Unfortunately, the weather has changed; it is much cooler (highs in the 60s) and rainy. But, since this is supposed to be a relaxing period for us, it seems like a good time for it. We will be here in Orvieto until Wednesday, so we spent the day like we lived here.
That meant we started the morning by going to the Saturday morning market. We bought a variety of produce, principally tomatoes, potatoes, and beans (both green and yellow). Everything looked great and we can’t wait to eat it.
After dropping off the produce at the apartment, we picked up the grocery carts for our trip to Orvieto Scalo (the city below the butte where Orvieto is located). We decided along the way that we needed nourishment, since none of us had eaten this morning and stopped at L’Oste del Re Cucina Tipica (that means Host of Kings Typical Cuisine). We each had a Porchetta sandwich which is roasted pork with fennel and other spices; Jim and Anne added Pecorino cheese and tomatoes to their sandwiches and Linda and Dave had just the pork. The sandwiches were amazing, moist and delicious. Linda and Dave decided that we should have shared one sandwich instead of each having one. Oh, well, we are on vacation.
Once done eating, we walked to the bus stop and headed to Coop, the grocery store, in Orvieto Scalo. The Coop is in a mall like building with an electronics store, a home goods store, and a couple of other stores. Dave took a quick walk through the electronics store and was surprised to find a large variety of the coffee pods we use at home and for about one-half the price. Unfortunately, it’s too early for us to start stockpiling larger items. Linda went to the home goods store. She was thrilled because she found some more cocktail napkins for which she had been searching. While Jim and Anne did their grocery shopping, Linda and Dave walked through the Coop. We found more coffee pods for both our machine and some for Nespresso (which Joseph and Matt each own). Again, too early to buy things. We did, however, buy supplies for baking bread this week, flour and yeast, and a couple of bottles of German beer. The flour alone took us 20 minutes – the numbers 2, 1, 0 or 00 refers to how finely ground it is then there are flours graded by composition (specialized for what you are baking). We finally chose the one that was ‘tipo 00 and W330’. Now, we are concerned that the tipo 00 is too fine for bread, so we will head to Pam tomorrow to get a “stronger” flour.
Once done at Coop, we stopped at a small bar in the mall, Piano B (I guess I forgot to mention that earlier). Linda had a Hugo Spritz, Dave a Negroni, Jim a beer, and Anne a prosecco. While sitting in the bar, we realized the weather was looking more ominous, so, we started walking to the bus stop, where we waited for about 30 minutes for the bus. Sadly, because of the rain, we were not able to get any of the nice views of Orvieto from down below.
The walk home from the bus stop was, definitely, not the highlight of the day. The rain was coming down harder (fortunately we left all our umbrellas at home, so we didn’t have to worry about them getting wet). Each of us was soaked when we got to the apartment.
After unpacking the groceries, there were a lot of baths and showers taken.
We stayed in for the evening and just sat around the kitchen table talking and eating the excellent antipasti and Caprese salad Jim and Anne made for us.
2022 Italy Vacation 