You were probably hoping for nice photos...

But, well, today you don’t get any. :D

...

It may have been the (expired) yoghurt I ate, or the heavy lasagna dinner, or perhaps just a 24-hour bug. Whatever it was, I went to bed feeling more than a little funky, but told myself I could tough it out.

But one restless night later, at 4:30 the next morning, my stomach announced it would not put up with that sort of nonsense any longer, and unleashed a rage describable only as a Gastric Catastrophe.

I will not be investigating the details here.

So this morning I felt terribly sick, and explained this to Adele. Italian mothers, I think, are like the domestic version of superheroes. Someone needs to be taken care of!? Instant red alert! All other things have ceased to matter! I shall rescue you! No cost shall be spared, no cure untried! Nothing you ask for could inconvenience me!

She hurried me back into bed and took my temperature to make sure I didn’t have a fever (I stuck the thermometer in my mouth only to find that it was supposed to go to your armpit—wish THAT could have happened the other way around...humility, I am getting a heaping serving of you today), and told me she would “bring me something.” This of course filled me with terror. I was thinking about the inevitable bowl of chicken noodle soup and how I couldn’t possibly even think about eating anything. I was just about to protest that I had sworn off food for the rest of my life and would take my nutrition through IV, when she came in with a tray for me.

Oh. What’s this, some sort of drink? Lemony, fizzy, and it calms down sad tummies?—why, yes please. And little yummy crackers…well, that’s not so bad at all. I think she must have a secret arsenal containing every medecine known to man, because every time I don't feel well, she magicks the perfect thing out of nowhere.

Thank you for taking care of me, Luca's mum. :( <3

As I write this at 3:00 p.m. my time, I still haven’t been able to stand up for more than five minutes at a time, but I am feeling a lot better.

Okay, you can have some pictures after all...I have been saving some. But they won't be relevant! o.ó

Vespa with a doggy. Doggy seemed like he was having a fabulous time.

Sneaker at an open-air market. I don't know how you could better spend 2 euro!

The party never stops at the open-air markets...

Not Italy, but still a fun photo. This is the annual burning of the Christmas tree, with doggy nervously watching on. Less than a month after this picture was taken, Peter (far right) gathered together four Christmas trees and set them on fire at once, with the flames from the resulting inferno reaching so high over the roof of the house that a neighbour called the fire department.

I title this one "AngerSurprise." Yes, it is probably just fodder for your DO NOT WANT collection, but it made me laugh. I'll regret it later when I feel like it.

Below, a chair in the Sala Borsa library, near Piazza Maggiore. Apart from having enormous dedacent frescoes all over the place and Roman ruins that you can look at through the transparent floor, they have these fabulous chairs. Julie demonstrates:

Relaxation-style, facing one way...

Business-style, facing the other way.

The chair pleased me a great deal and I want one. O_O

We ate at an all-you-can-eat sushi bar--18 euro for as much sushi, miso soup, fried rice, tea, and fresh fruit you could possibly eat. And the sushi came round on a conveyor belt on little colourful trays!

Slightly more relevant photo... =S Taken a while back at the house of Andrea Ricci, the BCSP director, where we stopped for lunch after a tour. Now look at this contraption. I mean two buttons!? What does what!? I pressed both of them. :3

SMORKIN' LABBIT. :D

H&M on Via dell'Independenza, Bologna's major north-south road.

More to follow later. Until then, I'm going to read the next chapter of Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofica and sleep off some nausea.