Home » Italy » Trip to Italy, June-July 2004

In June and July 2004, I made a trip to Italy. My mother and I stayed in the house we own in Umbertide, in Umbria. Bill Thayer of Slowtrav fame had previously stayed in the house. We got some relaxation done in the house, but the stay was marked by the plumbing pipes needing replacing after 25-30 years (the time of the restoration of the 15th-century house). We got a team headed by the plumber who did the original installation; it meant tearing up the brick floor of the one ground floor room of this vertical house, the kitchen-dining-living room. It was a mess to go through that room, but luckily, we had a spare house (odd to say for a place where we go only for a few weeks at a time) connected to the main house at the top, with its own entrance and small kitchen-living room. The work got done just as we completed our stay, with new pipes that should keep the house in good shape for some time to come.

Trip to Italy, June-July 2004

Amc
2004-09-13 14:48:36

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building off the road. This Monday morning, I was the only visitor. I’ll refer to Bill Thayer’s description of the fascinating place. I went to the underground tomb on my own without needing to be led with a group. Then going outside to see other tombs carved into the hill, it was noteworthy to see the elevated superstrada highway going right over us, then go up to the tomb entrance and look down on the highway. This loud modernity was a contrast with the ancient tombs and small museum building. This may conclude my report about my time in Umbria; now I’ll say something about my three stays in Rome.

Rome stay 1: I’ll emphasize the practical, and discuss my transatlantic flights at the end. On my arrival at Fiumicino airport, I took the underground passageway to the train station and used a 5-euro note left over from my previous trip to buy a ticket on the FM1 train from the machine. I stamped the ticket and made it onto the 9.27 train just before it left, rather than waiting another 15 minutes. My destination was Trastevere; I wasn’t quite sure what the previous stop was but it was clear that I was there when the first group of people with luggage got ready to get off. My plan there was to take tram number 8; in front of the station I looked both for the stop and a place to buy a ticket; I believe I’d heard that vending machines were becoming commonplace. In the piazza in front of the station there were end-of-line stops for several tram and bus lines, but not the 8. Not seeing a ticket vending machine, I asked at the bar, where they said they didn’t have tickets and sent me to the newsstand across the piazza. I got the ticket there and saw that tram 8 stopped in front of the newsstand, coming down the big street on the left. I boarded the tram and tried to stamp the ticket in one machine, but the slot was too small; it was the old model. Then I saw the new machine; it took a few attempts to get the ticket in the ...