Italy's Palaces and Hospitals

Day 34: April 27th, 2014

Today we slept in. Amber hasn't been sleeping very well which means Jeff doesn't sleep well either. After we eventually got up  at 10am we saw that the ceremony to saint Pope John Paul II and John XXIII was on. We watched it, but didn't get much out of it seeing that it was in Italian and Latin. Later Teresa, the grandmother, came over and we had lunch. Guess what? There was tons of food and pasta! It was all so good, but it is like Jeff is back on his mission in San Antonio. They all keep telling him to eat because he is obviously malnourished because he is skinny, even though he stuffed 2 chicken legs and a bowl of pasta in earlier. Oh well. We can't complain because the food really is amazing!

After that Amber needed a nap so we laid down for while. In the evening we went to church with Anna and her family. It was in a small Catholic church that is set on the hill above Formicola and has been there for 400 years. It was a fun experience to go to their mass even though we couldn't understand a thing. Between the Italian and the Latin, we were completely lost. Jeff has been to mass a few other times so he was able to kind of pick out what was going on, but that was about it. The music was Amber's favorite part, especially the guitar!

Next was a party at Carlo and Sara's parent's house where we had a large family dinner with Anna's family and Carlo and Sara's family. There was so much energy in the room with 14 Italians talking and eating, and the food was amazing and delicious as usual. The only problem was that they expected Jeff to eat a lot yet again. Alas, the trials of being a skinny male in a country that loves food and thinks skinny = malnourished.

Day 35: April 28th, 2014

Today we went with Sara and her boyfriend Fabio to the Palace of Caserta. It was built in the late 1700's and early 1800's by the kings of Napoli because the palace in Napoli was too close to the sea and they feared a maritime attack. It was patterned after the Palace of Versailles and is a grand an imposing structure with beautiful gardens. The inside is done in beautiful marble of various colors and is absolutely stunning. The problem is that the Italian government isn't investing that much money into the preservation of the building. It currently has weeds growing on the ledges outside and in the outer courtyards, and is in need of some TLC on the outside of the building. The inside is still beautiful though and was the inside of Princess Amidalla's  (CHECK) palace in the newer Star Wars movies. The craftsmanship with the marble in the various rooms is amazing because of how intricate it is. We can only imagine how long it took to build this building.

 The entrance stair case!

Queen Amidala's Palace ;)

 The Chapel.. you can see that some of the pillars got damaged by a bomb in WWII

 The King's Throne

 YES!!! 

The part that Amber loved the most was the gardens outside. It is a 3km long garden that extends up into the hills above Caserta. It is made up of many green areas and a very long segmented water feature. There are many, many long pools and ponds with many more fountains. The beginning of the whole thing is a manmade waterfall that comes down the mountain. It is pretty stunning to look at especially because it was build in the early 1800's. We took our time and walked up the whole way to the top looking at the various ponds with huge fish of an unknown variety, but most likely related to the Coy family. It was a beautiful walk, but on the  way back we decided to ride the shuttle back down. We were prepared to pay the €1.50 each fee for the 4 of us, but Amber's pregnant charm kicked in and we got a free ride back! Way to go pregnancy!

 Feeding the fish

 28 Weeks... We have made it to the 3rd trimester!!!

 Nap time ;)

Yep, this happened!

We then headed back to Fabio's village to have dinner with his parents. While his mom was cooking up copious amounts of delicious food, Fabio played the piano and Jeff sang some good 'ol classics from the Beattles and John Lennon's "Imagine". It was lots of fun. Amber liked to hear Jeff sing  the most. After dinner we headed back to Anna's house and fell asleep very quickly due to the fact that both of us have been tired all day.

 Just a little creepy...

Day 36: April 29th, 2014

Today was the epitome of a lazy day. We both slept until 11am. This is after going to bed at 11 pm the night before. After that we had a few Italian lessons from Anna and Filomena, and then decided to go and rest some more. That rest turned into a 2 hour nap. After we woke up from our slumber we got ready to head out with Carlo and Francessca to see the stadium where Spartacus fought during the Roman times, but right as we were getting ready to leave we were told that Antonio's colleague called him and said that Amber could come in for and ultrasound if she wanted. Well, we all know Amber and her excitement over seeing this little child so we headed out to the hospital in Caserta for the ultrasound.

Italian hospitals are interesting. They are nice, in parts, but very sparse in the decoration. The waiting room is just a large room with not very many benches and many people. After waiting for a while we were called back and the ultrasound commenced. Needless to say Amber was thrilled at what she saw: A healthy, if not cramped, little boy with his head in her ribs and is bum placed right on her bladder. No wonder she has felt like she needed to pee all the time. Other than that there was nothing to report other than he was healthy and active with a heartbeat of 150bpm.

We then headed back to Formicola for some good food made by Anna, and then some sleep, which we seemed to need a lot of today.