Saturday was so much fun, I didn’t have school because it’s a holiday on Tuesday so my host parents took me to the city Alba. It was about a two hour drive, and the first place we went was to a Nutella factory that Pigi wanted to show me. Sadly it was closed so we only got to see it from the outside. It actually worked out well through because I got a chance to see a whole bunch of other things other than the factory! They took me to see the cute little town of Alba. And since it was Sunday, there were a whole bunch of tents with people selling goods in the center of the town and along the streets. I also got to see a part of the Roman stairs that were under the ground from many many years ago. It was really fun looking around the town and learning the history of various buildings. My host parents know so much history it’s crazy. We would just walk by an old building and they’d know the date when it was built, who built it, what it was used for, and everything! They’re like walking history books hhahah! After looking around a bit, we got in the car and drove to the nearby hills outside of the town. It was so beautiful! The hills were covered with vineyards. Since it’s winter, however, the grapes weren’t ready to be picked, and all of the vines were brown. I won’t be here when they’re ready in September, but I can imagine how beautiful the hills must look when they are covered in green, fresh grape vines. We drove to the top of one of the hills into the tiny town, Neive. It was literally one of the cutest towns I’ve ever seen, and the view from the top of the hill was priceless. I felt like I was in one of those movies that are taken in Italy with the tiny old houses, vines hanging off windows, and cobblestone streets. It was really spectacular. We ate lunch in a little restaurant in Neive. The inside looked so Italian with wine bottles lined along the brick walls and tiny square tables for 4 people. I ordered “ravioli del plin” which was considered the special dish of this particular town. Every area of Italy has a special dish. For example the region Lombardy is famous for their various “risotto” (rice) dishes while Piemonte is famous for their “tartufo” (truffle) dishes. Then for dessert I had “brazzato e bonette” which was a chocolate pudding with nuts inside. After lunch we went to a wine celler and got to see how wine is made. It was very interesting and now I know that making wine is a very long process!!! It literally takes years to make!! After that we went to the castle of Camillo Cavour which was built in the early 1800’s. It was a beautiful castle with another beautiful view of the hills of vineyards. I had a blast taking this day trip with my host family. Loved every second!