It's against the laws of nature, but when I finally wake up in the morning, I can eat again. Romina, Thomas, and Thomas's family and friends from the US are all staying at the Villa and we get together to have a little spread for breakfast around 11. Then we have to pack up and head out. We are off to Sansepolcro in Tuscany. After a long round of arriverderci's , we're off. We head north out of town up the coast and then head inland to cross the mountains, cross through Umbria and end up in Eastern Tuscany in a small town, known for being the center of the Piero di Francesco world. We get off the Autostrada to cross the mountains and cruise through lots of small towns as the landscape changes and becomes greener and mroe rustic.

In a decision that I think I will regret for the rest of my life, we don't stop in the town of Urbania. It's raining and we are unsure about parking with all of our stuff in the car. However this means that we pass up the palio di rana. A palio is a traditional race, the most famous being run in the main square of Siena, on horseback. There are others in various towns of Italy and Urbania has it's Palio di Rana. The quirk here, is that 'rana' means frog. So it's a frog race. And we skipped it. that cannot have been the right decision. But It was too surreal to truly comprehend how awesome that could have been. Maybe next year.

A business aquaintance of my father's is coming to meet us for dinner.
Helen is an Irish ex-pat, married to an Italian, who lives in Perugia and does travel agent work. My dad has corresponded with her on the email and she is driving in to take us to dinner.
She's a character. I got in trouble for making this comparison, but she reminds me of Eddie Izzard. She's got the same sense of humor and the same delivery. She's loud and brassy and pretty funny (she'll start to wear by the end of the night, but I'm amused for a good long time.) She has arranged for dad to check out a new B&B started by an English couple, high up in the hills above Sansepolcro. The road is curvy and steep, but we eventually end up in a pretty spectacular house, almost at the top of the mountain, surrounded by forest, with a spectacular, gorgeous view. Steve and Ann Marie have spent 18 months renovating an old house and, even though I'm not much of a B&B fan, this is nice. It's modern, but with some real classic Tuscan style. They give us the tour and then take us to their favorite neighborhood restaurant. It's called Osteria Aboca and is up in the hills about 10 km above Sansepolcro and its' fantastic. We have one of those great 4 hour Italian meals, with 5 courses and wine and conversation (it eventually becomes a Helen monologue, unfortunately). Starters include cheese plate (ooooh the cheese plate) with parmigiano, a blue cheese, a couple of creamy ones, with honey, cranberry (maybe currant) sauce, and orange salsa on the side and Brushcetta misto. I had a tagliatelle with asparagi (homemade pasta and fresh asparagus spears), there were also several kinds of ravioli at the table. Main courses were fried lamb chops (a little too breaded, but good) with fried artichokes (perfect), Bistecca fiorentino (Florentine steak) and lamb. Fried potatoes and a cherry tomato, arucola, and balsamic vinegar salad on the side. It was a terrific meal at an unassuming place.

The hotel is described in a guidebook as "charming". Old, dark and a bit musty are more like it. It's in a residential neighborhood about a mile out of town. We can't get online. It's very frustrating. I go to bed late after an hour and a half of trying to connect.

Tomorrow: renaissance paintings.