This morning I finally made my own breakfast in my own apartment. I tried the pear yogurt that I bought a few days ago, and it was delicious! I also made coffee with my mocha pot and had some bread and jelly. How euro! Unfortunately, the bread is pretty stale. I bought it from the bakery mid-week and it is hard as a rock by now. It’s not that bad though…with jelly on it, it’s kind of like a tartine. After breakfast I rushed to the piazza for the walk led by John Caputo.
We walked around some new part of Cagli for me, like the basketball court and a lot of well-known shops. We walked by the ceramic store where the woman does hand painted ceramic pieces. Really cool…I need to find something to bring back with me. We also went by a lot of the local food markets—non grocery store. I really want to cook at least one meal using ONLY ingredients from the local stores. I think if I did that too much it might get kind of expensive, but at least once it will be so worth it! The grocery stores are still good, though—especially the smaller one. Their meat looks incredibly fresh, and the fruits and vegetables do too. We walked all the way down to the big grocery store, which was kind of a waste of my time, but oh well. Then we walked all the back through Cagli and up into the mountains to visit the Cappuccini monastery. Apparently, it is for this particular order that the cappuccino is named because of the similarities of the monks’ hair and the foam on top of the cappuccino. It was beautiful at the monastery and I think we’re planning to go back soon.
There were some great views of the mountains, New Cagli, and sort of Old Cagli. After the monastery we came all the way back down the mountain and about a mile up the highway to go visit the waterfall. It was pretty cool and I climbed all the way down to go check it out and dip my feet in. Much to my thrilling surprise, there is—wait for it—CLIMBABLE ROCK down there! I’m excited to try out some nice looking “shallow-water bouldering problems” when I go back tomorrow. If you see pictures it looks a little chossy (like Rifle) but the rock seems solid from what I can tell. It’s could be limestone? It’s kind of slick, but very featured—kind of blocky. There’s a pretty awesome free standing boulder in the middle of the river with an overhanging section, so that’s what I’m going to be playing on tomorrow.
Can’t wait! After our “one hour” walk (actually 3 and ½), I ran back to my apartment and ate lunch quickly so I could make my Skype dates with my parents and JJ. It was nice to talk to them—especially because it seems like most people have talked with their friends and family a lot more. It’s going to ridiculous to try to explain this trip to people when I get back and all is said and done. Anyway, after Skype I went to the wine tasting at Alimentaire. It was so fun! We tried two whites and three reds—all of which were region specific. Most people had a couple they didn’t like but I enjoyed them all. They were all very different. My favorites were two of the reds—Lacrima di Morro (Tears of the Moore), which was the most interesting wine I have ever tasted, and the Rosso Conero, which was fairly sweet. The Lacrima had a very floral taste similar to lilac and finished with a hint of black licorice, and the Conero was more like…some sort of baked good. It very much reminded me of cupcake frosting or something. There was also food between each wine to cleanse the palate and everything was awesome. There was some bruschetta (brew-SKEH-tah) between two wines that was really awesome, some Peccarino cheese, which I believe is region specific, that was awesome. We’re going back on Wednesday night for a cheese tasting. Yummm! I can’t wait!
After the wine tasting, we shopped for a little and hung out before dinner. We went to dinner at the same pizza place from a few nights ago, but we were finally allowed to order something besides pizza! Man, I am SICK of pizza. It’s good an all, but I just want to try some new foods. Charlotte and I split two pasta dishes—penne all’arribiata and ravioli di ragù. Both were very different and both good in their own ways. This place is clearly not super awesome, but still good. The freshness of the pasta is the most clear difference from American Italian food—not too mention there are a lot more ways to prepare pasta than spaghetti and fettucini alfredo. Victoria and I also had some wine and in one afternoon, I think we turned into wine snobs. The table wine at the restaurant tasted TERRIBLE compared to the tasting earlier. At any rate, Charlotte and I went to Seven’s (Caffé del Corso) for a bit after dinner to attempt bonding with other members of the program, but I’m not really sure how well it worked. We didn’t stay for very long because they were all going to the discoteca anyway. Before we went to Seven’s, we saw Romano and he asked us sarcastically if we were going to the discoteca and when we said maybe, he got very worried and told us that it was dangerous and we should be careful. I trust Romano, so that solidified my decision not to go. He’s kind of like my Italian grandfather. He looks out for us. It sounds pretty much like a meat market, which is Seven’s times a thousand. No thanks. We decided we will go to the discoteca when the one in New Cagli reopens so that we are close enough to walk home. Anyway, a few of us hung out at Caffé d’Italia for a little bit and had some caffé corecto, which is espresso with a little bit of liquor for flavor. Very tasty! Charlotte, Matt, Kevin and I ran into Jackie and Claudia when we were leaving Caffé d’Italia and decided to check out Caffé di Teatro (Theater Café), which is next to my apartment about a block off the piazza. It was cool, but I think I still prefer Caffé d’Italia’s nightlife. By the time we were done there, it was about 2:30 in the morning and very much time for bed. Tomorrow we go back to the waterfall!
