Italian Adventures...

First two posts about Italy have created a perception that NBH did nothing but to eat, eat and eat in Italy. Well, amongst other things Daniele’s summer house is indeed well equipped with a variety of fruit trees (Grapes, Apples, Figs to name a few) but honest judgment of the trip is that we immaculately followed the one and the only NBH commandment "Hike Hard and Party Harder". There were no half measures as we undertook two strenuous (hikes in Appennini mountain ranges) and one quite hike to the castle of Sestola. Albeit a bit more demanding on the body and the mind, hiking on the mountain is much more fun when compared to a plain surface as it offers a huge high. It’s so different compared to the usual hikes in and around Belgium. The mountain ranges in Italy were indeed very much picturescue relieving all our stress whenever we got tired. We also encountered the beautiful Lago Scarfaiolo (Scarfaiolo Lake) and a refreshing waterfall called cascate del Dardagna along the path. All through the journey, Kaya kept collecting flowers, Mika kept herself busy collecting blueberries on the way and we kept ourselves busy munching those. Again, we only followed the only NBH commandment :-o

Lush Green Appennini Mountain range

Good to hike on the mountain!!!

Lago Scarfaiolo!!!

Refreshing cascate del Dardagna !!!

Castle Of Sestola

The breathtaking lush green views of the mountain ranges from atop offered much needed Oxygen enabling crucial next step to reach the summit and when you reach the top, the feeling of success, a sense of accomplishment leaves you ecstatic and so were we…

Memorable Tractor Ride
In the contemporary days of Nuclear families and distant relationships, it was a pleasure to be with cohesive Leonellis. All of them were very friendly but the most vocal of them was Daniele’s uncle Palmo. He took us to a tractor ride, which is again one of memorable incidences of the trip. In spite of his broken English, he was very much anxious to put forward his point, generate discussions, offer his opinions and have fun. In his attempt to pronounce our names correctly, he ended up distorting all our names. “Yao Yao” reborn most of the times with names like “Ciao Ciao”, “Miao Miao” etc. etc. In retrospect, if even one of us (except Daniele) knew as much Italian* as Palmo’s English, the fun would have multiplied manifolds. That’s for sure…

NBH on a tractor ride with Palmo!!!

Gazing Stars
A place away from city lights and an open space is an ideal ambiance for star gazing in the night. It was fantastic to spot shooting stars. Some of us spotted three, some of us spotted two, I could spot one and made a wish. Hope the wish comes true…

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* When I realized Daniele’s parents can’t communicate in English I attempted to learn Italian especially for this trip. But my Italian never went pass “BuonGiorno” (Good Day), “Grazie” (Thank You) and "Ciao" (Hello). Terrible, very terrible (Tremendo, molto Tremendo).