Internet here is patchy, which is to say that there are occasional patches where we get it for a minute. I know this should be updated every day. So instead I’m doing ten days now! Photos will be uploaded this weekend.
Today was Darren’s day off. He is pooped from all the running around and wants to sit completely still for the entire day. Can’t say I blame him. Darren slept all day. I woke up at 10am and rushed down to the restaurant on the ground floor to catch the tail end of the complimentary breakfast. Sunday morning. They were packed! 50 or 60 people Whole families and couples down there eating together on the last day of their weekend getaway. I guess a lot of Italian families from the bigger cities seem to come here for the weekend. It was as if they all had their watches set to the same time. Half an hour later as I sat there with the Corriere della Sera, they quickly disappeared.
Darren and I have spa packages included with our stay here at the hot springs. I took advantage of one of the treatments at 12:30. Did a Thermal Hydromassage, which is a hot tub with little jets at key points along the body, lights dimmed and multicolored underwater lighting, tea infusion, scrubby tea bags floating around, dolphin calls on the speakers. I was born again this morning.
I had no plans today. I felt so good I decided to go to Perugia. Soon after I started off on the road the rains came down, at first gently. Then about 45 minutes into the trip it became torrential, biblical. Visibility shot down to nothing and the fastest setting on the wipers was just barely keeping up. I was grateful to be driving a very solid rental car. I forgot my umbrella, so I stopped in Perugia at the bottom of the minimetro and slipped into a chinese store for a bit of umbrella shopping. I was surprised at how well made and large was my 5 euro umbrella here.
The minimetro is kind of a pint-size tram all painted fire engine red inside (I could tell you how the outside was painted if the rain had let up for a minute). Struck up a conversation on the way up with a barrista from Spoleto named Mateo. He was on his way to a wellness exposition inside the Rocca Paulina up at the top, the perfect spot to wander for a few hours in a downpour!
Rocca Paulina is a massive underground cavern all carved out of the living rock of the mountain. It’s amazing! There was a kung fu demonstration, tibetan monks making a sand mandala and lots of merchants from Asia and other parts selling imports and health and wellness stuff. This one is really sweet. We made friends on the minimetro.
Procrastinated for a while before getting back in the car to drive back out here to the sticks. Dinner here at Osteria Del Leone. Apparently this has been a restaurant for 700 years. There’s a map of the city from the 13th century with an Osteria del Leone on the very site.
Home made Tagliatelle with white truffles, spinach with garlic beefsteak and potatoes au gratin, brunello di montalcino, tort with white chocolate flake, rose of Vin Santo. Yum!
The dining room was separated into three rooms and there was a quote on a chalkboard in each one. Our room had Ambrose Bierce funny enough. “Abstention is the weakness of permitting oneself to not participate in pleasure.” Something like that. One of the other rooms was a Tuscan proverb. “Those who with water mix the wine, should drink the ocean from their upturned hats.” Sounds a lot better in Italian.
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