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| Bus Stop in Burlington |
The journey began, as all journeys do, by taking that first step out of our front door. Next step: Leslie’s car to Shaw’s to catch the bus to Burlington.
Next Mica and Berry picked us up and took us to their
house for blueberry cake and wine and a good nights sleep. So far so
good! It is important to get the food vibe going as soon as possible. At
7am Wednesday morning we boarded the Megabus to NYC. That was a long
trip. We arrived in NYC at 2:30pm and hopped, ok dragged, ourselves to
the subway. It was seriously hot and humid in the city. About 4:30 we
found ourselves in Brooklyn at Stephen and Diane’s house. We visited
with her and then the two of us went across the street for Mexican food
and down the street for Italian ice. Stephen was home later. It was
great to see them. I have a new idea for how us oldsters can get
together. Sleep overs!! No worries about driving home or drinking.
Pajama party!
On Thursday morning we met Susan at Ed and Ruth’s house for crepes. Still doing well on the food thing. Ed’s crepes are the best. We left Brooklyn for the airport at about 12:30. We felt we were being ridiculous, but it did take two hours to get to the airport check in. Thanks to all the friends that helped us get to buses and hosted us on our way. It was so great to be with each of you.
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| Airtrain JFK |
The flight to Dublin went very well. There were tornado warnings for New Jersey while we were waiting, but they did not affect us. Through the short night we ate dinner, not too bad, and watched movies. Out my window the half moon and the Aer Lingus shamrock watched over us.
Arriving in Dublin was a different story. They have added an entire repeat security system. As in NYC, again we had our passports checked, again we had to have our carry on luggage x-rayed, again our boarding passes were checked. The line was tremendous and it was lucky we had an hour and a half lay over. At the end of the time there were a selection of buttons one could push to rate the experience. I pushed,”terrible”, but really, unnecessary would be more like it. After that is was all ok again. I recommend having ibuprofen with you to take on that second flight. By then our legs were feeling quite twitchy and it would have been hard to sleep without it. Another good idea is to book your seats for each flight on opposite sides of the plane so your neck does not get sore from always leaning the same way.
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| Jim has some caffe |
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| Terminal 2 |
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| Just another tour group |
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| Pizza in the airport |
In contrast, in Roma, no one stamped our passport, we picked up our luggage and walked straight out the door. The airport is still under construction and looks the same as last year. International flights arrive in Terminal 3. There is no where to sit and it is hot. This year we discovered Terminal 2 which has pizza, comfortable seats and air conditioning. We waited there about three hours for the Pronto bus.
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| Our Private Bus |
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| A bad sign |
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| Not too bad for three days of travel |
We were the only ones on the bus at Fiumicino, but we picked up a few more people at the bus/train station. It is in Roma and it took 1.5 hours to get there. This is why you do not want to drive in Roma.The last stop was the other airport, but I do not even remember that. I did wake up long enough to see the incredible mountains behind Avezano, but then I was out again. I wanted to stay awake and look, but it was not possible. At 7:15 we arrived at Pratola. Bjorna was there to meet us and take us home. Enrica came rushing out her door with two bags of groceries for us and she has put a planter with a geranium on our balcony. Karin had fixed a wonderful Danish meal. Such friends! It is a wonderful feeling to be so well received.
We were able to sleep all night.
Day 2
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| First Breakfast: good as ever |
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| Piazza on Saturday morning: 9:00am |
As it was Saturday there was much to get done. First of course was caffe and pastry. The big tent is not yet set up as it is too chilly (?) so we ate on the edge of the caffe with all the regular old guys. I am shocked that I do not recognize everyone. BUT the good news is that as far as we know, all our friends are alive. We met up with Noel, Irish, at the caffe and caught up on the news of Gagliano. Who is there, who is not. Lots of fun. Problems so far this year are that one of our phones does not work, so we are down to one, and the water is leaking out of the old hot water heater. We should have had it removed, but we did not know the water would still run through it when it was turned off. The phone situation is now ok for the summer. Pizza was the next most important thing. In the pizza bakery it seemed just the same. I was so happy. At the grocery store I thought my face would break from smiling and that I might even cry. People were happy to see us and I was happy to see them.
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| Joys of Shopping |
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| Look how Happy Jim is!! |
Last stop: the small store near our house for fresh milk and gorgonzola. Now Jim was happy. From the terrace, where it is actually cool and cloudy, I am overlooking the mountains, watching the clouds come forward and retreat, form rain storms while the sun shines here and listening to the water running from the fountain and the conversation of two Italian women who are out of sight, but not out of hearing. I thought it was a big fight, but they just said a pleasant, “Ciao.” Tomorrow we are having pranza, midday meal, with our neighbors. As usual I wish we had brought them better presents, but the two paintings I did of their house hang on their walls and. even if it is me talking, they do look good. Enrica said she was very content with them. And I am very content to be back in Italy. Any worries, what worries? seem far away and it is as if we never left except we can’t remember how to work the phone or which plugs go to what. I have hung the banner I made and people honk as they go by. All for us I am sure.
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| Home Sweet Home with my New Banner!! |
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| A Simple Pranza |
The day was not over. We ran into Victoria and Ermelinda. Victoria signed and gave us a copy of his new dictionary of Castelvechiess to Italian. No English translation. I could not pronounce one word of Castelvechies correctly. It is an amazing piece of historical work to preserve the local dialect. Rumors were heard in the piazza of an event at the convento at 6pm. I had to go home and get a sweat shirt!! It was troppo freddo. That would be brisk to us: a perfect Vermont evening. People were all there at 6pm, but things did not start till about 6:30. It was the presentation of a new book on the culture of CVS. One of our friends was dressed in the traditional costume and was paraded around the convento. There were many speeches before that and I think it is possible I could have read the entire book in that time. The mayor did mention that the wonderful americani were back and even got our names right. We had to wave to the crowd. It is gratifying, but also embarrassing.
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| One of our Friends in Traditional Costume |
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| Book's Author Showing off Bits of the Costume |
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| Now this is Cool: If you get Cold you Pull the Dress over your Head |
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| Front View |
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| Poporazzi |
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| Shirt of the Day |
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| Enrica, Salvatore, Our friend's husband and son |
So far we have made our one day count. People are disappointed we are leaving so early. Already I hate to think of it. At home I feel so sad and so worried, but here my cheeks hurt from smiling and tears of joy are often in the corners of my eyes. The view from the terrace is more beautiful than one can remember and friends are so glad to see us. After one of Jim’s lovely dinners, we went to bed. Ahhh the howling of the dogs!!
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| The Sun Sets on Our First Day Home |
