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'Pane e vino' was the name of the restaurant we found in Todi for our long Italian lunch. A 45 minute train ride from Terni, Todi is a picturesque hilltop town with rather impressive public buildings. Yet again we encountered friendly Italians happy to help us along the way - beginning with the man at the train station who sold us our tickets and then handed us the train timetable and pointed out the right platform. Then there was the bus driver in Todi who explained to us that we could buy cheaper bus tickets inside the train station than on the bus and then waited for us as we went inside to buy tickets. Finally there was our long Italian lunch experience...
After walking around the central town area we ended up at our restaurant feeling pretty hungry. The cheerful Italian waiter found us a cosy table inside the cellar-like restaurant. We ordered a half bottle of Montefalco red and a mixed platter of crostini to help us as we perused the menu. The crostini came out with four toppings varieties - homemade pate, olive tapenade, Gorgonzola, and thinly sliced ham - all of them tasty. For our mains, Dale chose the lamb which came out as an enormous slow roasted lamb shank crumbed with mushroom and truffle, while I chose steak sliced up on a bed of rocket and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. We finished with espresso and vin santo (a sweet wine like sherry) with biscotti. It was a lovely, leisurely experience and once again we were impressed by the warm Italian hospitality.
We left the restaurant and began making our way downhill towards a large domed church we'd passed on our bus ride up from the station. There were panoramic views over the countryside to be enjoyed, but we had little time to appreciate them since we'd realised that we had just 20 minutes before our train departed back to Terni. Also, I had realised that I really needed to go to the loo and so it had become additionally important that we reached the train station (and its public toilets) as quickly as possible!! Fortunately we managed to catch a bus to the train station in time to catch our train. Unfortunately the toilets at the train station were disgusting (literally a hole in the ground) but beggars can't be choosers!
Minutes later our train pulled in - all two carriages of it - and we were soon trundling back towards Terni. In the distance we could see other hilltop towns with antique towers poking up behind city walls, while down on the flat we passed fields of dead sunflowers ready to be harvested for oil. It took the train about 45 minutes to deliver us to Terni, where it was gelato time judging from the number of locals carrying icecream cones!
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