[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
April 28 - Last Day in Umbria
Happy 22nd Wedding Anniversary to John and Suzanne! Tonight we will head out to more properly celebrate the occasion.
For most this was a day to kick back, relax, start to pack the bags and generally begin shifting gears into the "moving on" mode. Margene, Suzanne and I went off for a brief exploration of a few spots in the area we had not seen. Our meanderings took us through the small town of Castel Rigone perched high on a hill overlooking Lake Trasimeno. There is a killer view from this charming litte enclave. It could also be a great place for a rental since there is both seclusion ... and several restaurants within walking distance, both highly desireable features for couples according to Alison. We might watch for listings, just in case.
We were sure to make it back to the house in time to make a nice lunch from the leftovers of last night's dinner. Sandra certainly cooks well ... and plentifully!
In the afternoon the rains came again with a vengeance! This is a great house to be in during a storm. For a fleeting moment we considered building a fire in the fireplace but thought that Juan Carlos would have enough cleaning to do without adding that to his list, particularly on out last day in the house. If it had been Monday or Tuesday, though, we would probably have done it!
We passed the afternoon in the living room, chatting, drinking wine and reading from two of the guest comment books we found. The oldest goes back to 1996 when the renovation of the house was completed. Apparently there once was a lot of problems with scorpions in the place, something that we have not seen this time around (and only once in the past.) We also missed out on wild boars giving birth by the pool and other assorted local critters wandering through the yard. Some folks had all the fun!
It was still raining lightly when we finally headed off to Corciano for our farewell dinner and a celebration of John and Suzanne's anniversary at the Ristorante Il Convento, a long-time favorite of ours (if you consider from 2003 to be a long time!)
Corciano is a wonderful little hill town with a postcard scene everywhere you turn. They light the town well at night which makes it just magical to walk around after dark. The rain had stopped by the time we finished dinner so we took to the streets to breath in our last taste of Italy for awhile. Some of the photos are included on a following page.
© 2006 Restaurant Doctor