Sunday, June 25, 2017 - Great Neighbors and Great Friends

Our room has a unique quality. When all else is quiet, you can hear the low throated, deep rumble of the subway as it passes in the tunnels a few blocks away. It is not loud, or disturbing, but it is there. 

We are off to the Vatican today to attend mass with Pat and Bill. Mass is scheduled for 9:00 am at St. Peter's in the Vatican. We are meeting Bill and Pat at the last column on the right farthest from the church. We caught the metro to Octavian station, then walked to the side of the Vatican. It all appeared to be barricaded, so we hustled around to the front and passed through the first security check. Once inside the perimeter, we seated ourselves in the shade near the first pillar and waited for the Caldwells. 8:10 am turned into 8:37 am and no Bill and Pat. Sally had gone to the reateoom10 minutes ago and had not returned. I began to wander around a little bit, wondering if I had missed them while looking down at the iPad. Suddenly Pat called out from inside the secondary security perimeter. They had come in through the side entrance we thought was closed, found Sally and were waiting for me. I quickly went through the X-ray check and joined them. 

We headed up toward the largest church in all of Christendom, St. Peter's Basilica. Once inside, we once again marveled at the sheer size and opulence. I had assumed that Pat and Bill had been here before, but I was wrong. They had been to Europe long ago, when Beth and Ross were babies, but Switzerland was as far south as they had traveled. 

We spent a few minutes gazing around, then Sally began the quest to find where mass was being held in this massive space. A few inquiries and we discovered that mass had been postponed until 10:30 am. hmmmm . . . Now we had about an hour a half, but were a long way from the rest of Rome. We decided to skip mass with plans to attend an evening session and walk across the city with the goal of returning to the Vatican by 11:30 am to attend the Pope’s noon audience. To make it back on time, we were contemplating a taxi. 

Our first goal was Piazza Navore, with Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain. We walked the narrow streets, winding our way there. Once in the Piazza, pat listened to the Rock Steves audio tour of the Piazza while Bill and Sally chased down a Coke and a bottle of water. From there we walked over to the Pantheon. We went inside, walked around the circumference, then popped back out on the street, headed for the Emanuel monument and Michelangelo's steps up the back side. Once on top of the steps, we could look down into the Forum area and see the ruins.  Since it was Sunday, the main road by the Forum (Via Dei Fori Imperiali) was closed.  We walked down to this broad 4 lane road and hung to the right side, looking down into the uncovered ruins of the Forum. We walked the length of the road to the Colosseum.  Pat and Bill had not been to any of these areas in the days before, so we enjoyed they Arch of Constantine, the Colosseum and walked up toward Palatine Hill. The crowds and lines were enormous. We did not even consider trying to go inside.  The view from the outside was enough.

From the colosseum, we headed for the church “Peter in Chains”.  Here two objects were to be found, the actual chains that King Herod used to imprison Saint Peter, and the marble sculpture of Moses done by Michelangelo.  Sally and I had seen both 6 weeks ago when in Rome for the first time. We thought Pat and Bill would enjoy seeing them.  We worked our way up the hill and into the church.  The first thing we noticed was that mass was in progress.  Sally asked Pat if she would like to participate.  She immediately replied yes. Mass was being held in the area to the right of the main alter by a elderly and kindly priest. Sally and Pat headed that way, Bill and I headed to the right side of the alter where Michelangelo’s Moses sat, then to some chairs next to the pews to wait for Sally and Pat.

After mass, we left the church and headed toward the subway station. I thought we would ride the subway back to our respective places to rest and wait out the hot weather (92º+). Back on the Main Street, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant posting €8 euro lunches. We sat down. The forward and boisterous waiter described a couple of items.  Sally repeatedly stated she was sure these offerings were from the €8 menu.  He deftly ignored her statements, as if his English was failing him at those moments. All four of us had the same meal (kind of boring!), roast chicken, fried potatoes and a salad.  Bill and Pat had been saying all morning they wanted to buy our lunch for touring them around Rome, which we kept refuting. As we finished, Bill and Pat made it to the register first. I arrived with my card to split the bill, but Bill was insistent that he pay.  I don’t know what the cost was, but I hope the waiter stuck to the €8 menu.  I have a feeling, from his actions, that he did not.

We walked from the restaurant up to our B&B. Bill and Pat stopped in for a half an hour to cool off and chat, then they walked the block and a half to the Barbarini Metro Station and rode back to their place to rest, take care of airline tickets and make arrangements for Pat to stay in Europe with Joel while Bill flew home to work. Sally took a nap, I caught up on the blog.

