Made it to Panicale!

I decided to go to Panicale this weekend, even though it is the weekend right before midterms. I have been wanting to visit Elida and Guenter for a while now and I thought that this might be the only weekend I would be able to make it up here. It's nice to get away from Siena just by myself for a weekend and enjoy the feeling of a really small town. I took a bus to Chiusi this morning and the countryside that we passed was incredible. I tried to take a few pictures with my ipod, but it just doesn't capture the beauty of it all. Everything you would think of in the Italian countryside was there, but seeing it in person is so much more breathtaking. I made it to Chiusi where Elida picked me up. On our way to Panicale we made a few stops. One of them was at the butcher shop outside Chiusi. Elida knows everyone, not just in Panicale, so when we went into the butcher shop, it was like her and the workers were good friends. The drive to Panicale was also beautiful. Panicale sits on top of a hill looking out on other small towns and a beautiful lake. The road up to Panicale was very windy with lots of switchbacks. It was really cool and different than anywhere I've been in Italy. Once you get to the top of the hill, you are at the small walled part of the town. I haven't been in it, but Elida said she would take me tomorrow. Elida and Guenter live on the other side of the hill and their house faces a beautiful view of the valley and more hills. They have 100 olive trees and they line the driveway and surround their house. Their house is like a little oasis and I feel like I'm in paradise right now. Everything that is here reminds me of Italy and I definitely feel like I'm in an Italian house. It's just so cute and I love it!
They also have 4 dogs, all of which I absolutely adore. I think I've taken about 10 photos of each dog haha. One of them is a jack russell terrier whose name is Moki, which is the name of my neighbor's golden retriever. They also have a black lab, and 2 other dogs that I'm not sure which breed they are. I am definitely getting my dog time in since I haven't even really been able to pet one since I've been here.
For lunch Elida made a typical summer Italian dish. I forget what it was called, but it was roast beef with basically tuna salad on top (Elida said it was mayonnaise, which was homemade, with tuna), salad, and some vegetable that I don't know the name of. It looked like spinach, but didn't taste like it. Anyways, all of it was very good! I would have never thought of putting roast beef together with tuna salad. 
At around 6pm we went to drop Elida's car off at a repair shop and then went to get gelato nearby. This caffe had made their first batch of gelato today. It was the beginning of the season for gelato for them, so we decided to try it out. I got nutella and I completely forget what the name of the other kind was. But both were delicious! We got home and Elida started to make some crackers. She had already made the dough for it so she just had to roll it out, cut them, and bake them. She just makes everything from scratch and it's all really good food. For dinner we had lasagna and green beans. Delicious! I want all of her recipes :) Can't wait to see what's in store for tomorrow!