It is time to say goodbye to Perugia and head to Rome. I really like this city, and would love to figure out a way to teach here sometime, but it is time to go. First of all, while there is a lot of suburban sprawl around Perugia, the centro is quite small, and there isn’t the density of attractions that Florence has, so I’m not sure I would need to stay here a full two weeks if I didn’t have something to do, like the language classes. Second, they have already started setting up for Euro-chocolate fest, even though that doesn’t start until next weekend. It looks insane. Every piazza is lined with tents and display cases. I think I don’t need to be here to see Perugia turn into Chocolate Disneyland. Also, I’m very confused about this year’s chocolate theme: Zip. Here’s the rational for the theme, as helpfully(?) translated by Google.
It will take 15 to 24 October 2010 in Perugia Eurochocolate the seventeenth edition of which will claim as Zip, Travel and Chocolate Thunder in the logo as a world-that of chocolate, just-closed (or open, depending on your point of view ...) from a zip. A world to discover and preserve, in which travel to know. Zip, however, is also a way to compress files to make them lighter and faster to transmit. That is a way to communicate ... in a flash! Chocolate, therefore, also in 2010 choose a language young, modern, immediate with which to discover and enjoy the best the pleasures of chocolate.
See my problem?
So, just a few random Perugia notes before we go:
Sandri. I love this place. It’s been selling chocolate and coffee and grappa since the nineteenth-century, and is able to handle hordes of tourists while still remaining completely Italian. You can eat their beautiful little chocolate noshes there, or take them with you. If you do the latter, they insist on wrapping whatever it is in this beautiful red paper. Hint to the American tourists: no, you cannot just take your plate out to the piazza and sit down. I mean, you can, but if you do, you will be charged a coperto. Which may be worth it – it is a lovely square, and Sandri has nice table clothes and umbrellas. Just don’t yell at the waiters when they hand you the bill. It’s not their fault you don’t know the customs and didn’t ask.
Old Man Pizza (otherwise known as Pizzeria Toscano), which I described in an earlier post. Jeremy finally admitted that it isn’t the best pizza, but it is the cheapest, and I just love the idea of one guy running the whole shop – making the pizza, baking the pizza, running the counter.
The minimetro, which I still love. Couldn’t we have one of these in Spokane, to get us up the South Hill? I know I would be much more likely to bike to campus if there were one of these to whisk me through the hard parts. It’s not like I’m asking for a funicular or anything. (Sorry it isn’t the most exciting video. Hopefully it is enough to give you the idea).
Perugia is famous for two things: chocolate, and ceramics. Sandri has been taking care of chocolate, but surprisingly, it's been harder to come by ceramics. I came to town with the plan to buy something ceramic, and was very surprised to find only a few stores selling the local stuff, and the only store selling more than obvious made-for-tourists stuff was incredibly expensive – in the hundred of euros range. Our guidebook suggested we go to Deruta, a small nearby town where most of the Umbrian pottery is made, but we drove through it on the way to the cooking class, and it didn’t look so appealing. I just about given up on the idea of getting any ceramics, and then today, our last day, there were two trucks from Deruta in one of the smaller piazze. Jeremy and I quickly bought two little macchiato-sized coffee cups, and then spent about 45 minutes trying to figure out if there was anyway to get something bigger home in our luggage. The craftsman who made the platter was there doing some of the selling, and we talked with him (in our very basic Italian, even) about the designs and how he did the painting. We eventually decided we had to try to get something (and if we have to glue it back together, so be it), and then promptly bought the biggest one there. Not really, but almost.
Tomorrow morning, we head to Rome. I’m excited, and honestly a little intimidated. It’s just such a big city, and while it is clearly tourist heaven, it is primarily a working, living city, which means that unlike Florence, it isn’t designed to make life easy for Americans. But, we have a good map, some Italian, and a basic idea how the public transit works. What else could we possibly need, right?
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