About 6:00 pm the Caldwells returned and we headed out to dinner.  Sally had found another Rick Steves inexpensive suggestion for eating. We had walked past it on our way back from Peter in Chains church and checked it out, now we were returning for dinner. Ross and Crystal were joining us.

Dinner was €10 or €12 each, either pizza, hamburger or lasagna.  Between the six of us, we ordered all combinations. Each was happy with their meal. After dinner, we walked back to Via Dei Fori Imperiali and walked back in the direction of St. Peter’s, taking a slightly different course than earlier in the day, heading for Campo di Fiori, a piazza near Trastevere.  Just past the Pantheon we decided we had walked enough (it was 10:30 pm). Ross and Crystal headed to their place, us 4 headed back toward our place, passing Trevi Fountain on the way. We parted outside our door. Bill and Pat rode the metro back to their place, we retired to ours.

Living next door to the best people in the world is one thing.  Getting to tour Rome and Venice with them is even better.  What an amazing and special day!!

She has worked in the same gift shop for 56 years. Amazing.

Saturday, June 24, 2017 - Good Riddance the Car!

Finally!  Today, I get rid of this cursed car!  Yes, it carried me to places public transportation does not go. Yes, it allowed me to travel Tuscany back roads I would not have seen. Yes, it ran great and gave me no mechanical problems (other than scraping it against a low rock wall and scratching the paint).  But, driving a car is not traveling in another country.  It is traveling shielded behind steel and glass, insulated from everyone and everything.  The windshield is like a big TV screen, the driver’s seat like a recliner from a living room. I could experience the same thing in my house in Toledo by watching a video taken by someone driving down the roads.  Get me out of this car! Put me on foot or a bike where I can feel the temperature of the air, smell the subtle odors on the wind, feel it on my skin.  Let me stop and look in any direction at anytime. In the car, my eyes are glued to the road, my hands to the steering wheel, my feet to the pedals.  I might as well be chained to this infernal thing.  Granted, it whisked me to the “sites”, but the sites are not the experience. The journey is the experience, and chained to this car by hands, eyes and feet I miss the journey. I am ready to be set free.

We were up at 5:30 am this morning, and out the door by 6:50 am, headed for Rome via the coast. The quickest way to the airport and the drop off for our Europcar Rental is inland and down highway A3, but driving the freeway in a foreign country is not a new experience. I might as well be on I-5.  We chose to drive the back roads to the west coast, then travel along the Mediterranean, skipping the major highways as much as possible.  This route added about half an hour to our trip.  Although I could only glance at the territory we traversed, chained to the wheel, Sally got a good view through her TV Screen/Car window of the terrain, vegetation, architecture and cities as we zoomed by.

We rolled into the Leonardo di Vinci airport about 9:45 am, missed the correct turnoff to our rental agency and looped around again, grabbing the correct turnoff on the second pass.  Up on the 4th floor we found Europcar and pulled into a parking stall. We emptied the car, then stood to the side while the inspector looked over the car and found my scratches on the passenger door. We signed the correct paper work admitting to the deed. I had called our VISA card company the day before and found what documentation they needed to cover the damage. I went through the list with the rental car agent, a nice young Italian man in his early 30’s, and gathered all the proper documents. With that, I was rid of the beast and back to traveling the way I like best, on my feet.

Instead of taking the train (€13 each) from the airport to Termini station in Rome, we decided to try the bus (€4.50 each). We found the ticket agents, found the bus and were soon seated in comfy seats with nice air conditioning.  We had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus to depart. The ride was about 35-40 minutes, much longer than the train as we wove through Rome traffic to Termini station, but I was free to look out the windows or down at my phone for as long as I wanted with my eyes, place my feet anywhere I wanted and hold Sally’s hand-freedom not granted to the driver of a car.

It was about a 20 minute walk through the streets of Rome, dragging Sally’s suitcase, my pack on my back in the 85º noon heat, but it felt good. We arrived on the street of our AirB&B. A woman was talking on the phone. I started to search my phone to find the exact address of our place when the woman ended her call and asked if I was Jeff. I said Jeff was not coming, but I was his dad and we were here to stay in the place. Although her English was a little rough, I think she understood when we explained Jeff was in Mannheim visiting the groom-to-be (Joel) in the hospital recovering from a terrible motorcycle accident.

She showed us our apartment. Wonderful. A large room and 4 tiny rooms connected by a single hall. It had everything we needed. Kitchen, full bath, fridge, a comfy bed and air conditioning. We made ourselves comfortable, too comfortable. We took showers to clean off the sweat, crawled into bed and took a two hour nap. 

