Day Five

We had another early morning this morning, aka 5am wake up call. We were on the bus or 6:30 and headed on our way to Assisi a small city in the Tuscan region of Italy. The city, built using pink and white bricks and perched on a hilltop is absolutely beautiful. Once we arrived in Assisi we met up with our tour guide we took us through the Basilica of St. Francis. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of any of Giotto's beautiful paintings inside. One of the most interesting aspects of the church was that it was built in three levels at three different times with the bottom level being the burial place of St. Francis. After the tour, we were given some free time to explore. As I walked through the narrow streets, I was reminded of the spiraling narrow streets of Toledo, Spain.

We then hopped back on the tour bus and made out way to a Wine Estate. The Villa was absolutely beautiful, but the ride of there was not fun. There were a lot of bumps and curves that didn't sit well with our empty stomachs and some very sharp turns for our big bus. Once at the top, we were able to look out on the acres an acres of grape plants. The estate itself was exactly how I would picture a Tuscan Villa.

We then went in for the wine tasting. There were two tables set up with finger foods such as bread, proschuto and cheese, and a third table with the three different kinds of wines for the tasting. I didn't have any of the wine, but I heard from others that it was very good. After the tasting, we went down to the caves, and they were literal caves from the Etruscans, where the wine is stored to be aged and turned. We also saw the wine cellars where it is brewed. The owner told us that the process, from vine to shipment, could take up to 12 years.

After some people bought a bottle or two of the wine that we had tasted, we took the bus back down the winding roads and up again to another hilltop city called Orvieto. Here we had an hour to walk around and see all of the small shops.

Once we got back to Rome, a group of eight of us wanted to go and have a nice sit down dinner. We decided to go to Tema, a restaurant that President Leary and a few others had eaten at the night before and highly recommended. It was a ten minute walk from the hotel and we only had to ask for directions once. I had a list of foods that I wanted to try and I still hadn't had lasagna so I decided that I would get that tonight. While most of us just ordered our past and maybe a side, Sara Montesdeoca, Amy Lodovico and Kim Fejes ordered the four course menu.

We go a surprise when our waiter came out with a plate of toast and bruschetta for each of us an said it was on the hose. The bruschetta was fresh and delicious and is definitely the best I've ever had. When the meals came out we expected those who had the four courses to have smaller portions and were surprised to find that the Lasagnas were all huge. The food was amazing and definitely worth it. The lasagna was nothing like what we make in the US but it was very yummy. Since Sara, Amy and Kim had so much to eat, we all shared the desserts that they got. Each one was different and was good it its own way.

One thing that is very different about Italian restaurants, is how leisurely and slow paced the meal is. In the US we are so used to being "go go go" but her they take their time and enjoy the atmosphere. We ended up spending three hours at the restaurant which was great for us, but we may have been a little too loud for the couple sitting near us. At the end of our meal we got another complimentary surprise in the form of Limon Cella (an alcoholic drink) for the whole table.

Today was fun, but I feel like we spent more time on the bus than we did in the actually cities and I wish we had been able to have more time to explore. Dinner was great and it was nice to get to know some of the people on the trip that I didn't really know before.