(Family) Weekend

With the cancellation of Italian Family Weekend, Conor and Matt rented a car and drove up to Munich and John also rented a car with his pensione to go up to Southern France. I had already been to both places, so I decided to stay in the area and see some of the smaller attractions I hadn't gotten around to seeing yet.

Friday night was great. I got my camera back from the repair store and then headed up to Fiesole. A bunch of people were up there and we had a big bonfire and cooked hot dogs and s'mores. We sat around and talked about all of our favorite memories from the trip. It was a strong reminder of how amazing this year has been. So many things have happened and it was great to look back on them.

A lot of people took the bus back down to Florence, but I stayed for a while with Frank, Allyson, and Lauran at J.J. Hill, a pub up there. We had a couple beers and talked about all sorts of things. It was a blast.

Saturday morning Andrew and I woke up early to go to Orvieto. We were running very late, and the 7 bus stopped right in front of us. It was heading straight to the train station, so we hopped on. Unfortunately, we got caught by one of the regulators for not validating our tickets. I was trying my usual trick, standing next to the validating machine with a blank ticket ready to validate it if they checked. Unfortunately he stopped me before I could validate it. I argued with him all the way to the train station, and as we got off, he finally cut the fine down to 20 euro for each of us. Still upset (mainly with myself for getting on the bus in the first place) but fortunate for escaping with just a 20 euro fine, we gave him the money. It wasn't a great way to start the day, but I did, however, get the last laugh when I signed the ticket as Haywood Djeblomi.

Orvieto was a cool little town. It was perched up on a 1000 foot plateau overlooking many small villas and castles. It was surrounded by a high city wall built into the cliffs, and it must have been absolutely impossible for enemies to invade it back in the Middle Ages. The highlight was definitely the Duomo, a massive church with incredible frescoes and sculptures.

That night I ate some delicious Mexican food over at Gallo D'Oro and then went to the bars for a while. Sunday Peaceful Pete arrived for the week. On my way to pick him up at the train station, an incredible twist of fate occured. As I walked down Via Cavour, not too far from my pensione, a group of old ladies asked me how to get to Hotel Astoria. I had no idea where it was, but they showed me the location on their map. It was clear on the other side of town, near the train station. I told them I was heading over there myself and that they could follow me. Though it was a little frustrating to walk at such a slow pace, I schmoozed a little with them, told them some things about Italy, and got them to their hotel. When we finally got there, they started throwing bills at me. In the end, I came away with 25 euro. Therefore, the bus fine was annulled. In fact, I had come away with a 5 euro profit. Two trips to the train stations, two completely different twists of luck.