Day 7- Perugia

After breakfast this morning Sarah and I went for a bike ride around the valley. Umbria, the province that the Di Bagnos live in, is 99% hills and mountains; the Di Bagnos live in the 1% of Umbria that is not mountainous. The valley here is very flat and makes for a very peaceful bike ride early in the morning. We avoid the busy roads because of the traffic (and the driving habits that I have already mentioned).
Our last destination city is Perugia. We drove the 20 minutes to Perugia this morning and hiked up the mountain to the city on the top. Perugia is the "capital" of Umbria and has about 250,000 people in it. You can see the city from the terrace at the Di Bagno’s house. As with most cities in Italy, the old city center is a large piazza on top of the hill. The unique architectural feature of the city is the large gate on the north side of the city; it was built by the Etruscans over 2300 years ago. Inside one of the buildings on the campus of the University of Perugia is a giant mosaic dating back to Roman times that depicts the animals brought over from Africa for the games.
For lunch we had lasagna made by the Di Bagno’s neighbor who fed us last night. Once again, it did not disappoint. We also had some leftovers from last night. We went to the grocery store today to pick up some chocolate and olives. We are almost packed for the return flight tomorrow.
All in all, I really enjoyed my vacation and I wish it could be longer. I am still trying to devise a plan by which we could move over here and support ourselves. Unfortunately, the EMS services over here are mostly volunteer so I would have to change careers. We will see . . .