tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54692767709000646452011-04-21T13:14:18.126-07:00Mary in Umbriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00205168809997202245noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469276770900064645.post-52696584863555386762009-02-07T02:41:00.000-08:002009-02-07T03:14:24.960-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvxhVoYYOG0/SY1mZrNoy7I/AAAAAAAAAA4/4p53OjNckAI/s1600-h/PB200019.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvxhVoYYOG0/SY1mZrNoy7I/AAAAAAAAAA4/4p53OjNckAI/s400/PB200019.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300004927767628722"></a>This is the center of my life today, after my 40 years in Umbria. How did I get here, to Umbria AND to becoming an innkeeper, to Genius Loci Country Inn?  That is what I will attempt to write about for those who are interested and would like to follow my blog.  <div><br /></div><div>What an adventure it has been, 40 years, a lifetime, in Umbria after growing up in Long Beach, California.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvxhVoYYOG0/SY1mZUNB64I/AAAAAAAAAAw/WhWN8QPB4mE/s1600-h/PB200018.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvxhVoYYOG0/SY1mZUNB64I/AAAAAAAAAAw/WhWN8QPB4mE/s400/PB200018.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300004921591065474"></a>This restored farmhouse is the center of my life, filling my empty nest as my children went on and away with their own lives, often far away and for long periods.</div><div><br /></div><div>But let me back up to tell you how I got here.</div><div><br /></div><div>After two years at UCSB, studying art history, I decided to take a year off and travel to experience first hand what I was so passionate about.  With two friends we came to Europe with "Europe on $5 a Day" in hand and traveled the continent in depth and width, from as far north as Berlin to as far south as Istanbul.  </div><div><br /></div><div>I traveled by a Volkswagen which we picked up in Munich and then shipped home to use for years as I finished my studies.  </div><div><br /></div><div>It WAS love at first sight.  I was charmed, stimulated, enlightened, enthusiastic, challenged, delighted by all of Europe.  It was 1965, the days when I could pull up right in front of museums to park, when I could drive in the historic centers without hassle or traffic, when $5 a day WAS truly possible.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5469276770900064645-5269658486355538676?l=marygeniusloci.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mary in Umbriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00205168809997202245noreply@blogger.com6