Musings From Paradise

Norcia, Umbria — We’ve completed our cycle trip, and proceed to Norcia for a week of hiking in the lovely surrounding mountains. Our final day’s ride from Trevi to Spoleto was a cruiser, and we arrived mid-day. The instructions to Hotel Charleston were explicit, and we found Spoleto to be a bustling community without the attitude of Perugia that seems to accompany a capitol city.
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Vorrei scrivere in italiano, ma avrei bisogno di scrivere in englese, anche. Una volta e basta! Quindi scrivero in englese.

Scuola Di Italiano Per Stranieri is located on the third and top floor of a building whose large and heavy green wooden entrance door has spingere on it.

There were eight students the first week and six the second. Alexandra drove from Svizzera (in her black, two seater, convertable BMW).
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We left Perugia following the same route on which we arrived, only this time it was all downhill. There IS justice in the world. Our destination was Assisi, only a short ride. The weather is holding up, we’re taking Alicia’s advice and stopping frequently for pastries and espressos (Sooney fondly refers to these as “fuel stops”), and we pulled into our accomodations in the early afternoon.
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The mountains we’ve become so accustomed to have leveled out to terrain more accomodating to agriculture. Well-irrigated farms line both sides of the railroad connecting Arezzo with Rome, and we got off in Cornuccia / Cortona and snagged a taxi to our hotel, The Corys.

Cortona is a walled “hill town” dating back a couple thousand years to Etruscian times, and was constructed on a slopeing ridge.
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In an earlier entry, I referred to the journey we took from Florence to our accommodation in Poppi, located in the Casentino region of Tuscany. The more we learn about this marvelous place, the more I feel compelled to expand on recent learnings. After all, the primary reason for our maintaining this blog is to document recent discoveries while they’re fresh.
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Friday afternoon in Poppi (photo at right taken after a short walk from town yesterday). Classes are finished for the week and we’re off to Arezzo, a bustling town south of Poppi that drips witFriday afternoon in Poppi (photo at right taken after a short walk from town yesterday). Classes are finished for the week and we’re off to Arezzo, a bustling town south of Poppi that drips with historical significance.
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Our decision to include a culture and food component to the basic italian language training has proven to be a great choice. In addition to 3-4 hours of daily language instruction, Sooney and I are really trying to walk daily and now and then join group activities with the other 6 students for Institute-led excursions that have introduced us to the culinary delights of the Casentino region of Tuscany.
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The lowlands are behind us and we have wound our way up the drainage to the headwaters of the Arno River that flows through Florence. Following a curvy 2-hour route into the hills east of Florence, the bus entered the region called the Casentino and dropped us at the small town of Ponte a Poppi located on the Arno and a short distance from Popppi.
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Our final day in Florence, we figured the best place to encapsulate our visit was from the sky. Or at least as close as we could get to it. Sooney and I climbed to the top of Brunelleschi’s dome atop the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore, the major cathedral in Florence.

After 243 steps in a narrow channel, we summited to a breathtaking panorama.
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We’ve been introduced to a local Tuscan staple called Pappa del Pomodore. A thick blend of fresh tomatoes, basil, and bread, this hearty soup is served with a little olive oil poured on top. We happened onto a lunch place that featured a 10 Euro lunch buffet that included wine. This is an interesting concept to keep costs down while enjoying local varieties.
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