Day Trip! (in other words, no class!)

Today was a rainy day. While most people would probably lament rain on their vacation, most of our group welcomed a break from the extremely hot, sunny days. It was only the second day of rain in Rome over the course of our trip thus far. A few of us hypothesize that it rained because Rome was lamenting the loss of Steve, who had a red eye flight back to Seattle this morning to fulfill his obligations as an RA. Certainly we all lamented our loss of sleep after staying up most of the night to see him off at 4 a.m.


Our early trip to the train station was a little quieter than usual, but we tried to fix that with a cappuccino before departure. Several of the guys even joined Lisa in her breakfast tradition, purchasing a sausage mcmuffin to eat on the train. The ride north to Orvieto was short, only an hour, but we all fell asleep.

The town of Orvieto is unique because it is on top of a rock plateau. From the train station, the fastest way to get to the town is by the Funicolare. This is similar to the trolleys found in San Francisco although more modern. In true Italian style, it is supposed to be able to hold 75 people on each trip, so we were literally packed into the car like sardines. At the top we hopped onto a tiny bus that took us to the Duomo.

The Duomo is a 10th century church located on the summit of the hill that is said to have been built at the site of a miracle. The story goes that during a discussion about the blood and body of Christ, the host started bleeding. The blood was wiped up with a scarf/cloth that is now the primary relic of the church.

We were set free at the top of the hill to go exploring, so we broke off into little groups and wandered the streets. My group went to get coffee for the second time in as many hours before hitting the town. We saw boar’s heads, truffles, wine, and olive oil in tin cans, all typical to the region. Mostly we just wandered down the narrow streets taking goofy pictures and admiring the view from our hilltop fortress.

Many of us found our way to a little restaurant where we could warm up after our rainy day escapades. The food was excellent, and we all enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. After lunch we wandered a little bit more and then made our way back down to the Funicolare, and then the train. Everyone agrees it was an enjoyable and restful day away from the bustle and noise of Rome.

Aston