All three kids are at playscheme today (full- or half-day optional daycare offered through Craig's work - what a wonderful system!) actually a field trip day to go windsurfing for the older two and cooking (am) and mosaics (pm) for Owen. So that leaves me with some free time to finish laundry (check), go grocery shopping (check), vacuum & dust (no check) and blog (check in progress). Before I begin blogging about the Italy trip, I want to talk about the word "scheme" here. Everything is a "scheme": playscheme, savings scheme, payment scheme, etc. It basically means "plan", but it makes me laugh in my head every time I hear it because "scheme" in American English has such a bad connotation and here, it is truly the opposite. Schemes are good things.
Now, about Italy. All I can say is that both Craig and I loved it: the scenery, the art, the architecture, the climate, the food, the gelati, the oldness of it all, surprises around every corner, Italians' patience with our struggling Italian. I can also say that parts were not as enjoyable: the queue jumping and general disorder and disregard for "taking turns" (Italians must not learn that in Kindergarten), the oppressive heat, the mosquitoes (none here in England), the absolutely crazy drivers and fanatic bicyclists (tons worse than England), the fact that nothing runs on time although we did massively benefit from a bus delay to the airport at the end of the trip which saved us a half-hour wait in the direct sunlight. That said, I would go again in the drop of a hat, but just not in mid August.
We arrived at Pisa airport at about 10 am and flew through Customs the quickest and easiest of any country we've experienced so far. The Customs agent was a no-nonsense woman and almost comical. We got our rental car which happened to be all black with a weak air conditioning system, but you get what you pay for, and headed to a small town called Ponte a Moriano just north of a larger Tuscan town called Lucca.
The trip was somewhat uneventful except that when we reached the toll booth with a green light and picture of cash above it to pay the toll for using the highway, there was no attendant to be seen, no way to pay other than cash but no self-serve slots or anything and the gate was up allowing our exit. So we passed through then stopped just beyond to ask the carabinieri stationed there how we were supposed to pay. In pidgin speak, we determined that we were to swing around (only God knows how) to the main building to pay. Needless to say, we couldn't find the way and are expecting a huge fine to arrive in the mail in a month or so once the car rental company passes the bill to us. Our only explanation is that it was noon and the attendants must have been at lunch. Go figure and welcome to Italia!
We arrived at our rental property by 12:30 and knocked at the door to see the over 65 and not fit owner of the property sitting in front of the TV wearing nothing but a thong because it was so hot. YIKES! Not a pretty sight in the least. He quickly dressed and turned out to be the most gracious and eager to please native Italian we met. Throughout our stay, Fiore brought us wine, olive oil (homemade), huge home-grown tomatoes, some sort of fruit. Our contact for the property was a gorgeous woman named Deborah who was also sooo nice. She was born in Italy and moved to Canada as a young child so she spoke fluent English, but spent many months in Italy on visits and also spoke fluent Italian. Our rental property easily slept six and was brand-new or just recently remodeled and was really nice. The living space was tight. However, we could have used the outdoor space more if we could have found bug spray in the shops, but we really didn't hang out in the house all that much time anyway.
Front entrance
Inset above the front door
View from the back of the property
Interesting view from our bedroom window of the way they cool the buildings
Cool mailbox
We spent the rest of the day eating lunch, playing in and around the River Serchio (while I snoozed under the bridge)
and went grocery shopping. Italy definitely has great supermercados and the food was a treat to the eyes. (As a note, for you long-time followers of the blog who know I am comparing countries' handling of dairy products, milk is sold in long-life extra large juice box type containers as well as cold pint & half gallon bottles and eggs were not refrigerated but were in cartons.) Then we took a walk ("la passeggiata") after dinner up into the hills and past the olive groves.
Welcome to Italia!
Old, gnarled olive tree
You can see straight through the bottom of it if you look hard.
The next day we ventured to the beach at Torre del Lago which was about 45 minutes away on the slow road. We were leery of taking the autoroute because of the toll fiasco and opted for the real Italian route. Well, we found it. The roads and the drivers and the cyclists in the towns we passed through made England look good. The only difference was that Italians do not park in the road like they do in the UK. We found the spiaggia libero (free beach) in Torre del Lago and had a great day. The Mediterranean Sea was pleasant and the beach was exactly what we were looking for. It was a lot like Hatteras without the dunes, but with the walk to get to the beach and no houses anywhere to be seen although there were many "bagni" establishments just to our north where you can rent a spot with an open air cabana with chaise lounges and changing room/toilet facilities. The beach there was terribly crowded.
