Friday, April 20, 2007

First day in Lecce, Italy..Euro2006(05.23.06)

We drove into Lecce (LE-CHE) that afternoon to walk around and have some lunch. Lecce is a beautiful town and Alberto gave us a nice tour. We saw an old monistary, walked by a sunken amphitheater that we were told is still used for concerts (cool), then ate lunch at a restaurant owned by some friends of his.

For those of you who weren't aware, Yoda is a delicacy in Italy and I highly recommend it.

Every single meal I had in Italy was fabulous. When in Italy, you can't be afraid to take menu suggestions and try new things. I'm so glad I did! I do wish I could remember the names of all the different Italian meals we tried. I'll have to think about that and add some menu items to my entries. That's the downside of my putting off writing about this trip for an entire year. Never do this!! Write down everything you eat, see, and do because you won't remember!

Naturally, my picture with Alberto is overpowered by the back hoe and I probably should have thought twice about the rock star shades, but whatever.

After lunch, we went to the first of three beaches we would see that week.


This picture is actually of a Range Rover. Emily shrunk it using her mind bending power and the crushing force of her thumb and index finger.
Actually, this was the first Smart Car I'd ever seen. It's so tiny!! After touring cities in Italy (especially Rome) I understood the value of a Smart Car. And the Italians are masters of parallel parking. Impressive, really...

Before we left for Europe, we kept being told to make sure we brought lots of sunscreen because the sun in Italy would be much stronger and harsher than we were used to. Alberto told us that several times on the way there. So, Emily and I made sure to lotion up that first day. It was a beautiful day, later in the afternoon, sun shining...Emily and I didn't get any tan at all thanks to the 45proof sunscreen we slathered on, and Alberto's the one who ended up getting sunburned. We found that somewhat amusing.

And anyway, that's what he gets for wearing a speedo.

The beach was, of course, beautiful. Alberto knew Luca, the guy who owned the beach (yes, you read that correctly) and Luca is also a good friend of Emily's boyfriend so we were well taken care of and spent the day sunbathing (not tanning), and had a great time hanging out at the hut drinking mohitos!!

By the way, that tiny little dot in the distance in the very center of the picture is a cruiseship.

That evening, Alberto took us on base to eat pizza at the pilots' restaurant/bar. We met a lot of Alberto's friends, had a few beers, then went back to the apartment to rest up for our next day at the next beach!! And I feel that it is important to note that while getting ready to go to dinner that night.... my Chi blew out. Devastating.

Meanwhile back at home: I have two pet ducks in my yard (Hazel and Pita). Turns out Hazel is a boy, but anyway, one of Pita's eggs hatched the day I left on my trip. When Josh got home from the airport, he found a little duckling running down the alley. He chased it down, built a little pen for the baby duck and got it some baby duck food. He even named it Murray. He said Murray had spunk. Unfortunately, he came home from work a few days later and Murray had died (actually he said something got him). But I appreciated him so much for doing everything he could to keep it safe. Mom said she'd come over to check on the baby duck too. Also I had two dogs, Frankie and Honey who my mom graciously let live at her house until Josh and I get a house with a yard. A couple of weeks into my trip, my dog Honey passed away. She was a good dog, and a good mama dog. She and Frankie had puppies together. It was really sad, and it was really hard on Josh and my mom, and on me being so far away. I feel like I owe so much to my family for taking care of my pets and loving them for me while I was gone. My mom and Josh did an excellant job.

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