Day 7: Orvieto

Talk about eat my words.  Cranky Nonna actually turned out to be Bella Nonna and the highlight of our day.  We are staying at her B&B, called B&B La Palma, and she put on the most divine and enormous spread for breakfast this morning as part of the cost of the room.  We had organised to meet the Garbins and Agresta's at our restaurant, thinking it would be open to the public, but it was just open for us.  Sandra arrived before the others and reluctantly asked if she could join us for breakfast.  Well, Nonna couldn't do enough for us.  Breakfast, coffee, pastries in a gorgeous wrapped parcel straight from the patisserie, juice, yoghurt, fiore di latte, a plate of prosciutto and ham, toast, fruit.  It was just divine and Nonna was very hospitable.  Turns out she is Sicilian and Sandra and Tony talked to her in Italian for a while, which was just magic to listen to.  They were great friends by the end of it.  It was a beautiful start to the day.  We headed off for a walk after breakfast and soaked up the view and the heat.  The scenery was breathtaking looking out onto the rolling hills.  We headed into the town to the Duomo, the gothic cathedral built in 1920.  As fate would have it, we bumped into Tara Jackson and her children from school.  We couldn't believe it.  What are the chances of that?  She was with her mother as her husband had gone back to Australia.  Her mother was on our flight and I remember talking to her at the airport in Australia and again at Rome, and thinking I'm sure I knew her. Anyway we swapped stories and had a nice chat before heading our separate ways.  They were in Orvieto for the day only.  The Cathedral was just amazing.  The mosaics on the front and the frescoes inside were beautiful.  We headed into the main part of town for a walk and stopped for lunch at a deli and had porchetta rolls.  Chontelle hasn't been well since they arrived so Tony kindly took her home along with Scarlett and Zachie, while we headed to the underground caves for a tour.  It was great and much enjoyed by us all, even Maxie.  Everyone headed home after the tour, so Rick and I went for a walk around the city.  Its very old and medieval in parts.  Quite fascinating and so quaint.  It reminds me of a town out of a fairytale like Tangled.  The sun was pretty strong and after a couple of hours, we both felt a little burnt, so we headed back to the Garbins.  We sort refugee for a few hours before heading back out for a walk around 5PM.  We decided to head back to our accommodation and have dinner at Bella Nonna's restaurant.  I had the most divine artichokes I've ever had with breadcrumbs on top.  Rick ordered veal with fresh porcini and a truffle cream.  Beautiful.  It was the best dish we've had in Italy so far.  A bottle of red wine and a gorgeous pizza for the kids, it was a beautiful start and end to the day, all thanks to Nonna.