Oh Roma! We got up at 3:00 am and took four flights just to get a glimpse of  you....

and you are so worth it!

This visit we stayed right in the city center with beautiful views.

 Our room with a view~Rome June 2011 {The Trevi Collection}

Chico, California to San Francisco to Washington D.C. to Rome in a day!

Too excited to be jet-lagged--let's enjoy cafe life.

We stayed just a block or 2 from the Spanish Steps

Dinner on the Terrace-couldn't be happier, seriously!

Making new friends-everywhere!

Oh....the gourmet delights!

Iconic Trevi Fountain

 Night scene near the Spanish Steps

Off to Umbria.............

 From Big City Rome.....to tranquil, rustic Umbria, less traveled than Tuscany, and

filled with incredible hill towns just waiting to be discovered.

La Casella, an Eco Resort in Umbria where we stayed for a week. Rustic Umbrian village with a unique charm. It is a 45 minute drive into the villa on a gravel road. The simplicity and beauty were a unique experience. No phone, no email, no web, no English TV.....how do you say 'unplug' in Italian?

 Our villa......pristine pool

The Simple life~bread, cheeses, vino, peaches and tomatoes, olive oil and aged balsamic, sweet basil......

a splash of lemoncello to end the night.

Orvieto, Umbria

(Scott-We rented this car at the train station on our way out of Rome.  The line was a bit long, but became a party, of sorts.  Yes, you too can drive in Italy!  Not that hard, and loads of fun driving down the tiny streets in the center of an old hill town.  Oh, and when you score a parking place like this, be sure to look for a meter, because parking tickets DO follow you home to the States.  Note the blue "P" in the background.)

Our new wonderful friend, Franceso.  Authentic specialty foods and the freshest produce of Umbria. Check out his website and be sure to visit him in Orvieto!

L'Antica Piazzetta Umbria~perfect afternoon on the patio.

Sleepy little town of Fabro.  No English spoken here, but a woman suggested we go find the keeper of this church, and he would show it to us.

How do you say "You are welcome!" in Italian?  We saw this guy every time we turned around.

This was the view from our table at dinner in Todi.

Another glimpse of the view-I can't help myself!

Loving the cafe' lifestyle

Gelato--a must have!! (Cioccolato, please.)

Perugia

Imagine driving on streets like this through beautiful towns of Cortona, Orvieto, Todi, Citta della Pieve

New friends~Colleen and Kevin from England ......

Lovely evening!

(Scott remembers that at 2:30 a.m. we looked at the time, and realized we might be annoying the neighbors!)

So much fun and so wonderful to hear of their adventures and their horse farm.

Enjoying the cafe life in Umbria.

More on the next chapter of our adventure another time....to Lucca, Italian Riviera and Paris from here. Scott, thanks for commenting as a guest blogger.