Why dost thou do that, weather god?

There is a bathroom that needs to be scrubbed and clothes that need to be dried. Somehow (yet again), the blog gets priority. This is one of those days that promises little to begin and really impresses, leaving one stupefied by it all. What, pray tell, just happened?

I awoke at 10 this morning after having a late night yesterday (no crazy parties, just getting stuff done at home). It was a rainy morning and chilly, so I gave the day a little time to dry out and warm up before heading out on a ride. During this time, I studied vocabulary words, many dealing with weather. Word of the day: tempacchio. Translation: Bad weather. Vento (wind) and pioggia (rain) were among the set.

When I left, everything looked pretty fine to me with blue skies and a few scattered clouds here and there. I found yet another new road to take down the monster hill and into the countryside. There were a fair number of cyclists on the road. At one point, I was about to head in the direction I knew, but saw some cyclists ahead of me going on a different road. I decided that with the [amazing] invention of GPS, I might as well follow the cyclists since I wouldn't get lost.

One of the guys in the group was friendly and was cool to talk to (no, no English). He was drafting off of the others, but they didn't know each other. I wonder if it's an Italian thing. It's great that so far, everyone is very patient with my lack of vocabulary and brutal abuse of verbs. The group was going fairly slowly, so I was able to talk comfortably and snap some pictures. See for yourself--threatening sky? I think not!

I learned a whole new, very cycling-friendly route today by following these guys. Below is us going through Assisi.

Yeah, I'm a dork. This is a self-portrait in front of Assisi. Ga-ga gorgeous scenery! And, literally, moments before it started raining. One of the reasons why I've been completely avoiding riding on rainy days (aside from the fact that rain is typically not a lot of fun) is that I have been absolutely petrified about being on the wet roads because they can be very slick--like ice. Fortunately, since it's been raining so much lately, that probably took care of the problem (it has something to do with diesel fuel coming out of the road when the road gets wet).

The few drops of rain soon turned into a torrential downpour. 10k to ride home, all of it raining, me getting completely soaked. It wasn't cold out so it wasn't that miserable. By the time I got home, the rain wasn't bad (though it poured again after I got inside).

After a very pleasing hot shower and food (gnocchi), I set out to do some exploring in town. The rain had left for good at this point, making way for a lovely evening. Found a museum of Perugian pottery, on display in this iconic building (I think it might be the highest tower in town).

Here's a pic taken earlier in the evening--the tower can be seen in the distance.

Guided by the little helpful book I've mentioned before, I found a waaaay awesome macrobiotic place. It's all organic, very crunchy--just my style where it comes to cuisine. It's this kind of place that one would expect to find in Boulder but can't... you have to go to NYC to get the same experience. (As an aside, if you're in NYC, go to Angelica's Kitchen, it replicates my experience tonight).

The place was packed, and they seated me at the community table. YEA! A community table!!!!! Angelica's Kitchen is the only place I've found one before. Quick definition of a community table: The establishment has this large table that seats ~12. If you go alone or with one other person, and if you want, they put you here to save their space and no one eats alone.

Tonight, I had a full-on family Italian experience with a whole bunch of super friendly Italians who not only aren't my family, but they also don't know each other. Some of them knew a little English, but I tried as well as I could to speak Italian and understand them. This is a group of people who aren't thrilled by the quality of typical Italian cuisine. In itself, the topic deserves a fair amount of research on my part.

Dinner tonight: soup (not sure what was in it), and a large plate piled with brown rice with a green sauce (probably vegetables), steamed veggies--carrots, chard, cauliflower, raw salad, garbanzo beans and wheat pasta. 8 euro. Would have cost 1/2 that if I were a student (which I am) but I would also have to be two years younger. Grumble on that, but still very reasonable and what an experience!

With that, it's time to clean the bathroom, we're getting a 3rd roommate tomorrow sometime. Arrivederci!