Italy, I love you! Your food, your sun kissed landscapes, your 3 euro bottles of wine, your shoe shops, your espresso, your crumbling ruins, your terracotta rooftops, your gelato, your designer clothes, the way you talk with your hands and the way that that, somehow, you manage to structure your day around a four hour lunch and siesta!! Our stopover in Rome lasted all of an hour, before we hopped on a train for the Umbrian town of Terni. To cut down costs we had booked an apartment in Terni (a town we had not heard of before) for the four nights before we met up with my parents. It did not take long for us to get into the swing of life in Italy!

Terni was heavily bombed during the second world war, so there is not much in the way of pre-war architecture. However, the town centre is well-maintained and had an air of wealth that we hadn't expected to find in such a random wee place. We were warmly welcomed by a young, nicely dressed Italian man, at our apartment - a spacious downstairs flat with views towards a park. The young man introduced himself as 'Marco', explaining in pretty good English that he helps his father manage the apartments. He helpfully showed us around, pointing out where everything was in the apartment and leaving us with a map of Terni and his telephone number in case we encountered any problems.

We had no trouble finding a supermarket where we excitedly bought supplies - three packets of fresh mozzarella for 2.70, a bottle of wine for 3 euro, salami and prosciutto for 2 euro, fresh pasta for 1.50, a punnet of tomatoes also 1.50, and basil pesto for 3.50. While Dale put together a gorgeously presented antipasto platter, I cooked up the fresh pasta with a bolognaise sauce and shaved pecorino. After four months away from home, doing something as domestic as preparing a meal together - especially with such great ingredients - was a real pleasure.

After the crowds in Paris, we both really appreciated being somewhere with a lack of tourists and slower pace of life. We walked all around the town centre, window shopping, finding coffee spots (espresso shots only 90 cents!), and people watching. Perhaps if we had paid closer attention to the sky above, we might have taken wet weather precautions, because it began to rain as we walked. We began making our way in what we thought was a homewards direction. It wasn't. The rain seemed to get heavier the more lost we became. I had at least warn a light weight rain jacket, but Dale was soaked to the skin by the time we found the right route. Of course every Italian we saw had an umbrella or was standing under cover, waiting for the rain to let up. So we made a conspicuous and comical sight as we traipsed past like two drowned rats and we found the locals gawking at us for a change!!

That evening, after hot showers and borrowing of an umbrella, we found a nearby cocktail bar for an aperitif. We ordered cocktails and were delivered two rather potent but tasty drinks and a complimentary antipasto platter. During our second round of cocktails and second platter we decided to order a pizza - Gorgonzola with mushrooms - it had a perfectly crispy base and was delicious! All up, the bill totalled only 30 euro!