That was what Guenter said to me one night. Apparently it is a German saying, but it could just be a Guenter saying. Anyways, the rest of my time in Panicale was wonderful. Saturday morning Elida made what she called a cowboy breakfast - eggs, beans and toast. Anything Elida makes is wonderful! I ate so much this weekend that I think I will need to get my fair share of exercise in this week. After breakfast, I went with Elida to her friends house to open up her green house and water the plants. Their house from the outside was so cool! There were two sections of the green house, one smaller than the other. The smaller section had a wooden rocking chair, a rocking bench type thing, and a little area where she could put tea and something to eat. It was really cute! In the bigger section there were tons of different kinds of plants. There were citrus trees, and anything ranging from tomatoes to cosmos. Outside the green house there were some strawberries and roses. I walked around their property a bit and discovered a pergola (I think that's what they're called) which I absolutely loved! It fit so well with the feel of their house and it was really cute. After we were done watering the plants, we went into the walled part of Panicale. It's pretty small, but quaint and adorable. Elida took me to meet one of her friends that runs the bar/caffe in town. All the people that came in were very nice and friendly and a couple of them even started talking to me a bit in Italian. Elida then showed me around the rest of the town and we walked by all three of the restaurants that are within 50 feet of each other. Elida is banned from one of them, but so is about 90% of Panicale. She showed me where her mom's house is that she lived in when she was in Panicale for about 1 1/2 -2 years. We made it back home and I read a little of my book (Juliet) and walked around their property for a bit taking pictures. I couldn't get enough of it and absolutely loved every minute of it. I felt like I was at my home away from home. I also loved all of their dogs and was playing with them quite a bit. I definitely got my share of dogs while I was there, which was great. I helped/talked to Elida while she was making her homemade crackers and lemon meringue pie. I made sure I watched her make all of the food, so that I could try to make it once I get home. A couple of people came over from dinner. They are from Maine and we bonded a bit over how we are so used to cold weather in March and that we couldn't complain about the nice weather we were experiencing in Italy. They were very nice and I enjoyed listening to them chat with Elida and Guenter about some of their friends and other people in town. Elida makes friends so easily that some of the stories she has are comical to listen to. For dinner, we had chicken that was boiled with some vegetables - kind of like a chicken soup - and artichokes. Everything was of course delicious! And then for dessert, we had the lemon meringue pie. Now, before then I had never had that before, but Elida definitely turned me onto it. I absolutely love it! Dad, you're going to have to get her pie crust recipe because it is great!
This morning Elida made waffles and she had some real Vermont maple syrup to have with them. Made me feel like I was at home. It was something that I couldn't make in my apartment, so it was definitely a treat. I studied a bit for one of my midterms before we went back over to her friend's house to open up the doors of the green house again. When we came back I bet you can guess what I did. Yup, played with the dogs. I was usually either with the dogs outside, or with Elida in the kitchen. However, I tried to focus myself on studying for a bit of time, which I did. I did some color coding and managed to get a chunk of studying done. I'm not sure how much I actually know, but I still have time tomorrow to really crank out the studying. I was fortunate to skype my dad, which was really nice. He got to talk to Elida and Guenter a bit and it was really nice to be able to have the four of us talking. Elida had grilled some eggplant, peppers, and sausage for lunch and it was delicioso! Mi piace molto! Elida was extremely nice and thoughtful and had made me some sausage and artichokes to bring back to Siena. She also gave me the leftover eggplant and peppers that we had for lunch. On top of that she had made some bread and gave me BOTH of the loaves she had made! I was blown away. Thank you sooooooo much Elida for everything and all the food you cooked for me! :) And thank you Guenter for the laughs!
I have to say watching Elida and Guenter interact with each other is so sweet! You can tell that they really love each other. They both joke around with each other and they just seem so perfect together. They each had little remarks that they would say to each other, as any married couple would. Elida always called Guenter either "amor" or "amorcito" (love, or little love). I thought it was adorable and loved it. You can't help but smile when you're with them and they will always make you laugh. I am so glad that I was able to visit them and I will definitely be making another trip to Panicale while I'm here. :)
Hope you all have sweet dreams of sour pickles :)
RIP U. Dave. Hopefully a part of you is traveling with me and experiencing what you didn't have the chance to see. <3
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