[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 20 - Hangin' Out in the 'Hood
It was raining early this morning but the gang wanted to go to Assisi anyway. Margene and I have been there twice before and while it is a great place, I had done it. Margene, however, thinks it is some of the best shopping in Italy and so opted to join the troops. I really liked the idea of having a day by myself to do whatever I wanted to do ... including getting caught up on all this diary stuff! It is kind of a vacation in the middle of the trip.
So from my side there isn't much exciting to report today -- a little grocery shopping, a slice of pizza (natch!) at a little food court-like stand in the market building, a brief visit to a small local winery to pick up a few bottles, some minor exploring around the area ... and a terrific late afternoon thunder and lightening display that rolled up the valley. What better place to sit out a storm than in a stone house on the side of a hill in Italy? As Gandhi once said, "There is more to life than just speeding up its pace."
So since there is nothing of a travelogue nature to report, I will take a minute to share an insights gained along the way.
When we come from our culture to this one, we drive around and marvel at the look and feel of it. We see the things the people do and the way they interact and to us it is all magical and wonderful. However, I suspect to the residents it is just another day ... and perhaps not even a very good day. Who knows? If they visited our culture would they have a similar sense of the wonder of daily life ... and would we just be grousing about it? My point is that one person's drudgery is another's fascinating adventure. What if we could stay in touch with the magical parts of our own lives, at least from time to time, and see it as a visitor might. It might be surprising.
The troops returned from Assisi having survived not only the thunderstorms that had been making life exciting on the hill, but apparently some hail as well. Some people have all the fun! The rain was still falling and there was a chill in the air, so Marv pulled out his mountaineering skills and built a fire in the huge fireplace that dominates the living room. It took a little coaxing to get the smoke to go UP instead of OUT but we finally got it drawing properly ... and baked some potatoes in the coals for dinner. The original plan was to cook some steaks on the terrace but the weather made that seem a little less romantic so the steaks await another evening. I had laid in plenty of bread, cheese, meats and wine, so nobody went hungry.
Miscellaneous shots from today
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