Bracciano Day Trip

Today, I went to a cute little medical town called Bracciano.  Bracciano lies north west of Rome and it took us about an hour to get there.  The locals are often looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and Bracciano because of its natural beauty and ban on power boats.  The water on the lake was glass.  I quickly realized that I do not enjoy visiting lakes as much as I do oceans because all I want to do is go water skiing.  It was such a tease looking at a flat lake perfect to go waterskiing in!    Bracciano is a historic town with narrow cobblestone paved streets and it looks medieval.  One of the main attractions of the town is the Castello Odescalchi.  Wherever you are in the town you always have a view of the castle  because it is so big and is raised up over The castle is huge covering a large portion of the town  When we arrived we were guided into the castle and had a guided tour.  The castle belonged to Orsini and Odesalchi families .  The interior is fully furnished and we saw the lifestyle of the people who once lived there.  The castle began construction in 1470 and was finished in 1485.   During centuries the Castle was subjected to profound changes and because of its strategic position, it was always in the middle of fierce arguments between the most important aristocratic roman families as Colonna and Borgia families.  During the French occupation many precious furnishings were looted and the period after the Castle and its feud were given up with the right of redemption to the Torlonia family, who maintained it until 1848, when the Prince Livio III redeemed it from Duke Marino Torlonia.  The Prince Livio's son Baldassare, a leading figure of nineteen-century in Rome, took care to rehabilitate the castle and since it has been open to tourists.  The coolest part  about the castle is that it is where Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise got married!  The castle hosts many events especially weddings of actors and singers.  In the castle we saw the bedrooms, the kitchen, a jail, and where the servants live.  After the tour, we walked around the city and found a cute little restaurant to eat at.  The entire menu was in Italian.  My favorite pasta here is called spaghetti carbonara.  I asked the waiter if they had it and he said that he had one that was like it.  Instead, he brought out a pasta with oysters.  I am usually not a huge oyster fan but it turned out to be pretty good.  Not my favorite.  We wandered into the cutest little pastry shop and got really good mouse with cool decorations.  I well include a picture.  Most of the town and shops were closed because it was during the time of siesta.  Even in Rome, many stores close around 1:00 pm for siesta.  A siesta is a short nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal. Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in some countries, particularly those where the weather is warm.  I could really get used to the idea of a siesta everyday!  After stopping into the pastry shop we went down to the lake.  In order to get to the lake we had to walk down a big hill will breath taking views.  On our way down we saw baby kittens that could not of been more than a week old.  At the lake we enjoyed the city and skipped rocks.  I had fun playing with the ducks and swans.  Note for future: swans are actually really fast! Do not bug them!  I was not able to get more than four rock skips in.  After that we got back on the bus and people said jokes on the way home.  My favorite joke was “What do you call a cow with no legs.” Answer is ground beef!  I am waking up a 4:00 am tomorrow and am leaving for the airport to go to Venice until Monday.  Ciao!