We're in the country with Janet's friend Felicia at her house in the Umbria region of Italy. The land here is very beautiful. I decided against including any of the landscape panoramas here, because my cheapo camera doesn't capture the feel of this place at all.

Almost everyone out here in the country has a dog, and many of them are vicious. Maybe this one isn't, or maybe it's some kind of twisted joke to see what happens when you let your guard down.

Some very old public fountains.

Oh yeah. Pasta. Pasta every meal of every day. This is "Pasta for Animals", which is probably the same grade we eat in the U.S.

A 13th century aquaduct! I think aquaducts are so cool. I would build one, but our yard is flat and we live in a trailer.

The wood-hauling man leaving after dropping off a load of firewood. In the full-resolution version you can see the expression on his face, which is because he was still worried about getting stung by the hornets from the tree in the yard. Silly wood-hauling man!

I went hunting for wild boar with a bunch of local guys, none of whom spoke English. It was fun anyway, but we didn't see any wild boar. These guys go up to the mountain at 7:30 every Saturday and Sunday even though they can't start hunting until 10:00 due to regulations. They hang out, smoke, and gossip as seen here. A favorite topic of conversation that I was privy to was ribbing one of the men who had a shot at a wild boar a few weeks ago and missed. They pantomimed the historical drama for me.

The cows grazing up there all have bells on them, probably so they won't be shot by hunters. There were so many hunters per acre it was a little unnerving, which reminded me just how much space we have in the U.S. in comparison. Luckily they were mostly hunting for birds and using bird-shot, so it wasn't that dangerous. Needless to say, there weren't many birds in the woods either, or they were all in hiding.

They won't tell Felicia where they go hunting, since they feel she is bad luck for the hunt, partly because she is against hunting, and I suspect partly because she is female. Notice the view in the last shot.

We decided to find out if there is such a thing as "bad food" in Italy by visiting the "Scary Bar" on the way to Assisi.

Felicia prepares to try her "scary pasta".

Indeed, the bar lived up to its name. Stale potato chips, undrinkable tea, and pasta that you can normally only find in a remote American midwestern diner. They seemed genuinely proud of the food they were serving, and asked expectantly several times if we liked it. We're unsure if they were mocking us.

Some shots from Assisi.

Hey, don't worry, we lost our appetite.

Felicia pointed this one out to me. Notice the number of times that the building has been rebuilt with doors and windows in new places.

A crystal crucifix at the Saint Francis Cathedral in Assisi.