Today is Easter (Pasqua) here in Italy.  There has been quite the build-up over the past few weeks – people shopping for food, churches giving out palm fronds on Palm Sunday and beautiful windows filled with giant chocolate, prize-filled Easter eggs.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure that no one here other than me (and the couple from NY) had any idea it was Passover or even what Passover is.  One day at school we were discussing “our” Easter traditions.  When it came to my turn I explained (as best I could, with the help of the teacher) Passover – to a completely perplexed looking group.  I was surprised that with all their worldliness (amazing how much they know at age 20!), the young women from Budapest and Latvia, and the young man from Austria had NO idea what I was talking about!  Anyway, in a nutshell, the teacher and I explained “le dieci piaghe d’Egitto” (the ten plagues of Egypt, as it is called) as best we could, and I suggested they get online and watch The Ten Commandments to figure it out (which Steve said he watched last night without me, but it was no fun to heckle cause I wasn’t there – usually saying “shhhhh,” because even after 45 years I still love that movie!).

In any case, I was a bit jealous of all the beautiful chocolate Easter eggs (from what I gathered from Italian tv commercials, kids put a real egg next to their bed at night and in the morning it becomes a giant chocolate one filled with surprises!) Low and behold, the place I am staying gave me my own egg earlier today!  Below….