Perugia

The train pulled into the small station of Perugia smack dab in the middle of Italy. After hopping off and passing through the station we gazed upon the small city purched high up on the hill like its own little kingdom. Being down at the foot of the hill we felt like the outcast peasants but ones who were determined to enter the kingdom, so with all we owned in the packs on our back we took our first steps to achieve that dream. 

When I said high up on the hill that's exactly what I meant. How high, was unclear to us as we started our ascent but after about 10 minutes made itself relevant. Starting off from the station  we chose to ignore suggestions on how to gain access to the city. Methods such as the mini tram, a gondola type deal and later found out there were even escalators for a portion of the way. "No, we set out on foot, because that's what we always do, right?!" " Yeah!!" Well after the first section of steep streets and a long portion of stairs that were so awkwardly spaced you had to relearn how to walk, we began to wonder how effective the path we chose actually was.

After about 20 minutes of crushing what we thought were steep inclines we came to a narrow street that we had to send which was even steeper. The thing that was fun for the brain on this section was that it was super straight so you could see how much more of the street had to be concurred before you could put out the fire burning up your "micro muscles". ( A term Em and I have coined to describe the leg and glute muscles used while ascending and descending steep stairs and streets ) half way into this "hike" we were soaking in our sweat. Normally on travel days we wear more layers then normal so that packing our bags is easy and everything fits. Today that was a poor call. We stripped some layers, hydrated and continued forth. On the way up we had the feeling as though we were in a different country all together. It almost felt like walking through a hillside village in Guatemala as Em struggled with the flys violating her personal boundaries, and a "native" child ran past in pursuit of a run away soccer ball. It quickly gained momentum down the steep street as his friends shouted out to him in Italian through the cracks of a nearby fence. A school yard I presume due to their uniforms.

After about half an hour the playing field leveled out a bit as we approached an old city gate. This is where Perugia came into its own and started to make us forget about the trek. Not that it was a bad trek, just that it was more then we were expecting, ADVENTURE!!! The streets were still steep, and actually harder to walk due to the cobbling but so beautiful. We felt isolated from the rest of the world on every street, and as we kept walking up stairs, through tunnels, along ally ways intersecting tiny streets and turning tight corners it felt as though the city was just creating itself around us out of our imaginations as we walked along. That was the madness of it, it was all to cool to be how the city was actually laid out. 

The imaginary streets led us right to the door steps of our hotel. Hotel Umbria, which was snugly tucked in on the corner of a very small road surrounded by other small buildings. It was the only noticeable establishment on the street with its old sign hanging above the doorway. Not a modern hotel in the slightest but a very quaint little inn. As we were about to enter a man walked up to us, the first we've seen post entering the old gate. He was trying to describe something. He seemed a mix of frustration and excitement. After apologizing to him for not speaking Italian we walked into the hotel. Apparently he was staying there as well because he entered right behind us. He began talking to the man at the front desk with the same excitable tone. He then went into his room and emerged with a funny red top hat and a large rope. The man at the front desk was just as confused as we were.  Again the man with the funny red top hat spoke. Practicing the same winded excitement he was talking to the man at the desk again but gesturing towards us. Then, leaving in a hurry as if he were late, he was gone. The man at the front desk laughed a bit with an intriguing look on his face and I asked what that was all about. He laughed and explained in broken english, in a way that made me think that even he didn't really understand exactly what the top hat guy was trying to say. Turns out he was putting on some sort of a magic show in the center and encouraged that we go observe. It was all very bizarre.

As I said the hotel was very nice. It was charming in a way that only a small, old,  hilltop town in Italy can offer. All of the room keys were old skelton keys that hung behind the desk, each with it's own cubby for mail. The front desk was small and regal, made of old wood with the stairs wrapping around behind it. The lighting was dim and warm, just right for the setting and old antique  furniture adorning the small lobby. The man behind the desk was lower then the counter so you could just see half of his head on approach. He was older with a full head of grey hair. He wore a blue wool sweater and his glasses that rest on his face hung from his neck by a chain. He checked us in and gave us our room key. We were so happy to see that we had a balcony- out of which we had a beautiful view of courtyards, old rooftops and a forest of chimney pots. We felt special because we noticed ours was one of the only rooms with a balcony! After settling in a bit it only seemed right to rehydrate with a bottle of wine that I had lugged up the hill with us out on our beloved balcony. 

