After saying goodbye to those participants that were only here for the first session, Sunday became an interesting day. With several folks wanting to go into Rome, La MaMa arranged a van to take us in. It was Roma in six hours or less! We drove by the Colessium, Campo di Fiore, Piazza Navona, St. Peter's Square and Maria Trasevere. Great day with Paco as our tour guide. After some airport shuttling confusion, we made it back to Spoleto and had dinner at the Trattoria Gardinere, a restaurant with a a nice outdoor patio. After having eaten in Rome and Spoleto, Elisa's cooking at the villa is the best!
Monday, Retta, Jung and I rented a car and drove out to explore a little of Umbria. We drove up to Lake Trasimeno, stopped for a bit by the lake (and to play in the sunflowers) then made our way to Castiglione del Lago - a beautiful little hillside town with a castle at the top which overlooks the lake. After that, we drove on to Perugia, the capital city of Umbria. It's a pretty big city, and we arrived on what was the first day of a 2-week Jazz festival, with headliners like Wynton Marsalis and James Taylor. The city's architecture is quite different, with a more Byzantine influence, giving it an unusual feel. After a tasty falafel for dinner (since we'd been spoiled by Elisa's food, we took a break from Italian!), we headed back to the villa for an early night.
New participants arrived yesterday, and we are now complete once again. Our first session is this afternoon, with a morning free to spend in Spoleto. Daniel Banks kicks off this session.
Farewell to Mechele, Debra, Natalie, David, Tee, Sarah and Jay! May our paths cross again. Welcome to SuAnn, Anthem, Adam, Eric, Mai, Myra, Amy and Jenny.
Meraviglioso! E 'bello vedere tutti questi che hanno un grande tempo.
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