Thursday – 7 November – The flight back today was very nice. The views for most of the flight were nonexistent due to cloud cover except for a short time just when we were passing over the Alps. What a view!!! Right now I am sitting in the Delta Sky Club in Atlanta. We have a 5 hour lay over before our flight to New Bern. I hope you have enjoyed this trip as much as I did.
Well, the morning (Wednesday, 6 November) dawned with fog or clouds in our faces. Time to leave our castle in the clouds and Tobia (pronounced Tow-bee-ah) the wonder dog who loves prosciutto scraps and head for the airport for our flight out tomorrow. On the journey, we did manage to find the town of Deruta where we stopped into a shop and bought several things. Then we continued in and turned in the rental car. Shortly we will go to dinner and tomorrow we will head for home!! It is good to travel and Italy is a beautiful country, but I am happy to be heading home!! See you soon!!!
If you ever go to Italy, remember that I warned you about the small bathrooms and the even smaller showers. From the right to the left this room is only the width of my outstretched arms with one hand flat on the wall and the other hand’s fingers just touching. Other than the height, that is the largest dimension. I think the room was meant for midgets! You wish for prehensile toes if you happen to drop the soap in the shower.
Monday, 4 November – Here is what the countryside and sky looks like today.
Monday – 4 November – What awful weather, wind blowing, rain, cold enough for 5 layers. BRRR! Well, at least it is not snowing, we are in the mountains after all. Went out hunting the town where they are supposed to make beautiful pottery but it seems that everywhere is closed. I don’t know if it is a usual Monday thing or if it is on the heels of a three day weekend packed with holidays and festivals or what but that entire town was closed down. So we went on to this town where the old portion of town was restored. It was beautiful. Then back to Gubbio to see if those pottery stores were open, but no luck. Since the weather is so bad we just decided to go back to the castle. If the wind calms down a little bit we might light a fire in the kitchen hearth but it has been blowing a hoolie for 3 days now so it is doubtful.
Saturday, 2 November – Traveled the distance through the mountains on a very precarious road to the town of Assisi. The place was a madhouse. It was All Souls’ Day plus several festivals going on. There were literally thousands at the Cathedral. We toured the whole thing even going down into the sub basement to see the tomb of St. Francis. We dined in an open-air cafe on one of the squares where we watched people and listened to American music from the Beatles, Dylan, etc. from the 60’s and 70’s. The weather began to close in and we had many miles to drive back to the castle so we left. It did start to rain on us but we made it home safely where F started a fire in the kitchen hearth.
Sunday, 3 November – Woke to a blustery morning, gray clouds, lots of wind, but not as cold as yesterday (I know, you don’t know about Yesterday because I have not been able to post it and I am getting confused with the days). Tobia has not shown the last couple of days because he is smart and the weather has been inclement. I am still saving the fat trimmings from the prosciutto for him. M had wanted to go back to Gubbio and attend Mass at the church at the top of the town but we arrived to find that they were no longer saying Mass there. So back down to the church of St. Francis at the middle of town for the services. I, of course could not understand a word, but the priest was so interesting in his voice inflections, gestures, eye contact…he was just a little gnome of a guy but he had a twinkle in his eye. Later we had lunch (seems like all we are doing is eat) and wandered around the city, stopping in the square to buy sweets and roasted chestnuts.
Wednesday was a long day of travel. We drove from our lodgings back to Madrid, waited forever in the airport. The flight was late taking off. We landed at the Rome airport and then had to haul all our luggage to another terminal to catch our ride to the little hotel where we were staying. Finally got in about 9:30 pm, tired and hungry. Frederico (part owner of the hotel) told us about a pizza place close by to get something to eat. We went to what turned out to be a sports bar complete with soccer fans watching (and cheering loudly for) the local team. We had some of the best pizza I have had in a long time. Our appetites sated we returned to the hotel and crashed.
I don’t remember the name of this town. But I liked the photo.
Tuesday, 29 October – Did I happen to mention that there are an awfully lot of castles in Spain? This one is in Turegamo and on our way home. But of course, we had to make a stop at the bred store, too.
onesandy1 