Hotel Armando'S Sulmona

... had been in was in Fonte d’amore, a village close to Sulmona. We found what looked like a disused prison, owned by the military, and decided it is most likely to have remained a prison of some sort since the war, but noone could tell us for sure. There is an unusual locked church (Ave Regina Angelorum) in neighbouring Badia that was surrounded by barbed wire and had artillery shells for flower pots. Strange.

Monday night I finally had to break down and pay for laundry. I wasn't able to do it myself at my hostel and after two days of sweating all over Rome, it needed to be done. I was going to go out that night, but between the heat and a couple people getting up in my face, I was totally exhausted and slightly homicidal. Bed was a good thing. Tuesday morning I woke early to get a head start on packing my things and getting prepared to go to the farm stay. I have come to ...

... reflecting on the importance of "keeping your head" and remaining calm... eating pizza at a local restaurant... eating fruit from the trees and orchards surrounding the farm... figs, apricots, apples, plums and pears... spending time lazing about... soaking in the fresh air... and conversations with other farm stay guests... learning about their home countries of Trinidad, Brazil, Austria, New Zealand and France... watching the ...

I had only two chances to go skiing while I was in Italy but I was so happy I got to go and also to be able to start getting the hang of snowboarding at last. The first day I went with Gianluca and Francesca to Ovindoli and decided to go skiing which I picked up again quite quickly thankfully...WITHOUT tearing a cruciate ligament in the process!! There weren't that many ski runs in my opinion so it was a little ...

Hello everyone, A new week, and so a new summer camp. I'm now in Ravenna, in another small town called San Pietro in Vincoli. There's not too much to say right now; the camp is gong well, the kids are good, the town is nice, and the scenery is beautiful. I'm only allowed ten minutes of internet on the staff computer, so any more news than that will have to wait. Ciao.

... decided we would reminisce our teenage years and go play video games and pool whilst drinking beer, just like many of us did when we would ditch school. We thought it'd be fun to get a little wasted before getting on the plane. And it was fun....it was very fun. We played a car racing video game and I kicked all the boy's asses to their amazement. It was so fun that when it was time to leave the world would not stop ...

... seen. We passed the old Lanciano prison which according to Giovanni, is now used for private parties and events. We walked along the city walls overlooking the green Italian hills I had fallen in love with. The little houses that overlooked this view were sure lucky, and Giovanni mentioned that they were also very expensive to either rent or buy. If you looked hard enough you could see the snowy peaks of the far away ...

... and savoring the spicy plumes of tomato and chilli with red peppers and large plum peas. I noticed Giovanni Sr. wasn't using any oil in his pasta sauce which I thought was curious, so I asked and he said that because of his liver transplant he could not eat oily foods so he simply cooked with water. I was astonished that a dish cooked with water could smell so incredibly rich and full. Double the ...

... the woman who helped us the day before. She found the key to the archives and gave it to us, we ran up grabbed the two old books, came back down and the three of us started making copies of anything that had a bookmark from the day before. The books are huge and awkward and the printouts are definatley a weird size. But I am very happy to finally receive some (any) info!!!! Afterwards we thanked the guard and hit the road ...

We decided to ditch the beach and head to the mountains until the water cleared up a bit. After a run on the beach and a very interesting outdoor shower using our 'Solar' camping shower for the first time, basically a black plastic water container with a spout at one end which you hang up and let gravity work its ...