I drank too much Tequilla last night........

"Nathie...have u ever heard the song ...I drank too much tequilla last night?"......this was Susan's first question to me as she was moaning that she didn't want to get up.....I said "no"....then she said "well the next line is....the light is shinning in my eye that is open.....and that's how I feel....the light is in my eye that is open." But then she got up and headed to the shower.

It was nice to have the extra time yesterday.....

We wake up to church bells and a siren each morning. The siren is to signal it's time to go to work...wow, not sure I'd like that rude reminder each morning.

It was very foggy this morning....we could not see ANYTHING off our balcony, but it is not cold. The fog is already beginning to lift ....wonderful.

I was first in the shower so had some extra time to get this started.....we are headed to The Dying City today ....Civita di Bagnoregio it is literally crumbling away. Then on to a family run olive mill and winery where we will have lunch. Then we will be cooking.....limoncello/biscotti and gelato day!! We will be in the kitchen at 1p our time so that is 7a EST....we are usually in the kitchen 2-3 hrs.

Chow for now..........

What a fabulous day.....and it did clear up, but not before we got to Civita. It was the MOST interesting place I have ever seen. It was foggy and rainy but that kind of added to the mystique of the city. Yes, would have been nice if it had been blue skies, but we were fine. You had to walk a narrow bridge about 1/2 mile to get to the top of the mountain that it sits on. It was so cool. There are only about 12-15 full-time residents living there now. There is a small "hotel"...more like a room to rent where you can stay if u wish. There is a church....of course, and a few shops. I think 2 restaurants and 1 coffee/gelato shop. The walls are literally falling off and down into the valley/woods below....it's just really something you need to see. Maybe the pictures will somewhat do it justice. Susan said this is something Mike and Laura would love to do. From there we went to the family owned olive mill and winery. You would never believe the process for making olive oil. We learned that extra virgin olive oil is less than 1% acidity....and olive oil should never get warm or exposed to light. Therefore, always buy olive oil in a can. This olive oil was .22% acidity...very amazing and very good. This is more for salads and dipping not really cooking, but u can do whatever u wish with it.

Their wine was also good.....finally some good white wine. AND we had some good red wine. We've been getting 6-7% alcohol this was 12-14%...woohoo!! Most of us left there feeling no pain.

So glad we had a driver!!! Lunch in the winery was awesome....cheese, cold meats, olive paste on bread, beef liver pate on bread, tomato bruschetta, and homemade jelly for the cheese. Never put jelly on cheeses before but is was very good. Then we had some cooked beans...not sure what kind but rather tasty. Dessert was ricotta cheese with honey....and we were told that sheep's milk had been in the sheep this morning, but by lunch time was in our bowl......talk about fresh!!!

This winery also gave us another bathroom adventure...we had to walk thru the shower area to get to the toilette....someone could write a book about European potty's!!

After a few purchases we were off to the villa to cook. The sun was out and it was a great afternoon. Since we were making all dessert type things, Carla and Rita fixed us Spaghetti alla Carbonara for dinner......different but good. But before dinner we had pickled pearl onions, olives, cold meats, artichoke hearts, 3 types of cheeses sliced, jelly's for cheese, bread and oil and beans. My favorite tonite was our chocolate gelato....it was amazing. OK family.....I will do an Italian nite, but you guys have to be willing to help me cook. This is excellent food, but does take much prep.

After much singing, dancing, drinking and cutting up, we headed home. Got home a bit early again as we have to have bags packed for pick up tomorrow morning since Saturday morning starts sooooooo early they need to pick up tomorrow instead. Will take a bit of thinking on our parts.

Another few notes on our Italian discoveries.....the cars here are TINY!!! because the streets are so narrow and there is NOwhere to park, there are lots of small cars. As a matter of fact we have a picture of me looking over the top of a mini VW bug......now that's small!!

And things certainly do move on Italian time....which is somewhat like island time....they'll do it when they get ready to....or maybe not at all!!!!

If you want to see pictures and hear video you can check out Culture Discovery on Facebook....we're already there!!!

Night Night.........until tomorrow, our last day in Soriano!!!