Eternal Spin Cycle

My last three days in Assisi were full to the brim: We have toured the Perugina chocolate factory; been treated to a beautiful medieval ceremony with music, flag wavers and dancers; we went west to Montepulciano in Tuscany, where we visited Cantina del Redi and tasted wines from the oldest wine cellar in Italy, then saw an Etruscan Necropolis; and we went to a magnificent organ concert in the huge Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli. And in the time between I further explored the nooks and crannies of Assisi, and the regional food- I have tasted truffle cheese and honey, limoncello, meringues, sheep and goat cheeses, wild pork, and more regional wines. If my brain ever has an hour or two to settle, I might be able to transcribe my ridiculously random notes from the last week into something meaningful.
And now we’re in Parma, and it’s pouring rain. It’s All Saints Day, a national holiday, so everything is closed. We spent the morning trying to do laundry- the open Laundromat we found was completely unattended, so when the washer experienced an error and locked our clothes inside on a permanent washing cycle, there was nothing we could do, and no help to be found. We eventually used a coin to unscrew the bottom cover of the washer, then found a lever to unlock it from inside, and poured water all over the floor to get our clothes out (I’ve actually always wanted to open a front-loading washer while it was on wash cycle). Feeling somewhat like vandals, we brought our soaked laundry home to hang out on our balcony until dry. The hotel we’re staying at is actually a Best Western, or at least owned by that company, and is very nice although strangely American. The hotel breakfast is amazing, with more freedoms than the average American could handle: there is a boiler to poach your own eggs, an espresso/coffee machine for you to figure out on your own, and numerous other open heating elements for toasting bread or keeping meats warm. The selection of food is daunting. Honey yogurt is delicious, and I wish we had it in the states.