Tammy and I in Piazza Navona

Tammy descending in the funicular

Disembarking, thank god!

We are having a marvelous time together, really enjoying things and in some cases doing things we would never otherwise think of doing. Tammy’s hopping on a train for the first time might be one of those, as is my own trip two days ago.  We went to Gubbio, a medieval/Renaissance town built on the side of a hill about an hour from Urbania, which is cute and quaint, has a great medieval town square and a level-two ducal palace, and is also the town from which Cornelia’s second husband came.  I’ve been there several times before and was delighted to find that, since the last time, they’ve installed elevators to the major monuments for the less hardy. Naturally, I took them, though in my own defense, I have to say that I’ve doing a fair job of keeping up with Tammy. There also turns out to be a lift of sorts up to the top of the hill, where there is an old monastery.  I’ve done one of these before in a fairly large cabin and Tammy really wanted to so off we went. 

When we got there, it was closed for siesta so we sat and had sandwiches and rested. Then Tammy pointed to what appeared to be a series of birdcages hanging from cables and said that she thought that was the funicular.  I said of course it couldn’t be, because they were much too small – and completely open, just metal cages.  Naturally, it turned out she was right (she often is), so I backed off. Eventually she shamed me into going over to have a look when it opened so we did, accompanied by several of the elderly men who were sitting around the bar and who apparently found my terror diverting. The other thing was, the funicular never stopped: you were supposed to hop agilely on as the thing floated by, helped by the personnel.  Well, let’s face it, I’ve got age and weight against me on this, not to speak of a latent fear both of elevators and heights.  By this time, Tammy had bought the tickets and the two guys running the thing had gotten into the spirit of getting me into it, which, I have to say, they did. They actually slowed it down for me to get in and were very skillful at inserting both me and Tammy into the same car (a bit crowded) and off we went. 

I have to say that it was worse than I expected. Tam loved it but the damn thing goes up at a very steep slant and at one point the ground drops away and there’s just nothing down there.  I gripped the cage bars until my knuckles were white.  At the landing, they’d apparently called ahead, and they slowed it down again while I got off, so I was very impressed with the personnel. They all seemed to think it was great fun. At the top, there’s a bar/restaurant and you can also walk up higher to the monastery, where there’s another bar and where a wedding was going on (turns out there is also a road for cars from the other direction). The view is spectacular and we took pictures like mad so you’ll get some sense of it. I’d like to report that, my fears now conquered, the descent was a breeze (in one sense, it was, since it was pretty windy), but I found it still pretty scary, though I got myself together enough to take a picture of Tammy.

The main reason I put myself through this (after all, I’ve been on top of the Pantheon – what have I got to prove?) was so I would be able to hold it over Tammy’s head as the trip to Venice got closer.  I’m fully expecting to pick her up tonight as a seasoned traveler, but she was pretty nervous about her first time going off alone.

Yesterday, after returning from Pesaro, I stopped off in Urbania and went to the bar where I’d always had breakfast and found Sandra still behind the counter, so we had a big reunion. Also there was Giulio, the guy from whom I rented the apartment and who has now apparently written a book of poetry. Then I went down to the library to see who was about – it was Sunday so I didn’t expect the staff to be there. But one was, Gianni, who had had me to lunch shortly before I left, and who welcomed me back by showing me a museum he has set up in the basement of the library on old agricultural machinery from the area – very interesting.  So I felt very well welcomed back.

I’ll end this here, as it’s time to go off to the library, and try to send it from town. More later with the further adventures of Tammy and Aunt Deborah in Italy.