As the wine subsided so did the daylight. We left the hotel and made our way to the center before the fleeting light disappeared completely. There was about an hour and a half before sunset. Plenty of time to do a little exploration. The center of town is a long street mostly for foot traffic. It's located at the very top of the hill which makes for some great views. We found a spot with a killer overlook. It seemed like we could see all of Umbria from up there. ( Umbria is the region of italy where Perugia is located) Beautiful hills and mountains with little villages, olive orchards,  vineyards, and villas high up in the hills or down in the valleys as far as the eye could see. We headed back to the center and walked all the way to one end where we found a nice little park. The view was just as spectacular only this time it was accompanied by the pink and purple hues of a Peruigian sunset. 

The night was upon us which meant food and drink. A friend who spent some time in Perugia told us of a local tradition that consisted of grabbing a beer or a bottle of wine and going to sit in Piazza IV Novembre on the old Perugian cathedral steps that over look the Fontana Maggiore (a large and beautiful fountain) and enjoying your drink while people watching. She was right and there was a good number of people our age doing just that. We joined in, I with a large bottle of Peroni and Em with box of wine. The same box of wine that we see all of the homeless drinking because it only cost a euro. But it's Italian wine, and surprisingly, not that bad! The atmosphere in the piazza was lively and smokey and the lit up buildings were so nice to stare at. After chatting and laughing for a while about who knows what we found Luna Bar Ferarri where we enjoyed another drink. We took note of their amazing apertivo spread for tomorrow. Our mission tonight was dinner. Spending very little that day we had enough to treat ourselves. 

Up the ally from Luna Bar was Ferarri the restaurant. The same friend had also recommended this place so we wanted to try it out. It housed a very nice atmosphere and we were starving so we grabbed a table. A little over zealous we ordered wine, and started with some very good bruschetta. For dinner I had an amazing risotto with porcini and Em had her dream meal of grilled chicken with grilled zucchini and eggplant. This put us over budget a bit but it was so worth it, we just told ourselves that we would make up the deficit tomorrow. As good as dinner was the genra of our moods changed from rock and roll to blues by the end of our meal due to the TVs  in the restaurant playing news reporting on the recent attacks on Paris which happened the previous day. Feeling somber and full we decided we would retreat back to our room for some quite company. Our balcony was there waiting for us with open arms. We sat out late into the night listening to music, finishing the "homeless mans" wine, and going deep with our conversations reflecting on the gift of our lives and our loved ones. 

Sunday found us in a special place with our heads aching just enough to be annoying. I had to drag Em out of bed because we were both in dire need of water and she seamed to be hit a little worse then me. No more "homeless man" we vowed. Our lack of water was due to us being advised upon arrival not to drink the tap water here. It may have been a scam in order to boost our hotels water sales but we listened non the less. We entered the morning to a very quiet town. The heavy haze of the morning fog was hanging low. Much of the stores and places to eat were closed due to it being Sunday pre church but thankfully the little grocery store was open. We bought two giant bottles of water, still for Em, sparkling for me, I like the fizz. After checking out we walked across the square for an attempt at a breakfast. It was the only cafe open and was populated with locals. Italy doesn't really do breakfast, bread and pastries mostly. Craving something more substantial we got ourselves a small salami and cheese sandwich on a croissant, it would have to do.  After chugging water and having something in our stomachs we perked right up. We left the cafe to walk to the complete other side of the city where I though I had seen a cool looking park. What we found was a very peculiar garden. It was beautiful to walk through and it had a great vantage point to look out over even more of the surrounding countryside but it was littered with what we could only describe as witchcraft. It was like walking rough a garden at Hogwarts. It was situated outside of a large old building that Em and I thought might be some kind of university (for witches). The weirdest part was an old stone tower. Inside the window at the very top you could see a horrifying wax figure of an alchemist in ratty robes. Kind of scared the shit out of us at first site! We never officially figured out exactly what the point of the garden was but we were continent with our warped version of the truth,

The rest of the day was spent exploring just about every nook and cranny that Perugia had to offer. The sights, the sounds and smells satisfied a craving deep inside and left us satisfied and full of life. Later that afternoon we got ourselves a bottle of a better caliber wine and enjoyed it in the small park in the far end of the main square. Exhausted from our day of wandering we figured it was time for a little siesta. Waking up an hour or two later our energy was not replenished in the slightest but we managed to rally and go out for apertivo. There was a miraculous speed of goodies to pick on back at Luna Bar. We gorged ourselves a wee bit to much but powered through yet again to get ourslelf some dinner.

Perugia revealed itself to us in the most spectacular way. We exploited its every corner and were content in our venture. From here we had plans to head to Rome. We were so excited but surly we knew that we would miss the quite hill top city that is Perugia.

Stay lost,

-Mike