Orvieto & Todi

Bounasera!

I'm glad everyone likes the blog so much! Now that I have a fan base I'll really have to keep it up to date now ;)

Well today we started off our day early and had to be at our bus at 7:30! Since I sat next to our director of the program (Dr. B) I ended up talking to her the whole time while everyone else dozed off...I'm glad I did though because she's a very interesting person and has traveled the world. She knows almost everything to do in every town and has personally done it herself! After the 2 hour bus ride we arrived in Oriveto, a town in the region of Umbria just north of Lazio (where Rome is) and just south of Tuscany. I was anxious to see the town because this is one of the places on the itinerary when I tour Italy with my family in a week! We first walked through an ancient well with a rather interesting double helix formation on the inside that you would never know about! You would see someone across from you in one of the windows but still somehow never reach them, it's crazy! Here's a picture of the well...

None of us had any idea it was so far down so when we went to glance over the edge when we first walked in THANK GOD I took my sunglasses off the top of my head because they would've been a goner! If you see the tiny dots on the bridge at the bottom of the well those are people, if that helps at all to show how high up we were! The picture below was also kind of risky because one sudden movement in our little archway window and it could've been bad news!

Now mom, good news for you! After we left the scary well we took a lift up to the center of the town and took a tour of the Doumo of Orvieto. It's modeled after the Duomo in Siena which is why it make look familiar but it was really interesting because inside this Doumo there was a relic of a cloth where it is believed that in the breaking of the Eucharist, droplets of Jesus's blood dripped out and onto the cloth. It's strange to me that in all these beautiful churches I've seen across Italy they're so monstrous inside but filled with so much empty space while seating only takes up about 1/4 of the whole church, and in some cases they were just plastic chairs. I asked one of the tour guides about it and she said it was because people don't really attend the churches. Isn't that terrible? They have such historic and beautiful places to attend church every Sunday and they don't go? Strange! Anyways here's a picture of the Duomo

Now here was the interesting part for me....SHOPPING!! Of course on our 1 1/2 hr. off I found the CUTEST jewelry store. All the stuff was handmade and just so funky and different. It was kind of pricy so I just decided to wait and hold off until I came back with my parents (I know you're excited Papa!) But don't worry, they're known for their famous white wine and produce about 85% of all the white wine in Umbria so that can keep you busy in all the wine bars there while we're shopping! We enjoyed a glass of their famous wine with our packed lunch (pb & j sandwiches) on the stairs of a fountain and enjoyed all the people watching. After, I found the coolest thing I have seen yet. It's called pocket espresso or espresso to go...my friend Hilary and I got them and forgoed the gelato this time. It was well worth it - the most AMAZING tasting espresso I have ever had...plus the little straw was so cute I would've spent the .60 euro's just on that!

After an 1 1/2 hr. on our own we departed for a one hour bus ride to the next town of Todi (pronounced toad-ey). Let's just say we had another 1 1/2 hr. on our own but we would have been perfectly fine being done in 15 minutes. We went during the time of the pausa (time when Italians take off for lunch from 1-4 pm) so nothing was open but the town church. There was construction on the inside of the church so we really didn't get to see too much of it. I think what made this town interesting was just cracking all the jokes with the name Todi in it (like what would someone from that town be called?) I don't know..maybe we were just delirious with boredom but that's what got us through that town! Now we're all back and I'm about to already go to bed because I have a migraine.... Not too fun! But hope you all enjoyed and I don't know if I'll be updating it tomorrow because we just have class all day tomorrow so not too much going on to inform everyone about! Hope everything is going well for everyone and give America my hellos!
-Rach