Ciao Bella

Umbria Italy
September 25th through 30th

The time was 3:00 pm when Roby and I finally made it back to our car in Tasch Switzerland and we had at least four hours to travel to reach our destination in Italy. Our well thought out plan was to spend the night in Parma and have a leisurely morning and head to Florence to pi ck up our friend Steve from Kauai. We had been exchanging emails with him and set a date and time to meet at the main train station in Florence. Of course nothing goes according to plan. Roby was driving and I was navigating and we were doing fine until we hit Milan. The intention was to stay on the autostrade and bypass the city which we thought we had done but unfortunately more than one freeway exists in Milan and we got completely turned around. After about thirty minutes we stopped at the gas station and a nice Italian driver said some words and gave us hand gesture directions. We were on the road again. No chance of getting lost again it was a straight shot to Parma.

The sun was beginning to set and we still had several hours to drive. Did we want to call it a night and have a further drive in the morning or continue toward Parma. Unfortunately Motel 6 was not leaving the light on for us. We would see signs every 20 km for a hotel but nothing in sight and we did not want to chance getting off the autostrade in a small town in the middle of the night so we kept chugging along. At least we were not lost this way. Prior to Parma we saw a Motel right off the freeway so we decided it was time to get off the road. We drove into the parking lot and the place was definitely too fancy for us so we left and figured another hotel had to be nearby. What did we do, the thing we said we did not want to do, get off the freeway and try and find a hotel. An hour later after cruising through the entire town and its industrial area there was no hotel in sight. Now we had to find our way back to the freeway. UGGH!

The hour is now 8:30 pm and we are still an hour from Parma and we have not eaten since Zermatt. The signs for Parma are in sight so we get off and take the first hotel we can find. At this time I would pay 100 euors for a room just to get out of the car. We happened upon a nice place in the outskirts of town and took a room. Now we had to find something to eat. Thankfully the restaurants in Europe stay open late because we did not sit down for dinner until 11:30 pm and people were coming in after us. Our first plate of spaghetti with real “Parma-giano Reggiano” cheese. I was in heaven. Bedtime-1:30 am- wakeup 9:00 am- 10:00 am-breakfast-11:00- on the road again. So much for the carefully thought out plan.

I thought I was so prepared with our route. I had printed out Google Maps and corresponding directions to each location. The test was going to be finding the train station in Florence. If the street signage was anything like Switzerland we were in trouble. All was going well; we were making all the right connections on the autostrade, and we were on time to meet Steve. The exit for Florence arrived. I pulled out my Google directions ready to lead Roby straight for the train station. At the T-intersection the signage had 20 different locations and arrows pointing in three different directions, none of which represented the name I was looking for. With traffic behind us and without thinking we turned left heading somewhere. We were officially lost. With Google being worthless, we decided to find signage for the train station. Although Europe does not sign its streets well, you can always find signs for the train station, airport and football stadium. With the flow of traffic, Roby kept driving and I watched out for the signs. We still had thirty minutes to meet Steve so plenty of time to be lost. Amazingly, once we got on the right track, the names of the streets on my Google map starting appearing. We arrived at the train station within 10 minutes of our meeting time and found Steve waiting for us on the curb. Miracles do happen.

The ride to Umbria was full of conversation catching up on Steve’s hike in Switzerland, his last few months in Kauai and our plans for Italy. An hour and a half went by so quickly. Things went smoothly and we drove directly to our farmhouse in Maggione Italy above Lake Trasimeno. It helps when you get directions from the owner of the home. As we turned into the driveway we could see the two story stone farmhouse overlooking acres of olive trees and distant views of the Umbrian hillside. We all looked at each other and smiled. Jackpot!! Our unit was two story with a spiral staircase and small kitchenette. The bedroom had antique furniture and big wooden shutters on the windows which opened up to the most incredible view of Umbria. Our own “under the Tuscan Sun House”. The living room had a futon so Steve made himself at home. The grounds had several covered patios, a BBQ, ping pong table, foosball table and a 25 yd. pool with lounge chairs encircling it resort style. Best of all, we had the entire place to ourselves. After unpacking we headed into the small village of Maggione to experience the local cuisine. Unfortunately we arrived during the siesta hour so we had to have Happy Hour at a local bar for a few hours. Darn!! Steve filled us in on more of the details of his hike and his plans for when he heads back to the States and we just reminisced about Kauai. The restaurants and stores started reopening so we headed up to the tiny trattoria upstairs from the bar and had an excellent pasta dinner with a terra cotta carafe of the local wine which goes for 2 euros. Gotta love Italy!!