Pat Caldwell texted us about quarter to five, asking if we wanted to joint them, the Freeman's and Jerry Boileau for dinner.  We said sure, when and where. About 5:30 pm Pat texted us again to let us know Kathy Freeman had made reservations at a rather expensive restaurant and would expand the number on the reservation if we wanted to join. Thank you Pat. She provided a elegant path for us to back out of a meal that was beyond our budget.  We declined, but agreed to meet them after dinner for a walk.

Jeff had texted us from Germany, giving us an update on Joel. He was doing well, considering. He was approaching two weeks in the hospital. They had removed an intravenous pain killer delivery system the day before, and the pain in his leg and especially his foot was ramping up again. But, his double vision was lessening and he was in good spirits, enjoying having Jeff there. The circulation in the injured foot seemed good, except for his big toe, which was showing signs of restricted blood flow, turning colors and withering. It is expected they will amputate it in the coming days.

We headed to the wine bar we had enjoyed 6 weeks ago when originally in Rome. They offer about 10 different cold salads in a buffet, €3 a plate, plus a glass of wine for €3. We had a wonderfully tasty and filling meal.

Afterwards, we walked down toward the Forum, listened to a accordion playing street musician that was exceptional, then strolled up Via del Corso, looking in the shops before turning off toward Trevi fountain. We were surprised to see that all the merchandise is the windows had changed.  All the summer clothing was gone, and the fall fashions were on display with slogans like, “Fall is Blooming”. Seemed a little premature as the first day of summer was 3 days ago.

Near Trevi fountain we found shops that had some of the items we were seeking to bring home to friends. We didn’t buy any.  We still have two days at the beach in Anzio, Monday and Tuesday nights. We didn’t want to buy a bunch of stuff, then haul it there and back.  Our last night in Italy is Wednesday, and we spend it in Rome. We will buy the stuff Wednesday afternoon. That way we only have to drag it to the airport, throw it on a plane, and pick it up in Vancouver BC on our return trip home.

We got a text from Ross that their meal was done and would we like to meet. We agreed on Trevi fountain, under the Farmacia sign. And appropriate sign for Bill. We continued to look in the shops a bit more, then wandered to the piazza in front of the Trevi Fountain and found Bill, Pat, Ross and Crystal hanging out under the sign.

We strolled to the Spanish steps through the crowd packed streets, at 10:30 pm.  At the steps, Ross and Crystal parted company for the river front music scene and then home.  We visited with the Caldwells a bit more, then escorted them to the Spanish Steps Metro Station and bid them goodnight.  We strolled back to Trevi Fountain, then up to our room a few blocks away where we rested a few minutes before calling it a day and climbing into bed.

Friday, June 23, 2017 - Hill Towns of Tuscany

This morning was more like a vacation than traveling. We lounged around the place, reading, writing and relaxing. Last night’s late night and the joy of solitude had us feeling lazy.  Assisi was two hours away, Orvieto was one hour ten minutes away and both on our to see list. But, we just couldn’t summon the energy to make the 5 hour or 3 hour round trip.  Instead, about 1:00 pm, we headed out the door, determined to drive to a couple of hill towns and see the countryside.

Jeff was on his way to see Joel in the hospital in Mannheim, Germany.  He was scheduled to arrive about 12:30 pm, but we had not heard from him yet.  We got one short message early in the morning, an answer to my question as to the quality of the wifi that was supposed to be available on the bus . . . broken. This accounts for why we have not heard from him. 

We began driving up the valley, the same route we have been taking for the wedding, then turned of and head down the valley of the Orcia river. After about 25 minutes, we decided we had gone too far and should have made a turn. We were trying to follow a Rick Steves driving tour backwards, and missed the turn. At our turn around I did not have cell reception, so we retraced our route until we reached a likely intersection. Here I stopped, discovered I had cell service and used Google Maps to discover our route. Now we were on the right path. We stopped at a chic Tuscan Restaurant, then followed a gravel road to carry us to the town of Monticchiello. We were a bit low on gas, the light was coming on. From here, we made the short 10 Km drive to Pienza and found a gas station.  We walked through the town, buying a gift or two for friends, then headed back to our place in Bagni San Filippo. It was now about 4:30 pm.

Sally cooked a delicious dinner of green salad with spinach ravioli, then we put on our swim suits and head down over the hill to the hot springs.  A few nights ago with Andy, Jeff, Brian, Tabitha and Emily we had found a pool that was warm, but not hot. Since then, we had explored the pools and found some hotter ones.  These are the ones we headed for.  We found one that was about the same temperature as the hot tub back home, maybe a degree or two hotter. We alternated between it and the pool in the warm river flowing by.  Super hot, then cooling.  A couple of cycles and we were ready to stagger back up the hill to our home.

