Day 12 Hanging out in Spoleto The weather was wonderful again today: crisp and sunny. We did a lot of walking: over the Ponte delle Torre to a church we saw on our hike, around the Rocca, and back to the church I'd visited when Bill was ill. We are now packed and off to Perugia tomorrow for a three day stay. It has been fun having a kitchen and being able to shop and get to know merchants a bit (I love being greeted with "Ciao bella"!)...I'll miss that! Spoleto is lively and full of culture, history, and nature...but there is a much too noisy nightlife that passes right in front of our apartment....we never did figure it out. Cars start pouring through the little intersection around 11:00pm, coming from below and heading back down ... read more

Day 9 Spoleto-Assisi-Spoleto We took a morning train to Assisi (about 40 minutes), and then a bus up into the city. I really wanted to see the cave where St. Francis had meditated, which is about 4 kilometers outside of town, in woods that are still much the way they were in Francis’s time. We discovered that no public transportation goes out there, only taxis, of which we saw none. So….we started walking. It was a gorgeous blue sky day. The trees were brilliant colors and the olives were ready for harvest all along the road. The road however, started to climb, and I started to hitch-hike…we were both well dressed, and I thought someone might stop, even just out of curiosity, since no one hitch-hikes in Italy. And car full of twentysomethings did stop! They ... read more

Day Five, Spoleto, continued… We got up, breakfasted, packed , got cash, and moved into our apartment. It is very new, in a 17th century building, right in the middle of the old part of town. It is owned by a New Yorker/Italian who lives here now, on a farm outside the town. We then set off on a hike to the sacred wood at Monteluco, elevation of 804 meters (we started at about 400 meters) and about 5 kilometers round trip (not including the times we were lost). We walked through the town up to the Rocca Albomoziana, a 14th century papal fortress, turned prison, and now museum, and generally ugly edifice, to the Ponte delle Torre and across to the trail up the mountain. This area has been considered sacred since prehistoric times (the ... read more

Day three We got up late, after a somewhat sleepless night....stupid jet lag....and headed for the Appian Way by subway and bus. Unfortunately, not a good idea during the week when this ancient road has non stop traffic speeding in both directions, loudly! We headed back to Rome, and walked for few hours til Bill's knees told him to go back to the hotel. I walked slowly back across Rome, while he took the subway. The sun was setting when I got back... Tomorrow we head out by train for Spoleto, in Umbria. We will be there for at least two nights, and may try to rent a room if we lkike it there, and use it to base our excusions into Umbria.... read more

We left LaConner on Friday afternoon, visited Gabriel, Jason, and Annie, dropped the cat and our suitcases (and Bill) off at Vicki and Geoff's...and then I took our car to Luke's, and was treated to dinner and ride back to Vicki and Geoff's by Luke. By that time Betty the cat was already stretched out in front of the fireplace, relaxed and feeling at home. We packed up again, were driven to the lightrail station by Geoff...arriving at the airport around 9:30, to find the flight fully booked....but we did get seats (thanks to whoever decided not to fly out that night!) and arrived here in DC at 4:00am our time. We knew that our best flight wasn't until Monday, and fortunately a friend from my days in Paris lives in DC and was able to ... read more