A day in Perugia

We rode in from Assisi yesterday to the walled fortress city of Perugia. The ride from Assisi was short but a steep uphill into the city that keeps going up when you think you've reached the top. It feels like the rice field plateaus in Sumatra that are built on the side of a mountain, each level is flat but there is another plateau above. Every time I enter a different city or town I think this is the most incredible place ever, so yet again Perugia is like this. It is more of a living growing city less tourist centric than Assisi or Gubbio or Urbino. There are several large universities here so the student population adds an element of grittiness to the town. The best sight in the city besides the views which are amazing...an exhibit of Steven McCurry's photography at the national gallery. Incredibly moving. It was the best sight we say yesterday. Even the way the photos were exhibited was a work of art in itself. They hung from a spiderweb network of wooden studs that looked like a Dr. Seuss creation. At any one point in the exhibit you could look past and around to catch sections of all the other photographs. Unfortunately I could not take a picture of it. Security and cameras everywhere. Even the small pathways through the city have security cameras on the walls. Did they make me feel saafe? maybe but it was a little creepy. Maybe the city has a lot of crime and this is a good deterent? We zoomed through the rest of the Nat Gallery which is spectacular and an art historian's dream, but at this point all of us have seen enough religious art from the 13-15 century to last a life time. Especially when its out of context. The weather has been getting progressively cooler so we're preparing for rain maybe tomorrow otherwise its been perfect. We stayed overnight at the Primivera mini Hotel. It is a great place to stay, quiet and in the center of things. Imagine an uphill into the cty and then the htel is up on the second floor and your room further up. My thighs are sore. Today we head onwards to Siene.