Italy Day 2 – Exploring Panicale

This morning I woke up to the sound of the church bells chiming and women calling out to each other somewhere up the street. Felt like I was in a movie. I lay in bed for a little while, trying to absorb the fact that I'm really here. One of the things that surprised me this morning is my reluctance to venture out and be forced to communicate with people in an unfamiliar language. Definitely a combination of pride and fear – two things I knew this trip would combat.

I decided to take a couple of hours to explore Panicale, the town where I'm staying. Get my bearings, relax, and take some photos. It's a really small, walled town clinging to the top of a hill with roads winding around in every direction. It's the kind of place where you really can't get lost because if you try to cover all the roads, you're bound to end up in front of your house at least twice. Trust me.

Looking at Panicale from an approaching road.

The view from the walkway in the photo of the city above.

There were a couple of Italian tourists wandering around, laughing and taking photos of each other. I offered to take a photo of them together. They didn't speak English, but I remembered how to say “How do you say...” in Italian so I asked them how to say “smile”. The guy gave an Italian word and the girl laughed, shrugged and said, “Cheese!” I like it when words work in both Italian and English.

As I walked around the outside of the town I saw a woman hanging clothes on a line outside her window. As I approached her she finished hanging her laundry and proceeded to lean on the window sill and stare at me. I smiled at her but she just stared at me with a grumpy look on her face. I smiled again and called out, “Buona sera!” (“Good afternoon/evening”) and she nodded and smiled. Always love it when I can get a grumpy face to crack.

The grumpy lady who smiled.