We have endured torrential rains around here for the last 3 days. Finally today it is brilliantly sunny and pretty warm. Nice! After the first day of rain the Tiber river went wild. Normally it is such a placid river but it jumped it’s banks in a big way.

This view is from our pantry where I always take my photos of the river. Notice the tree on the left. It is in  a park. The other side it is completely over the lower path and part of the upper one.

Here are the town walls. Normally the path runs along the base. You can see the path diving under the raised water.

Slightly upriver from town. Pretty sun on the water.

See the trash can? It is normally on the bank of the river.

Here is a shot of the river racing towards Umbertide.

And in this one you can see the row of trees in the water. The path is just next to them. They are on the bank.

Yesterday we went shopping in Corciano. Someone asked a question in a newsgroup I follow “is there any store in Italy like Crate and Barrel?” One answer was Maisons du Monde. I took a look and found one pretty nearby. I got on their website and it had a lot of nice things. I was still working on my guest room and needed a few things for the house so we went there for a look. It is a French chain and it sure shows. I was surprised, although I shouldn’t have been I guess, that the styles in France are so radically different from Italian styles. Italian has been described as your Grandmothers living room, or the super sleek modern look; never anything in between. French styles are softer, not stogy and refreshing to see. I bought a number of things and am happy with them.

We drove, in the rain to San Feliciano for lunch at Da Settimio on Lago di Trasimeno. We sat inside and enjoyed the view. The lake is very high as expected after all that rain. And we were warm and dry inside as the rain pelted down just past the window. The restaurant has been in the same family for over 100 years and it’s speciality is lake seafood from Trasimeno. Not the best food but nice atmosphere and enjoyable with beautiful views.