We slept in, and when I finally wandered downstairs and got the children eating cereal for breakfast, I found Anna hanging laundry outside. I told her that when we first arrived in Vienna two months earlier it was difficult to adjust to not having a dryer because air-dried clothes were crunchy and the kids complained about stiff underwear and jeans. I explained that I finally learned to double the liquid fabric softener and our clothes fared much better. She looked at me and said, “Oh. Well, I guess you really don’t want to do a lot of ironing on your vacation, do you?” I was quiet for a minute. Ironing? I laughed and then admitted that the thought to iron the crunch out of the clothes had never even occurred to me. What can I say? Our iron at home doesn’t get out much.
We drove the short 3 kilometer distance to Montone, the picturesque hilltop village closest to Anna’s house. Massive stone walls surround the village, and somehow seem to preserve medieval Italy by keeping out cars and thwarting expansion. We parked outside the ancient boundary walls with all the other cars and walked up through the gate, up the stairs, and along narrow cobbled streets.
The main square is the social center for the small town of about 1,650. It was quiet and serene on a Sunday afternoon, with the peaceful sensation of being completely transported from the modern world into the primeval past. Church bells rang on the hour, laundry was hanging on lines out of windows, and no one seemed to be in a hurry to go anywhere. There were a few signs of the current century, including cafe umbrellas, a bank with glass doors housing an ATM inside (essential for any tourist destination that largely operates on cash only business), an office with realty listings posted on its glass windows (yes, I looked and am sorely tempted to start saving up my Euros…), and most notably for Cade, a recruitment poster for a regional basketball league that seemed to speak directly to him. In English. 
As we wandered by the ancient prison, Cade was surprised and excited to find that the small creepy-looking door actually opened, and after extracting a promise from me to guard the door to keep it from closing, the kids went to explore its interior. It didn’t take long. It was a small prison, and not surprisingly, it wasn’t a very comfortable or welcoming place: wooden medieval stockade, stone floor, stone walls. But at least there was a medieval bathroom en suite… (which isn’t saying much).
There were lots of stairs, much to Reyna's dismay. We did do a lot of walking, although it is not a very large place. It would probably take only twenty minutes or so (?) to walk the whole perimeter of Montone along the city walls, which offer spectacular views of the valley. We didn't try it. We took our time. We wandered into the 14th century Gothic church and annexed convent, which now houses a museum with frescoes, sculptures and paintings. The kids loved exploring an outdoor theater area and we ducked in and out of churches and up and down alleyways and niches. It was a gorgeous afternoon in every possible way. And there were even benches.
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