We had to be out early in the morning for our drive to Rome, so we spent a few minutes tidying up the place, sorting out our remaining food and packing.  We had to drive the two and one half hours to Rome, and be there by 10:30 am to turn in the rental car, but since I had scraped the passengers door against a rock and scratched the paint, we hoped to get there a little early to work out the details with the rental company “Europcar”.

We have heard no news on Joel today, other than he is still in the hospital. His surgery was cancelled yesterday due to lack of circulation in his big toe, which is not good. Jeff says he is doing good, but tired of not seeing well and being in that room.  Amen to that.

Our place in Bagni San Filippo

Our deck. 

Thursday, June 22, 2017 - Florence, Pt II

We had discovered two years ago in Paris that Jeff is not at all interested in art, particularly impressionist or new art.  In the Orangeri in Paris he mocked Monet’s Water Lilies, saying he could have done the same thing, easily. He and Jackie were so disruptive we worried the docents were going to ask them to leave.  You can imagine what I was thinking in bringing him to the Renaissance Art capital of the world to see a little art.  We only had a day, so delving into any detail would be impossible.  Good thing, because getting deep in art is not Jeff’s thing. We boiled it down to seeing David, walking through the Medici Palace, climbing to the top of the Duomo, walking to the Signoria and the outside of the Uffizi, then the Ponte Vecchio with a last stop at Santo Spirito. And that is what we did.

We got up about 7:00 am and were on the road about 8:15 am.  Sally and Jeff snoozed while I drove. We parked at Sansovino Tram Station, as we had when we picked Jeff up, and rode the tram to Santa Maria Novella train station. From there, we walked to the Duomo, then up to the Accademia where David is housed.  We arrived at the ticket booth about 11:15 am, exchanged our vouchers for reserved tickets, and got in the reserved ticket line.  Our tickets were for a noon entry. We entered the building exactly at noon.

Although there is other art in the building, we knew our client and went straight to David. Jeff was impressed, at least that is what I read into his detached countenance. We walked around the magnificent sculpture, admiring it from all angles.  We looked at “The Prisoners”, the unfinished statues of Michelangelo that line the hall leading up to David, trying to raise an appreciation in Jeff.  Jeff does have the advantage.  He went to the Carrara marble mines first, then to the sculpture garden/workshop and finally to David, so he got to see the progression from mountain to block to finished product.

Our stay in the Academy was 15 minutes.  We were headed to the Duomo ticket office next, to get our tickets to climb the Duomo.  We decided to walk by the Medici palace first and just peek in the courtyard.  We did, then stopped for pizza across the street for lunch.  We remembered our Duomo Dome climb to be at 2:30 pm, so we had plenty of time. After our quick lunch, we headed for the museum, thinking the office to be there, but soon realized it was next to the baptistery. I presented our laser printed vouchers to the man there and he said they were all we needed.  I pointed out that we had a dome climb reservation at 2:30 pm, but the tickets did not show that.  Luckily for us, the man was very kind and they were not busy.  After about 10 minutes of searching on my phone and talking with him, he got one of the men behind the help desk to log into the site with my name and order number and printed my dome climb reservation forms.  I thanked him profusely, then noticed the dome climb was at 1:30 pm, not 2:30 pm as I had thought.  I looked at my phone.  1:25 pm.  This is cutting it close.  Jeff and I walked briskly to the line to hold our place while Sally went to the girl’s room.  She caught up with us in the line about two minutes before we went through the gate and into the church.

Up the spiraling staircases we went, embedded in the solid rock wall of the church, around the balcony at the bottom of the dome, then up the sloping dome onto the roof and the cupola.  We had to wait about 5 minutes to make the final climb onto the roof because so many people were coming down.  

We spent about 10-15 minutes on the top, viewing the city and talking to people, then headed back down, running into a few bottlenecks of people going up and coming down, trying to squeeze past each other in the very narrow pathway.

Once down in the street, we headed for the Duomo museum to take a quick look at Ghiberti’s bronze Baptistry doors, Donatello's Mary Magdalene and Michelangelo’s Pieta. 15 minutes tops, and we were back on the street again.  Now we headed for the Senioria and the free water on the side of the building.  When we got there we found a long line. We walked to a nearby shop and bought three bottles of water, then walked past the Uffizi Museum on our way to the Ponte Vecchio.  We stopped to sit in the shade of Cosimo III’s elevated walkway between the Pitti Palace and the Signoria for a gelato, then continued across the Ponte Vecchio toward Santo Spirito.

