This was my final long travel break in Italy and last weekend I sat, and thought where I wanted to go in Italy and honestly came up blank. The only thing I could think of was how much I am going to miss Sansepolcro. The conclusion I came to was that the only thing I really wanted to do was to stay and enjoy this little city I have grown to love so much! Sansepolcro has really become my second home, and I cannot imagine being anywhere else than right here! This weekend I was able to see Perugia, Pisa, and spend the time I needed in Sansepolcro.
On Friday I decided to revisit Perugia, since the last time I was there the city had been overtaken with chocolate. A ride on the smallest two car train had us there in a little over an hour. Since I had already visited Perugia I had a vague idea of where I was going (which is always nice). I was able to do enjoy the historic architecture and actually see all the shops. After what seems like a week of rain I finally saw a hint of sun on the way, and also in Perugia! We met up with three of our friends from Citta’ di Castello for lunch at a small but very nice restaurant. The restaurant was down off a side street, and not someplace I would have been able to find on my own (the street was a little dark), but it had a cozy atmosphere and delicious food. Having lunch with three Italians is to say the least an experience. It was helpful to have suggestions on what to order, and added another dimension to the conversation. At times I felt as if I was in a tennis match; I would try to understand the fast flowing Italian but by the time it took me to catch a few words and piece them together and attempt to decipher the meaning I was too far behind. I have come to the realization that to understand Italian I need to be spoken to very slowly, loudly, and in simple sentences. We all walked around Perugia and found a Grom, which now in my opinion the best gelato I have had so far in Italy. The ride back to Sansepolcro was significantly quicker because we were in a car (thanks Nico!) and also gave a stunning view of all the city’s lights in the distance. The day was rounded out perfectly with a movie and all of us curled up on the sofa!
On Saturday I took a trip to Pisa. Even though I was told that the only thing to do in Pisa was to take a picture with the leaning tower, that was exactly why I wanted to go. I couldn’t even fathom leaving Italy without the stereotypical picture holding up the tower. We traveled three hours to reach Pisa and the saving grace was that grey skies managed not to soak us. We took our pictures with the tower (we got a lot of laughs over the whole thing) because we looked a little ridiculous. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is more commonly known in Italy as La Torre di Pisa and is a freestanding bell tower. The tower is leaning because of a weak foundation and unstable soil. It was completed in three stages over a period of 177 years. I know it might sound funny but, trust me, the tower is really leaning, and quite odd looking. Restoration on the tower (cleaning of the stone) began in the 1990’s and is due to be finished at the end of this year. One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching a tourist group being unloaded and immediately begin to walk on the grass. This was funny because there were clear signs that forbade anyone to walk on the grass. As we started back towards the train station we wondered (with a smile) where the l’erba polizia (the grass police) were!
On Sunday we made pancakes for our Italian friends. We had lost a bet, so we had to make pancakes (we didn’t mind though!). Italian card games are much more challenging when you play with Italians who have a whole system of signals. Another reason why I think they won (I am a very competitive card player) is they would tell each other what cards they had in Italian; this completely unfair because we had no language that we could speak in that wouldn’t be understood ( if only I knew pig Latin). Getting everything together to make the pancakes was an adventure. Since our bus from Arezzo to Sansepolcro would have us getting in after the grocery stores closed ,and they are not open on Sunday, we decided to do our grocery shopping in the time we had (it wasn’t very long) in Arezzo. We ran into the store and began to grab eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter, orange juice, and a few other necessities. It was a miracle that we made it onto the bus with all of our bags and back to Sansepolcro without one egg breaking. About twenty minutes before our friends arrived the next morning I had a slight moment of panic when I realized that I needed baking powder for the pancakes to be fluffy. Luckily Dr. Webb helped me find some in the palazzo and graciously let us use her kitchen to do the cooking. Thankfully everything went off without a hitch! It only took us about an hour after the guests arrived to have the food ready but I think the pancakes were worth the wait. I spent the afternoon working on a puzzle (it is 1500 pieces, and we hope to finish it before we leave) and since the constant downpour of the day had yet to stop we all decided to put on our raincoats, hats, and umbrellas and take a walk in the rain. Even though it was cold, and we ended up completely soaked, the walk was relaxing and had us in the café enjoying a coffee when it was finished. Wow, another spectacular weekend!
