Girls night out... and Villa Romana del Casale Today is another duty day, Carlee's napping, but at least it gives me a chance to tell everyone what we've been up to for the past few days.

On Friday night, I went out with 3 girlfriends and we had a blast! We were originally supposed to go to Cesare Cremonini's concert in Palagonia. First we headed to Mineo (10 mins from housing) for dinner. One restaraunt was closed for vacation and the other didn't open until 8:30 pm (the norm here.) So, we headed off for Palagonia (20ish mins away) to try to find something to eat there before we headed to the concert. After driving around, and stopping at one "ristorante" which only served paninis even though the sign said "ristorante," we finally found a agritourisma (sp) which had such a beautiful atmosphere and enjoyed dinner... that is until the waiter, while talking to L, (she's Italian so she always does the talking lol) told us that the concert was cancelled!

So, we ate in disbelief for the rest of the meal. Afterwards, we went ahead and drove down to where the concert was supposed to be, and sure enough the only activity going on was a soccer game... Frustrated, we decided to go to a place L had heard about in Caltigerone (40 mins away?). So we drove and drove and drove, until finally finding the place. It was a lounge with an Indian atmosphere. I kept looking around expecting to see hookas on the tables LOL...

We had a few drinks and enjoyed eachothers company and I enjoyed people watching the Italians in their turf. They are not stingy with the alcohol here! geez... I first ordered a vodka and orange juice, L had a rum and coke, which was too strong for her to enjoy, so I traded with her. I had a buzz on that drink by the time I was half done with it. It was huge and strong! At least 2-3 times as big as the drinks they serve in the states. They made our drinks look like the size of tea cups. LOL... after finishing that, the girls convinced me to take my first ever shot of tequilla. GEEZ... that hit me more than I expected haha... I had a blast.

Anyway, so the next morning (Saturday) Tony and I were going out with my friend Emy and her family. We went to a town called Piazza Armerina, which I had never heard of until she told me about it. We saw the Villa Romana del Casale. It was so beautiful and amazing. It's a castle from ancient Roman times, and the floors are completely mosaic. It's amazing. I was so mad that I forgot my camera! But Emy said they would send us their pics. Here are some online pics of the mosaics from the town's website. Here is another site that has a lot of pictures too, including this one:
Frommers' Sicily 2nd edition says,

"This magnificent villa is one of the largest dwellings of its kind to have survived from the days of the Romans. Its 40 rooms are "carpteted" with 122,063 sq. ft. of some of the greatest, most magnificent mosaics in western Europe.

It is obvious that a wealthy patrician built this mansion, and some scholars have even suggested that it was the hunting lodge of Maximanus, the "co-emperor" of Diocletian. The exact date of the villa's construction is hard to ascertain, however-perhaps the end of the 3rd century A.D. or the beginning of the 4th century."

It was so awesome to be able to see something that has existed for thousands of years, and to walk where ancient Romans have walked. And the detail in the mosaics is just breathtaking. Each tile is the size one or two pencil erasers. I can't even begin to imagine how long it took to do each huge room. Geez... it was just awesome. I had so much fun, and it was a perfect day to go. It was cloudy, so it wasn't too hot. Carlee was awesome. She only fussed once and that was it. I was happy about that. lol... but it's beautiful. I would definately go back again.  ¶ 6:45 AM