Once is the Santo Spirito piazza, we found a bench in the shade near a restaurant I had the wifi password to and quickly checked for Vodefone outlets and a few other information items we sought.  Then it was into Santo Spirito for a look at Michelangelo's wooden carved crucifix he did at the age of 18 for the prior of the church.  Weird, but again like last time, no one was here. We paid our €3 each and entered the room where it hangs.  We were alone.  With the throngs of people clamoring to see anything with Michelangelo’s signature, it is weird to find this piece hanging in solitude.  We enjoyed the moment, then exited the building and began our way toward the Santa Maria Novella train station via the shopping district. The hours were advancing, so it was time to go to the Vodefone store and find out what happened to my 10 Gb of data.

In Venice, on the island of Lido, I visited a Vodefone store and purchased 10 Gb of data, for a month, for €25.  I was told to wait two hours, and when a text came, then turn on the cellular data.  Seems weird it takes two hours, but I followed instructions.  A text came, and I turned on the data.  Four days later, when we were conveniently long gone from Venice, my Internet stopped.  I called the salesman, Marco, in Venice from Bagni San Filippo.  He told me it was “impossible” to help me unless he had my iPad in his hands.  Bull Shit.  So for the entire time of the week of the wedding, I have had no cellular Internet.  Only wifi when in our place or at the Caldwell’s. Today, I was going to find out why and get it fixed.

It took us about 10-15 minutes of wandering through the labyrinth of stores under the train station until we found the Vodefone store.  After waiting 10 minutes for someone to help me, I presented my story.  The sales clerk asked to see my text messages from Vodefone.  After she read them she said I turned on the cellular data too soon.  I said I followed their directions and waited two hours for their text and then turned it on.  She told me it was not the right text. 

We bantered back and forth, somewhat heated at times, about what a stupid business model this was and that I wanted my 10 Gb reactivated.  She told me she couldn’t because the store in Venice sold it and she did not.  Jeff very forcefully asked her if her shirt said Vodefone on it.  I said she represented Vodefone, the same company that sold me the bogus plan and she needed to fix it. She said she could not. Jeff came back with “In America, the customer is always right.”  Why should we buy from Vodefone if this is the way they treat their customers? She had no answer, only that Vodefone would not let her give me back my 10 Gb.

Finally, I asked her who her competitors were.  She told me “Wind” and “Tre”, both with shops in this mall and she pointed me in their direction. Even if she had given me 10 Gb for €2 I would not have dealt with this company again.

We walked down the mall to the “Tre” (3) shop. Again, I waited for 10 minutes, then the clerk helped me.  30 Gb for €25. 2 minutes to activate. One month time limit. No issues.  As I write this, it has worked for 28 hours.  We will see if these guys are any more honest than Vodefone.

With my iPad now working again, and me a happy camper, we caught the tram back to the car to get Jeff’s pack. It was now 6:30 pm and time to get him ready to catch a bus to Mannheim to visit Joel.  We rode the tram to our car, got his pack and rode back into town. We saw a Kabab place across from the train station and had dinner.  Still one of my favorite meals! Now about 7:30 pm, we walked to the address given on the Flixbus website, but saw no evidence of bus traffic. We asked a taxi cab driver where the buses were. He sent us down the block and around the corner. Here we found the place where busses gather, including Flixbus.  We had about an hour to kill, sitting on the curb. With my renewed Internet, we cruised the web, text messaged a conversation with Mike Morgan about Joel’s accident and cancelled wedding and performed other highly important and meaningful tasks.  We also talked with a girl seated next to us.

Jeff’s bus rolled in at 8:40 pm, loaded up and just like that Jeff was gone. We walked back to and through the train station, loaded on the tram and rode back to the car. We paid the parking fee and used Google Maps to guide us back to Bagni San Filippo in the dark.  I had forgotten how nice it is to have the Internet while on the go, it had been so long since my service crapped out on me.  

We arrived back about 11:30 pm to our wonderful place, now quite empty and quiet with Andy, Tabitha and Jeff gone.  Andy and Tabitha flew to Nice, France tonight to continue their vacation. I caught up on a little Stephen Colbert on YouTube, then hit the sack. Sally did some Facebook posts, then also fell asleep.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017- The Scheduled Wedding Day

 

After last night’s late bedtime, everyone in the apartment slept in, except me.  My brain gets going about 6:00 am, and although my body is trying to calm it down and get back to sleep, it won’t listen and gets busy producing a to-do list that drives me into full wakefulness. This morning it was the pictures of the party that inspired my brain to wake my body.

