Rome Day 3: Breakfast, lunch, dinner...pasta!

Again, the day started early. We left the hostel around seven to go to our respective tours. I went to Assisi and Orvieto while Abbey and Jess went to the small island of Capri. I'm so glad that I went on this tour by myself because it was a good way to relax without having to worry about anyone else. This trip was peaceful, and I really enjoyed going out to some countryside towns.

The tour stopped in Orvieto first which is about 400 meters in elevation. At that early in the morning, it was tourist free, so I explored all of the little side streets. The view was gorgeous, even through the rain. It was so green even in early April...I wonder what it would be like in May! The streets were narrow and made of cobblestones. I just enjoyed the calming atmosphere. It felt like a true Italian town...like what you would see in a movie. I even saw a woman shaking out sheets through a window with little green shutters! The cathedral in the town was built by the Etruscans in the 12th or 13th century. The volcanic rock was beautiful, and the frescoes inside the building are originals, mostly faded or gone with age. I loved the small town feel, and it would be an amazing place to live!

Next, we drove 45 minutes into the country for lunch. I was expecting something cheap, but what we got was far from it. I'm not sure of everything I ate, but we started with some samples. Three pieces of bread with something spread on them. The only one I knew was extra virgin olive oil, but the others were good as well. We also had a sample of a wine grown right on site! We then went to enjoy our meal which started with a piece of lasagna. Traditional Italian with lots of mozzarella. The next course consisted of some type of meat, of what I'm not sure, onions (I think), and little wedge potatoes. Again, it was all delicious. We moved onto dessert which was a kind of marshmellow cheesecake with chocolate sauce smeared all over the top! What was great about the whole meal was the conversations with the other tourists. Two people from Mexico (one of which didn't speak English and sat right next to me...I got to practice my Spanish a bit), two from Hong Kong, and four from England. All of them were quite a bit older than me, but they were a lot of fun! Even better was the music while we ate...American pop music! Just a little unexpected in a small Italian place.

From there we drove to our final destination, Assisi. It is about 600 meters in elevation, and almost the entire town is made of beautiful pink and white stones. This place was much busier than Orvieto. It was so crowded! We went to the church were the 12th century cross that spoke to St. Francis resides. Whether it spoke aloud or to his heart, we do not know, but the crucifix inspired him to build the Franciscan Order of the Church. It is in the Church of St. Clare whose body lies in the crypt below the church. We explored the medieval and Roman buildings at least one dating back to the first century. We went to the Basilica of St. Francis whose body is in the crypt. The church is covered in amazing paintings...ceiling and walls. No pictures allowed, but fantastic art and architecture!

We had time to look around, so I found a place over looking the hills and bought some gelato. Very relaxing, and I loved every second. I slept most of the way back to Rome, but when I woke up, the sun was shining brightly over the rolling green hills. Spectacular views! The houses were rustic reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks, so when the sun sets, the houses look breathtaking against the green grass. There was a rainbow at one point, and all I could think was, how lucky am I?!?

It took entirely too long to get back to Rome. We battled traffic for over two hours! But, I was glad I wasn't driving because there seems to be no speed limit (or no one cares); even in tiny Orvieto cars sped around corners too quickly. And I thought London was bad! I'm learning that Europeans could possibly wear out the horns of their cars before anything else gives out! Slightly frightening experience, but I made it back in one piece!

Today's blog title comes from my tour guide...he made a joke that the Italians make so much pasta that they have to feed it to the tourists because "breakfast, lunch, dinner...pasta!" Apparently, that's all the Italians eat! Ciao for now (ha ha...it rhymes)!