Yesterday was our 25th Wedding Anniversary so we headed off to Orvieto for the day. It sprinkled on us just a bit when we were leaving but cleared while we were driving over the hill so that it was gorgeous when we arrived. We parked in the lot at the funicular and bought our tickets for the lift and for entry into all of the sights. I realized later that we hadn't asked for Michael's 'senior' concession price and then I looked at the document and saw that she gave us BOTH the old folks' price! Great! On the up side, I saved 3 euros.
Then before we got on the lift Michael turned on his camera only to find out that it didn't turn on. The batteries (both of them) were dead. And he'd charged them overnight. I saw him do it. No matter how many times he took the batteries out and put them back in and blew on them and wiped the connections and put them back in...no luck. So MORE electrical problems. On the up side, we left the camera in the car and didn't have to carry it around all day.
The tour started off with a visit to San Patrizio's Well. I asked the ticket checker how many "scale" (steps) there were, and I believe she answered 248! So we walked down ten or so until we could see into the well, walked right back up, and in my best Italian I told the woman, Very Nice. We don't need to walk down all of them. Thank you. And on the up side, not having a camera I can't bore you with any photos of the well shaft.
Then we went to check in for our tour of the Underground. Apparently there are thousands of caves dug under Orvieto. Many of them are 'private' caves under people's houses that they use for wine cellars and such. But two caves are open to the public. And they are awesome. The people had olive oil mills under there and the donkeys who turned the wheels under there and wells under there and the coolest pigeon coops under there with rows of little square pigeon holes in the walls, fresh water pouring into troughs and a bigger hole for the pigeons to go out and feed themselves during the day. And interestingly enough, at one point a Pope declared that everyone had to close up their pigeon coops because those access holes were a security issue...that invaders could scale the cliffs and come into the city through those holes. In actual fact, the guide suggested that it was really that the townspeople could smuggle goods into their own homes that way and avoid paying taxes to the Pope. (Hey, I live in Anguilla and deal with Customs so that sounds about right to me.)
Anyway, after all of that climbing up and down in the caves we were ready for lunch. We found a nice little place where I told the waiter in my best Italian that it was our 25th wedding anniversary and scored us a complimentary glass of sparkling muscat! After lunch the clouds and wind had come in so we hit a museum and then came back to Todi. By the time we got the camera batteries charged again it was getting late but Michael wanted at least one picture taken of us on our anniversary so we ventured out in search of someone to 'fa una foto' for us. Michael tried to take one of us himself but either his arm is too short or our heads are too big (or both). The crowds were thin, but we found one accommodating gentleman on the Piazza del Popolo who though he was taking multiple shots but never actually took a single one. Finally another young woman was successful so we did get this one. Happy Anniversary!
Then before we got on the lift Michael turned on his camera only to find out that it didn't turn on. The batteries (both of them) were dead. And he'd charged them overnight. I saw him do it. No matter how many times he took the batteries out and put them back in and blew on them and wiped the connections and put them back in...no luck. So MORE electrical problems. On the up side, we left the camera in the car and didn't have to carry it around all day.
The tour started off with a visit to San Patrizio's Well. I asked the ticket checker how many "scale" (steps) there were, and I believe she answered 248! So we walked down ten or so until we could see into the well, walked right back up, and in my best Italian I told the woman, Very Nice. We don't need to walk down all of them. Thank you. And on the up side, not having a camera I can't bore you with any photos of the well shaft.
Then we went to check in for our tour of the Underground. Apparently there are thousands of caves dug under Orvieto. Many of them are 'private' caves under people's houses that they use for wine cellars and such. But two caves are open to the public. And they are awesome. The people had olive oil mills under there and the donkeys who turned the wheels under there and wells under there and the coolest pigeon coops under there with rows of little square pigeon holes in the walls, fresh water pouring into troughs and a bigger hole for the pigeons to go out and feed themselves during the day. And interestingly enough, at one point a Pope declared that everyone had to close up their pigeon coops because those access holes were a security issue...that invaders could scale the cliffs and come into the city through those holes. In actual fact, the guide suggested that it was really that the townspeople could smuggle goods into their own homes that way and avoid paying taxes to the Pope. (Hey, I live in Anguilla and deal with Customs so that sounds about right to me.)
Anyway, after all of that climbing up and down in the caves we were ready for lunch. We found a nice little place where I told the waiter in my best Italian that it was our 25th wedding anniversary and scored us a complimentary glass of sparkling muscat! After lunch the clouds and wind had come in so we hit a museum and then came back to Todi. By the time we got the camera batteries charged again it was getting late but Michael wanted at least one picture taken of us on our anniversary so we ventured out in search of someone to 'fa una foto' for us. Michael tried to take one of us himself but either his arm is too short or our heads are too big (or both). The crowds were thin, but we found one accommodating gentleman on the Piazza del Popolo who though he was taking multiple shots but never actually took a single one. Finally another young woman was successful so we did get this one. Happy Anniversary!
No comments:
Post a Comment