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Perugia, the capital of Umbria is a big city. It had tourists but seemed more like a working city. We parked in the lot and then were directed to climb a long set of stairs and escalators underground to get to the city. It was kind of like walking uphill through an underground cave. That part of the city dates back to the 14th century. Once we got to the center we saw there were multiple piazza’s with massive buildings and detailed architecture. Tons of side streets lead away from the hustle and bustle into the residential area, and of course there was also big city shopping.
We took most of the day to walk and get a feel for the city, making sure we got our work out in as we went up and down the stairs and around the streets. We went into numerous shops and took pictures of the brick colored buildings, water fountains, lamp posts, alleys and countryside. After several hours, we had gotten a pretty good feel for Perugia and since today was our last day in Umbria, we decided to squeeze one more small village into our visit.
The town of Bevagna was close to our B&B so we decided to stop by and pick up some picnic type foods for dinner there. The village was again enclosed by a big fortress wall, so we parked in the lot outside of the wall. In the parking lot was a sign showing a picture of a timer and a 2 hour limit. We have learned in Italy most of the cars have a paper meter on the bottom right corner of the windshield. When you arrive in the parking lot, instead of putting money in a meter, you spin the time on the paper meter to your arrival time. Then the parking attendant knows when the car was parked. If there is a 2 hour limit for example and the time on your car shows longer than 2 hours…then you receive a parking ticket.
We set our timer and walked inside the walls…we saw it was a very local town with minimal tourists. We noticed the town was starting to wake up with people sitting outside at café’s watching the time pass by. We took pictures and wandered around in the streets. We found a bakery open and bought some little cookies and bread. We also found a cheese and meat shop so purchased some cheese for our picnic dinner before heading back.
We arrived back at our B&B and spent our evening packing and making some bruschetta with the remaining groceries in our kitchen. The snacks we bought today will be perfect for our long car ride to the Amalfi Coast tomorrow!
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Published by Giff Kabat
I grew up in Ohio as a kid, so of course I went to college at “THE” Ohio State University. I graduated in 2001 with a major in business finance. A month after graduation, I moved out to California with my college girlfriend (whom I married in 2005)…and started my career in sales (industrial sales for 5 years…then moved into medical laser sales for 4 years).
In 2009 I was 31 years old. I had a great job, a new house, and a beautiful wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby. Everything was going according to plan…and I couldn’t have scripted a better life for myself.
Then in the same year…everything changed. My wife, Brandey, called me when I was on my way to work and told me over the phone, something I never thought could be possible in a million years. My beautiful 30-year old pregnant wife was just told that she had breast cancer. At that moment, everything stopped all at once. I immediately went to her…and learned of our new plan…which began with her needing surgery immediately…and the rest we would find out later.
The day we returned from the hospital after Brandey’s surgery…my father died. He had been battling an aggressive cancer of his own…and although he was the one person I wanted to speak with about Brandey having cancer…I never told him. My sister, Brooke, had just gotten married a few months ago, and although he was weak, he was able to walk his little girl down the aisle of her wedding. On the night before my sister’s wedding, Brandey and I told him that we were pregnant and about to make him a grandfather. It made no sense to tell him that everything had changed for us…so he died in peace knowing everything was “the way it should be” for his only 2 children.
2010 was the worst year of my life. We had lost our baby…and for 12 months I watched my wife fight cancer with multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and drug therapy. It was a difficult year for us…but we made it. When you go through something like this in life, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you. I was amazed at the strength and courage of my wife…and how many good people there are in this world. I will be forever grateful for the ones who never ceased to amaze me with their kindness during this hard time. Family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers…helped us make it through this. I am, and will always be especially grateful to my mother, who was with my dad at the very end, when I couldn’t be there, and when things were at their worst. She has been so supportive throughout all of this, and without her everything would have been so much harder for me.
It’s 2011 now…and the plan we have for our life this year…is to make it the best year of our lives. Brandey is officially in remission from breast cancer and she has a 95% chance the cancer will never come back. Besides the love that I have for my wife and family, the loves of my life are food, wine, and adventure travel. My wife and I love traveling to new places, seeing natural wonders, and meeting new people from different parts of the world. So for the next 400 days…we’ve decided to travel the world…and celebrate our lives. There are so many things I took for granted in life that I will never take for granted again. My father worked for over 30 years at the same job with the same company…rarely took time off…and died at 64 years old right after his retirement. For me, this trip is a combination of a tribute to him, along with wanting to spend the time of my life with the “love of my life.”
* The only thing I will miss while we are gone is our family and friends (who we hope will meet us somewhere throughout our trip) and especially our 3 little kitties we left with my mom in Ohio to catsit for the next 400 days. I will also miss watching “American Football” over the weekend…but I’ll do my best to check the scores in the middle of the night.
GIFF
View all posts by Giff Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
Seriously how are you guys not getting fat? It looks like you are losing weight too. And so wish I was with you.