Last minutes decisions are always exciting! Whoever disagrees should try making one again sometime.
www.Hostelworld.com was the portal through which we discovered the FARMHOUSE in PERUGIA! Yes a farmhouse, that’s what I said. And not not just any old farmhouse, but a 200 year old farmhouse. 18 euros a night with complimentary, homemade, red wine. Baby ducks, a pony, goats, sheep and chickens came with the package, too! Vicariously through the chickens, we got eggs for breakfast, which we cooked in our very own kitchen and ate at our kitchen table which was next to the sitting room which was connected by a hallway that led to our four bed room. I got to sleep on a bunk bed again. (the bottom, which wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I’m a nice person) : )
Outside the walls of this fortress were rolling hills of emerald green for miles. I was so excited to run and roll and lay upon them. As beautiful as Siena is, it can be very suffocating at times, because the buildings are huge and tall and the streets are very narrow.
So, I unpacked my stuff and explored every nook and cranny to satisfy my curiosities. After, I went outside and ran into our Grandparents for the weekend, Reta and Bruno. They told us about the market and some information about the farmhouse and the animals and then said “Andiamo!” Reta shewed us into the back of their mini truck and closed the tailgate and we were off to the market. haha. There was no ice to break here. I was so glad because I do not like ice in relationships. (It makes jumping in a little difficult.)
For four people, we spent 7 euro each to eat for the entire weekend. I was impressed. I miss cooking, so it was nice to be able to exercise some independence in the kitchen for a weekend. We returned to the farmhouse and put everything away and prepared to make a quick trip to the world famous Perugina chocolate factory. Have you heard of Ferrera Rocher? Those delicious hazelnut chocolates? They’re made by this factory. Our intentions were to catch a tour, but they stop early on Fridays, so we were out of luck. We walked through ourselves and then, of course, purchased a selection of world famous chocolates. America has Hershey kisses, Italy has Baci kisses. Ten times more delicious because there’s a hazelnut in every one!
We also purchased hand towels, because, unfortunately, towels were not included with our stay at the farmhouse. We found our way back and prepared for dinner and ate chocolates. Chocolate doesn’t spoil dinner here, mom. We had gnochi and salad accompanied by the homemade wine and then…a surprise entered our world. Four Austrians came to stay at the farmhouse with us! Very cool people. They made us feel better about our Italian. haha They were very good at English and we were horrible at German. That seems to be happening a lot.
We spent the rest of the night hanging out: Austrians, Americans, and one Italian. It was a blast. Conversation was great and again, no ice to break. It was interesting to observe this ecclectic gathering of different people. Americans definitely consume too much, too fast.And Bush has given Americans a bad reputation. It was a great learning experience for me.
The next morning, we headed to the center city to Piazza IV Novembre to see the fountain sculpted by Giovani and Nicola Pisano. It was gigantic and quite functional even 800 years later. Even in the city center, things were more spread out than in Siena. I met a guy on the steps of a church that talked to me for a while in Italian. He doesn’t like Perugia because everyone knows everyone. sound slike a lot of places, haha.
I loved Perugia, however. Maybe it was the sun, or the crazy views, or the open air. I’m not sure. The views were incredible, though. At one point I was standing even with the clouds in the far distance. It was pretty crazy. They seemed eye level, but in reality were not. I could see for miles and miles and miles and then right in near proximity there were people and houses. For some reason, it seemed that near me was real and everything in front of me was fantasy. We spent the entire afternoon in the center and then returned back to the farmhouse to cook dinner with the Austrians. By the way their names were Katy, Hanus, Morris, and Alex. : )
We had a feast of fresh mozzarella, tomotoes, pecorino (sheep cheese), fresh bread and pasta with an olive, tomato sauce that was delicious. It was accompanied by the wine of course and then we hung out and relaxed. We packed and chatted and went outside to look at the stars for a while. Guess what… there was no moon in the sky for two days! I don’t remember that ever happening in my life, but it was scary. I thought we should call the appropriate authorities, but I was outvoted. It came back Monday night, so I feel better now.
We hit the sack kind of early because we were tired from the long day of walking and traveling, but we ended it with a bed time story. It was about dinorsaurs. You had to be there. : ) We slept, with an area heater glowing up the room like a sunset, soundly and woke up, had eggs and cereal for breakfast and donated our leftover groceries to our new friends.
A well needed rest in the country. My health is much better. There isn’t anything that some fresh food, good wine, clean air, and the open countryide can’t alleviate, even a little bit.
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