Orvieto and Rome

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I think my favorite part of this leg of the journey was Orvieto given that I had already been to Rome. Orvieto is a small village on a hilltop in Umbria. You have to take a tram up to get there and then you still have to walk up a hill in order to get to the top. From the top you can see a great view of the countryside and further down, you can stand along an old fortress to get another view. We walked up to the top to see the view and get a little information about the village from Dan (our tour guide's name) before we dispersed and wandered around. We walked downhill which was lined with shops and restaurants and cute alleyways with plants dangling from the balconies. We windowshopped and grabbed pizza and gelato and ate outside. I came across a pretty little chocolate shop where I used my greeting and farewell Italian.

Afterwards, we continued on to Rome. On our arrival, Dan give us a walking tour of the ruins and finally made sense of some of the stuff I had seen on my last visit but had no clue what I was looking at. We stayed at a campsite again which was pretty much the same deal as the Swiss Alps, only there were bathrooms inside the cabins which made things more convenient. The next day, most of the tour went to the Vatican and the Colliseum while I got to sleep in a bit because been there, done that. I went to the Castle San Angelo which was closed last time I was there when we tried to go. I went around the castle reading the functions of the different rooms and courtyards and learned a bit about the royalty who lived there. There was also an exhibit on Gibaltrar which mainly consisted of artwork with a little history. The best part of the castle though was the panoramic views of the city from the terrace and walking inside the castle walls for more views. I decided to go to the Colliseum area for lunch since I had the best pizza there last time. I ate at a different place but the pizza was equally delicious! A guy played the accordion as we ate and the old Italian couple sitting next to me (when you eat outside at Italy restaurants, there are a bunch of long tables and they combine parties at each one) was very friendly. In fact, in general I found the Italians to always be very pleasant in my interactions with them, super polite and super friendly. Well, except for the guys who creep on you as you walk pass, or try to relentlessly sell you things. After lunch, I took the metro back to the other end of the city and just wandered through plazzas. I hunted down the opera house, expecting a really pretty building but it wasn't anything to brag home about.

That night, we had a toga party at the campsite and got our dancing on.

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