Tourist guides extraordinaire, and loving it!

Salve!

Pam, Wendy and Janelle left a few days ago to see other parts of this beautiful country (see pic of Pam having her final gelati with Jan in Assisi) and were replaced by Karl and Fay, and now their friends Michelle and Phil. We've been to Deruta now 4 times and will be there again today. Pam reckons the shop keepers should give us a commission for the ceramics they're selling to our guests! Not a hardship as we love this small, charming town with its abundance of colourful ceramics.

We took Karl and Fay to Gubbio for another delightful day on Wednesday. The 1 hour drive is through the rolling hills covered with woods, olive groves, grape vines and towns. We had to take the bird-cage funivia up the mountain again, which Karl and Fay loved, and then had a simple lunch and beer overlooking the spectacular town and surrounding countryside and hills.

Jan, Phil, Michelle and I spent a short time in Assisi Thursday afternoon and stumbled upon a medieval market, something to do with celebrating one of their saints (San Rufino). There were stalls selling ancient crafts and medieval games. Jan tried the roll-the-walnut-down-the-chute-and-smash-it-it-with-the-mallet game for a euro. She enjoyed having her photo taken with the gorgeous Italians in tights the most though. And the kiss she got from the hunk in red. We hope to catch the final celebrations on Sunday afternoon.

Last night the six of us had dinner at Mr Grumpy's (alias Giovannino's) down the road, a delicious meal of antipasto, buschetta and home made pasta. Amazing food and so cheap. It was a balmy evening and lovely sitting outside on the terrace (see pic). Mr Grumpy was Mr Happy when he offered us all a taste of his wife's homemade limoncello liqueur and Phil bought a bottle. Michelle somehow managed to also walk out with the 6 shot glasses.

The household has begun to stir, it's another beautiful clear morning, cool before the heat of the day as usual, and we'll eat breakfast on the terrace before hopping in the car for another day of touring. We're off to Todi today, another beautiful but larger town down south, and maybe Spoleto if we have time. Oh, and Deruta, of course! Jan's having a day at home - she seems to have picked up a staph infection so will start on a course of antibiotics today.

Hope this finds you all well and happy.

Ciao