[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
December 9 - Todi
There is a lot to like about this house. One of the things NOT to like we didn't find out until yesterday. Although there is a phone in the house, you cannot use it to make outgoing calls ... which means that I cannot access the Internet from here as I had expected. I can use it to call Francesca downstairs who can make the call and connect me. That works fine if there is someone I want to talk with, but is totally unworkable as far as getting my computer hooked into the 'net.
This is ot the end of the world, perhaps, but definitely a snag in the plan, which meant we had to find an Internet cafe and do what we could from there. That meant a trip to Todi as a start. Since we are staying on a B&B rate, Francesca brought up a nice breakfast at 9am. Margene was running late so we didn't sit down to eat until after ten and didn't get out of the house until noon.
We asked around town and finally found an Internet shop, apparently a fairly new venture. I managed to get my computer hooked into their system and pull down my e-mail but when I tried to upload material to my website or send e-mail, nothing was happening. I did manage to send out my weekly e-letter using one of their machines, but that meant re-typing everything. By the time I finished, it was quarter to three. We were hungry and in trouble, because most Italian restaurants close around 2pm.
We finally found a ristorante/pizzeria that was open (actually, I think they were about to close but decided they could use another sale). Margene had a bowl of soup and I ordered Quatro Formaggi (4-cheese) pizza. It was, of course, wood-fired, thin crust, crisp ... and uncut. By the time we finished, it was getting dark, so we rode down to the parking lot, paid the fee and drove back to the house, about a ten-minute trip.
While the weather this time of year tends to restrict activity, we are finding that the real limiting factor is the short days. We only have daylight between 8am and 4pm. I can only imagine how short the days will be when we head north to Copenhagen on Sunday night.
By the time we got re-settled in the house, lit the fire and opened a bottle of the local wine, the idea of going out again for dinner just didn't compute. We had some leftovers from Francesca's dinner on Thursday night, so we reheated those and just took it easy. It didn't make for many pictures to show you, but it was a pleasantly unproductive day for us.
As far as the trip reports go, I suspect the last several days of our trip will not get posted until we get to Copenhagen ... or perhaps find a wireless connection in the Rome airport on Sunday. It happens that way sometimes.
© 2005 Restaurant Doctor