Saturday, 15 October, 2022 – I confess that I am writing this on October 16th, and I am taking a guess that Elias saw the things I have screenshot.
I have a good excuse for not writing, though: David and I were on our way to Honolulu, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We woke up at 4:30 a.m., got an Uber, and discovered the flight was delayed an hour. When we walked into the airport at 5:45 a.m., there were, no exaggeration, 200 people waiting to get through security. We got to the gate in time, but the shortened connection in Phoenix meant that we had to make a run for it. I know this will sound ungrateful – we did make the flight, and we are in Honolulu, after all – the seats were so small, so uncomfortably shaped, so tightly packed in, it made for a long, long ride.
Of course, at every step, I was thinking about Elias doing all the same things we did, by himself. As I sat cramped and slightly grumpy on the plane, I thought about Elias flying from Bangkok to Kansas City and how exhausted he will be after more than 20 hours on a plane.
Okay, enough about me. Elias in Orvieto. We have not heard from him, but now that I have had some sleep, and feel less zombie-like, I figured out we are not exactly 12 hours behind Elias. I hope we’ll be able to chat soon, without my waking him up in the middle of the night.
I was trying to find pictures that show the walls of the city. It is up on the mountain and while I am sure there are open piazzas, it feels like you are walking through a labyrinth. There are beautiful vistas, too, given how high the city is, but it is funny feeling to wander through streets where all you can see are walls, on all sides, and then suddenly, you turn a corner and come upon a view of the countryside. Though I am confident Elias will have pictures that do a better job, I tried to screen shot Google maps, to convey that feeling. I also like how all the cars in these pictures are small. Not a Cadillac Escalade in sight.
