Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Orvieto, Italy

After spending 3 days in Rome, we drove north. One of the stops we made was a little hill town called Orvieto. It is one of the prettiest places we went in Italy (and believe me, that is saying a lot!)

The day we left Rome, the bus and train unions were having a strike. It seemed like the only hurdle that this would create for us would be that our group would need to leave Rome before 8:00 am. Well, that was true, but it also meant that the Funicular couldn't run. So instead of riding the train to the top of the city, we walked. Which actually was very pleasant. I walked with Suzette and we window shopped along the way. Oh, the stores! There was a lavender store, several adorable baby clothes stores, ceramics, lace, art galleries - it was amazing. Suzette took things at a much slower pace than I was used to going, and I enjoyed it immensely.  I told her how in French, the word for window shopping is literally "licking the windows." I think we were drooling, not just licking! This memory of walking with my sister is one of my favorite from the trip.






We wound our way up the little main street. We found a few of our tour group friends at a cafe near the top, enjoying the shade and a cold beverage or two. At the top, the town opens up into the main piazza, where the duomo (church) is. I left Suzette at a ceramics store and hurried to get a good look at the church. I sat on a bench next to some old men, locals who had lived in Orvieto their whole lives. I spoke my terrible Italian to them and they spoke back to me. It was so much fun to talk with them! I wanted to speak as much Italian as I possibly could; the only problem was that it wanted to come out French. It was super frustrating and super exciting at the same time. I chatted with the old men for a while and admired the church and did a little bit of shopping. It think that this hour was one of my very favorite of the entire trip.

Don't you love the stripes? So beautiful.



I didn't want to be rude and take a picture of the old men I was chatting with so I took this.



If a sandwich shop has this on the outside, it sells wild boar meat. And it is delicious!


The view. "Beautiful! Gorgeous! Wish you were here!" (Can you name the movie that is from?)




After wandering for a bit, I bought a few more souvenirs. One of my favorite was a panel of lace with little yellow flowers. Which reminds me, I need to find somewhere to hang this!

At the end of our visit, we ate yummy cheese and salami sandwiches as we rode the bus down the hill. I took a terrible picture with my phone of the view looking up at Orvieto. I only wish I could have spent more time!



2 comments:

brandy said...

Your second to last picture? I want to live there!

heidikins said...

Swoon! So gorgeous!

xox