We wrapped up the Italy adventure with another road trip.
This time to the mountainous center north east of Rome. We saw mountains and castles and waterfalls. We hiked up and down the mountain town of Spoleto. Umbria is the region. I got into the usual trouble wanting vegetables on my sandwich. Damn, slices of meat on dry slices of bread is just not a balanced meal; they humor my insane idea and put tomatoes on, then watch me eat with smirks. On the way back we drove thru the industrial city of Terni. They make steel there; it looks like a steel town. Their biggest customer is the police. The gun factories are also right there and some very well stocked gun shops are visible from the street.
Photo of Spoleto school kids
I had a smooth flight to the U.S. I had planned on staying at a friend's apt that night. He was trying to finish his deadline and had to work later than 4:00, so I dropped my bags in a bar, had a beer, and read the Village Voice. He finally came home, we hung out, then another dude came over. We went out for food and margaritas. Then to a music place where a friend was playing her rocking acoustic guitar music. So I got to see many friends right away. Then an old friend from Chicago was in town and called, he was nearby so he came over too. Fun. I got to mention that "I was in Rome this morning" many times. Went to bed at a reasonable hour but I had been up for 20 some hours.
Friend from Chicago is a magazine writer in town to cover an architectural CAD convention (just one company). He took me to a party in the Guggenheim Museum. Nice party: music, drinks, food, architects. I crashed it with someone else's name tag. I got nervous when a conventioneer was admiring the firm I work for (on the tag). She was despondent when I didn't respond about my workplace. After I hid my tag, I had a nice long talk with a buoyant Canadian architect, plus I ran into Monica from the firm on the same floor as my work studio. Fun.
Well I am happy to be back in NY, talking to people in english, reading the news in english, and watching tv in english. There are no espresso bars and people here don't like Americans as much, but I'll try to enjoy myself. Thanks for listening to my stories, and thanks for the nice responses.
Love,
Brian
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