Pienza and Orvieto

DDV was right, the road was windy.  I wasn't feeling so hot and I didn't even drink the night before.  This tiny town was built by Pope Pius II for his family and friends, but has since become a quaint little village famous for their cheese. We arrived in Pienza and the town was empty.  That's a funny thing about Italians.  If its cold outside or there is snow on the ground, they don't leave their homes.  Also it wasn't just cold on the top of this little mountain, it was frigid.

It was even colder in the Duomo.  

 Then we had time to walk around and take photos of the view.

Also I found a huge piece of an icicle.

We were only in Pienza for 2 hours and then were on our way to Orvieto, where we had to take an incline train to actually reach the town.  Orvieto was a unique town with its own flavor.  I kept seeing strange wooden sculptures on the sides of buildings (See album) and there was a boars head hanging outside just about every other shop.  DDV offered us a guided lesson in the duomo which was a lot like the duomo in Siena but had a Eucharistic Miracle in a side chapel.  There were no photos allowed, but I'm a bad listener.

After the duomo, DDV lead a group of us back to train to be back to the bus by 5pm.  We arrived at the train at 4:25, thus had time to spare so I decided to explore this ancient looking road the curved down the mountain...

I snagged a few good shots, and then had the genius idea of following the road all the way to the bottom, how far could it be?  With 10 minutes to go, half way down the mountain I started to run, just so as to not be late.  5 minutes to go I hit a crossroad and didn't know which way was up.  I run to the right for 500m, nothing.  500m to the left, nothing.  I find a courier and ask her which way it is to the train station and if she could drive me there.  (It's amazing how good my Italian was when I was scared still be the wrath of DDV).  Unfortunately I had no luck, and I decided the only way for me to get home was to walk back up the mountain. - - You are probably asking why I was not calling DDV to tell him I would be late.  That's a good question, with the answer that my phone was dead so I didn't even have it on me...  I'm running up this steep hill, asthma flaring because it's cold, I'm losing a pound a minute in sweat because I'm bundled up and I'm starting to get light headed.  If my time on the crew team taught me only one thing, it's that the mid can conquer what the body deems impossible, so I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and decide I will not miss that bus.  I reach the train just a minute before it leaves, heaving and hacking because I can't get any air.  Both the people around me and I are afraid I'm going to throw up on some one.  The train arrives and I see Aurora's concerned face, but as I turn the corner I see DDV and he is making some Italian gesture I interpret to be, "You think you're in pain now, wait til you deal with me."  We get back to the bus (15 minutes late), and I am greeted with sarcastic applause, "oh thanks for joining us," but then some genuine concern from my friends.  I'm not the type to get lost or kidnapped so it was a little unsettling especially when they couldn't reach me.

As we returned to Rome, DDV got on the mic and thanked us for a wonderful trip, being well behaved, and, "being on time... for the most part," he said with a smile.  It was reassuring jab that let me know he didn't want to kill me anymore.