When in... Orvieto....

All plans are set.  We are leaving our room at quarter to 7 to make a train at quarter to 8 and go to Assisi.  I was so pumped I could hardly sleep last night.  I sat up on my computer and stared at the map of Assisi for the longest time.  I have notes in my little sketchbook of the titles of all the places I needed to see.  I knew all there was to know about our day trip and how to get there.

Then I saw the train to Assisi pull away in front of my eyes.

I was pissed, my puss face was on.  I had never been late like that in my life.  The next train to Assisi wasn’t until after 1 in the afternoon.  I asked the ticket guy for advice, but that was not his job, he was confused what I wanted, so I was ready to give up.  I just wanted to leave the train station and go do my homework.  My friends decided they still wanted to do something today so we went up to the info desk and asked if there is anywhere else in the near train distance that could make a fun day trip (and by “we,” I mean my 4 friends went up to the info desk, while I sulked in the back).  The lady suggested Orvieto.  She said it was pretty and only a little over an hour away.  What the heck, when in Rome, right?

I then went from puss mode, to my nerdier mode where all my mind was thinking was “I have never even heard of Orvieto?” “I have never researched Orvieto, what is IN Orvieto?” “what region is Orvieto even in?” “Is the info desk lady just tricking us into going to her village where her mafia family is just going kidnap us and sell us into slavery?”....any time I braved asking any of these questions out loud, Emily just kept saying “so what! we don’t know what’s there! thats why it’s an adventure!”

She was right, and after all, I’m it Italy for crying out loud.  Its going to be beautiful and fun no matter what.

Orvieto.  Up in the mountains of Umbria, you needed to take a small inclined tram-train thing to reach it from the train station. This village, now that I am researching it, has an economy based on its famous white wine (good thing thats what we picked to have with lunch today), but walking around, we noticed a lot of awesome artisans in many medians from woodwork to ceramics.  

The views of the Umbrian countryside were BREATHTAKING (figuratively, and literally, because there was a frozen mountain wind that my lungs didn’t enjoy).  I can even see snowcapped mountains in the distance.   The churches were also gorgeous,  though we kept on walking in on the middle of mass.  The streets also had a lot of kitties, one even tried to snuggle right into Brigid’s jacket.

*strangest bathroom experience: when the motion detecting light went off because it wasn’t detecting motion any more. but I wasn’t done...

At the end of the day, I am glad we went to this small gem of a city.  I even got myself something special to remember the day that went from excitement, to anger, to confusion, to pure happiness, all in a matter of the first 3 hours of my morning. I discovered something new that I can research more about.

And we already know we want to go back when the underground caves open up in the spring :)