Jul 2006

Well, Mom and I survived getting here....over 24 hours of travel is hard on the body....a hot shower afer 48 hours = priceless! The first plane ride was over 8 hours and smoooooooth. The second one was turbulent and made you think about gravity!

None of that compared to being driven on the Autostrade at 160 km/hr....not sure how many mph that is, but it is enough to make you pray!! Especially when motorcycles drive between cars and cars drive in the middle of two lanes!!! I haven't figured out the rules to driving -- if there are any!!!!! All of this after our gracious host took a nasty spill, hit his head and back, scraped his arm at the Rome airport and we spent the first few minutes in this country in the First Aid office with him.....if he had passed out, we would be stuck due to the language barrier....As it was, my first attempt at the Italian language was directed at an Italian polizia (police) who, while helpful, spoke no English.....

Anyway, our host was examined and released and we hit the road....somewhat worried about a concussion and him driving so fast...but we lived.....Mom wantd a rosary to pray even though we are not Catholic!! He offered for me to drive his brand new car, but with no international license and no idea how to get to his home hours away, and being unable to read or decipher the road signs -- not a good idea....

Five hours after setting foot in Italy, we arrived at his house....WOW!! Marble floors, a whole upstairs to himself, a terrace that wraps around the apartment with a garden and adorable kittens, and fruit trees.....AND THE VIEW!!!! He overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea...

What a night to get here....Italy won the World Cup so the fireworks and celebrations and horns and yelling went on for hours! The fireworks were in at least 10 places in this small town and some were over the water!!! Mom and I are getting used to things here and determined to get us a bidet when we return home! ha ha We are killing time now since a neighbor took him to get Xrays since he is very sore.....He is such a charming man that he thought of our breakfast first before his medical visit. He was nice enough to direct me to the store down the way to get bottled water....I struggled with the language, resorting to Spanish...they must think I am a freak here....

Anyway, until he returns with a clean bill of health and "schools" us on the area and my housesitting duties, taking us later to a friend's house for a bottle of red wine, and takes us to the best pizza place, we are waiting here....... so Ciao for the moment!