Religious Fraud Exposed

Thursday. It was two weeks ago today that we left Portland for Italy. It feels like we’ve been away for a month already and we are only at the half way point! Woke up to a little drizzle today, reminded us of Oregon weather, so not sure if that remedied my homesickness or enhanced it! We had contemplated going to Pisa and Lucca today, but we didn’t get moving early enough so we decided to stay in Volterra for the day and catch our breath. Spent a couple of hours in our little Internet café where we got our engines running and I was able to do some blog posts and check my e-mails.

We meandered around an area of Volterra we hadn’t yet visited and discovered an organic market! That sold tofu! Well, hallelujah, finally!

Shortly after discovering the organic market we found a little self-serve ristorante and in peeking through the windows I saw plates with green beans and carrots: VEGETABLES! We scampered in and I was able to get a bowl of rice (white, not brown, of course), a smattering of red sauce, and a large plate of beans and carrots. The vegetables were mushy, but I relished every bite!

During our wandering, we found yet another little church nestled down a wonderful little “snickerway,” as Gretchin calls the streets. Howard took a photo of the Virgin Mary with her lit up halo (I’m in search of such a virgin), but spoiled the whole thing by going around behind her and snapping a photo of the amateurish wiring up her back! The lights were a trick! Italy’s religious relics are all a Disneyland scheme! We’ve been deceived . . . . seriously, it was difficult seeing the wires tapped into her back, but a necessary evil to get the beautiful starry glow on her halo. I really would like to find a light-up Virgin Mary for home.

The best find of the day was an underground tunnel that led to outside of the city’s wall, spitting us out near the Roman ruins. What made the walkway fantastic was the graffiti written from top to bottom all along the sides. Now, I’ve been snapping unusual and creative graffiti since we landed in Rome and one day soon I will post a plethora of words and images, but for now, just a taste of the underground walkway:

Our dogs were tired by this time, so we went to one of our favorite little cappuccino places :

Then Howard stopped in at a little market for some meat and cheese:

Then to the COOP supermarket for dinner and breakfast supplies:



And then home for the evening. On the menu for our supper? Scrambled eggs with red pepper, spinanci, and a bit of fromaggio.





Right at dusk, we “broke” back into our abandoned house in search of more broken glass. To get in, Howard held back a metal fence with sharp, pointed barbs sticking out along the edge. He reminded me, as he was holding the fence slightly open, that if I got stuck or fell, he couldn’t help me. We got in and retrieved some pieces of glass, Howard breaking off the very sharp ends, and snuck back to our apartment. We were in bed and reading by 7:00 p.m.

For the record, we are sure missing our friends Dave and Vicki, who we had originally planned to make this trip with.