Have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!

I am not too crazy about Halloween...BUT I do love to celebrate every holiday! Meredith and I relived our Disney Channel days and watched Hocus Pocus via YouTube! We sang along to Monster Mash, Ghost Busters, This is Halloween, Thriller, Addams Family Theme Song, Purple People Eaters, and Thriller!!! I don't think my Italian teacher was too crazy about me passing my Halloween candy around during class...whoops!  Although, he calmed down after he tried some for the first time and decided he liked them. We also shared our Halloween delights with our host family. As a group we made banana bread and when we first told our parents that made banana bread they thought we were crazy! Then they tried it and fell in love. Angela even asked for the recipe and Viviano said each time they make it in the future he will think of us. They are precious.

So it was no ward Halloween party our dressing up for school or trick or treating but it was still a festive day!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all! I definitely missed having this holiday with my family! 

Firenze...Florence

This last weekend I discovered one of my favorite cities in the world. Florence. We went to the Cathedral and saw Brunelleschi's famous dome. It was another moment where I was asking myself, "Is this real life?" It felt so surreal.

We walked up 400+ steps to get to the lookout

The steps started to slant and the walls started curving around us because we were inside the dome.

 Fun dome facts. Apparently the wall is 13 feet thick. When they were building the dome they had mini kitchens so they could just stay high in the dome to eat. They used a herring bone technique to lay the bricks.

It was super windy and I was struggling to get a picture where my hair wasn't attacking me. This is the best one.

Florence has spectacular shopping!

I definitely have a cameo obsession!

This atmosphere was picturesque.

We went to the opera, "Marriage of Figaro!"

Pictures were not allowed but I tried to snap a pic to remember the moment.

We slept in tents. It was character building.

Northern Italy

 We made a little trip to Northern Italy. The first city we toured was Genoa. While there we walked around a bit. It was interesting to see how the streets and shops are very different from those in Siena; even the accent is quite different. We met up with another BYU professor who had served his mission in this area. He took us around the area and told us some of our church's history in Italy; which really isn't much but a bit. We saw Genoa's beautiful cathedral where Lorenzo Snow first came when he was called to serve in Italy. As we were walking down the street he would point out these buildings that were palaces. They were gigantic and stunning. 

Wives are really good camera stands.

The entry way of a castle

 After we had our fill of Genoa we headed off to a little area called Piede Monte; which translates to foot of the mountain. It is quite literally right at the base of the mountain. The air was fresh and quite brisk. It was refreshing to be in a different atmosphere. Back to the church history lesson: The mountain peak you can see in the picture below is called Mount Brigham. Lorenzo and fellow missionaries dedicated Italy to missionary work in 1850 here.

The darling hotel we stayed in while in Piede Monte

 The next day we went on a tour to learn more about the area and it's history. It was first settled by the Waldesians. They are a religious group that fled for protection. We hiked high into the mountains and saw little villages and old schools. It was a chilly day but very beautiful!

This is our group when an attractive Italian man is our tour guide. funny.

 We ended our tour in Turin. This is the Basilica di Superga in Torino. It is absolutely amazing and because it is on a hill there is a spectacular 360 view of Torino. There is also a monastery in the basement; which we stayed in over night! The whole place was unlocked and just begging to be explored! It is a museum/church/monastery/everything cool and desirable to explore late at night.

Meredith quite often stands in first position and this particular day was teaching the group about first position. This adorable Italian woman was behind us watching and imitating Mere. Once we noticed her she busted out spontaneously dancing! Obviously I loved her and had to photograph the moment!

We slept in cubicles.

 

sneaking around. avoiding monks. scaring friends. such a thrill.