Hotel Perugia Plaza

... the pool but the second day we went back into Perugia and had a look around before catching a train to Assisi. The train station isn't in the centre of Perugia, so we had to catch a mini-metro to the top of the hill which gave us a great view before exploring the town on the way back down. We spent the afternoon in Assisi, a short train ride from Perugia.
Assisi is a major destination for millions of pilgrims due to its religious ...

... Today the square is still a local meeting point for tourist and students alike.
The heart of the square belongs to Fontana Maggiore (Great Fountain) built between 1275 and 1278 by father and son team Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.
At the other end of the Piazza is the Cathedral of St Lorenzo with its pink façade, which was never truly completed. Work begun in 1345 and continued until 1587, however the door way was only built in the late 1700's.

... The first Jewish culture in Tuscany.

Then we went to the Synagogue. which is a very peculiar building. It has been restored various times and is located in a street now named after Salomon Fiorentino. It tells of the lasting influence of the Jewish community in Tuscany. The most ancient parts of the Synagogue date back to restorations carried out in 1729-32.

At Monte San Savino Jews were present in two distinct periods:

1421 to 1571, with banks lending ...

... might be better...umm no. Was muddier and smelt funny. The ducks seemed to like it though! Decided to lie in the sun
anyway for a few hours and exit stage left..... I cant believe anyone would want to have a holiday there!

First stop when we left Florence was a small town called Cortona in Eastern Tuscany. Its set way up on a hillside surrounded by olive groves. Each year they hold the cross bow games and neighbouring villages come and challenge them. Its all surrounded by a big wall the whole way around. Really cute but full of Americans. The walk up to the town was helped by 2 random escaltors out in the open ...

Oh, we are getting good at this. We’ve established a routine, we’ve learned how to co-exist in small spaces and synchronized our systems to optimize sightseeing and eating/drinking opportunities. We eat light at the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, checkout, put our bags in the car and set off to see the local attractions clearheaded. After awhile we're ready for a wine break and we never have far to go to find some.

This morning we ...

... She also accused the Italian police of manhandling her and now THEY are charging her with libel and slander. Of course none of this adds up to murder - but we'll see. The Italian press refers to her as L'Amanda - The Amanda. The most popular theory - and the prosecution theory - is that Amanda, Rafaello and Rudy were on drugs and trying to coerce Melanie to participate in some kind of extreme sex game, Melanie wouldn't play and things got out of control. Stay tuned!

... It was all duomoey looking. Actually it use to be bigger, but now part of it is used to park cars !!! As we walked, we went through various Contradas. The Snail, the Tortoise, the Fish, the Rhino before we arrived in the Piazza del Campo Seeing the piazza was weird. Last time we were here there were jockeys, horses, barriers, clay and shitloads of people, and now it was a normal Italian town on any old day. It wasn't right. This is I'll Palio town. Where the ...

... would have taken place in. I actually paid to go into the theatre and the attached museum, with artifacts that they found when excavating. It's a pretty cool place, plus nice and shady which was important since I was again touristing around in the middle of the day. After I spent about 45 minutes in the theatre and museum, I walked around and found a restaurant to have lunch in. I haven't been spending money in restaurants, because they're so expensive ...

... seen. Students from the nearby university and foreigners university were lying out in the sun, and there was a beer tent set up by the sponsors of the Jazz Festival. The facade of the chapel is just wonderful. Where the Florentines make a mess of using pink and green marble, Agostino di Duccio has created a little gem. There is such a thing as taste and inspiration, and then there are Florentine bankers with more money than taste. Unfortunately, this is not the only significant legacy ...