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Day 30 (7/4/11):
Happy 4th of July!
Liz had a tour of the Vatican and Museums scheduled for while I was at class this morning. At class today we learned about comparisons and when to use "di" vs. "che". I thought it was very easy and straightforward. I'm feeling very smart in this class these days! Afterwards, I had my first intensive class. I'm so glad I signed up for it! I think it will really make a difference in my learning to have an extra 1.5 hours of talking. Today was pretty easy in class, we basically introduced ourselves and then played a "never have I ever" type game. It was fun!
I left intensive 30 minutes early to meet Liz outside and go to Termini to catch our train to Orvieto. I had also recruited some of the boys to come with us! Andrew, Pepijn, and Tim from Ireland all met us out front, and we went to the train station together. After some excitement with buying our tickets, racing through the train station, and missing our train, we eventually found ourselves on the correct train to Orvieto.
When we arrived in town, we took a funicular from the train station up to the top of the mountain to get to the town center. What a fun ride! Once at the top we took a very short bus ride to the Duomo, and began ooo-ing and aah-ing over the views. :o)
The town reminded me of San Gimignano because of how small it is and the basic brown/tan coloring of almost all the buildings. It was a super cute little town!
We had already decided to go see the Duomo first once we arrived, so we went right in and started admiring it. My two favorite parts of the cathedral were: 1) the side chapel in the front where the iece of cloth is shown. History says that during mass blood dripped from the host onto this cloth. I can't really explain why, but I like that story. And 2) the organ! It is SO massive. I had looked up from a doorway at one point, saw two faces smiling down at me, and got a little confused for a second! Then I backed up and saw that they were statues from the top of the organ. I bet it must be really amazing to hear when someone plays it.
After the Duomo we browsed around in the shops for a bit and briefly stopped at a looking point to admire the beautiful landscapes below us. Eventually we stopped in a small outdoor restaurant for dinner. I ordered the fettuccine with truffles and a glass of wine made specifically in Orvieto. They were both so delicious, I didn't want my meal to end!
Since we were in wine country, we decided to go buy a couple bottles and some post-dinner snacks and share them while enjoying the view from the top of the mountain together. The view was so pretty, I couldn't stop taking pictures!
We had planned to catch a 9:45 p.m. train back to Rome, and after a while we realized that the bus from the funicular had already stopped running. So, we walked from the town center to the funicular, only to find that it had also stopped running! It was quite the adventure climbing down the mountain in the dark, with only a zillion fireflies lighting the way… Eventually we made it back to the train station, but we had missed our train home so had to wait for a much later one. It was fine, though, since everyone was enjoying each other's company and it made for a much more exciting story for the evening :o)
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