Owen doing what he does best - wandering and exploring
Owen staking his claim
At lunch time, we headed back to a pizzeria where the server thought I was German because when I would ask for something and say how many pieces of pizza I wanted in Italian, she repeated the number back to me but in German - luckily I totally understood her! We returned to this beach a couple of days later before heading to Venice because it was just a nice place to relax and the kids really loved the water. We ate at the same place and this time Craig must have looked German because he had the same experience and no, the server was not German, she was definitely Italian.
I forgot to add that there was an amazing amount of camping going on in Torre del Lago. If I didn't know better I would say Torre del Lago means "Campground City" in Italian! There were SO MANY bikes on the road and SO MANY cars parked on the side of the roads near the campgrounds, it was incredible. We easily found a spot to park in the pay & display parking and only 4 Euro for 10 hours. What a bah-gin!
The next day, we took the train to Pisa, but that is for another blog entry. Ciao!
Now, about Italy. All I can say is that both Craig and I loved it: the scenery, the art, the architecture, the climate, the food, the gelati, the oldness of it all, surprises around every corner, Italians' patience with our struggling Italian. I can also say that parts were not as enjoyable: the queue jumping and general disorder and disregard for "taking turns" (Italians must not learn that in Kindergarten), the oppressive heat, the mosquitoes (none here in England), the absolutely crazy drivers and fanatic bicyclists (tons worse than England), the fact that nothing runs on time although we did massively benefit from a bus delay to the airport at the end of the trip which saved us a half-hour wait in the direct sunlight. That said, I would go again in the drop of a hat, but just not in mid August.
We arrived at Pisa airport at about 10 am and flew through Customs the quickest and easiest of any country we've experienced so far. The Customs agent was a no-nonsense woman and almost comical. We got our rental car which happened to be all black with a weak air conditioning system, but you get what you pay for, and headed to a small town called Ponte a Moriano just north of a larger Tuscan town called Lucca.
The trip was somewhat uneventful except that when we reached the toll booth with a green light and picture of cash above it to pay the toll for using the highway, there was no attendant to be seen, no way to pay other than cash but no self-serve slots or anything and the gate was up allowing our exit. So we passed through then stopped just beyond to ask the carabinieri stationed there how we were supposed to pay. In pidgin speak, we determined that we were to swing around (only God knows how) to the main building to pay. Needless to say, we couldn't find the way and are expecting a huge fine to arrive in the mail in a month or so once the car rental company passes the bill to us. Our only explanation is that it was noon and the attendants must have been at lunch. Go figure and welcome to Italia!
We arrived at our rental property by 12:30 and knocked at the door to see the over 65 and not fit owner of the property sitting in front of the TV wearing nothing but a thong because it was so hot. YIKES! Not a pretty sight in the least. He quickly dressed and turned out to be the most gracious and eager to please native Italian we met. Throughout our stay, Fiore brought us wine, olive oil (homemade), huge home-grown tomatoes, some sort of fruit. Our contact for the property was a gorgeous woman named Deborah who was also sooo nice. She was born in Italy and moved to Canada as a young child so she spoke fluent English, but spent many months in Italy on visits and also spoke fluent Italian. Our rental property easily slept six and was brand-new or just recently remodeled and was really nice. The living space was tight. However, we could have used the outdoor space more if we could have found bug spray in the shops, but we really didn't hang out in the house all that much time anyway.
Front entrance
Inset above the front door
View from the back of the property
Interesting view from our bedroom window of the way they cool the buildings
Cool mailbox
Welcome to Italia!
Old, gnarled olive treeYou can see straight through the bottom of it if you look hard.
Owen doing what he does best - wandering and exploring
Owen staking his claimI forgot to add that there was an amazing amount of camping going on in Torre del Lago. If I didn't know better I would say Torre del Lago means "Campground City" in Italian! There were SO MANY bikes on the road and SO MANY cars parked on the side of the roads near the campgrounds, it was incredible. We easily found a spot to park in the pay & display parking and only 4 Euro for 10 hours. What a bah-gin!
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