Today the entire family piled into our VW station wagon and headed to a park in San Floriano. Yes. Jameson in his car seat, Levi, who probably weighs anywhere from 70-90 pounds, and Christine all smooshed together in the backseat. San Floriano is a really beautiful park in a very pretty town, but there is a very steep hill that Christine said is just nearly impossible with Jameson in the stroller. This monster of a hill is the reason we always go to Santissima, and today I found out firsthand. Christer was carrying Jameson in the backpack, and this trail was a workout! I would call it more of a hike than a walk. The views were absolutely stunning though, and very worth the calf and quad workout.
The park has a little stand that sells all sorts of goods made off of the land. They sell jams, olive oil, salami, and cheese, amongst other things. These are the fruit trees they use to make the jams. You can tell there are 2-3 rows each of the different kinds of fruit, including raspberry bushes and apple trees.
The park was also a little like Green Meadows Farm in that they had pens of animals dispersed throughout the property. You weren't allowed to pet the animals or enter the pens, but you could walk right up to them and try to get them to pose for pictures.
This one's for you Mrs. Hoover! In a pen full of peacocks, this one definitely stood out amongst the crowd. He was so pretty and unusual, and you could really tell just how bright and vivid the blue on his next was when it was contrasted with the white.
In addition to fruit trees and animals, the park also had an herb garden and bee hives, which you can see here. The bee hives were way off the path in the very back underneath the trees.
Because of all the steep climbing, we were pretty high up and had some fantastic views of both the mountains and the cities below.
Above is the road leading up to the church, and below is the church, which was built around the 11th century. This was probably the least ornate and most simple church I've seen so far in Italy. There are 3 different frescoes painted inside, but other than that, the wooden pews and ceilings and the size (probably seats about 50 people) made this one of the most simplistic but beautiful churches.
This is a view of the olive trees, and below is a corn field and the view, for as long as the eye can see.
San Floriano is a beautiful park, but I don't think pushing a stroller up the path is an option Christine and I should be exploring any time soon. I'm going to have some sore muscles tomorrow, so I can't even imagine what it was like to carry Jameson in the backpack and have an extra 40 pounds to haul uphill. The sun and the heat really drained me today, so I'm going to call it a night, and head to bed with my eye mask on to avoid the sun beaming through and waking me up at 5:30 again tomorrow.
Today my favorite thing about Italy is: All the bikers. Have I used this one already? I love sitting outside drinking my coffee in the morning and watching all the 100+ bikers zoom by our house. Today I saw 2 females, 1 Italian flag helmet, 1 old man dressed head to toe in sea green (including his matching bike), and one team practicing with a pace car, complete with megaphone. It seems like Sunday mornings are when everybody goes for a ride, and I wish I had my bike here so I could join in. Want to mail it to me mom?? :)
I'll work on it! MOM
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