Day Three

Today it seemed that the GSE trip really started. This morning Tara and I had a vocational visit together. We went to Istituto Tecnico Commerciale “Leonardo Da Vinci.”  While there we met Flavia - a wonderful English teacher who had her students prepare a short presentation for us about their school.

This is a technical school for business and there are three areas of study: Marketing, Information Technology and Language. The students pick an area of study when they enter high school (7th grade) and only study the theories of this subject area. They don’t study the liberal arts such as science, math, history or any other traditional subjects

After our vocational visits we enjoyed lunch at a local wine bar owned and operated by three women, which was a big deal to our driver. We enjoyed a first course of gnocchi and orechiette and a last course of veal, cooked similar to roast beef.  The Italians eat very large meals.... Tara will be posting more about food since she is the expert!

gnocchi- by far the best thing I've had so far

Plazzo Ghilini, is a castle built in the 18th century that includes artifacts dating back to the 13th century.

Currently the castle houses the offices of the President of the Province and also the council chambers for the Province; it would be the equivalent of the State Capital in Richmond.

Then we went to the Cittadella - an 18th century fort used by Napoleon in the early 19th century and then again in the two World Wars.  We became prisoners for a short while!

Last, we went to our first Rotary Club meeting, where we had “appetizers;” which were more than enough for a full dinner; including meats, cheeses, tea sandwiches, stuffed cherry peppers and then a large serving of pasta.

exchanging banners with the Club President!