After breakfast we headed up to Ospedalicchio so Colin could check out a home supply store – looked at paint, kitchen cabinets, windows and fencing for his house in Papiano. At least he’ll know where to take Neil if/when he comes in the spring to do a few repairs.

When we left we headed west past Perugia and through Magione to Lago Trasimeno, which was very beautiful.

Drove south then west along the lake, stopping at Monte Buono for lunch at ‘il Ristoro’, that advertised ‘cucina tipica’ and had several cars in the parking lot, all with Italian plates.

We ordered at the window before we entered the eating area inside – doggies were welcome. There was a large outdoor eating area for the summer, and the glass panels around us could all slide over to open up the whole place. Colin ordered the penne with tomato, which turned out to be spaghetti, while I ordered gnocchi al ragu that was actually more like fettuccine, but very tasty. The place filled up as we sat there – again all Italians, rather than tourists. Outside in the parking lot there was a really cool red motorbike with a side-car – we had a good look at it and it’s a classic from 1958.

Took more small back roads and stopped at Poppy’s in Papiano for a drink and to use their good wi-fi. There was a football game about to come on tv and the bar was filling up so we moved outside for a bit before leaving to walk up the hill and have another look at the fence, etc of Colin’s new house.

Stopped in Marsciano and were very surprised by huge crowds and celebrations in front of the NKD store – they had e balloons in the air, a small carousel, and masses of people milling about – we think it was a grand opening as they had just finished a traffic circle right in front a few days ago, and were frantically planting small trees and bushes just yesterday.

On the road up to San Venanzo we stopped at the small chapel that we’ve passed every day since we got here. It is adorable, and has seats for far more people than I thought it would – maybe 20 or so. There’s a key in the open door, live plants and flowers, and soft electric lights. It seems to be more about Mary than anyone else, but was very nice and peaceful – despite being about 10 feet away from the road.

Had another picnic-type dinner in the room – still haven’t seen little gecko again (it was on a corner of the wall when we arrived – at first I thought it was a giant spider, then I put my glasses on and calmed down). The doggies never saw it so we assume it either got out somehow or is hiding in a corner waiting for us to leave.

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