Spontaneous

Spontaneous
I awake in Roma after a deep 10-hour dreamless sleep and gaze at the beautiful barrel vaulted ceiling that at 8 a.m. is vibrating with the pounding and scraping of workers above. At 90 euro a night, there should be nothing but golden silence, however, this is a new hotel and I was fortunate to have christened its opening night. Being a holiday weekend, everything was booked. Rather than hang in an expensive construction zone, I stuff a small backpack with 2 days worth of essentials and stash my suitcase at Hotel Papa Germano where I'll return on Sunday evening. I book a hotel in Perugia, a city I had hoped to spend more time in, and hop the 2nd class regional train for Umbria.

The train speeds through lengthy dark tunnels so fast that ear pressure feels like you've just dived to the bottom of a 30 foot pool. The first hour of the trip is endless tunnels and no countryside views until suddenly the vista opens on russet, gold and green Umbrian mountains, valleys and vineyards dotted with small towns and magnificent villas. The train pulls into an amazing overview of Perugia and a young intellectual-looking man helps me jump the bus, whose doors have already closed, for Piazza Italia where my hotel is.

The son of the owner is a warm and genuinely friendly host, unfortunately the room at Hotel Umbria is less than nice – tiny and cramped, rusted window frame, stained and cigarette burned carpet and a wet smelling bathroom with barely enough space to turn around in, the place reeked of cigarette fumes. Grossly disappointed I can only hope that nothing is living in the sheets. Since I'm only here for 2 nights I close one eye and head out to the streets.

It is a glorious little city of about 100,000 people with universities, shops, pizza and chocolate everywhere. Perugia being the capital city for chocolate, (Perugina Baci... those scrumptious little chocolate hazelnut kisses with words of romance tucked into the foil wrapper) I'm in love. Feeling up to eating again I grab a slice and a kiss, walk across grand piazzas and climb narrow and steep streets which are as dark as its chocolate.