I'm more tired than usual this morning and decide not to go on the days expedition. Michael and I will stay back in Civita and hang out. After the other's depart, Michael and I decide to try to find a way over to the top of the bluff that we saw from inside the castle. There are some caves and stairs carved into the rock as well as a tower of some sort. The bluff stands 500 feet above the creek that runs below the town. There are two branches of the gorge and the bluff stands in the middle. First we head past the castle, down below the walls along the gorge. There are stairs that head down to small farm plots that are on the side of the cliff. It empties onto a road that heads out of town (we haven't driven here). It crosses a small bridge and then there are two dirt roads that seems to be private driveways. We decide to try to circle above and around, but the road curves the wrong way. We do get closer to the largest teapot that I have ever seen.

From the bridge we saw this teapot off in the distance behind some houses. It's very strange and very large. Once we get closer, Michael realizes that it's on a float and is either inflatable or plastic.

We decide not to walk down the private roads (the barbed wire topped fences provide some disincentive) and instead decide to head thru town and go around the other way. We cross the other bridge that takes us to the new part of town. We take a left and start walking through the suburbs It's not terribly charming, but we keep working our way along where the side of the gorge, hoping to find a direct route. We don't. We see a lot of apartment buildings and get some really funny looks, but no northwest passage. Luckily we find a bar and have a gelato. our pathetic Italian is further compounded by Michael's mumbling. the girl behind the bar can't figure out what he wants. We try to elaborate in Italian, at which point she breaks into near perfect English. i hate when that happens. It turns out she's not fluent, but her sister lives in Detroit and she's a big fan of Eminem. The gelato is bad, but it's cold. We try to ask her how to get to the bluff, but she can't find the words in English to give us the directions. We head back to town to get some lunch.

There is a pasticeria open around the corner from the hotel. Inside we find one of the breakfast waitresses from the hotel. She's been very friendly each day and is very pleased to see us. We talk for a while and she tells us that her kids head out to the bluff to have picnics, but it's not clear how we would get there. We may have been in the right place, but should have gone down the private driveways. She does warn us that we do need to be careful of vipers. I hadn't considered that vipers might be a problem. I think ignorance was bliss. We grab a couple of tuna fish sandwiches and some pastries and head back to the hotel for some Scrabble, under an umbrella on the patio. It's nice and relaxing. I win the game and then have a nap while Michael goes for a run.

Mom and dad get back from a successful day of sightseeing. They found a nice town called Toscania which is much more attractive than most of the other Lazio towns we have seen. For dinner we head to the neighboring town of Nepi. We walk through just as the passagiata is ending. It's a lively little town (more lively than Civita), but the restaurant is nowhere to be found. it turns out that it's outside of town, below the walls. And is closed. It may be too early (it's not even 8 PM yet), but there is no sign of life anywhere inside. instead we head back to Civita, we are all to tired to screw around. mom had seen a place on the road that seemed to be open so we head there. It's called Sia Rosa and is open, but empty. Again, it may be too early. It's also La Festa della Mamma, so maybe people don't eat out... The menu looks good, we have some pasta, I have a cheese plate. I actually don't remember the food all that much, I may have had fish, but about half way through our meal, a large party starts to arrive. It's mostly priests. For some reason this amuses me to no end. I just like the idea that on a Sunday night, the area priests all get together to eat out.

We wish mom a happy mother's day and call it a night.
Tomorrow the final day....