Pottering in Perugia

Pottering in Perugia

#3 daughter and family kindly invited me to join them for a visit to Perugia. Thanks to Gertie Google maps we got to the car park they wanted, though after we got in, we had to circle around for a bit till we found a space down in the lower section. Luckily they got a small car - the parking spaces are tight, as is the dual carriage width. Escalators took up up, passing through underground passageways till we came out at centro storico.

It was again exceedingly hot. First we had a look at the view over the city to Collazone, the hilltop town near our villa. The children played at a fountain then we headed down through the tourist tat area where Ella spent the last of her money on presents for friends. She hadn’t bought anything for herself. Nathaniel bough a model plane up-cycled from a Fanta can, then a pocket watch on a chain. #3 daughter bought one of those for Ella as she’d been so kind spending all the money on presents for friends. Nathaniel thinks when he grows up and can’t get a job as an actor he’ll have a market stall selling up-cycled stuff.

We found the old centre and had a potter. The buildings were lighter in colour, some with castellations round the roof. We found a little place off a side alley where we had a nice lunch. Ella chose an octopus burger which she’d not had before and really enjoyed. We had had a little taste. Nathaniel had king prawn risotto, as did Luke. #3 daughter had a tuna carpaccio and I had gnocchi with very tasty sunblush tomatoes and a local cheese sauce. We found a gelataria but noticed the sky was darkening. By the time we got back to the car the first giant plops of rain fell. As we drove out of the car park it was torrential, so bad that Luke’s shirt and left leg of his trousers were saturated just leaning out of the window to put the ticket in the machine to lift the barrier. Going down the zigzag road felt like we were in a river. We seemed to outrun the storm and got home just as the wind was getting stronger. The owners texted to say to batten down the hatches which Phil and Mr C had already done. Then the storm, (torrential almost tropical rain, howling wind thunder and lightening) hit. When I went up to our room I heard the ominous drip drip of water - the roof was leaking onto my bedside lamp so we disconnected that and moved everything off the table. The owners have been informed.

No pool time today!

The blip is a collage of our day, Ella and Luke at the fountain, daughter with a view down to the city and the hills beyond where our villa is, the old centre, and on the bottom row, Ella with her octopus, and Nathaniel with his risotto and his new pocket watch. Another lovely day. Wish we were here for 3 weeks.