They Said:

On the train to Rome, Chad pulled out the map to see the route the train would take . It was nearing five o'clock, and we still had over an hour until we arrived. Alli's idea of getting laundry "done" was basically just that because we still needed to find a place to stay in Rome. So, we finally fulfilled something Chad has wanted to do this entire trip.

We weren't sure if it was actually going to stop in Orvieto because we were just guessing that it would follow the map we have in our guidebook, but when the train slowed and the doors opened, we jumped out to explore - though only for one night - this small hill town in the Umbria region of Italy just north of Rome. For some time and in a few different countries now we had tossed around the idea of just hopping off a train in a town that looked good, and this time, we made the right decision.

The guidebooks say that Orvieto is a classic Italian hill town, but because of its easy accessibility via train, it is often a place that people simply daytrip. Much like Toledo, we were pleasantly surprised to find we had the charming little town to ourselves - and the locals.

After a great dinner, which was still great even though the waitress forgot half of our order, we left full of good food and great local wine. We climbed the Torre del Morro bell tower, which was free for the entire month after 9:30pm so the town astronomy club could give demonstrations. We saw Jupiter and four of its moons in a telescope, we saw sweeping views of the hill-topping town, and we even heard the loud bell ring ("Doc! On the night I go back in time... Dong!") when we were up there. To end the night, we sat in front of the Orvieto Duomo and examined what many call the most ornately decorated façade in Italy as we finished up a cone of homemade gelato.

The next morning we discovered that we didn't have to eat the ten bucks or so it would have cost to buy new tickets to Rome, as train tickets are valid for 24 hours. Between Chad's map reading and Alli's newfound spontaneity, Team Italy had an unexpected night in a town perched atop an Umbrian plateau before needing to be in Rome on Saturday morning to meet Fred.