We said farewell to Rome this morning after a quick breakfast, and yet another cake selection for my mother. The waiter came over and told her that it didn’t escape him that she ate two pieces this morning.
We stopped at Orvieto mid morning. The town is very high on the hill and the views from here are stunning - quintessential Italian countryside. The town is equally beautiful, with little winding streets and passageways. We walked with a guide through the man-made caves beneath the village, originally Etruscan but then used and expanded by subsequent residents. They were dug out to create extra space, mostly for business, sometimes for storage. I’ve included photos of the pigeon “pantry”.
Back up in the town, we split up after lunch (and a gelato) for an hour or so, as it’s easier to wander in small groups. The gelato was delicious but all the names were in Italian, so many of us picked randomly and then google translated the selection once we were outside. I had Mandarin ricotta, and Rose. Josh scored two, as my mother didn’t want one and they were already paid for. Mum and I spent time in a linen shop where a lady helped mum work on her Italian.
The temperature was in the forties when we stopped just outside of Florence, for what proved to be a peak experience on the trip so far. We were picked up by members of the Fiat 500 car club, two to a car, to drive into Florence. The cars were tiny and I wedged into the back seat with Cam in the front. Many of the drivers spoke only Italian, but our driver Nicolo had a reasonable level of English. He has two cars, the Fiat and a Tesla, and uses the money from these driving jobs to pay for the car upkeep. Our little convoy drove around the hills on little winding roads, past all the lookout spots. It was green and lush and breathtakingly beautiful. Nicolo was a hand gesturer when he talked , so between the sharp turns, the double clutch manoeuvres to change gears and the pointing out of the various sites, it was a kind of wild ride.
Our hotel is lovely -it’s a Westin so pretty luxe. I was desperately hoping for a window looking out on Florence so as to have an appropriate photo for the blog post but Flynn and Eve are the only ones on our group who jagged one. I have water pipes and an air conditioner.
Dinner was at the hotel and the food was delicious. It was also my favourite group meal so far, with our little group in fits of laughter while we talked over the trip. There was some confusion about whether the jars of nuts in the Rome hotel room were free. Flynn and Eve ate some and apparently since they were replaced and no one asked for money, the consensus was yes. Accordingly, Josh took all six jars with him when they checked out. A $120 bill will be eventuating, although we were laughing so much as the story came out that it’s almost worth it. I asked for blog title suggestions but by then we were in full chaotic mode so the wasn’t anything useable. Bene did suggest “The last supper” for the Vatican post and we can’t wait to see how the frowning photo turns out. It’s on a film camera. I’m a little unsure why they are popular again but most of our gang bought them at the airport and in a month or so we will have a whole new set of photos to remember the trip. Speaking of memories, as we started dinner, the piano player at the restaurant commenced his set with the song Jason and I used as our wedding dance (after the Hokie Polkie of course). A quiet little poignant moment for me.
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