DAY 97

Sunday 16 October 2011

We got up early (6:45 AM) and had some of Roos and Henri’s hot cereal packets which they had sent  along with us at the start of our journey. Checking out of Camping Villagio Assisi where we were charged 30% less thanks to Dian’s Camping International card, we headed to Piegaro. We skirted the capital of Umbria, Perugia, and arrived in Colleen’s village at about 10 AM. The van wasn’t squeaking or smoking at all and we were glad to have finally made it to L’Antica Vetreria.

The vendors were just opening up for the final day of the 10-day Chestnut Festival and we were escorted to Colleen’s villa by not one but two locals who kindly called out at both Colleen and her friend Lisa’s doors, but to no avail. Charles called on the cell and the next thing we knew, Lisa was getting to know us over a cup of cappuccino and we were learning about her and how she came to live in Piegaro.

Our home for the next 2 weeks

Nicole's room

We met Colleen at her apartment and found her to be in great spirits despite being stuck in a wheel chair after breaking her ankle a month earlier. She is quite a dynamo, and admitted she considered her fall in Assisi to be a wake up call from Saint Francis to slow down. She gave us the keys to our two story apartment with kitchen and balcony overlooking the pool, and valleys and hill country beyond, then said she’d meet us with Lisa for a quick walk through the festival before going to Mass.

The church was small but had some interesting reliquaries and a giant cross that the young men carry through town once a year. The experience of following along with the prayers in Italian but knowing by heart the words in English was interesting for Dian and Charles (who share a background in Catholicism.)

There were enough sweets at this festival that you could forget where the chestnuts were!

The festival was in full swing when we emerged from church but we opted to have lunch at di Juni’s, one of Colleen's favorite haunts and one of two four-star restaurants in that small town, which was featuring dishes made with chestnuts. Delicious!!! Charles especially loved the chocolate-chestnut cake filled with chocolate truffle.

We took in the sites and a mesmerizing glass blowing demonstration by two masters near the venerated glass museum – showing artifacts from the town’s heyday of glass production starting in 1295. They had a photo exhibition by local artists and our own Lisa had two in the exhibit (featuring only 20). The age old craft of weaving baskets around the bottom of the blown glass vessels was also being demonstrated. Charles and Dian bought some gifts of glass for family and a magical ring for Nicole as an early birthday present.

One ring to rule them all

Miniature caricatures of old glassblowing folk

We brought some clothes up from our van which we left parked at the edge of the “old town” and after putting things away, sat on our balcony in the early evening chill to watch our first sunset.  To quote another of Colleen and Tom’s guests, “We had one foot in paradise and the other foot in heaven.”

We joined Lisa around 10 PM for the dancing and live music in two tents (thankfully we were no longer TOO TENSE),  but only stayed a little while as we were tuckered out and ready to hit the beds with down comforters. After a quick spaghetti snack we fell asleep to the church bells of Piegaro.

Weaving

DAY 96

Saturday 15 October 2011

After a blustery night in the country we knocked on the camp owner's door to see if she would call a mechanic for us and explain our situation. She set us up with a mechanic of hers who would be ready for us whenever we came, so we had a light breakfast and, since the only other people in the camp were leaving about the same time we were, we asked if we could follow them out, just in case we broke down and had no means of leaving. They said that was fine, and sure enough, we broke down in the middle of a rural road. They kindly drove Charles to the mechanic while Nicole and Dian waited with the car.

View from atop the tow truck

Riding in our car on top of the tow truck was exciting, but not exciting enough to warrant sheer joy

While waiting for Charles' return, they saw a pair of hunters with dogs, dressed in camouflage, coming back to their car. Dian asked what they were hunting, and one of the men opened a small pouch, revealing a mound of fresh truffles. Tow #3 at least had a picturesque drive for Nicole and Dian as they sat in the van all the way to the mechanic.

Stepping into Assisi

We had come to realize that the third time was a charm when it came to mechanics, and sure enough, this one solved the real problem, a loose bolt, and even gave it a little test drive around the block to make sure. No more squeaks, no more broken belts - we hoped.

With our confidence restored and the car in good shape, we decided to take a trip to Assisi, St. Francis' home. There were posters all around the town announcing that Papa Benedict XVI would be visiting on the 27th of October, which hadn't happened since 1986. After parking the car and entering the city. we barely got past the gates when Nicole saw a poster of Steve Jobs on a wall. We all read a speech that was printed from his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech, and we were very moved. His motto for life was to "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." With his words swimming around our heads and the knowledge that he had passed on, we walked through the town.

Weapons next to holy items?

Charles mapped it all out for us, and we went from the Basilica of Saint Claire to the Duomo of San Rufino to the Basilica of Saint Francis through the non-touristed route. It was humbling to see relics from St. Francis and St. Claire, such as her hair which she had Francis cut when she entered his order, his blood-stained clothes, and his tomb.

Characters in Assisi

Once we stepped outside again it was fairly windy, so Dian bought a wonderful, soft brown scarf. Near that shop we wandered into another, full of wonderful, unique wood carvings of all sorts. The artist sat sedately behind his desk, and we overheard a pair of American women lamenting that they could not buy everything in the store.

Dian and her new scarf in front of the large church

We felt it was time to go, so, taking a different route back, we left for our car. Unfortunately, this route led us outside the city, making us circumnavigate on foot along the outskirts. Dian needed to rest, so Charles and Nicole hiked aaaaalll the way back, and picked Dian up in the van and headed towards the camp. The camp was alright, but we could not help but shiver in anticipation for what awaited us at Colleen's.

DAY 95

Friday 14 October 2011

Our tranquil little parking lot was not far from a crawling street market that had sweaters, tangerines, and everything in between. We pulled on our jackets and walked through the throngs until we found ham and cheese triangles at the patisserie (the baker gave us a free one, since she recognized Charles from buying pastries the night before).

