Perugia

Perugia was a place I was really keen to visit, a medieval walled city that looked fantastic in the brochures. I was disappointed. That could have been because it was wet, our hotel was away out of town, it was busy or just because I'd been spoilt by the other places we had been. 

The high point of Perugia was meeting the owner of the local laundrette, a former professor of Italian descent who had lived and worked in New York and had retired to Perugia. The machine had swallowed our money and he came to the rescue. We talked about Muslim/US relationships and the politics of Bush as well as other topics of world politics such as the increases in the cost of living. I was interested that he believed democracy to be a have, a myth that suits the rich and disadvantages the poor. His wife was from the Middle East so he was interested in hearing some of my thoughts having lived there for a short while. We could have talked for ever but we were interrupted as happens when you are in a public place. 

I did get to eat a fine risotto with truffles, rather partial to truffles I have discovered, washed down by two glasses of wine. For some reason by asking for a glass of wine we got one each. I had to rescue Muzz and drink his as well as mine, the sacrifices I make. 

We decided that Umbria was a place worth revisiting, next time with a car as the little villages were not so accessible by train. Onwards to Firenze.