Montefiascone view

It's been a while since I posted... I just got back from dinner. After school I went to a nearby town called Montefiascone with a friend. Montefiascone, which perhaps, god forbid, you've never heard of, is home to the 3rd largest dome in Italy, a monster of a dome in a rather self-important looking church atop a hill. Inside the church was a magazine for sale for 1.95 euros that said "Non c'è storia senza la Chiesa" or something to that effect. I honestly almost got it, simply for that cover. Never mind 3000 years of written history before Jesus, and thousands more years before that, never mind everything that's ever happened that actually wasn't fundamentally affected by the existence of the Church. Hah, but it was a great church. There actually was no one there, so it was eerily quiet. I couldn't help but speak in a whisper when I dared speak at all. Standing at the very center of the church under the dome was pretty intense - the dome really is huge from the inside, it seems almost bigger from there than it does from outside.

In addition to this most spectacular dome, Montefiascone boasts excellent wine. As the story goes, there was a bishop, Giovanni Defugger, who had something of a soft spot for wine. He would go from place to place tasting the wine there. Sent to precede Defugger on his travels was the king's squire himself, and this young lad labeled the wineries thus: 'est' if it was good, and 'est est' if it was really good. However when he arrived in Montefiascone the wine was so superb that he wrote 'est est est' on the door, showing Defugger that the wine was three times as good. The unlucky bishop drank so much of this good wine that he drank himself to death. His will stipulated that every year a barrel of the wine be poured onto his tomb, a practice which has unfortunately since ceased.

So Montefiascone was gorgeous and fun and all, most especially the brilliantly beautiful sunset over Lago di Balseno and the amazing view into the valley. However as we attempted to return home to Viterbo, someone pointed us to the wrong bus stop... we waited there, and as though to spite us, the very bus we wanted drove right past us in the other direction and did not stop. We ran after it for a while, until it had disappeared. By now it was pitch black out, so we asked a few shop owners where the bus stopped, and they pointed us to a stop further down the road. We waited there for the 8.00 bus, which did not appear at 8.00, because of course all the buses will be on time until the one day you really need them to be. Then, of course, they will be late. There was a random super-talkative lady at the bus stop who was Texan but lives in Italy... she asked us a little about ourselves and then spent about 30 minutes telling us what a stupid place Italy is and how we should go back home immediately. The main reason, she said, is because Italy's so expensive. Definitely, that's true. But when you think about it, I'm actually not being forced to spend that much. Admittedly, I spend way more than I should on gelato... But otherwise I get free meals three times a day, transportation is practically free now that I've mastered the technique of NEVER VALIDATING MY TICKET (good for all travel within the immediate area with my current ticket, a red one. however this could result in a heavy fine. Plan: "non speako italiano. che ticketa? che? che?" till the ticket checker becomes so frustrated that he just gives up on me and moves on rather than demand the fine). So for the most part, I haven't got it too bad when it comes to the prices here. They're actually good for me in that I don't get gelato nearly as often as I would if it were priced as cheap as in the US (as in I only get one a day, at most - it's amazing how I'm able to restrain myself); so despite what she said, I'm still so glad to be here. I think it was interesting that she's so immersed in the culture yet despises it so much. I hope I never get tired of it.

As it became later and later we began to get more and more frantic. FRANTIC!!! But at last - at last!! - the bus came (I had run through traffic to stop an earlier bus which had turned out to not even be the right one. that was embarrassing), at about 8.30, and we were at long length on the way back to Viterbo. Half an hour late to dinner, despicable especially since I was a guest and both the Italian teachers were there, but at least we made it. And we were richer for the afternoon, I think, and for meeting that woman. I want to have all the appreciation and more for this country that she is lacking.