We had still not fully recovered from our jetlag nor our long days of driving so it was not surprising we did not wake until 10:00 am the next morning. Roby pried me out of bed by opening the big wood shutters and letting the sunshine into the room. We spent the next hour enjoying the morning and our wonderful view, but we had to venture out because Roby and Steve were in desperate need of some coffee. We decided since we got such a late start we would drive over to Perugia do some grocery shopping and check out the town. Perugia is a university town so it is much bigger than Maggione but still maintains the hillside character. The centro is at the city’s highest point providing you with a view of the surrounding countryside. That evening we decided to cook our dinner at the house. We made a ravioli with homemade sauce and sautéed zucchini and served it with the region’s finest red wine. To top it off we had biscotti with nutella. I think we all rolled into bed that night.

Needing to work off our huge meal from the night before we set out to hike the mountain near the house. This was going to be an adventure because we did not have any directions. Thankfully we had Steve with us because I am not the best navigator. We got to the general location but we could not find any trailhead or marker. After driving around we decided to ask a few hunters loading their rifles if they could direct us to any good hiking trails in the area. With my limited Italian with a mixture of Spanish and some hand signals, the hunters were able to point us in the right direction. Still even after we made the requisite number of turns no trail existed. We took a chance down a dirt road up to the castle. Once we reached the plateau near the castle we could see others on the mountain. Two options existed and we initially took the wrong one but quickly figured it out and got on the right route. It was reassuring when we passed a couple of hikers coming down the slope. Our trail was not much better than the pig trails on Kauai. It appears National Parks in Italy do not mean the same thing as in the United States. We initially wound through the forest with great tree cover from the sun which we needed because the trail was straight up hill. Once you exited the forest you were introduced to a view of rolling hills covered with olive trees and Lake Trasimeno below. At the top we found a perfect vantage point and enjoyed a homemade proscuitto with mozzarella and tomato sandwich. On the way down we decided instead of traversing we would just head straight down. Being steep our toes were hitting the ends of our running shoes and our quads were enjoying the workout. We made it down in record time which was needed because we had a futbol match to attend in Perugia.

Once we arrived at the futbol stadio we knew we were in for a treat. Although this was not a Division 1 League the fans were just as intense. Everyone was in the team colors of red and white waiving their flags and scarves. The team anthem was being sung at the top of their lungs all taking place 30 minutes before the game even started. Being in a smaller stadio made you feel part of the event. We made sure we were cheering for the right team because at these matches the opposing team’s fans have to sit in a special section and be fenced off from the home team to prevent any fighting. We saw a couple of tussles break out on the field but no major damage. The fans stand throughout the match and sing and chant non-stop. Even at the end of the game the guys were climbing the fences to try and get on the field. Amazing for a minor league match. We had an awesome experience and are now hooked on futbol. After the match we headed back to Maggione to grab some dinner. When we arrived in town we had forgotten about the celebration for the new civic building was taking place that evening. As the fireworks were going off we watched what could be best described as a modern interpretative dance show being put on in the piazza for the town. The surprising feature was the entire show was done on stilts and the dancers were dressed in full elaborate colored costumes with full head dresses and masks. Because we arrived in the middle of the show we did not understand the theme but the choreography and dance routines were unique and enjoyable. Roby and Steve caught quite a bit of video especially of the cute Italian girl in the tight spandex outfit!! The show ended and we found a great little restaurant tucked away in a garden setting. The interior was decorated in the perfect Italian stone and wooden booths. It had a nice homey feeling and the food was exceptional. We finished supper and headed back to the house and enjoyed a couple bottles of wine and the last of our nutella for dessert.

Steve had to leave the next day and he wanted to jump in the swimming pool before he left, but the water was extremely cold so that morning we went for a run in the olive fields to get all hot and sweaty. Not sure if it really helped because the water still took your breath away when you dove in. We took quick showers and Steve got some laundry done while we waited for my friend Alice from Phoenix to show up at the house. We were going to do lunch with her and some of her friends while they were traveling through Italy. Due to them getting lost, time was running short so we dropped Steve off at the train station for his 20 hour ride to Barcelona and went to a small café and had a drink with them. They headed off to Assisi and Roby and I headed home to hang out by the pool and enjoy the beautiful weather. I think we timed it perfectly for Italy; sun, cool breezes, and mild temperatures. Blissful.

We had one more day at the farmhouse so Roby and I took full advantage of doing exactly what we wanted to do- absolutely nothing. After sleeping in till 10:00 am we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast on the outdoor patio. Then we proceeded to the pool area pulled up a lounge chair and soaked up some sun while treasuring our free time. I read a good novel- The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. I would highly recommend it. Roby serenaded me with some quality guitar. Our best day yet!!! Umbria turned out to be exactly what we had dreamed of for our Radical Sabbatical.