A Day in Small Town Italy

March 11:

On this day we decided to do something different. Our friend Zoe from Rome had been very insistent that we come check out the small town where she was going to school. We had been city hopping for over a month and thought it would be neat to check out a smaller, more authentic part of Italy. With this goal in mind we had made reservations the night before for a relatively inexpensive hotel for the current evening. Leaving the hostel we headed to the train station and after trying to book a ticket to the town of Viterbo we were ushered onto a slow moving commuter train that would supposedly take us there. Fortunately we asked the gentleman checking tickets if the train would in fact go to Viterbo because it turns out it was not and we would have to make a transfer to get there. Not understanding him that well I got him to write down the station where we would make the transfer. Upon making the transfer  we got some assistance in getting to our hotel from a slightly crazed Italian man who spoke near enough zero English. Having not eaten yet that day and finally getting wifi again we messaged Zoe to tell her of our arrival and upon hers went for some food and a tour of the town. Viterbo did not disappoint, it has a fairly well preserved walled medieval city center and a papal palace where the pope stayed for a couple of years back in the day when he was threatened in Rome.

After our tour Zoe departed and after Pat and I got some snacks we headed back to the hotel room to chill and relax for the remainder of the evening.