Pete had taken about 100 photos and 20-30 videos of people wishing Joel and Hailey well. As I lie in bed trying to ignore the thoughts in my own head, it occurred to me that I could upload the photos to Dropbox and email a link to Joel and Hailey so they could see the people that attended the party.  The wifi in our place only accommodates 1.0Gb of data a day, between the hours of 8:00 am and midnight, so if I was to do some uploading, it had to happen before 8:00 am.  So much for getting any sleep.

I use Dropbox on my computer, but rarely on my iPhone, so it took a few minutes to conjure up the correct way of getting the photos to Dropbox. Pete took multiple exposures of the same people, so first task was to sort out the best of each scene, then send them to Dropbox.  That done, I sent a link to Hailey.  I still had about half an hour before the 1 Gb use meter started running, so I thought I might try uploading some of the videos.  Our download speed here is quite excellent-about 15-20 Mb/s, but upload is a lot slower.  I got one video uploaded before 8;00 o’clock crept up on me. I sent Joel and Hailey the link.

I figured Andy, Jeff, Tabitha and Sally would sleep most of the morning away. I wrote, watched a movie, went for a walk while waiting for them to rise.  Once up, we spent the morning and early afternoon lounging around, doing nothing.  It is not the way I would choose to spend my precious time in Tuscany, but my priority is to spend time with my kids first, Tuscany second. Jeff spent a few hours researching how to get to Mannheim in an affordable manner, settling on a Flixbus from Florence for €50. It is a 16 hour bus ride.  We played a game of pinochle, Sally and I sneaking out a close win.

I had wanted to go to the Caldwell’s and help clean up after the party.  I knew Pat and Bill must be wearing down; entertaining friends and relatives, worrying about Joel, changing their traveling plans and a million other adjustment now that the wedding was off.  Beth, Laura, Ross and Jason were up in Mannheim visiting Joel and had been since Monday.  They we slated to get home about 8:00 pm tonight.  I hoped we could go help with dishes, dinner . . . anything to give them a little time off and lessen the load. Andy and Jeff insisted the Caldwell’s had said it would be great if they came swam in the pool. We headed up the road.

When we arrived at the site, only Joel’s uncle Mike and aunt Bay were there.  Pete, the girls, Bill and Pat had gone into town for Gelato. We attacked a stack of dirty dishes.  Obviously, a few loads of laundry had be done and hung on chairs and tables in the wind and sun to dry. The wind was quite furious and clothes were scattered all over the patio.  We rehung the damp ones and folded up the dry ones. Pete soon arrived with Crystal, Anna, Harp and his girls.  Sally went up stairs to work with the kids. I continued monitoring clothing and folded it as it dried.

Pat and Bill soon arrived.  I made a green salad under the direction of Crystal and Pete, then took down all the Chinese globes I had assembled the day before. I had not intended to stay for dinner, even though they were saying there were 15 pizza left and they needed to be eaten.  I especially did not want to be there when the crew from Florence returned.  Bill and Pat had not gotten a chance to see their kids and I did not want to be in the way.  Sally and I ducked out about 7:45 pm and headed home. Laura, Beth, Ross and Jay arrived shortly after we left.

I was dog tired.  Two nights in a row of little sleep had me hurting everywhere.  I showered and was in bed by 9:30 pm.  Andy, Jeff and Tabitha did not make it back until about 1:00 am, having stayed and visited with the Caldwell kids. Tomorrow, we on the road to Florence, about a two hour drive north, to show Jeff the Duomo and David, the Ponte Vecchio and Santo Spirito. Also, we had to get him on a bus at 8:45 pm to Mannheim, Germany to see Joel in the hospital. Looks like I will be the only one awake for the drive.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - The Party

The late night last night created a slow moving morning. Andy, Tabitha and Jeff did not see daylight until after 10:00 am, and then spent a slow moving and restful morning moving about the place. I wake up early, regardless of the time I go to sleep, so I puttered around the place, writing and watching a movie until things got moving. Sally and I walked down to the hot baths, touring up and down the river channel, checking out the 20 or so pools along the way.  We returned about 10:00 am. Sometime in the early afternoon we walked down to the hot baths again, this time with the kids, to review the pool we had slithered into and out of last night.  We walked further down the stream to see the other pools and sulfur deposits.

