PERUGIA e altre cose

So an update...  I finally went and saw the Basilica di Santa Croce and it was actually quite interesting.  It is a huge complex with gardens and a museum and impressive frescoes and statues.  It is also where Michelangelo,Galileo and Machiavelli are buried and one can walk all over lots of dead people.  I have also learned to cook pasta carbonara, risotto and polenta: all very good.  Next on my list: quattro formaggio and lasagne (although I really enjoyed my mac&cheese I brought from home today - I figured that I have a cold and I deserve some comfort food).  I have been exercising and running so I guess I am allowed to eat..My Italian is improving and I can almost hold a conversation..of course, it involves several pauses and terrible grammar and lots of frustration but thankfully no one has laughed at me yet.  Did I mention that it's Carnivale time here?!  Which means lots of yummy treats - sciaciatta alla fiorentina, struffoli, cenci, frittelle...Italy sure knows how to celebrate.. I can't wait to see what comes out for Pasqua!

Last weekend I went to Perugia.  I'll give you a brief rundown of our usual travel schedule..Thursday or so I pick somewhere I've been wanting to go.  I'll check the train schedule and call Meaghan to see what she thinks and let her know what time to meet (preferably at least a half hour before since one of us is bound to be late).  We buy tickets and ride the train for 2 hours or so.  Then we get off and find the nearest information point to get a map or walk to the city center (hopefully without getting lost).  If it's a really good day we'll have actually read about the city in the tour book instead of just talking on the train.  Then we'll wander around, see a few churches, maybe a museum, find somewhere to eat, wander some more, buy some gelato, find a good pasticerria or candy shop, do some shopping and buy things we didn't even know we wanted, maybe get dinner, and then catch the train back home at night.  It's always a fun, interesting day!

(I loved this angel in the park -although I'm sure it's not really an angel)

So this weekend it was Perugia and my friend Christina came down from Siena to join us.  It was raining in Florence so we were crossing our fingers that it would be nicer in Umbria.  After exploring a pretty garden and getting lost for 1/2 hour, we found probably the coolest tram I have ever been on (which happened to be only 2 minutes from the station)..we were pretty excited and rode it back and forth from the outskirts to the center.

The very cool tunnel that we went through.. 

  Meaghan, Christina and I 

 

Beautiful views of Perugia and the Umbrian countryside.

Our next stop was kebabs for lunch - my first since being in Italy, even though they are everywhere.

The caldarroste man that sells roasted chestnuts everywhere..and the main street in Perugia.  We found a cool antiques market and bought somebody's old jewelry.  I also rode my first scale mobile (escalator) in Italy and it was great - there are a series that go right through the old castle and save you lots of uphill walking!

Mmmm..Gelato!! and the bulk candy bins (neither Meaghan or I can ever resist)

Then our biggest surprise of the day - HAIL!!  It came down hard and you could even catch it and eat it.   Pretty awesome!

The rest of the time was spent wandering around in the rain, seeing some cool if not a little bit creepy churches, and searching for the Garden of Eden from the tour book (which is why you shouldn't read those things anyways).  We took the tram back to the station with our soaking wet feet and pants and enjoyed our candy on the train ride home..