Home again, home again Jiggity Jig

Well, a lot has happened since my last post.  It has been nearly 3 full months and here I am back in Canada.  I am planning on blogging about some of the fantastic things we did in Italy in July and August, but today I am discussing being home.

At the end of July we decided it was time to come to a close on our Italian adventure and to return to Canada.  Italy had always been an open ended year for us, and if the opportunity and desire to stay had arisen we would have followed that path.  But it didn't so we said our goodbyes, crammed in as much sight seeing and travel as we could and boarded a plane.  We were sad to say goodbye to not only Italy but to all the wonderful friends we had made, but we were excited to reconnect with our friends and community here.

We have been home nearly a month and we are all settling back nicely into a routine.  I am still unpacking boxes and trying to locate items that I am pretty sure I hadn't sold off in the pre-Italian yard sales.  The children are all settling into old and new activities and are thrilled to be reunited with friends.
We still have no pictures on the walls and many of the windows are in need of curtains, but already it feels like home.  Funny enough it felt like home the moment we arrive back in the city.  It was like slipping into your favourite cashmere sweater.  Familiar and warm and all embracing.

I love to travel and I love to see and learn new things.  I love the warmer weather that has been offered to me not only in Italy but also when we were in Australia.  I loved being a foreigner on the journeys we have taken.  I have always had positive experiences with travel, but there is just something about coming back to the place that deep down inside your heart is home.  That inexplicable quality of the place where you know and it knows you,  where you hold a history with friends and family, people know you, like really know you, and still like you.

We were greeted by a beautiful late summer with warm sunny days resplendent  in the colours of autumn.   I saw beautiful sunrises that began days where the colour of the sky was deep blue and free of even a single cloud.  The evenings are crisp and now we have had rain, the streets are littered with golden leaves and I am yearning to begin new knitting projects.  And as the weather grows colder and we head towards Winter, by far my least favourite season, I am surrounded by the warmth of friends and family and what can only be described as home.  And I think often of Dorothy and she is right 'there is no place like home'.

My New Best Friend

When we first arrived in Italy, it was recommended to me that I go to the local bar each day, learn the language.  I thought it was also a great way to meet some people, maybe make a friend or two.  So, I would go to the bar and while enjoying my delicious and ridiculously inexpensive (by Canadian standards) cappuccino, I would scan the comers and goers in search of 'my new best friend'.

One Sunday morning, a particularly busy day in the bar, I saw a woman, I guessed to be similar in age to myself. She looked fit and healthy, she was wearing running shoes and exercise pants.  After drinking her coffee, she left with another patron and I later saw them returning from a walk or run.  There was something about her, and I thought 'here she is, my new best friend!'

The next time I saw 'my new best friend', she entered the bar wearing full make-up, sky-high heels and some sort of fur collar.  Nothing wrong with that, shouldn't judge by appearance, but perhaps, I may not be her type.  I thought I would give her another chance.  Oh, and I think she smokes.

Our beautiful dog.

Let me just clarify a picture here, we live on a beautiful property on the edge of a small town.  It is only a 500 metre walk through the olive orchard to the main road into the village. 10 minutes and I am at the bar.  Tuscany is covered in a beautiful thick clay like soil, which when wet sticks to your boots like cement.  So each morning, I would dress in jeans, blundstone boots and a rain coat, I would then take our lovely dog on a walk and end at the bar for a cappuccino.  I am pretty certain that the village folks thought my sense of style was limited to jeans and blundstones or wellies!  If I was walking off the property in winter or spring, it was dressed this way.  There was no other way to escape the mud. But, in Italy, even in a small country town, people are pretty well dressed.

My daily walk 'uniform'.

So, one morning as I returned home from my walk, a man I had met once pulled over to say Buon Giorno, not unusual in a small town.  In my limited Italian and his limited English he proceeded to tell me he was going shoe shopping in Firenze.  I am fairly certain he even asked me to come along.  Perhaps he thought he could save me from the shoe hell he surely thought I was living in.  I politely refused, but later found out he was a shoe designer, perhaps I should have gone.