About 2:30 pm, we started getting ready to go to the “rehearsal dinner”.  Although the wedding was off, all the guests were here. The notice that the wedding was cancelled came early enough for most to cancel their trips, but everyone had extended their stay beyond the wedding to see Italy. With no wedding to attend, we all had a 3 or 4 day block of time.  Although the bride and groom are in Mannheim, Germany in the hospital, the rest of us are meeting as scheduled for the rehearsal dinner.

We arrived at the Caldwell’s house on the property about 4:30 pm and made ourselves available to help prepare for the festivities. The Wist side of the marriage had sent an email the day before stating we should all wear our “Sunday Best” clothes to the event. My best was sandals, navy zippy pants and a blue collared shirt. Sally looked beautiful in her blue dress.  I busied myself helping Bob, from Durango, hang Chinese lanterns inside one of the rooms and out on the covered patio. Sally was watching Anna and Harp in the swimming pool. Andy, Jeff, Brian, Tabitha and Emily were also in the pool playing.

The party got started about 8:00 pm when appetizers were served on the patio, under the strings of Christmas lights. Wine and beer were available as well.  The pizzas, 50 of them, arrived about 8:30 pm and were sliced and laid out for people to enjoy. I enjoyed talking with Mike Freeman, Jerry, Mike Harpole and other guests. But, I am not a good party attendee.  I am better at making myself useful, so following Sally’s lead, I began washing dishes and bussing tables to keep a supply of clean drinking glasses, forks and plates available to the 50 or so guests. 

Early on, Mike Freeman interrupted the festivities by clinking a dinner knife on a wine bottle and made an appropriate toast to Joel and Hailey. Later in the evening, Hailey’s dad also toasted the two.  It would have been nice to FaceTime the toasts to them, but it was late enough and Joel is still struggling with pain control and fatigue. (Although following a weekend of being unable to keep food or pain meds down, they are controlling the pain more locally now, relieving his stomach and the pain.) All during the evening Pete Karlin took pictures of all the guests and recorded video messages for Joel and Hailey on my iPhone. By the time he was done, there was quite a pile of photos and videos.  I thought it important to get them to the couple as soon as possible, but it would have to wait until morning.

I alternated between small talk with the kids and some of the guests, helping Pete with the filming, and bussing tables and dishwashing until at 1:00 am in the morning when the party began winding down. 

Jeff rode with Sally and I back to our amazing rental in Bagni San Filippo while Andy and Tabitha followed. Our apartment has parking inside a gate that is opened with a remote. We asked for, and received a second set of keys, but did not get a second remote for the gate. If Andy wants to park at the apartment, he has to stay close to me. We got to bed and asleep about 2:00 am.

Monday, June 19, 2017 - Copper Fertility

We had made arrangements for Brian and Emily to spend the day with us as we explored some of this beautiful Tuscan countryside and hill towns. We thought we might be slow moving in the morning, so we arranged to meet them at 11:00 am in the town they were staying in, Bagno Vignoni, just across the river from the wedding site.  I was up at 7:00 am, went for a walk to explore the “town” and the hot spring before the rest got up.  We were a bit slower getting out than we had thought we would be. We texted to say we would be late, about 11:30 am, but it was 11:45 am by the time we rolled into the parking lot for tourists outside this quaint town. Brian and Emily met us in the parking lot.

We strolled through this picturesque town. The town square is a gigantic hot spring pool about 50 yards by 20 yards. All the buildings are made of stone with tile roofs, as are all the homes in the Tuscany area. We walked the streets for a few minutes, then walked to the southern part of town that overlooks the river valley that separates this town from the wedding site about 1/4 mile further south.  We took a couple pictures, then headed to the cars to drive to a couple of Tuscan towns. Brian and Emily rode with Sally and I, Andy, Tabitha and Jeff road together in Andy’s rental. Our destination was Montepolciano, about a half hour away. But first, we wanted to visit the hill town directly above the wedding venue, Castelione D’orcia. 

We drove up the steep and switchbacking road to town, drove through town and parked on the street. We spent the next half hour walking up and down stairs and roads, exploring this town perched on a very tall and steeply sided hill.  We stopped at a COOP grocery store and bought supplies for lunch, arriving about 12:55 pm, just minutes before they closed for the afternoon break, until 3:30 pm. With lunch making hanging from our hands in bags, we walked back to the cars and headed for Montepolciano.

