Orvieto, Italy

Orvieto, Italy

Me:  You have to take the funicular up to the top of the town
Guy:  funicular--kind of sounds dirty
Me:  Kind of like going up on a girl
Guy:  Yea....funicular
Guy:  Wait!  Going up on a girl?
Me: (smiles)

So, Orvieto is the grandest of the Italian hill towns.  So grand, that it is actually built on a cliff side and you have to take a funicular from the train station to the city center.  For those of you not adept with cliffside transportation, a funicular is a cable car attached to tracks that operates similar in fashion to a gondola lift.  Dude, I funiculared her like crazy.  Sorry.

Anyways, Orvieto is great, and dates back to Etruscan times, about 300 years before Rome.  But first, I would like to add a little segment I like to call PRICE CHECK.  Oh man, I can hear the crowds roaring. I meandered through a supermarket today in an effort to get an idea of prices on items compared to those back in the States.  I will do this periodically, and mention the items that surprise me

PRICE CHECK:  Siena, Italy
Ding, Ding, Ding!!!
Try to imagine one of Bob Barker's hussies unveiling these numbers.

Ballpoint Pen:  3 Euro = 4.5 Dollars
6 eggs:  2.69 Euro = 4 Dollars
Can of Campbell's Soup:  5 Euro = 7.5 Dollars (Clean up on aisle 3, American jaw on floor)

And the flip--

Giant Franziskaner Beer:  1 Euro = 1.5 Dollars
Giant Peroni Beer:  .8 Euro = 1.2 Dollars

And today's PRICE CHECK winner goes to....
Six Pack Corona Bottles:  1.5 Euro = 2.25 Dollars!!!!

Also, something interesting and shown below, there was a full aisle devoted to cooking oils, and more surprisingly, a half aisle to canned tuna.  Perhaps most shocking of all, the pasta aisle was similar in size and price points to those in America.

Wow, that was fun.  Also, please note, it is incredibly strange to take pictures in a grocery store.  That will take us to our tip of the day.

TIP OF THE DAY:  Never take pictures in a grocery store.

Other than that, I recommend Orvieto to anyone.  I'm trying real hard to stay objective and not just bleed my heart out to all these cities.  However, this last Florence-Siena-Orvieto run was special--surprisingly diverse and easy traveling.

I will leave you with a pic of the view out of my apartment in Rome.  I lucked out due to a scheduling snafu and I am left with a two bedroom apartment, fitted with laundry, private entrance, and stocked kitchen.  I don't deserve this.  In the pic at bottom, the squared building at center is the Pope's apartments.

LISTENING:

READING:  Beyond Good and Evil, Frederich Nietzsche