My cugina, Delia, came and picked me up at my hotel during the next two days and I enjoyed her hospitality and experienced my Italian side of the family. Her children, Sara and Daniele, were still in school, so we went down to pick them up in Asso (the town were I got off of the train). Sara went to horse riding lessons and Delia, Daniele drove around for about an hour waiting for Sara's lesson to be over. I saw lots of places that were very old, and some new buildings. This area is at the foot of the Alps, so it was usually not flat driving or walking anywhere. Very much unlike Florida.
One of the things that I noticed was many of the plants are the same as we have. I saw lots of stinging nettle, and mixed in with it, some kind of Dock (sp?). Lots of other weeds were the same. Very different from China where I often couldn't recognize a plant.
On Saturday, I went to the school so Delia could pick up Sara's and Daniele's report cards and have a conference with their respective teachers. It is the last day of school, so the kids around the school seemed very happy. Yes, it was Saturday! Children here go to school on Saturday also. Only Sunday do they have off! Sara and Daniele liked America's school week better.
When Delia was attending her conferences I walked around and found to old churches next to each other, behind the school. The big church was very dark and I didn't want to take flash pictures inside, but the little church was sunlit, so I snapped a few pictures there. Both are very beautiful and very ornate.
In the doorway of the little church there was a fresco that was very interesting. It was of skulls and one of the skulls had a snake coming out of a nostril. The area around the churches was very old, with narrow winding alleys. I took some pictures of these streets, but it was very dark and they didn't come out as well as I would have liked.
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