A good day, what else?

Our Dane friend took us to catch the bus to Roma at 6:30a.m. We arrived at the airport at 10:30. There were so many people. It was out of control. People are crazed in an airport at anytime, but this was like Christmas. I guess it is the end of August vacation. I hope it isn’t this bad when we fly out. We got our car with no problem. We are so smart in our Smart car. Jim looks hip driving it.

We had all sorts of plans, but in the end we went to get frames at IKEA for a show next summer, had lunch and drove home. Today was the least fun I have ever had at IKEA. After 30 years I may, just may, be over IKEA. I am over crowded IKEAs for sure. We did not stop at the Tivoli Roman gardens, we did not stop at the cool square castel that is so tantalizing up on the hill. We came straight home, put on our swimming suits and went swimming at Gole San Venanzio (the same place I took my students to paint last week).

The water was freezing. It was so Vermontish, except for the caves where monks meditated in the cliffs, the 13th century abby and stuff like that. No one was there. Finally after almost three months we got to go swimming. We also went to a NEW grocery store, also in Raiano. They are having a German beer fest tonight, but we are not going back. We are tired. Too much excitement. We are also not going to Castel di Irie, two km away, for the festival of San Donato. (I would never make fun of anyone, but when I saw the sign I really thought it was for donations for the festival. You have to admit, it is a great name for a saint.)

 We had a great dinner at home and now we are hanging out.