This was Sunday so not a lot to do with house renovation or Italian paperwork. A nice break. The weather was just gorgeous.
We had been invited to lunch to celebrate Susan’s birthday. They took us to their favorite place near Deruta called Antica Forziere. It was a beautiful stone farmhouse up on a hillside. They had pretty outside tables. We dined inside and it was beautiful with vaulted ceilings. The food was wonderful. I had a beet ravioli (picture did not come out sorry!) and a veal steak that was coated in sesame seeds with an artful pile of eggplant and mozzarella. A beautiful presentation.
I think their real claim to fame though are their desserts. The presentation is amazing with sugar “cages” and spun sugar. The first was a selections of 3 parfaits. The second is their main dessert plate meant to be shared, which we happily did!!
We returned to Umbertide for a rest to let that lunch settle and digest. This evening was the Arts on the Piazza and later in the evening there was the Cuban Feste. Don’t ask me why Cuban or what the relevance to Umbertide is but we enjoyed it. As Susan said, it is very disorganized but oh well! First we sat at a table at Cafe Centrale and shared it with a bunch of British folks who live around here. One of the women owns an alpaca farm. She lives in Umbertide and the farm is on the way to Montone. She is going on a 10 week vacation so has another woman who will be taking care of the animals and house etc. The housesitter lives a rather peripatetic lifestyle. Most recently she’s been living in Cyprus which she liked very well. She also lived in Bermuda, Georgia (US) and I forget the rest. I liked her. I hope to see her around because the house is just behind us.
The Feste was both funny and good. First they had a bunch of the local children dressed up in costumes who danced (badly). There was a Tango demonstration and the two dancers were very good! Also a group of Ecuadorians in costume danced. There also had been lots of World Cup cheering from the two bars. I was pretty ready to turn in by this time and since our window is up above the piazza I could watch from there. Joseph and Paul showed up after picking up a friend in Rome who flew over from San Francisco. Her plane was late so they didn’t arrive until the end. It was good to see them.
After we went upstairs the main event started on the stage below. A very good Cuban Salsa band. I was impressed but it was VERY loud. Here are a couple of pictures:
Torre Melanzana! uno dei miei preferiti. Anche il vitello sembra delizioso.
Siamo di fronte al problema dell’auto. Un noleggio a lungo termine che può essere facilmente cancellato quando troviamo un’auto. Mi sono concentrato sulla fiat panda come una buona scelta per la bassa potenza (mentre imparo a guidare), e una buona economia e facilità di manutenzione. “Low key”, è così che si dice in italiano? Impercettibile. Qualcosa che si adatta perfettamente e si adatta perfettamente a un parcheggio!
Quindi il piano è di atterrare a Francoforte, Coco, il mio barboncino di 30 kg e io. Prendi un treno per Perugia. Noleggia un’auto vicino alla stazione ferroviaria. Sicily by Car è proprio lì, il che è stato un bene per noi prima. Forse prendi una stanza da qualche parte, che è l’ultimo dei problemi una volta che abbiamo una macchina. Il giorno dopo vado a Roma a prendere mia moglie Teo. Non può volare a Francoforte con me e Coco.
Quindi ora è la parte importante, la chiusura! Questo dovrebbe essere il 31 marzo e sembra buono! Allora credo che abbiamo le prove che ci servono per comprare un’auto, e per allora ne avrò un paio in fila, con il concessionario che aspetta una visita. Ho trovato questo sito https://www.ooyyo.com/ abbastanza buono. Non perfetto, ma dovremmo riuscire a trovare un bel panda a Perugia.
Come ti sembra quel piano? Grazie in anticipo per qualsiasi consiglio.
Saluti,
Giovanni B.
p.s. Se hai bisogno dello stato di avanzamento o della procedura per importare un cane di 30 kg in Italia, contattaci.