Thanksgiving Italiano

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which means that in Italy it was Thursday! Truly an American holiday that was hard to feel over here. Given the day off from school and the lack of any Italian holiday we decided to do a day trip to the town of Orvieto. Daniel, (my brother for those of you that may not know), has friends that lived in Rome for a couple of years and recommended Orvieto and Spoleto as two relatively close and easily accessible hill towns to visit. So based on the forecast, we decided to do Orvieto on Thanksgiving and Spoleto on Saturday (tomorrow).

After a long week and day yesterday, we opted for a lazy morning today, so I am catching up on my blogging and laundry (now that our washing machine is finally working again - hoorah!!), before heading down to the B&B.

I'm not entirely sure what all to say about yesterday though, so I'll keep it brief and let you explore the pictures. Orvieto is divided between the new town, where the train arrives, and old town, the real attraction up on the hill. Once off the train you actually have to take the Funicular up to the top of the hill - kind of cool. We really just strolled through town on our way to the Duomo, the town's main attraction.

It is a very cute, little hill town and I am grateful to have been able to spend the day there with my parents, but I do have to say that it had a very similar feel and look to just about every other small town I've been to in Italy so far. I don't say this as necessarily a bad thing, but a mere observation that, so far, I have not seen a whole lot of distinction between rural landscapes.

But I digress. The Duomo was incredible! Crazy impressive. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside, so you'll just have to take my word for the fact that the interior is, maybe not quite as grand as the facade, but a sight to see nonetheless.

After a brief stop for lunch, Mom and I wanted to shop, so we really just poked around town exploring the streets and myriad of ceramic shops. Apparently, in conjunction with the Duomo and Classico wine, Orvieto is known for its ceramics. Mom made a few purchases along the way, and I almost bought her Christmas present, but alas the shop was unable to supply the gift in its entirety - oh well.





















We made it back to Roma by about 5p and headed back to the B&B before walking to my apartment for dinner. After a brief stop at Dem, the grocery store across the street from my apartment, I made a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner of my pasta specialty - like I said before, not terribly Thanksgiving-y. With that said, it was delicious. And to make the holiday complete, we were able to Skype with D after dinner and revel in the dreary PNW weather - don't envy that!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, whatever form it may have taken. Mine may have been far from traditional, but it will definitely be one to remember. While I try to keep focus and take stock regularly, yesterday was after all about giving thanks. So I will reiterate my immense love and gratitude for all of my family and friends, whether newly found in Italy or the oldest of friends back home - I hope you know how much I love you all, what you mean to me, and that I would not be where or who I am without each and every one of you. And, of course, I cannot let this year pass without expressing my thanks for the opportunities that it has afforded me - kicking off my senior year in Italy, don't think it gets much better!!

I can't wait to see everyone when I get home next month, but in the meantime...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!