Athena Spoleto

arrive hier en fin de journee a orvietto. pour atteindre la ville de orvieto, a partir de la gare, on doit prendre un funiculaire qui nous amene a l'entre de la ville. apres avoir fais un petit tour de la ville pour s'orienter un peu, nous avons rencontrer un couple d'irlandais a notre auberge et on a passe une tres belle soiree en leur compagnie a deguster le vin local au restaurant de l'auberge

Comme plusieurs ...

We ended up in Orvieto sa we saw a friends photos of the catherdral and thought it was a must see. The cathedral was like a mini Florence Duomo, but 100% cleaner as the one in Florence is nearly black on the outside with pollution. The front facade on the cathedral is covered in beautiful gold leaf frescos that were glittering in the afternoon sunshine. Had a wander through the old town which was full of life as ...

... today. That has to be my favorite saint. Very busy here even though end of season. No wireless interent. We have one more day and we start home. I think we are ready to get home. It has been beautiful here and I have learned so much, but all good things must come to an end. See you all next week I hope.

... Italian...except for the semi-obnoxious group of Americans at the table across from us. Hmmmm...

After the restaurant, we did a little more walking around, and ended up sitting on the wall next to San Pietro's Cathedral and talking for a long time. The Cathedral was all lit up and looked beautiful at night, and from our spot we could look out over the lower part of town. As we got up to leave and walked closer to the Cathedral, Emy noticed music coming from inside ...

... We had passed a shop during the tour so we wandered back to check it out. Unfortunately they only had the size above and below mine, so I had to miss out.

We spent some more time in the shops and enjoyed a limon gelati before meeting the rest of the group to go to our hotel.

Our hotel was actually quite nice, the rooms were really big and it was in a lovely setting with a nice view looking up at the town. It ...

... ceramic store and found a little dish with the iconic olive design and a little egg cup to remind me of the first leg of our romantic journey. Then nap time.

Dinner at home tonight with last night’s leftovers and a sauté of fresh eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. We ate outside and enjoyed the caress of the evening breeze. Tomorrow off to Orbetello with our friend Alessandro behind the wheel.

Today Mike takes us for provisions for our picnic we are planning for Tuesday. They leave for NY today and we will be on our own. Mike has us drive so we get the feeling of Italian roads and drivers. He takes to the local butcher, Hugo, an artist with meat. He makes beautifully aged prosciutto, 15 months, compared with the 2 months in the US ...

... a friend of Mike and Jill’s, drives us to their house near Campello sul Clitunno. We get the full on Italian driving experience and happily arrive in one piece. After a shower and a snack of Mike’s freshly made antipasto of fresh mozzarella, garden tomatoes and homemade pesto, we felt a thousand times better.

Then to dinner with their friends of ex-pats, artist and poets at the local tattoria for more ...

Monday--March 21, 2006 After the fire we decided to do a walking tour of Rome. It was very enjoyable and pretty low key. We started at the Vatican and then went and bought some ice cream. After that we went to the Jewish Quarter, the Cat Sanctuary,the Pantheon, the Forum, and the Colosseum. All in all it was an exhausting day and we wound up in the small city of Spoleto. Tuesday--March 22, 2006 Spoleto ...

... how to speak Italian. (Groan!) Our plans for tomorrow are to see some more of Assisi. There is so much to see there. Cannot believe we are into our second week here. Before we left, I was wondering if 2 weeks would be too much, but it is perfect. We are having such a wonderful time. I feel so blessed to be able to take a vacation like this and see all that we are seeing. So, that is it for today. Will check in again in a couple of days.