Nicole spotted a tomato soup colored cashmere sweater that she HAD to have, and even bargained the vendor down a whole euro.

Riding high with the brand new fan belt, we drove to the "Blupoint" building just outside of Chieti to settle our dispute about a fine given to us after our toll mishap. Lo and behold, Charles and Nicole met a man who not only spoke fairly good English, but dismissed the fine altogether. Woohoo!-we mean, lesson learned.

We bought a port-a-potty for the van, and Dian bought porcini mushrooms from a roadside stand. We say "mushrooms" and not "mushroom" because he generously gave her an extra mangled one in exchange for the two-Euro coin she had given him (they usually deal in kilos).


We were on our way back to see the puppet show when the car started to smoke. We stopped at a gas station and gave it a rest and looked at the fan belt, but it seemed okay. We nixed the idea of the puppet show, though, in order to head inland and be closer to Piegaro, where Colleen had invited us on the 16th.

Limping into Camp Rio Verde with squeaking fan belt and wheezing van, the proprietress smiled, saying she was officially closed, but would let us stay, and would even call a mechanic the next morning. NO ONE was at the camp...except for an Austrian couple who came rolling in not 15 minutes after us. They, too, were happy to find a safe harbor for the night.

It was bitterly cold, and we were bitter that the car was in such a state. Again.

DAY 94

Thursday 13 October 2011

Broken fan belt

Some of us got up on the wrong side of the bed – (Isn’t it funny how time clouds the memory?) We decided to leave our little parking place by the community park and look for the elusive gas can for our stove (still not usable for cooking). An easy task no? NO! After driving to two places we continued the day’s downward spiral when at the toll booth we went through without getting a ticket. (In Greece there’s always a human and after we pushed the help button we were so glad the gate went up that we didn’t look back.) Unfortunately at the toll booth on the other end, the man wanted about $85.00 for a 15 minute use of the road.. He let us go through with only 3 euros to pay but then we read the whole receipt. (Lots of fines if it wasn’t taken care of.) We then started smelling burning rubber so we pulled over at a gas station in a tiny town where our map for caravans and campers had shown us a place to buy the gas can. Strike two and three. After looking everything over and determining that nothing was radically wrong in the engine, we decided to leave the coast and start hightailing it to Colleen’s villa in the middle of Italy before we got stranded and missed our rendezvous with her on the 16^th.

Stranded in "paradise"

The grape arbor was a nice place to wait for the tow truck (which was our second time for that experience) and the driver wondered why we were on such a God forsaken road. His name was Tommy and he had spent his high school years in Oakland, California. He towed us to his hometown of Orsonia where a group of mechanics went to work diagnosing our problem immediately. Definitely different than most garages in L.A. – the immediately part.

Whilst they were doing that, Dian and Nicole were asked by the owner’s wife to come to her house and speak English with her daughter, (a 17 year old named Francesca). We were escorted into her room which began to fill with family and friends and while her nails were being done by her friend, Anna, we chatted. The birthday of her one year old nephew was that weekend and when we asked how many relatives would attend she said about 100! The visit was a slice of how a cool teen in a small Italian village lives.

The cell phone rang and we were told the van was almost ready and had a new fan belt. When asked where we might find a safe harbor for the night, they pointed us in the direction of town and a peaceful little parking lot adjacent to a gym.

It thundered and lighteninged (is that a word?) but with spaghetti in mushroom and caper sauce and pastries Charles had procured on his walk-about, we ended the day with a few rounds of Boggle which Nicole dominated…again.



Sugar never tasted so good



DAY 93

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Charles and Dian went to get coffee at the camp cafe and chatted with Monica, one of the camp staff, while Nicole lingered in bed and read Dracula. True to his word, the chef officially named our pizza "O'Live Me," and even let us keep a copy of the menu. With that we bade farewell to camp Lido Salpi and left for a day's drive up the coast to Pescara.

Nicole and the camp staff

Strange, stilt-fishing shacks unique to the region

Inspired by Dian's sister Monica, we set out on a mission to find gelato, and find it we did. Pulling into Marina di San Vito by chance, the first shop on the left we saw happened to be a hoppin' gelateria! Screeching to a halt, we jumped out of the car and each ordered a cone or cup: Dian, two chocolate scoops, Charles, one scoop of bittersweet chocolate and one scoop lemon, and Nicole, one scoop hazelnut and one a local chocolate and nut mix. We unanimously agreed it was one of, if not the best gelato we had ever had.

Poster for the puppet show!

Treats in hand, we strolled around the town and onto the water's edge. There was a good vibe from the whole place, in part because lots of children were playing happily in the street, couples were sharing coffees, and there were even advertisements for an old style puppet show the next day, which would be held in the local library.

Eventually we left, though we still threatened to come back the next day for the puppet show. We were on the outskirts of Descara when we parked next to a park, deciding to free-camp for the night.

Walking along the fairly upscale strip, Dian and Nicole ducked into a restaurant to use the WC, but upon perusing the oh-so-reasonably priced menu, we decided to eat there, lest we should disturb the residential area we were parked in with our cooking in the van.

The waiter, Enrico, spoke great English (he had been to LA many times as the employee of a cruise ship), and patiently waited as we decided whether we wanted the €1 antipasto or the €1,50. Instead we got a big pizza and some house wine, which was still well within our budget. A hard lesson was learned, however, when the bill revealed there was a coreta, a cover charge, which greatly "enhanced" our tab.

Avoiding the man randomly trying to sell Charles an industrial-sized roll of toilet paper, we left the restaurant. Getting back to our van we saw no other cars were on our street anymore, Though we could not see any signs saying otherwise, we thought it best to move on, and settled on a parking lot a few blocks away.