when the fog rolls in

About a week ago, I was taking pictures of a gorgeous sunset from my balcony (again!!) and was amazed when I realized that my camera's lens wasn't fogging up... but the fog was truly rolling in. I have never seen fog move across the sky and land like this. It was incredible. I continued taking pictures until the fog pretty much took over... and then in about 5 or 10 minutes... it cleared up again!

...about 5 or 10 minutes later...

I've really enjoyed living in a small town in Italy for the past year and a half. It's pretty cool to live surrounded by rice and cornfields. I often feel as if I'm wading through thick fog to get to school in the morning.

I've enjoyed it... but am ready to move into the city. This summer I plan to make the move! I hope to find a lovely apartment in a lovely area of the city... and hope to enjoy the change for the rest of my time in Italy - however long that ends up being. I have one more year on my contract... and then we'll see! (Until I make the move... there are still about 4 or 5 months... I'll continue enjoying these amazing sunsets... and, I suppose, the fog!)

The pictures above show the snow. The snow is gone now. It rained all weekend but, thankfully, seems to have cleared up now. Snow gone -- rain gone -- here's to hoping the sun makes an appearance and decides to stay!

foggy foggy foggy frenchonionsoup!

Both Saturday and Sunday mornings were incredibly foggy last weekend. I took a photo to attempt to show... well... not much... there wasn't much to see!

That is the view from my balcony... the trees lining the street can just be made out... but the farm across the way seems non-existent... instead, there is a wall of clouds. Pretty cool - especially when I was planning on a comfy, relaxing morning inside my apartment anyway.

...It was the perfect, chilly weekend to make french onion soup in the crockpot and drink plenty of coffee while it cooked! Mmmmmmhmmmmm   : )

I then enjoyed the soup all week and, thankfully, the fog cleared up about mid-day each day.

The weather has actually been really nice lately... untillllllll this past week (since the foggy weekend!).

I haven't been checking the weather forecast - but Dad does for me!

Hilariously... I received the following email (entire email copied and pasted below) last Sunday evening from my dad, with the subject of: Weather:

Stacia,

It looks like your stretch of fabulous weather is coming to a horrible end!

Love.

Dad

Bahahahahahaha. Hilariously, and yet so sadly, true. The next day (Monday) it began to rain... and it didn't stop for days. Thankfully, I'm in Seville, Spain now (WHAT?! - YES!! I will blog more about that later... I am here for a conference and a school visit)... it did (ALSO) rain here earlier today but I was inside at that time anyway. When I went on a walking tour and then my own photo-ing tour in the evening, it was lovely outside.

Thanks for the heads-up Dad! It actually really helped me out -- both mentally (saying goodbye to the nice weather and being prepared for the not-so-nice), as well as physically (I packed my umbrella!).

Dad, I love you! I'll see you and Mom NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!!!   : D

more FOG... Civita di Bagnoregio

The foggy mornings continued as we made our way up to Civita di Bagnoregio...

The higher up we got... and the closer to Civita... the clearer the sky became. Whoohoo!

And once we were up and IN Civita, the fog cleared up... it was a gorgeous day  : )

CIVITA di BAGNOREGIO, ITALY

Our 1/2-day trip to Civita di Bagnoregio was awesome. The tiny town sits on top of a plateau and is completely surrounded by cliffs. The only way to reach Civita is by a long, steep bridge. The population of Civita? ...5 people. ...though there are a number of hotels and restaurants to cater to the tourists. Since the winter is the off season, we saw just two other small groups of people the day we visited.

When we were walking TO Civita, it was quite foggy:

...We could not even see our final destination... more foggy pictures to come in a future post... but below are pictures from our way back down, after our visit... and the sky cleared up and became a beautiful blue-sky day for us   : )

Orvieto's FOG

Milan gets quite foggy many days... and apparently Orvieto is no different this time of year. Our first day there was very foggy... so foggy, in fact, that we couldn't see all of the Duomo (the city's large cathedral):

The Duomo's square:

The gold on the Duomo still shone through the fog!

Chestnuts roasting on an open fiiiiiire...

looking like tourists in Alba, Italy

...Well, I suppose we WERE tourists in Alba! (The last couple photos below show that we played the part successfully...)

Leaving my apartment in the morning was... FOGGY!

I have read and heard a lot about Milan's fog... and Opera's fog is supposed to be even worse. The picture below is the view across the street from my apartment... but this isn't as bad as it's sad to get. I don't hate it (yet)... so far I find the fog very interesting... and, thankfully, the day cleared up and was beautiful in Alba!

First arriving in Alba for the Truffle Festival, I walked into town with Danielle, Sean, and Robert... we found a tourist office and were able to get a map to take a quick look... and then we were on our way! The town is actually pretty small and very walkable, which was really nice.

Looking like tourists   : )