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.