Torniamo in Italia!

Ciao a tutti!

It’s been a very long time, about a year, since my last substantive blog post. Dom and I are finally back in Italy and after the initial confusion of jet lag, phones not working, pigeon poop on the patio, etc. we are settled in and loving it.  Fabulous weather doesn't hurt.

We left Seattle on May 6 and arrived in Paris the next day. It was an uneventful flight but as always we arrived tired and crabby. For various reasons we decided to pick up a car and drive to Capannori from Paris. We hope to spend a day or two in Paris on our way back but we will see how that works out. 

Our flight arrived at 8:30 am and we had our car and were on the road by 10 am. Jet lag allowed us to drive four or five hours before we stopped for the night in Dijon. Yes, the mustard comes from there but it was news to us that the drink Kir Royal (champagne and cassis liqueur) was also invented there. When we got off the autoroute we discovered the town has quite the one way system. It took us several laps before we figured out how to reach the car park at the train station in order to find a hotel. Unfortunately, after we stopped we could not get the key (one of those credit card type fobs) out of its slot. This had us worried and stymied for a bit but we had seen a Renault mechanic while doing laps of town so we pulled out of the car park and went off in search of a solution. My French was barely enough to tell one of the men there we had a problem. From then on it was sign language. However, the slight smile on the man’s face told us this was not the first time he had seen this difficulty. It turned out the fob was inserted the wrong way around and a good pull was all it took. The man also explained that the key fob does not need to be in the slot but only near the Stop/Start button. We haven’t stuck one of the key fobs in the slot since then.

The next day we completed our journey from Dijon to Capannori via the Mont Blanc Tunnel through the French Alps. It was an interesting route but awfully expensive—over Euros 40 just to go through the tunnel plus additional tolls along the way. The mountains were spectacular with fresh snow on the tops. It was gray and chilly before the tunnel but sunny on the far side. The weather got better and better as we headed south.

Once more we have a brand new Renault Clio through the Renault Eurodrive program. These cars are so new that ours arrived with some of the foam bumper pads still attached. You can see one right above the license plate.

I was trying to take pictures of the approaching Alps while we rumbled down the autoroute. Obviously it did not work well.

This one worked better but then we were closer.

I was driving so I stopped to take a few pictures. Here is Dom waiting for me to finish!

We had to stop by Mary and Orlando’s house to pick up keys before going to the apartment. While we were gone the lock, which was always tricky, had frozen up entirely. M&O found a locksmith and had the lock changed and new keys made. They were absolutely fabulous and we really appreciate their friendship. We stayed to chat for a little while but we were tired and anxious to get going so we promised to return soon.

The apartment was in fairly good order—some pigeon poop on the terrace and dusty everywhere. We unpacked and then went downstairs for pizza and beer. Thank heavens for a pizzeria in our building!

The next day (Friday) we had a number of errands to run—get the phones working, renew our chiavetta (pc internet access), go to the bank and stop at the grocery store. By the time we finished all that (mostly successfully) we were ready for naps. 

On Saturday I cleaned the house and we finished getting settled. While we were in Lucca the previous day we had picked up tickets to a jazz concert on Saturday evening and another concert (selections from Puccini’s Tosca) on Sunday evening. The Saturday concert was at 9:15. It is always difficult to drag ourselves out of the house after dinner but we managed to do so. We are not big jazz fans but the concert was enjoyable (good music to doze to!) and it was fun to be out and about in the evening.

On Sunday we were up early for a marcia at San Cassiano a Vico. We loved seeing our Partigliano friends after such a long time and we walked with Mary and chatted all the way. We pretty much napped and read the rest of the day until it was time to go into Lucca for the Puccini concert.

The latter was wonderful. It lasted only about an hour and afterwards we joined the Sunday afternoon passagiata along Via Fillungo. We took note of stores that were new and some that had gone away over the past year as well as the latest fashions displayed in the stores. We kept an eye out for a spot for dinner and finally chose one that was new to us. I cannot remember the name but it is right next to the public toilets (!) one street off of Piazza Grande. We enjoyed a lovely meal followed by cups of gelato on the way back to our car.

This past week we have done a combination of working (me), projects around the apartment, an excursion to Viareggio, and visiting friends. I will do a specific post about Viareggio.

On Wednesday we went to M&O’s and had a tour of their new house that is just up the hill from their current house. Afterwards we retired to the terrace of their current house for Prosecco and nibbles. It was a lovely evening with great friends.

Yesterday we drove up to Partigliano and visited with friends there. It is always great to be back in “our” village among people we have known for years.

We have guests arriving tomorrow and anticipate five days of fun. More to come!