Distance Walked- miles 10.4. 417.0
Gross Climb- feet. 440. 32,436
Song of the Day: In the Garden by Van Morrison
The streets are always wet with rain
After a summer shower when I saw you standin'
In the garden in the garden wet with rain
Note: this has always been one of my favorite Van Morrison songs, originally from the album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher in 1986. But the best version is from the album A Night in San Francisco, recorded in 1992. I saw Van in Los Angeles two nights before the San Francisco performance, and it was probably the best of the 10 or so Van Morrison concerts I have attended.
Today was the perfect antidote to the trials and tribulations of yesterday's frustrations. I was a little concerned when I saw that today was Friday the 13th, but it turned out to be our lucky day!
We particularly enjoyed the 7 mile hike from Capranica to Sutri. The entire walk was through a dense forest, along a rushing stream. The forest helped to cool off the blistering heat. The trail is very well maintained and has several man made bridges crossing back and forth over the stream. The trail was occasionally slippery from last night's rain, but also add a sheen and glisten to the plant life. This is a hike that we would do over and over again if we had access. Definitely one of the top 3 or 4 hikes of this trip.
As you can see, Linda is wearing a hat today. She has been concerned about the amount of sun we have gotten this past week. Ironically, we hardly saw the sun today due to the lush forest canopy!
We then passed through a pasture with grazing horses:
Sutri is an ancient city, from about 400 BC. Today, it has about 5000 inhabitants. Like most other Italian cities, it is located on a hill, requiring a hike. In the summer they have a classical music festival that apparently draws them in.
We visited a very interesting ancient amphitheater/colleseum:
We then arrived at the hotel. Once again, door locked, nobody there, only a phone number out front. We sat out front, thinking about what to do. Then, a young man came along and started talking to us. It was clear he had some sort of mental capabilities problem. But he was trying very hard to help us. Then, he pulls out a set of keys and lets us into the hotel! But, now he he is stymied, and doesn't know what to do. He calls somebody on the phone, but no answer. He starts looking through papers on the desk. Linda suggests that he call the number on the door. He says something to the effect that that won't work, it will just call the number in the office. Linda say,why don't you just try it. He decides to do it, and what do you know, it rings his Dad (who we find out owns the hotel) who is eating lunch somewhere. Everything eventually got figured out, but we will always remember that young man and how he tried his best to help us out.
After an ok lunch, we visited the Duomo in Sutri. Amazing that a town of this size would have a Duomo. Once again love the Church business models. The duomo was very large and very beautiful. In addition, there was a crypt below the church. But, you had to insert a 1 euro coin for the lights to go on for four minutes:
We decided, what the heck, we have come this for, let's do it! Spend that euro! We are glad we did:
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