Day 20 Leaving Rome Spending a full day in Orvieto!

First, this morning we had our 2nd cooking class in Rome. This one was a Pasta making class and it was amazing!  The best cooking class we have been to ever!  It was just the two of us with a really nice, knowledgeable Chef named Filippo. He asked us what 3 of the 4 main Roman pasta dishes did we want to make. We chose Cacio e Pepe, or pasta with cheese and black pepper, Pasta Amatriciana, or pasta with pork jowl, which is like the best bacon you've ever had, tomato, black pepper with Parmesan and pecorino Romano cheese and spaghetti Carbonara, or spaghetti with pork jowl, pecorino Romano cheese and an egg mixed in with the hot pasta and some boiling pasta water to cook the egg and make the sauce. That was our favorite!  We also made the pasta from scratch which was so fun and boy does that make a difference!  It was so creamy and luscious!  We had an amazing time and learned so much!  It was really great!  Take cooking classes wherever you go!!  It's so worth it!!  We had some wine, too much pasta and memories to last a lifetime!  WHO WANTS TO TAKE PASTA MAKING CLASSES?????  After that we left our apartment by the Pantheon in Rome, headed for the train station, got our tickets and, because they didn't put up the gate our train was leaving from until 10 minutes before it was leaving, and it was at the furthest gate of them all, even though we got there in plenty of time, we had to sprint to get there!  For those of you who don't know, I'm going to have to have valve replacement surgery on my heart when we get back from Europe because I was born missing a leaf on one of my valves. Nothing life-threatening or anything, but scary nonetheless, so I've really had to take it easy on the heavy physical exertion!  That was the most I've exerted myself the whole 3 weeks. Not good!  But, fortunately, we made the train and my heart was able to keep a regular rhythm. That's a big relief!  So, we made it to Orvieto and it's a beautiful little town on top of a huge chunk of rock!  We had to take a funicular up to the city from the train station and take the 20 minute walk to our hotel right by the gorgeous Duomo!  This is one of only 3 nights we are staying in an actual hotel. It's kinda nice for a change to not have to take out the garbage or worry about someone else's place. Nice to have our bags carried for us! LOL  I've been here before and my experience was that my favorite gelato I have had in Italy is right here!  So, Emily and I went out for a nice stroll around 6:00 when all the community is out strolling. It's called the Passeggiata, when ever can see and be seen. It's a really great thing that happens every day in Italy. The street were packed with locals and we just joined in. We stopped at my place for gelato and it's still the best!!!  SO GOOD!!!  The darkest chocolate I've had in gelato!  We strolled and enjoyed the city for about an hour then we went to dinner. It was fantastic!  We are both hooked on Bruschetta. They do it so beautifully and simply all over Italy!  Just tomatoes, oil, toasted bread, usually some garlic and basil and a touch of salt. Perfect!  We have had it almost every night!  Tonight's was the worst we've had, but still great!!  Then Emily got a bowl of something like Italian egg drop soup while I got my first bowl of pasta con Cinghiale or noodles with a wild boar ragu!  One of my favorite things ever!  It's really just pork with a little more flavor. It was so good. Emily was upset she didn't get it also. So I ended up giving her half of mine. ❤️. That's how you know I love her! LOL then we shared veal scallopini with a lemon sauce. Yum!  We had Orvieto Classico wine with it, that's one of our favorite wines and it didn't disappoint!  All in all, a great meal and a great day!  Just finished watching the last 5 minutes of the Lions game!  A win!!  Always a good thing!  And got good news on my Puppy!  His back seems to be much better. He's back to his normal troublemaking ways!  So I'm happy!!!!  Tomorrow we get to go to the Duomo and the museum of the duomo before we head to Florence!  We are excited!  We will have some mind blowing pictures tomorrow so don't miss it!  Thanks as always for caring and we really love and appreciate you all!