The drive was beautiful, winding through sloping open fields in this hilly area. Each hill top was crowned with either a villa or a town. When we reached Montepolciano, we parked in two parking places we found, then grabbed our lunches and ate on the steps of a school nearby.  With full bellies and bladder beginning to test the elastic limit of tissues, we followed Rick Steve’s map of the town to a WC, a free one, and took care of business. Andy suggested Gelato, and everyone voice approval, but the shop he had spotted across the parking lot was lacking in flavor and site appeal. We began walking up hill through the towns outer defensive wall and into the city. It was not too long before we passed a Gelatoria and were each licking our way through a cone.

Sally had read in the guide book about a wine tasting room at the top of town near the Duomo. We continued our slow meander up the hill, looking in shops and enjoying the area. Eventually, we reached the Duomo. It had not been faced on the outside, so the jumble of brick and stone that was cemented together to construct its outer walls was exposed for all to see.  We took a quick walk through the interior, then exited and headed for the wine shop. Here we found gigantic kegs of wine, 8 feet in diameters, scattered about in an ancient brick labyrinth of a building. Of course, the walk through the wine kegs ended in a tasting room, and soon Tabitha, Emily and Sally were tasting, buying and shipping their favorites home.  The three tea toters, Andy, Jeff and I sat on the nearby steps. Our next visit on this afternoon would turn out to be the highlight of the trip.

Sally had read about a copper smith in this town that did amazing work. It was only a little distance from the wine shop and we quickly located it. Actually, there was two parts to this copper smith business, a workshop and a sales shop.  We found the workshop.  Sally and I were in front, and we walked into the this workshop, cluttered with tools, copper and what looked like a lifetime of accumulated “stuff”. An elderly man was puttering around about midway back in this 30’ deep space. As we looked at a few copper articles, Sally asked if we could step further back into the shop. The proprietor seemed a little grumpy at the suggestion, then his face brightened a bit as the kids came through the door.  Soon he was asking, in Italian, if the kids were married. We told him Andy and Tabitha were engaged, and his face lit up. He made them stand in front of him, together, then rustled around behind them on the workbench, gathering some tools and a 3 inch disc of copper. He began hamming on punches, creating a design on the copper disc, and asking questions of Andy and Tabitha. His eyes twinkled and he would smile and laugh between telling the rest of us, “SILENCIO” and asking if the women were all “generals” and if we men were “soldiers”. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to start videoing right from the start as I had a feeling this was going to be special.  I will put the video up on YouTube soon.  Rather than me explain the hilarity and sweetness of this scene, you will be able to watch it.

When he was done with Andy and Tabitha, he gathered Brian and Emily and did the same thing, creating a decorated copper disc for them, predicting, as he did Andy and Tabitha, that they would have four kids and telling the girls to get “frisky, frisky” to start making those babies and to put the copper disc under their pillow each night to speed the process along.

When he finished with Andy and Tabitha, he grabbed a letter he had received from a previous recipient of his “fertility discs”, showing a picture of him with them and their disc, and then a picture of their baby, born 10-14 months after their visit with him. He truly enjoyed this process!

After about an hour, we left his shop. We all felt it was the best hour we had spent in Italy. We giggled and laughed, repeating his lines all the way back through town to our cars. On the way out of town we spied a grocery store and bought food for dinner that night and hopefully enough for the next few days as there are no grocery stores near us.

We dropped Brian and Emily off in Bagno Vignoni. They were going to freshen up, then join us for dinner at our place.  We returned home, showered, relaxed for a few minutes, then began preparing dinner.  I checked my B&B messages and found a replay from Mauro. Yes, there was a 1 Gb a day limit to the data and his wife had dropped a second set of keys off. Brian and Emily arrived about 8:00 pm and we had a wonderful dinner of pesto salad and a green salad with bread and wine out on the deck.

After dinner, we put on our bathing suits. In the dwindling light, we worked our way down the steep trail right across the road from our place to the hot springs I had scouted on a walk earlier this morning. We found one big enough to accommodate all 7 of us. It was not hot, but warm. We soaked for about 45 minutes, creating enough noise with talking and laughter to certainly annoy those Italian soaking nearby that were hoping for a peaceful experience. We crawled back up the trail in the dark, thankful that Sally and I had brought our headlamps.  It was now near 11:00 pm.

Brian and Emily headed for their place. We showered, then all jumped on the Internet. We exceeded our 1 Gb of data about 11:50 pm, then waited for the stroke of midnight.  As advertised, the Internet came alive again exactly at 12:00 am.  By 1:00pm, Jeff had research his travel options for going to see Joel later in the week, Sally had cruised Facebook and the rest of us caught up on the news and emails. We had not been here n contact with the Caldwells all day, so we had no new news about Joel's condition. I dropped off first at about 1:10 am.  The rest followed in the next half hour.  What a great day.