Italy part 8 – transit to Orvieto (Th 09/17)

Wish I’d taken a pic of this guy but my taxi driver was the very picture of Italian insouciance. Huge black Dolce Gabbana sunglasses, loose white linen top, rolled up green khaki pants legs, low profile sneakers, huge 5in stack of manly chunky silver bracelets. You know, shouldn’t try too hard for that Thursday morning cab shift. His tunes, check out Certe Notti by Ligabue. Started a Spotify playlist for Italian pop songs. And I don’t know if it’s just marketing but all the songs in the wine/cheese bar yesterday featured the word “Tuscany” prominently.

Ok I do have a pic. Behold the shades, the bracelets, the tattoos, the linen shirt.

A road allowing 2 cars side by side is rare in this neighborhood. That means 2 cars, but no pedestrians, much less their bags. 18in sidewalks.

The Politzei are checking IDs on the train. Ticket compliance or permission to stay in country? They threw off a nicely dressed lady, and a young man got up rather than surrender his ID. As the three towered over our group of 4, for a wild moment my artist brain wanted to photo the scene so I could sketch it later. But I’d already seen how theyd snapped their fingers at the kid with his shoes on the opposite seat. As it was, people were snapping to attention, removing their earbuds as they were coming around. I’ve already taken enough risks on this trip…

Orvieto Scala train station had a little robot bathroom. But it’s not very smart, when I stood in the corner to take a picture it thought I wanted to leave even though I hadn’t used the loo yet. It opened the door. Had to pay another euro to go to the bathroom. Note the movable floor the entire room gets washed after every use. Very Fifth Element.