We had to move to another, smaller apartment just down the street because our original rental was just for one week. Luckily our hosts have a friend who rents out her apartment occasionally and so we moved in the morning.

As far as our health, we are both feeling “run down” but better every day. We still need rest and the actual physical part of the move (carrying suitcases and our host’s stuff up and down the stairs) was good exercise. After the move, we went out and passed by the restaurant Clemente to reserve for lunch.

Our walk was out towards the train station and down hill to the the Porta Romana. Walking back up a long string of stairs at the town border. There was fresh snow on the mountains and the views were really beautiful. The trees are just beginning to flower. Ken noticed windmills on the ridge but they were too far away to photograph very well.

We popped back up to the apartment and I changed my clothes (for no good reason) for lunch. Clemente is the only Michelin guide (not starred) restaurant in Sulmona, so we tried it.

The room was cozy with arched ceilings and buff painted walls. First they brought us a bread basket with three different house made choices. Then they served us the amuse of fried bread with a dollop of very fresh and mild, sheep milk ricotta. We ordered an antipasto to share which was actually my favorite dish–Capocollo with marinated shaved artichoke, fennel and zucchini and there was a bit of arugula on the plate too. We each had our own pasta dish–mine was called agnolotti. It was stuffed with braised lamb and had a light tan gravy on top. Ken had a fettuccine (which here is wider, thicker and ridged) with a dark brown sauce. Then, we ordered one “mixed grill” to share and some delicious broccoletti. Overall we really enjoyed the experience even if the food was not as thrilling as expected. It was however, very typical of this area and so we felt satisfied.

After a good rest time we took a walk to the Conad for a few little supplies and walked around that neighborhood with bright yellow forsythia blooming along our route.

Both of us still pretty full from the massive lunch, we just had some bread and cheese for a dinner snack.