Just as Nick is getting more comfortable taking public transportation throughout Genova, Tuesday the bus system decides to strike!  Tuesday’s day trip was to the cemetery in Genova, so we decided that we would take the bus down to meet Giudi.  Luckily we only waited about 5 minutes out in front of the villa when a nice man stopped to inform us that they were on strike.  So back into the villa we went to call a cab…

We made it to the cemetery just before it started to rain.  Although raining off and on throughout the visit, it was nice.  I really enjoyed looking at the different graves, it is amazing the thought and detail that people used to put into them back in the day.  There were many different types of graves throughout the cemetery and unlike ones in the US which tend to be on flat land, this cemetery made it’s way up the hillside.  We climbed up stairs and walked up roads until we made our way back down to the entrance.  I will have to say that it was a peaceful walk and although it was a trip to the cemetery I really enjoyed our time there.  With Giudi describing what the different monuments represented, it really allowed you to get a small sense of what the individuals/families were like.

Flower shops galore at the entrance of the cemetery – brilliant idea!

Wednesday Nick had another doctor’s appointment, Silvia is out of down so Luca joined us for this one.  I think that he was quite impressed that we know the hospital system so well, but when you have been visiting for months it becomes routine.  Nick had x rays at visit, which indicated that his injury is continuing to heal well.  We saw a different physician who indicated that he felt that his external fixator could be removed at any time, however since he wasn’t the physician who had been following his care he needed to confirm with his “regular” physician that it would be okay to have this completed next week.  So as of right now we are still waiting on a phone call from the hospital to schedule this.  I am not too confident though that this will happen and believe that we will likely have to have someone call them to follow up… we shall see.

After the visit to the hospital, we stopped at Mangini’s to have a hot chocolate and caffe with Anna and Luca.  While not as good as the one I had in Florence, it did the trick.  We were to meet one of the other professors after lunch for an afternoon tour of the theatre here in Genova.  So Nick and I made our way to Piazza di Ferreri, where we were able to witness the transportation strike and have a nice lunch at Douce.

Mmmmmm….

After lunch we made our way to the theatre to meet up with the students and Nicola, where we had a private tour. It was really neat to see behind the scenes, and I hope that once Nick has fully recovered we will be able to make our way here for one of their shows.

Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet week here in the villa.  On Tuesday of this week we head to Parma for a day trip, which I am really excited about.  One of the students went for the day on one of his independent travels and really enjoyed it.  I hope that all the leaves haven’t fallen yet and that we may be able to see some pretty fall colors. Thursday is Thanksgiving (as if most of you didn’t already know this ;)!  The students will make dinner for all the staff and their families, it will be hard this year being away from home, but in just a short few weeks we will be back in the States to enjoy the Christmas holiday with our families and I will get to snuggle with my little baby boy 🙂