Tour Guide

We were slow to get up and out, but that was fine by me!  I knew that Christy and Caroline were going to be a bit tired and perhaps a bit jet lagged.  We ate breakfast, took showers, got dressed, and headed out to walk.  We walked slowly and I gave them the "tour" of Cosenza.  By the time we reached the Corso, it was around 11, and I suggested gelato because I knew that it would be a while before we made it back to the apartment for lunch.  We went to the place that told me the other day that they had quite a few gluten free ones, which made me happy because then Christy had quite a few to choose from; I felt bad though that Caroline only had 2 dairy free ones to choose from!  I tried a new flavor that had crushed up cannolis in it; it was good, but not my favorite. 

So then we walked the length of the corso and at the Commune, there was some sort of ceremony or something going on.  THere were children dressed in different costumes, and I finally figured out that it had something to do with recycling.  Does this mean that Cosenza has finally decided to start a REAL recycling program?!?! Good, I can remove all of the plastic bottles from the top of my refrigerator!  Anyway, the children were dressed in costumes and were taking turns going into the center to dance and sing.  It seemed a bit unorganized, and I never really grasped the full meaning behind what they were doing, but the children did look cute in their homemade costumes. 

 

 We made our way across the bridge and to the historical center.  We went inside the Duomo, and then I took them to show them the ruins that had been covered up.  Then the idea struck me to take them to the library that I had been wanting to see and had not seen yet.  So, we went in and I asked if we could look around.  They had us sign these things saying who we were and where we were from first.  WHen they saw that I was living in Cosenza, they got excited.  They had a guy come to give us a tour.  They were really sweet asking questions about why i was here, etc. etc.  Then the guy said that he understood a little bit of English, but I would have to translate for Christy and Caroline.  I told him that this would be just fine as long as he promised to speak slowly.  He said that he understood because that is how he felt about English.  So, with that we started the tour. 

It was a really nice library!  It is of course in an old building that I thought was quite beautiful  He first showed us some ruins that were before Christ, and they have preserved them in the library (and they are connected to the ones outside). 

 

 

He wanted to show us some books that pre-dated the Gutenberg, but they had been taken off display.  He took us to a few rooms where you could come to study, and then a computer room.  He also showed us a music room that I think Nick would LOVE!  There were also some great views from some of the windows.  

 

 

I really enjoyed seeing the library, and they told me that I could come back anytime to study!  I think I will take them up on this at some point. 

After the library, we walked up the the theatre, and thankfully nothing was going on, so they let us look around.  I do LOVE this theatre.  It is so beautiful and so different from anything we have in the U.S. 

After this, we walked back to my apartment, and ate the lunch that we had clearly earned at this point from all of the walking.  We had my favorite lunch: turkey, mozzarella, tomato, bread, and olive oil.  After lunch we rested and slept some. 

After this, they showered and we got dressed to go walk around for passeggiata time.  We just walked the Corso, went to the chocolate/tea/wine shop and Christy bought herself some gluten free Venchi chocolate!  It was a simple, yet nice evening.  I saw a few of my students and gave them hugs and kisses. 

We came back, spent some time talking, and ate a small dinner (basically just a little bit of pasta).  We had another bottle of wine that we bought at the grocery store earlier.  We just spent the evening talking and trying to figure out how to get them to the train station tomorrow morning.  Valeria had called a cab for us, but then Francisco called and said that he could take us.  So, Valeria cancelled and I was just so grateful that she had done all of this for me. 

So with that, we went to bed knowing that we had an early morning on Sunday!