As you all know, I am such a morning person (lie #1) and I never oversleep (lie #2) I also never stay up late (lie #3), so it was so shocking that I missed my 6:11 am train to Perugia today (lie #4). Yes, silly me, I booked the earliest train to Perugia today, to get as many hours in as possible. Yes, I stayed up until 3 am, mainly because after the movie and getting showered and checking some email items, it was that late. So yes, I did oversleep my alarm(s) and miss my train. Luckily, the ticket I purchased was a regionale one so it was good for 4 hours before or after my original ticket purchase. Phew! I jumped on the 10:06 out of Orvieto, with fog all around, I was worried that it would be a cool weather day to explore, but halfway through my first leg of the trip, the sun broke and the clouds dissipated. Perugia is roughly a 2 hour train ride from Orvieto with a stop. It is north-east of Orvieto halfway to Florence. It is very close to Assisi, another day trip for the future. Thanks to Bob for telling me about his experience and for giving me some pointers.
It is a beautiful city, yet another Italian hilltop town. The train drops you off at the bottom and then I jumped on the bus to take me the 1.5km up to the top to Piazza Italia. From here, the main shopping and dining street Corso Vannucci takes you to the center of town and Umbria. I did a little window shopping and then was on the hunt for a meal. (see Part 2)
With Perugia being the home to two different collages, there was a definite collage vibe there. Lots of young people and stores that cater to them and down the mountain, all kinds of build up and it was more of a city than I had expected it to be. It is interesting to see that the same vibe that happens in Ann Arbor or Boulder resonates here in Italy too. Gotta Love a Collage Town!
I went into the Nazionalle Collegio de Cambio, said to be the worlds most beautiful bank. They may be right. I took some illegal photos :) The word working was ridiculous in this place. The frescos were lovely. Mom, this is one stellar bank lobby I tell you what. Then I went to the National Galleria of Umbria, housing some of the finest works of religious artwork I have ever seen. There were many things to see and I would recommend paying the 6.50 Euro to go and do this.
If you ever make it here, spend time in Perugia eating chocolate and street food and seeing the sites, all while looking over the mountain to the bustling city below. Also, the public transportation here is so great! My roundtrip ticket to Perugia was 14.20 Euro and my bus fare RT to the top was 3 euro. Not to shabby of a travel day.
Mom, get your walk’n shoes on!
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