More tales from the Villa Dragoni...

I'm beginning to wonder whether I'm being assessed. For me, the big question is this: why was breakfast served in my room on day one and thereafter downstairs with, presumably, the other guests? Except there are no guests, it's just me; I know this because I asked. I am the only guest. I think the reason they got me to fill out a breakfast form was to assess my level of piggery ahead of inviting me down to mingle with the others residents, but of course there are none. When I reached 'the breakfast room', which was a dark and lonely space close to the front desk, I spied a table full of goodies. It was as if a buffet had been laid out, but little did I know at the time, it was all for me. There were four rolls, a solitary boiled egg, three croissants, two yoghurts, three offerings of cereal in plastic containers, the bowl of fruit from yesterday containing apricots, a pear and kiwi fruit and, foolishly perhaps, I assumed that because there were the four rolls there might be four other guests, although, apart from the table where I was sitting there was only one other laid out for use; and when I say 'laid out for use' I mean there was some cutlery on the table. Needless to say I helped myself. I ordered a cappuccino and enjoyed a fairly pleasant breakfast, washed down with a couple of glasses of fruit juice. The woman offered me another cappuccino and while I should have declined it, I didn't, figuring it would keep me awake later on.

En route to breakfast...

I had everything timed. I knew it took around 30 minutes to get to my location because I'd walked it twice yesterday. There was no rain so a stroll was just what the doctor ordered, although I had been prudent enough to buy an umbrella in Udine on Tuesday night ahead of dining alone in a small and fairly intimate restaurant. I had ordered pasta with gamberoni and tomato and later had tiramisu, it's one of those desserts that I love but always regret having once I've finished it. Outside it was dark and I had around a 15-minute walk to the railway station where I was hoping to catch a train to Buttrio and then walk the last 15 minutes to the Villa Dragoni, but it was not to be: a woman sitting in a kiosk at the station told me the next train was in 90 minutes and there was no way I was going to try and amuse myself in Udine for such a long period of time. There was only one thing for it, a taxi, so I waited at the rank and, like the night before, one eventually turned up. Once through the gates of the Villa Dragoni I trudged across the noisy gravel to the villa and of course there was nobody around. I went straight to my room and hit the sack.

My day went as planned and at lunch time, after cheese, ham and then risotto, I decided to walk back to the hotel to fetch my business cards. In total yesterday I walked roughly 8km and now it's another day and the bells of the nearby church are tolling 0700hrs. Last night I went out late in search of a restaurant. To be honest, I didn't want to go out, but all I had eaten was small amounts of food and the odd snack during the conference tea breaks. I found a place called the Parc, I think it was a hotel restaurant as I saw a colleague of mine, but fortunately he didn't see me. I was directed to a table and ordered bruschetta followed by roasted chicken breasts with cauliflower and roasted potatoes – a little bland it has to be said and while tiramisu was on the menu I wanted to get back to my hotel. The stroll down to the Parc  – which was a fairly nice place even if the service was a little slow – was blessed with rain so that umbrella came in handy, but on the return walk it only spitting so I didn't bother opening it out. Bored and with nobody to converse with I hit the sack and fell asleep, waking around 0400hrs for no particular reason and then drifting off until the alarm on my iphone sounded at 0600hrs. It's now just gone 0700. I'm showered and ready for the day and, more importantly, ready for breakfast.

Those two windows on the first floor look out from my room

I almost forgot: there are now more guests. I'm not sure how many, but I think three rooms have been taken up by the people I've seen. There were two women checking in last night as I headed to the Parc restaurant, and earlier in the day (I think at lunch time when I returned for my business cards) I saw two men. It might have been that one man was dropping the other off at the Villa Dragoni but short of asking I don't know.

Postscript...

I now know for a fact that there are four men and two women staying in the Villa Dragoni. This morning over breakfast I saw the men. That means there are seven people staying and only five of the 12 rooms still vacant. Oddly, I was rather enjoying being the only guest. There's also a new member of staff serving breakfasts – or rather tending to the needs of those having breakfast, which mainly means offering them a hot drink as everything else is laid out for them. My breakfast this morning consisted of a bowl of Coco Pops (my hotel treat, I never have them at home), two slices of cake (one apple, the other chocolate), some ham and cheese, two rolls, fruit juice and, of course, a cappuccino.