This was my final long travel break in Italy and last weekend I sat, and thought where I wanted to go in Italy and honestly came up blank. The only thing I could think of was how much I am going to miss Sansepolcro. The conclusion I came to was that the only thing I really wanted to do was to stay and enjoy this little city I have grown to love so much! Sansepolcro has really become my second home, and I cannot imagine being anywhere else than right here! This weekend I was able to see Perugia, Pisa, and spend the time I needed in Sansepolcro.
On Friday I decided to revisit Perugia, since the last time I was there the city had been overtaken with chocolate. A ride on the smallest two car train had us there in a little over an hour. Since I had already visited Perugia I had a vague idea of where I was going (which is always nice). I was able to do enjoy the historic architecture and actually see all the shops. After what seems like a week of rain I finally saw a hint of sun on the way, and also in Perugia! We met up with three of our friends from Citta’ di Castello for lunch at a small but very nice restaurant. The restaurant was down off a side street, and not someplace I would have been able to find on my own (the street was a little dark), but it had a cozy atmosphere and delicious food. Having lunch with three Italians is to say the least an experience. It was helpful to have suggestions on what to order, and added another dimension to the conversation. At times I felt as if I was in a tennis match; I would try to understand the fast flowing Italian but by the time it took me to catch a few words and piece them together and attempt to decipher the meaning I was too far behind. I have come to the realization that to understand Italian I need to be spoken to very slowly, loudly, and in simple sentences. We all walked around Perugia and found a Grom, which now in my opinion the best gelato I have had so far in Italy. The ride back to Sansepolcro was significantly quicker because we were in a car (thanks Nico!) and also gave a stunning view of all the city’s lights in the distance. The day was rounded out perfectly with a movie and all of us curled up on the sofa!
On Saturday I took a trip to Pisa. Even though I was told that the only thing to do in Pisa was to take a picture with the leaning tower, that was exactly why I wanted to go. I couldn’t even fathom leaving Italy without the stereotypical picture holding up the tower. We traveled three hours to reach Pisa and the saving grace was that grey skies managed not to soak us. We took our pictures with the tower (we got a lot of laughs over the whole thing) because we looked a little ridiculous. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is more commonly known in Italy as La Torre di Pisa and is a freestanding bell tower. The tower is leaning because of a weak foundation and unstable soil. It was completed in three stages over a period of 177 years. I know it might sound funny but, trust me, the tower is really leaning, and quite odd looking. Restoration on the tower (cleaning of the stone) began in the 1990’s and is due to be finished at the end of this year. One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching a tourist group being unloaded and immediately begin to walk on the grass. This was funny because there were clear signs that forbade anyone to walk on the grass. As we started back towards the train station we wondered (with a smile) where the l’erba polizia (the grass police) were!
On Sunday we made pancakes for our Italian friends. We had lost a bet, so we had to make pancakes (we didn’t mind though!). Italian card games are much more challenging when you play with Italians who have a whole system of signals. Another reason why I think they won (I am a very competitive card player) is they would tell each other what cards they had in Italian; this completely unfair because we had no language that we could speak in that wouldn’t be understood ( if only I knew pig Latin). Getting everything together to make the pancakes was an adventure. Since our bus from Arezzo to Sansepolcro would have us getting in after the grocery stores closed ,and they are not open on Sunday, we decided to do our grocery shopping in the time we had (it wasn’t very long) in Arezzo. We ran into the store and began to grab eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter, orange juice, and a few other necessities. It was a miracle that we made it onto the bus with all of our bags and back to Sansepolcro without one egg breaking. About twenty minutes before our friends arrived the next morning I had a slight moment of panic when I realized that I needed baking powder for the pancakes to be fluffy. Luckily Dr. Webb helped me find some in the palazzo and graciously let us use her kitchen to do the cooking. Thankfully everything went off without a hitch! It only took us about an hour after the guests arrived to have the food ready but I think the pancakes were worth the wait. I spent the afternoon working on a puzzle (it is 1500 pieces, and we hope to finish it before we leave) and since the constant downpour of the day had yet to stop we all decided to put on our raincoats, hats, and umbrellas and take a walk in the rain. Even though it was cold, and we ended up completely soaked, the walk was relaxing and had us in the café enjoying a coffee when it was finished. Wow, another spectacular weekend!
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