One day I am in the grocery store, which is really an experience in Italy. I could do a whole post about it. While I am weighing my avocados, I see 'my new best friend', and she sees me and she says 'Ciao', I am making progress, perhaps there is hope.  I say 'ciao' back and she disappears into the crowd.  I am excited by this event.

Fast forward to another morning in the bar.  I walk in to see my 'shoe' friend.  He greets me warmly, I order my cappuccino, and as I wait, in comes 'my new best friend'.  She greets my 'shoe' friend with a warm 'Buon Giorno Babbo'!! My 'shoe' friend is 'my new best friend's' dad, this is awkward!

As the weeks and months go by, I see my 'new best friend' often, she says 'ciao' when she sees me, she waves from her car. I feel this is moving along swimmingly.  I see her father often, he too waves and greets me warmly.  Then the big break through.  I stop to get gas and I see her at the station.  I am not wearing my regular uniform of jeans and boots, it is now spring, so I am wearing a cute skirt and some super cute sling backs, they are not however, high heels.  We wave we exchange buon giornos, and I am very excited about this forward move in our friendship.

Parking outside the bar, notice they are all parked in the bus stop,

and yes, that silver car is 'parked'.

The next time I see 'my new best friend' I have just finished a walk with Mark, we are sitting outside the bar, me with a cappuccino, Mark with an orange juice, and she pulls up.  Apparently I am one of the few people who actually walks to the bar, which may explain the whole rain boots versus high heel phenomena. As she glides across the street, she smiles when she sees me, she then says 'Ciao, come va?', I am soooo excited, I stumble over my response which comes out something like 'Bene,? ?anche? tu?', please note my total question of the right words, all mumbled like I had a mouth full of marbles.  The smile evaporates from her face, she sort of answers 'si?' and proceeds right past us into the bar.  I am mortified, I think she realizes I speak no Italian and our friendship is over.  Better yet, I realize I speak poor Italian, she likely speaks no English and that our friendship is over, and I never even knew her name.

So many places, so little time....

I feel I have been quite terrible at keeping up on my blog.  Some posts I start and they either never get published or I keep having to change the beginning sentence from 'the other day', to 'the other week', to 'last month' and so on.  So, I think it best if I write a little about each place and then just stick in some photos and hopefully I will have greater success.  So here we go.

Last month we decided to go to the beach, something we had been trying to do for a couple of months ever since there was a warm spell in the early spring.  We had planned originally on going to the Giostra in Arezzo and were working on tickets, when good friends called and asked if we wanted to go to the beach.  I decided to check with Molly as it was her birthday that weekend.  She said beach and the more I thought about, the giostra would be hot and crowded, two things Molly does not like.  So, beach it was.  We booked a 'mobile home easy' at a place called Puntala Camping, our friends had been there numerous times and it was a great way to stay at the beach.

We arrived late at night, with everyone a little tired and cranky.  The mobile home was a little tiny but very clean.  We quickly made up the beds to get everyone to sleep and I slipped out the door to join friends at a nearby restaurant.  Mark stayed with the children, knowing I would be more useful helping our friends finish a bottle of wine.  He was right.

Breakfast alfresco.  Before the beach.

The next morning we got up, had a coffee and some breakfast.  Mark made pancakes as it was Molly's birthday and then we all headed to the beach.  It was a beautiful sandy beach with crystal clear water, waves that were fun for the children but not big enough to keep the parents on edge. We had a lovely blue umbrella to park ourselves under and we spent the best part of the two days we were there, on that beach.

The camping place was pretty well equipped with two restaurants, a bar, a grocery store, a clothing shop, a newsagent, and many activities.  One activity that Mieran and Finn decided to try was an adventure climbing park.  All in all it was a great weekend, with friends, beautiful weather, a beach and the sea.

