Friday, June 24th
During the morning, I worked on my trip report and copying my pictures onto CDs while waiting for Katia to finish work. I have this wonderful little portable CD burner (Apacer Disk Steno CP-200) that I bought to copy pictures from my digital camera cards and then burn them onto CDs. This allows me to take as more pictures without having to worry about how much room is left on my cards. Another plus is that you do not need computer access to do this. The only downfall is the weight of the CD burner which I have to carry around in my luggage. Although the CD burner says in the little window that the pictures were successfully copied, I still want to see the pictures for myself before erasing them from the cards. I have been very fortunate to be able to use both Francesco & Katia’s computers while I have been here in Italy. This machine can also be hooked up to a TV, but most of the hotel TVs do not have the slot for the cord to go into to that hooks up to the CD burner to see the pictures on the CDs. *[2005 TECHNOLOGY]*
When Katia returned from work, we went over to her school to visit the class she works in (Kindergarten age children). The children knew that I was coming to visit. They kept asking their teacher when I would arrive. At first they were very shy but eventually warmed up. They said a few words in English to me. Katia told them that I lived in a place far away. I talked to them a little in Italian and Katia translated the rest. They were very interested in the sea life and also the volcano on the Big Island. They wanted to know all about the lava. They sang two songs in English for me and then two songs in Italian for me. When it was time for their lunch, we walked around the rest of the school. The school houses children from ages one and a half to age five. It was a fun visit! I was very impressed with the school!
After we left the school, we walked around Piazza Luca Marenzio, the historical center area of Coccaglio.
Then we stopped at a wonderful pasticceria to buy some little pastries for lunch. This picture is of the pastries we had for the big family lunch on Sunday.
Katia’s mother made us this wonderful chicken that is cooked in a tomato sauce that she remembered that I loved the last time I was here. It was delicious!
In the afternoon, we went to the nearby mall to see if her friend was working at Feltrinelli’s. She was not there but we looked around anyways for a while and then went to Media World. It was a very interesting store similar to Best Buy or Circuit City but with every imaginable electronic device! I could have stayed in that store for hours! We tried to find out if they sold the itunes cards but no luck again. I have come to the conclusion that itunes and the ipods are definitely more of an American thing as neither are well know where I have been.
After returning home and doing some more research, I found out that even if I did find an itunes card in Italy, it would not have worked in the US! All that searching for nothing!! iTunes has some “rule” that you have to have a charge card issued from a bank in Italy to purchase music from the Italy store, even with a coupon or itunes card! The problem is that none of the good Italian music can be purchased from the US store… something about music rights?? To me it is another scam just like the regions on DVDs for the big corporations to make more money!
After the itunes search, we spent some time in the DVD section at Media World. I found Carabinieri (my favorite Italian show) on DVD! The problem was that it was not the beginning of the series and also it was only in Italian. I wanted to find DVDs in both Italian & English so that I could continue to practice my Italian when I return home (I have a DVD player that can play all regions). I ended up buying Chocolat. The total cost was 15 euros. No extra tax!! I liked that! After leaving Media World, we went back to Katia’s afternoon working place where we made a CD of some Disney songs in Italian.
For dinner Katia, Guido, and I went to my favorite restaurant in the area that we eat at each year when I come to visit – Agriturismo Alberelle. It was fun to see Lucca (the owner) again. We ate many different antipasti and then I had a wonderful pumpkin ravioli and some rabbit. Unfortunately no room for dessert. SO DELICIOUS and SO MUCH FOOD!!
What a wonderful way to end the day!
shave ice & gelato 