Ferrara- Continued

The three of us, Mike, Caitie and I, are sitting in the breakfast room of our convent at 4:00 PM. Mike is reading, having finally started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I recommended to him, purchased in Seattle, and carried all the way here until it was the final book in his suitcase. Now he is as enthralled with the writing and the story as I was when I read it. Caitie is taking advantage of our free internet to work on some research for a verbal presentation she has to make tomorrow. The assingment is to speak in Italian for fifteen minutes about Sicily, where here class visited recently, or Ferrara where they attend classes. She has chosen to speak about Pietro's family, her offical host family for school, and their ties to this town and region. She has some interesting anecdotes, such as telling the story of Pietro's grandfather who was a prisoner of war during WWII in an American camp. He was made to work on a farm and was paid in American dollars for doing so, which he saved and used to purchase his home here after the war. When he met Caitie, he asked her in English if she was American, which is the only remaining English language he could muster. He apparently has fond memories of his American captors.

In the restaurant adjacent to where we sit, a huge family is celebrating the university graduation of one of their family membors. It is a loud and rowdy party which everyone seems to be enjoying. There is one particular bawdy song that is traditionially sung to the graduate, and they are singing it now. Of course, only Caitie understands it.

We walked around the old town with Caitie today and ate in a small sandwich shop at the base of the castle. It is beautifully maintained as is the wall that surrounds the city. Unlike many of the other walled cities we have visited such as Lucca, this town seems to have many fewer tourists. Unlike such famous cities as Venice which have been more or less turned completely over to tourists and not local housing, the old town homes seem to be lived in by locals here. Only a few places such as our convent are accomodations for tourists. For those of you planning a visit to Italy, this is a wonderful place to see.

Tonight we have been invited to dinner with Pietro's family. I think all of us are looking forward to meeting each other, although perhaps a little worried about how the communication will go. Pietro and Caitie will be under the gun to keep the communication moving along.

Tomorrow Caitie has classes all day so Mike and I will be on our own to tour the city and to write and tell you how the dinner turns out. Stay tuned.

I posted the Lugano photos earlier, and I will post some photos of Ferrara soon.

Ciao,
Deanne