The Sticky Forehead Game in Orvieto

Florence has been raining just about nonstop for the past week and a half. Rain + cold + inadequate gear + work to do = not wanting to leave the house much. I know, and I'm in Florence. I've had to force myself to go to sheltered places like museums so that I won't fall out of love with the city.
Yesterday we got out of the city (although it was still raining) and took a little ISA program trip to Orvieto, Umbria. Che bella!
This city is built on a huge hill with fortress walls built around it. It was virtually impenetrable, and when it was surrounded, they had their own little system of underground tunnels. Theses caves and tunnels are not a natural phenomenon; they were carved out volcanic rock by hand. The remnants were used to make mortar. Isn't that SICK? They were created over thousands of years and are in danger of collapse, so now they have huge pillars holding them up.
In one of the tunnels we went into, there was an ancient pagan underground temple for a god of the after life. The next room over was an old wine cellar. And in the same big room was a huge system of stone disks to crush olives and a place to store the oil.
Before you walk down into the caves, there's a map of the city on the land in black, and the other figures show the underground city/tunnel system in red. I've always fantasized about living underground for a period of my life. Just exploring a system of tunnels. Maybe it's reading The Hobbit as a child or something. Realistically, I want to live in a sunny place for my life, because I believe the sun is vital to a person's happiness. A person NEEDS fresh air and sunlight to avoid depression. I have a whole schpeal I could go into...Meredith and I did with our tour guide yesterday.
When we first got out of the funicular that took us up the mountain, we headed to an overlook and then into "St. Patrick's Well." I was a bad student and didn't really listen to the tour yesterday so I don't really know its significance...but I did get to go down the 250-something steps (and climb back up them, whoosh!). It reminded me a little of the movie "The Ring." I really enjoyed it though.
The Umbrian countryside was breathtaking, of course. "The New Tuscany" considered by some, Aunt Treat told me. There was a quaint little abby around the green of the fields and it was one of the most picturesque things I've seen. I wanted to so badly to run down and just go look at it.
We also met some sweet little cats while we were there. I don't really like my cat at home, Angel, but my best friend for 13 years/now deceased cat, Jonathan, makes me have a soft spot in my heart for felines. I got him Christmas of '95, when I was five, and named him myself. I was a weird kid, okay? I even told my teacher I had eight brothers and all of their names were Jonathan. That's one of my favorite stories. You can tell I had an imagination, but could not have been more original? Maybe I'll name all of my sons Jonathan or something. I'll call one Jonathan, another Jon, another Johnny, another J. Joking.
On the way home, six of us snagged a glass booth and decided to play "The Sticky Forehead Game" where each person writes a name of a random person or figure on a piece of paper, passes it to a neighbor who must lick the paper, and put it on his forehead without looking at it. Then, each person can ask a question regarding who they are, and this goes in a circle. The object is to guess "who you are" through the answers to the questions/the hints that your friends give you. As you can imagine, this can get really funny, and really frustrating (like when you're "The Abominable Snowman," so you're sort of a man, you're an animal, you're not famous necessarily for a movie or a tv show, not in politics, and you're associated with a season). Some of the ones were "The Purple Teletubby," "Thomas The Train Engine," "Monica Lewinsky," and the like. We had such a good time. I love my friends.
Before we left Orvieto, I tried two specialties of the region: Parpadelle al Cinghiale and Est! Est!! Est!!!. Cinghiale is wild boar meat. It was fab. Est! Est!! Est!!! is a sweet white wine...probably my favorite so far. The legend is that when the Pope had to travel through towns, he had a messenger go before him to taste the wine. If it was good, he would write "Est" on the door, which meant "It is." When he tried this wine, it was so good that he wrote "Est! Est!! Est!!!" The Pope came to Montefiascone on a leg of his journey and drank the wine with such a gluttony that he ended up dying of alcohol poisoning. Dangers of alcohol, kids.
The Duomo of the city has the reputation of having the most beautiful facade in Italy. It was created in the Middle Ages and has magnificent mosaics all over it! It's all about Mary, and it's gold-en. You gotta check out my pictures. There are three or four sections that have scenes of stories of the bible; one of the creation and Fall, one of the Old Testament, one of the New Testament, and the last of the Final Judgment...gruesome but skillfully done.
Overall, I loved Orvieto so much...it's such a complex city, but so small and quaint with beautiful views from up high. Don't miss it if you come to Italy!
Today, I woke up (embarrassingly late), watched a documentary on how TV affects children (and I'm already making rules for my future children), ate some yogurt, and finished by six page essay solely on the San Marzano tomato. I had to do a whole lot of embellishing to fill up six pages.
Now, I'm celebrating the Day of Rest. Praise God for his mercy by giving us a day dedicated to relaxing after a week of work.
Arrivederci!