Orvieto

Orvieto is our new favorite town. The views of the surrounding land is breathtaking. It is high on a hill and has a huge funicular for those who arrive down at the train station at the bottom. The Cathedral is our favorite because it has the most intricate facade with columns that have gold mosaic and have plants like figs, grapes, acorns carved twisting going up the columns. Kelly and I have quickly adapted the Italian custom of getting out of the afternoon heat and taking a nap in the afternoon. Bob continues to sightsee and brave the weather. This morning he walked down the hill to see a huge well that is a double helix design so that people /donkeys can go up and down at the same time. Kelly and I sat out in the square at a restaurant and had cool drinks while we listened to an old man in front of the cathedral play "Ave Maria" on his violin (for tips) about 20 times. We watched as swallows swooped around the top of the cathedral. This was also an Etruscan town and the Etruscians dug caves under the town. So now, when you buy a house in the city you are also getting any cave that is underneath. It was a fascinating, cool trip, as we walked under the existing city. During WWII the train station at the bottom of town was bombed but the cathedral was spared and the people from the bombout area came up the hill and used the caves for bomb shelters. The Etruscans also used the caves which had little windows in them - to raise pigeons - which they ate. Here is what Bob wrote to a wine buddy: "went to a gelateria\bar before dinner in orvieto. asked waitress for a class of white wine. she says her father makes the wine. it was wonderful. five grapes in it. i go in and ask if it is for sale. no lable on bottle. the father can,t speak english. he offers his grappa and vin santo. both good, but i am not a grappa person. his white was better than the white we got at dinner. i cannot believe how cheap the wines are. the restaurant tonight had a 1998 dal forno romano amarone for 200 euros. cheap but I could not spend the money." The wine is incredible and so is the food - lots of homemade pasta and gelati. We cnàt post pictures from here but we will add some tomorrow. There is no internet cafe in town and we must use the computer at the hotel front desk. We're thinking about all the graduations that we missed and wishing the graduates well.