The Professor comes for a visit

One of our friends from The Linguist's grad school days was leading a student group on a tour of England, so he hopped over here to spend a day with us in Ferrara. His wife has a terrific blog on which he's known as "The Professor," so that's how we'll refer to him here, as well.

We haven't seen their family since we left Florida in 2008, so it was a joyous reunion at the Ferrara train station! We were all returning from Vicenza, so the whole family was packed into the van to greet him. We really enjoyed seeing the rest of the family on Skype that night, and I was amazed at how much the kids have changed. When we met them, their oldest son was only 18 months old, and now he's 16! It makes me feel a little (okay, a lot) old.

The Linguist unexpectedly got the day off and we started bright and early with a big breakfast in the middle of our trees and flowers. It's so beautiful out there. The former tenants were English and transported at least one (if not all three) of the huge white rose bushes from England. They just bloom and bloom. In fact, they were blooming when we moved into our house in November!

Anyway, we started at the oldest cathedral in Ferrara that sits next to one of two leaning towers and ate pastries under the umbrellas of a little shop near there. 

One of Ferrara's leaning bell towers (San Giorgio) built in the 16th century.
The church next to this bell tower dates back to the 6th century.

Next we wandered around the castle and downtown area, and out onto the wall, soaking up Italy and buying more pastries for lunch. 

Via delle volte dates back to the middle ages. 

Il Castello Estense (Este Castle) sits in the heart of Ferrara.
It's quite a site to behold out and in...it still has the moat.

Part of Ferrara's wall, one of the best preserved in Italy.

The Linguist and The Professor.

We collected the kids and drove to the Adriatic Sea just to have a look. They played around in the water (it was cold and muddy compared to the Mediterranean) and collected shells. 

We headed back into town for cappellacci and gelato.

Many thanks to the Professor for coming to stay and giving us an excuse to play tourist for a day!  Too bad we can't think of a way to lure the rest of his family to Ferrara!