!
It’s almost movie time! Ciao!


The cinema was incredible; it was named the Teatro Dante. It looked like it was from an old movie. There were four stories of ‘boxes’ for us to sit in and there were also chairs on the ground in the middle like any other theater. Everything was bright velvet red. The ceiling had an elegant chandelier in the middle of gold and crystals and all around it were painted flowers and borders. It looked like one of the theaters that you would watch black and white movies at. We were lucky to get such a perfect box. The movie was at eye level and straight ahead. There was no need to left my head up high or stick my head down low.
The movie was a cute comedic romance. We watched The Proposal in Italian! It was titled Ricatto d’Amore, which Bekah said means a love contract. The movie was just as good in Italian as it was in English. It could not have been better. I wish you all were there to see it!