Up and out this morning with no real definite plans except to get a bus ticket to Siena on Tuesday and come back on Thursday afternoon. Because the bus ticket office was at the basilica end of town, I decided to walk all the way to the other end close to the wall of the town. What a walk it was.....I'm telling you, if one didn't have calf and thigh muscles before this town, one does after! I'm talking steep slopes that take your breath away each and every time you walk one. But I found lots of new churches, galleries and views.
saw an elementary school and it sounded exactly like an american school....lots of loud, happy children!
loved this wood carving of the all-american--oops,scusi, italian family!
and this sculpture, appropriately named...The Ascension!
As I was about to find a chair with a cool one, I get a call from Andrea. She was the one who happened to walk past Anne and I on my first hour in town....She is from San Diego but spends several months of each yr in Assisi and traveling around. She is taking Italian language lessons and has really become fluent on this trip. So, even tho I met her, it was a week later before we finally got together. For pizza on this afternoon. And we clicked instantly. Even tho we are on different sides of the political fence, we have so much fun together that we immediately agreed to just not talk about it......oh sure...a dig here and there....but no real political talk! She took me to her favorite pizza place and it was yum-yum!
thin crust, so much cheese and arugula!
so crazy that we only met on this day and we immediately became fun friends!
really neat place
Next, we walked to her apt....she's in the know about places to stay! This is a 4 bedroom beautiful apt with a terrace and a killer view!
just when I'm loving the view from her terrace, I look behind the apt to see this!
I've never seen blue skies like I've seen in Umbria!
After I left her place, I walked to LaFontanella, Franca's cafe to use her internet. She had spent 3 hours this day hunting for fungi...mushrooms...to serve her guests. Here was the bounty of her hunt.
and her cleaning them. She cooked for just she and I this night.....grilled pork chop, some of the best spinach I've had and those mushrooms, grilled!! It was truly a home cooked meal! YUM!
Up early tomorrow to catch a bus to the bigger bus stop below the city to go to Siena!
Can't wait to learn some of the cooking techniques and recipes you experienced.
ReplyDeleteThis trip that you are on is my dream vacation.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to eat in small towns where families
eat. Of course visiting their homes is the greatest
way to experience Italy.
Hope someday that I will be able to get to Italy and
find a trip like you are doing.
Denise Lamb mommasheep2aol.com