Mar 27 Spoleto to Rome

We left Spoleto in the morning heading to Rome. On the way we stopped  the village of  Orvieto. It was built by the Etruscans atop a cliff which served as a natural barrier like a wall would do in medieval times. The façade of the church was really special. I don’t think the pictures really do it justice. And the stained glass window in the photo was restored at the shop where we visited yesterday!  That was very cool —to see the end result of the work they do at that stained glass studio.

The weather today was rainy in the morning and then very cold with a lot of wind. It was the worst weather day of the trip but fortunately it did not really get in the way of our visit.

We arrived at our hotel at the Rome airport late afternoon. Most of the group is leaving tomorrow morning, but Merle and I will stay one more day and go to Rome tomorrow. We both have been there before, but she had not seen the Vatican before so that’s what we are going to do.

This has been the most friendly group and we have really appreciated that. Our guide was adequate but not fantastic. We have definitely had better guides before.

So this might be my last post or perhaps I will write something tomorrow. Ta ta for now. 

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Mar 26 Perugia

 First an observations I have made. There is more smoking being done here than I have seen in many years. A lot of young people and a lot of females are the smokers.  In addition, the E cigarettes are quite popular. Sad. 

Today we went to Perugia starting with a visit to a studio where stained glass is made or restored . The man who gave us a tour was very knowledgeable and very, very interesting. He talked about the processes for making stained glass and how it has evolved over the years. There were lots of examples we saw— most of them religious, as you would expect because they are intended for a church, but some examples were not. The building had been a residence and now was home to the studio.We all thoroughly enjoyed this visit. I will enclose quite a few photos. The one of the 1st Italian queen was one of the first secular glass windows made.  It was astonishingly realistic. The artists who began this business here were first painters who then learned the art of stained glass. Very impressive art.  The photos of an interior of a house show possessions that the original owner had.

We were on our own for lunch and Merle and I had a pasta like ravioli with a salad and it was a lovely restaurant And good food. After, Merle found a very cute purse that was made from recycled leather, and each purse was an original. 

The afternoon was a walking tour of Perugia. But my legs were rebelling, so I stopped at a gelato shop and had gelato to wait for the group. 

A number of people in our group have gotten sick and we have agreed to wear a mask when we are in the bus. Good plan. Each day for several days, we have had one or more fewer travelers in our excursion. It felt like “and then there were none.” ( our next show!)

Tonight is our farewell dinner. Normally it is held on the last night but since some people have to get up in the middle of the night to get a flight, they moved it back one day. So we will have our dinner here at our hotel and then tomorrow head for Rome.

We had discussed possibly going to Pompeii, which neither of us had ever seen for our extra day at the end. But logistically it’s not a good idea. The trip would be 12 to 14 hours and after all the travel we’ve done, we don’t need to rush. So instead, on Friday Merle and I will go to the Sistine Chapel. I have seen it before, but she had not. She got us tickets. We both have seen quite a bit of Rome, so we don’t need to do the normal tourist things there.

I am off to join the group for dinner now.

Mar 25 Assisi

 Our excursion today was to Assisi —where Saint Francis’ Basilica is.  Our local guide was one of the better ones.She walked us through the Basilica and pointed out key features. It had quite a different look from other Churches and cathedrals. ( I don’t know why when I dictate sometimes it randomly capitalizes words. Know that it is not me! )

It was amazing how quiet it was for our visit. The guide said that in a few weeks it will be overrun with tourists, but today was very nice. We were fortunate. We had lunch as a group and then had some free time to walk around the village. The weather was spectacular today! Beautiful blue skies and warm sunny day. We have not had really bad weather, but today was by far the best.The lunch was about five courses! I am going to attach the dessert pix from last night and today. Mamma Mia!  

We had the evening to ourselves, so Merle and I are going for a light bite and an early bed for once! I guess I am definitely getting old, because I look forward to my normal routine and food at home.

Mar 24 Spoleto

 As this was the first full day here, we spent the day in Spoleto. In the morning we had a private visit at city hall and learned about the city. Sounds boring but it wasn’t. A council member in charge of education here told us about the schools, for example. 

