A Letter from Pat - June 2003

Civitella Ranieri Castle, Umbertide, Italia

June 26, 2003

Dear Girls and Boys,

A week ago my husband Vern and I flew from Kentucky to Paris and then on to Rome. It was very hot in Rome, but like the million tourists who come to this big city every year, we visited some of the famous sites like the Roman forum, the Colisseum, the Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basillica and the Pantheon. We saw amazing statues, paintings and mosaics.

After a few days, we took a fast, smooth train to Venice. Since Italian like Spanish is a language based on Latin, I’m enjoying learning some Italian words and phrases like buon giorno (boo-OHN jee-OHR-noh) meaning good morning and grazie (GRAH tzieh) meaning thank you. I love languages and always try to learn some words when I visit another country. So many languages are spoken in our cities that we can learn words from one another in the United States too. How many different languages do people know at your school?

Venice was also hot, but we enjoyed being on an island with no cars. To go somewhere, you walk or take a boat. Venice is a beautiful city with canals winding through it. Many of the two and three-story houses are painted the color of spices: paprika, mustard and cinnamon. We visited more beautiful churches and museums.

Yesterday, we took two trains to the city of Perugia, and then came by car to this amazing castle where we will live for five weeks. Can you imagine living in a castle? We had dinner outside with other writers and some composers and visual artists. Fireflies blinked in the bushes.

This morning we got up early and walked in the cool morning air down a tree-lined road. We looked out at the Italian hills that are a patchwork of green and gold, wheat, corn and sunflowers. We had seen field after field of sunflowers from the train that reminded us of seeing such fields years ago in Spain. I love to look at the flowers all staring at the sun.

I watch the cats at the castle and am writing a book about one,“The Castle Cat.”

I will write you again at the end of our visit.

Your friend,

Pat Mora