Our old friends Ed and Dana came to visit us! Dana used to teach psych at Ball State, but she, Ed and their two boys moved to Arizona 2 1/2 years ago, and this is the first time we've seen them since then. They spent a couple of nights in Venice, a couple of nights in Florence, then came to spend a couple of nights with us in Macerata. Obviously they know all the

best places to go in Italy. Of course we took them to Trattoria da Ezio for dinner. Giovanni didn't want to be in the picture, but finally consented.

Gabrielle is our bus driver. He took us on our excusions this semester. Not just an able driver but a very nice fellow. His bus is modern and quite comfortable.

Our excusion this past Wednesday was to San Marino and Urbino.

Our time in Urbino was spent visiting the Palazzo Ducale, which serves as the National Gallery of the Marche. No pictures are allowed inside, so once again I am limited to showing you the exterior of this expansive palace, which served as the home of Duke Federico of Montafeltro until his death in 1482. You may think you don't know the duke, but you have

quite probably seen his very famous

portrait, which today hangs in the Ufizzi Galery in Florence. The Duke made his money as a mercenary, and was quite successful in his career. The interior of the palace is filled with artwork: altar pieces, paintings, tapestries and some incredible inlaid wood doors and woodwork. Urbino is also a hill town, although higher up than Macerata. We drove up to the top
of the mountain to get to Urbino, then

drove down the mountain and back up another to get to our second destination. Filiberto and Gabrielle assured us that this was a case where taking the longer distance was definitely quicker, rather than driving around the roller-coaster roads through the mountains to get to San Marino.

San Marino is a small country that borders the Marche.It pretty much has two things that make it a tourism mecca: first is the spectacular scenery that my little blogging camera cannot do justice. From the top of the mountain one can easily see to the Adriatic. It's also funny how nearby mountains look like small hills lying below us. The second attractive feature for tourists is shopping. San Marino sells lots of items for less than Italy (I think it's tax related) so people buy liquor, chocolates and jewelry. At least those were the most prevalent shops lining the streets all the way up from the old city walls to the top of themountain, where the castle is located. There ae actually three castles, but we only went to the
highest, as is the case with most tourists. This excursion is

significantly different from most others in that Filiberto does not spend a lot of time explaining art works or architecture. This is one opportunity for them to enjoy the scenery and shop.