Next was my favorite part: the theatre in Spoleto!  We went to the old theatre ( smaller) & the new theatre.  Stages were raked.  There were really fun pictures of productions over the years. In the new theater a terrace was named for Jerome Robbins. Woody Allen had directed an opera in Italy so they had his picture on the wall. And John Malkovich participated in one of the Spoleto festivals. It would have been special to see a performance here, but it would have been in Italian so I’m not sure we could have enjoyed it. I have many more pictures than the ones I have posted here.

The group had a walking tour in the afternoon, but given that we walked the entire morning. I decided to skip that. I understand I did not miss too much.

Our dinner tonight was over-the-top spectacular. The food on this trip has been excellent. But of course way too much food. And too late at night for my taste.But it’s Italy after all.  

Mar 23– Siena to Spoleto

 

It’s Sunday. We loaded our bags onto our bus & headed to Umbria.  En route we stopped at the village of Gabbio.  This is my favorite place of all we’ve seen. Like all of the other medieval villages, this one had picturesque streets, cobblestones, and a wonderful old world flavor. Our local guide took us to a little museum displaying the tools that various craftsman have used over the years. ( masons, carpenters etc). That’s where I saw this ( see picture )very early movie projector. Our guide, then took us to a little shop where a lady was weaving scarves.

Other pix—-this little dog reminded me of my puppy. ❤️Same tail. And the other picture of a Christmas tree was on a poster showing this monstrous tree they create every year that sits at the end of the town. He said it is the largest in the world according to the Guinness book and it was even seen from the International space station! I saw there are some YouTube videos of it which I will look forward to seeing.

Finally, Merle and I went into a little shop where a lady had made table cloths, towels, placemats, etc., and I bought myself an apron and four placemats  that she made. Very special to buy things from the person who created them. And Gabbio is full of shops like that.

Our bus then took us to the town of Spoleto where we will stay until Thursday. We are staying at a cute little hotel, which is very quiet. Love it!

I was feeling my best today and I’m sure that contributed to why I had such a good day.😍 

Mar 22 Sat— last day in Siena

 There have been a number of issues with this hotel ( NH Siena).  For one thing the rooms are ridiculously hot and we have no way to cool them. In addition, most people’s safes don’t work including mine.  And I believe 100 Euros were taken from my suitcase. I’m feeling thoroughly jinxed on this trip. Grrrr…  

Today we visited 2 villages —Gargonza Castle and Cortona. At Gargonza our guide was the owner of the property. It has been handed down to him through generations. He is actually a count.  They run  it as a hotel now with just a small number of rooms. Their renovations have been beautiful and it was a lovely visit. We had lunch there in a restaurant on the property, which was superb! Very classy.

Cortona was the location for Under the Tuscan Sun— the village & the villa in the book/ movie.  Our guide said that crowds of tourists come looking for the locations and for the villa.

Unfortunately we were NOT under the Tuscan sun today but rather clouds& drizzle. It was freezing! 

Because we were so cold, it really detracted from our visit, unfortunately. But it is hard to complain because otherwise we have not been rained on and this time of year we are avoiding the huge number of tourists of other months.

We returned to our hotel for dinner and our last night in Siena. We will be leaving Tuscany tomorrow and heading for Umbria.

Mar 21 Siena & villages

 Volterra & San Gimignano were the two villages we visited today. In Volterra, our guide was an American who has lived here for nearly 30 years. This was one guide we had no trouble understanding! She did an excellent job and gave us just the right amount of information. Each village has a great deal of similarity and yet they each have some history that make them unique. The story that was interesting in Volterra was about protecting the walled city in medieval times from a siege. Their solution was to pull up the street cobblestones and fill the entryway with stones. In this case it worked! The village is known for alabaster so we watched an artisan making alabaster figurines. Very interesting.He created a very small vase and I bought one just like it in the gift shop. A nice souvenir.

In San Gimignano our guide was a most colorful actor. This village is known for its towers. The wealthy residents would build a tower to demonstrate their wealth and power. Gee that that sounds like someone in the US today. Originally there were over 70 towers and now about 14 remain.

in addition, we visited a winery. The wine of this region is white, which is unusual because most in Tuscany are red. 

This post is incomplete because Merle has some pictures I will add.