We walked around some new part of Cagli for me, like the basketball court and a lot of well-known shops. We walked by the ceramic store where the woman does hand painted ceramic pieces. Really cool…I need to find something to bring back with me. We also went by a lot of the local food markets—non grocery store. I really want to cook at least one meal using ONLY ingredients from the local stores. I think if I did that too much it might get kind of expensive, but at least once it will be so worth it! The grocery stores are still good, though—especially the smaller one. Their meat looks incredibly fresh, and the fruits and vegetables do too. We walked all the way down to the big grocery store, which was kind of a waste of my time, but oh well. Then we walked all the back through Cagli and up into the mountains to visit the Cappuccini monastery. Apparently, it is for this particular order that the cappuccino is named because of the similarities of the monks’ hair and the foam on top of the cappuccino. It was beautiful at the monastery and I think we’re planning to go back soon. 
There were some great views of the mountains, New Cagli, and sort of Old Cagli. After the monastery we came all the way back down the mountain and about a mile up the highway to go visit the waterfall. It was pretty cool and I climbed all the way down to go check it out and dip my feet in. Much to my thrilling surprise, there is—wait for it—CLIMBABLE ROCK down there! I’m excited to try out some nice looking “shallow-water bouldering problems” when I go back tomorrow. If you see pictures it looks a little chossy (like Rifle) but the rock seems solid from what I can tell. It’s could be limestone? It’s kind of slick, but very featured—kind of blocky. There’s a pretty awesome free standing boulder in the middle of the river with an overhanging section, so that’s what I’m going to be playing on tomorrow. 
Can’t wait! After our “one hour” walk (actually 3 and ½), I ran back to my apartment and ate lunch quickly so I could make my Skype dates with my parents and JJ. It was nice to talk to them—especially because it seems like most people have talked with their friends and family a lot more. It’s going to ridiculous to try to explain this trip to people when I get back and all is said and done. Anyway, after Skype I went to the wine tasting at Alimentaire. It was so fun! We tried two whites and three reds—all of which were region specific. Most people had a couple they didn’t like but I enjoyed them all. They were all very different. My favorites were two of the reds—Lacrima di Morro (Tears of the Moore), which was the most interesting wine I have ever tasted, and the Rosso Conero, which was fairly sweet. The Lacrima had a very floral taste similar to lilac and finished with a hint of black licorice, and the Conero was more like…some sort of baked good. It very much reminded me of cupcake frosting or something. There was also food between each wine to cleanse the palate and everything was awesome. There was some bruschetta (brew-SKEH-tah) between two wines that was really awesome, some Peccarino cheese, which I believe is region specific, that was awesome. We’re going back on Wednesday night for a cheese tasting. Yummm! I can’t wait! 
After the wine tasting, we shopped for a little and hung out before dinner. We went to dinner at the same pizza place from a few nights ago, but we were finally allowed to order something besides pizza! Man, I am SICK of pizza. It’s good an all, but I just want to try some new foods. Charlotte and I split two pasta dishes—penne all’arribiata and ravioli di ragù. Both were very different and both good in their own ways. This place is clearly not super awesome, but still good. The freshness of the pasta is the most clear difference from American Italian food—not too mention there are a lot more ways to prepare pasta than spaghetti and fettucini alfredo. Victoria and I also had some wine and in one afternoon, I think we turned into wine snobs. The table wine at the restaurant tasted TERRIBLE compared to the tasting earlier. At any rate, Charlotte and I went to Seven’s (Caffé del Corso) for a bit after dinner to attempt bonding with other members of the program, but I’m not really sure how well it worked. We didn’t stay for very long because they were all going to the discoteca anyway. Before we went to Seven’s, we saw Romano and he asked us sarcastically if we were going to the discoteca and when we said maybe, he got very worried and told us that it was dangerous and we should be careful. I trust Romano, so that solidified my decision not to go. He’s kind of like my Italian grandfather. He looks out for us. It sounds pretty much like a meat market, which is Seven’s times a thousand. No thanks. We decided we will go to the discoteca when the one in New Cagli reopens so that we are close enough to walk home. Anyway, a few of us hung out at Caffé d’Italia for a little bit and had some caffé corecto, which is espresso with a little bit of liquor for flavor. Very tasty! Charlotte, Matt, Kevin and I ran into Jackie and Claudia when we were leaving Caffé d’Italia and decided to check out Caffé di Teatro (Theater Café), which is next to my apartment about a block off the piazza. It was cool, but I think I still prefer Caffé d’Italia’s nightlife. By the time we were done there, it was about 2:30 in the morning and very much time for bed. Tomorrow we go back to the waterfall!
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