Day 9 Thursday June 12th 2008

Tired again. Got home about 12:00 am. Journaled this morning and then cooked the wild asparagus and agretti for breakfast. It was yummy.

We left around 10:00 am to go to Orvieto. We went to the small town, set on a hill, just like almost every city in Italy. It was rainy and colder today. There was another cool water fountain on the way to the lookout point. First we went to the 250 foot well that took 10 years to build to hid the pope, called Pozzo di San Patrizio. When you got down to the bottom the water was so cold. Someone had actually dropped their camera down the well, it was so clear, you could see it on the bottom. It is amazing to think they built this whole thing by hand with no power tools.

When we got out we were looking at the view and Brit pretended to fall over the wall, which actually had a ledge on the other side. It was funny. Then since the kids didn’t see him do that, he acted like a monster and when the kids went to the wall he scared them from the other side.

When we were figuring out what to do next since it was raining, Mavis saw me put my Garmin into my bra, where I like to store things for safety and easy access since I don’t usually have pockets. She copied me and tried to put her map into her dress. It was a little big and cumbersome, but she managed to get it in there. When we asked her what she was doing she said, “it’s my stuff, you can’t get my stuff”. It was so funny!

After that we decided to go the underground caves in the city, which had been dug to hid things and probably people. On the way Hiedi found a cool typography store and the guy gave her some cool prints he had made. At the caves, there were kilns ceramic making tools and all kinds of “Butto” shuts, which are medieval garbage disposals. The kids loved this. At the end was a place where you could eat on a nice day. It had really cool wires going across it that sheltered from the sun and a bamboo grid that had ¾” bamboo about 18” on square. It was so awesome and looked spectacular.

At the water fountain we had a little fun. Wherever there is water kids will want to get wet, no matter if it is cold and rainy. We decided to go get lunch and drove to the side of town that was a little closer.

The road was so steep in parts of this city a 16% grade. After parking, which we weren’t sure was legal or not where we were, we got out and went to Trattoria dell Orso. They only had room for 4, without a reservation so Mom & Dad and Me & Brit decided to go. Then while we were sitting there, I asked Brit to trade with Hiedi, because we would be fine with pizza, and would actually like it even better. He swapped and all the kids and them went and had pizza and gelato.

The restaurant is just like you picture an Italian restaurant. Our meal was really good; they did this one dish with pureed fava beans, fennel and speck with pasta. It was so yummy. Then the eggplant parmesan was delightful too. The veggies, mixed escarole cooked, tasted delicious and was perfectly cooked. Our dessert was a good moist chocolate cake.

While we were there a group of 10 Italian men came in and had a typical lunch. That is why they couldn’t seat all of us because the restaurants are really small. It was funny to hear their voices and watch their body language as they talked. They had such deep voices. As each one talked they were so animated. They really did the Italian napkin thing, tucking it into their shirt when they ate pasta.

The kids loved gelato! It is fun to watch them lick the cones and keep them from dripping. I saw this cool book at the restaurant I want to check it out when I get home it is called “An Appetite for Umbria”. Everything in the book looked so good.

The streets were so narrow like in every city, but I got some good pictures of how really narrow it is. Our car was small but Josh & Hiedi’s were bigger because they bought a BMW to drive for 3 weeks while there and then they are going to sell when they get back. But seriously the streets are so small, I took pictures to show what we drove through everyday. If you make a turning mistake it’s not so easy to turn around.

As we walked down the street we saw these workers doing construction on the fourth or fifth floor of a building. They would fill up these small wheelbarrows and then hoist them up to the top. It was interesting to watch. I love how everything is decorated and on the outside of their houses.

Orvieto was so green and luscious. Maybe it was because it rained so it felt very wet. Mom had to take pictures everywhere!

On our way to the hot springs we went by the way of Lake Bosena, the largest lake in Europe. It was so massive, but so beautiful. The drive was incredible especially this little town called Pitigliano. There was a very neat castle there too. I would have like to walk through this town but natured called. Brit needed to pee so we had to head out. Don’t look at those pictures, their private. Dad was already asleep again as we left.

Entering Tuscany there began to be so many sheep all around. I stopped at this one because it was really scenic. When I stopped the car and got out I noticed that the guy was actually sheering his sheep. It was awesome and reminded me of my grandpa doing the same thing. The big sheep were so protective of the little lambs. Some of these sheep got mow hawk cuts too.

It was beautiful all around the countryside and there were rolling hills 360 degrees around. We stopped at a vineyard; the caretaker was using his scathe to clean up the grape vines. Since I planted grapes this year, I wanted to see the best way to rig them up. You could tell they have been doing this for centuries. It would be fun to come when the grape harvest was happening, and when the olives were being pressed.

We hit a little town called Saturina and that is where some of the best hot springs that the Romans have come to for years are located. It was crazy there, and they said it wasn’t even that busy. A typical Italian pilgrimage that I’m sure people came for miles to be cured in back in the day.

I didn’t bring a bathing suit on the trip, didn’t know I would be swimming, so I watched baby Jack. He is only a few months old. Everyone said they were so cool and they had a pile of rocks in the bottom so the rocks you sat on weren’t slippery or sharp to cut you. I saw lots of interesting Spedos and would have taken a few pictures if I wasn’t holding Jack. Also the man with the dog was typical Italian.

Everyone loved the hot springs and would have stayed there all day. The kids loved playing with Brit and putting all the gravel in his hair. Last night when we got into bed, he stunk like sulfur and pebbles were still falling out of his hair. We basically had to rip the kids out, but we knew we were headed for a 2-hour ride home. That was the favorite part of the trip for them.

We stopped and got gelato in Saturina. It was good! I wonder why is it so much better over here? Mavis decided her and Levi were going to get married it’s been a topic of conversation on the trip.

We tried to eat dinner at Mancinao in a place called Trattoria da Paolino but they didn’t have enough room for us. It was 8:30 so the restaurants are all full by then. We generally have been the first to a restaurant, which has been good with all the kids. We separated and Josh & Hiedi went to find their own dinner. We decide to eat over by Orvieto but it was still 1 hour away and that would make it 9:30.

For the sake of time we decided to eat on the side of the road somewhere so we found a place that looked busy and we stopped. Trattoria del Conte It was so good and the pasta was excellent. We had bucatini con pomodori al forno, gnocchi con sugo di spuntature di maiale e salsiccia, tortellini di carne fatti a mano all’etrusca, zite allo atracotto di spezzatino, umbrichelli all’amatriciana, and ravioloni di ricotta e spnachi burro e salvia. We had cotolette alla Milanese which were breaded veal cutlets.

For our side dishes we got fagiolini all’agro, green beans with lemon, peperonata, which were stewed type peppers, spinaci saltati, and insalata mista o verde. The owner of the restaurant, the father, was mad that we came in so late to the restaurant and that we had a lot of people. The daughter was very nice and tried her best to accommodate us. We tried to order a couple of other things but they were out, or maybe they just didn't want us to stay?