The whole group having lunch at one of the restaurants, 9 children and 6 adults, at a separate table.

Finn high in the trees tests out his balancing skills.

Mieran about to zip through the trees.

Beautiful.....it is about the only description I can use.

Last month we went to Pennabilli, a lovely town in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.  Each year it holds a festival of music and art.  There is music or performances spread around this lovely hillside town in the piazza's and gardens.  Some friends asked if we would like to go and we thought it would be a fun experience as well as a great way to see more of Italy.  It is only a 2 hour drive, but the difference in landscape is really quite remarkable.

We started our weekend with a trip to Urbino, a walled city in the region of Marche.  It is a beautiful city renowned for it's arts, especially renaissance art.  It is surrounded by rolling lush green hills.  We spent the afternoon their and toured the Duomo, the Palazzo Ducale and then went to see Raphael's house, (he wasn't home).  Casa Natale Raffaello is actually the home where he was born and now houses Accademia Raffaello, a collection of artworks some by Raffaello, some by artists of his time or those influenced by him.  It was wonderful to see this house and to be able to walk through the rooms, imagining what it must have been like in the late 15th Century.  There was a beautiful courtyard in the back, where Mieran accidentally dropped her necklace down the well.

Palazzo Ducale had a wonderful collection of art and was great to see.  It had a beautiful garden and some grand rooms.  One tiny room was all done in inlaid wood and there was an image of a flute that appeared to move as you walked by.  The Duomo was beautiful and we were able to see the beautiful 'Ultimo Cena' (Last Supper) by Federico Barocci.  As we stood admiring the duomo we noticed a crowd beginning to gather and realized there was a funeral about to begin so we quietly snuck out the door.

We drove a beautiful and windy road from Urbino, through the Riserva Naturale del Sasso di Simone, through Pennabilli to the country house we were staying in, near Sant'Agata.  Everything was so lush and green and fresh.  The views were amazing.

On Saturday morning Finn and I got up and went for a walk.  It was down a windy hill and we saw lots of cyclists.  It was a beautiful morning and we walked to a nearby castle in Petrella Guidi.  On our return, we were served breakfast by our host and he recommended seeing Sant'Agata (we found out later her was the Mayor) and San Leo.  We went to Sant'Agata later that morning and it was beautiful.  There is an amazing little theatre in the town that was like stepping into a jewelry box.  Teatro Angelo Mariani was built in 1605 and is the oldest theatre in Italy built completely of wood.  It has 3 rows of box seats that surround the main floor, with a total capacity of 90, the ceiling is ornately decorated and painted with images of patrons.  It was truly spectacular to view this beautiful building, and I would have loved to seen a performance of anything there.  The fortress was closed for refurbishment and when we visited one of the churches, it had had damage from the heavy snow fall in February.  Sant'Agata saw 3 metres of snow, the worst winter in 50 years.

We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at the festival and wandering around the town of Pennabilli, a beautiful hill side town.  The festival is well organized with activities and performances for all ages and interests.  We spent quite a bit of time in a sculpture garden with magical puzzles (the type that stump you at the Science Centre), while listening to music and the children worked on crafts.  Finn and his friend learned to weave while the girls made puppets.  It was a rather wonderful backdrop for music and arts and the weather
was warm and sunny with interspersed showers of rain.  Mark, Molly and Mieran headed back early for a dance performance and I stayed on with our friends and Finn and Pippa.

On Sunday morning, after breakfast and coffee, we packed up the children and headed to the town of San Leo, a town build atop a rocky out crop on the border of le Marche.  It is reached by a winding steep road and is noted as one of the most beautiful towns in Italy, it was used as a setting by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy.  At the very top is an old fortress with a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.  It had been used as a papal prison.  The churches near the town centre date to 9th and 12th century.  We had lunch in the centre and then after a walk up to explore the fortress we returned for a gelato and coffee before beginning our drive home.  It was a lovely way to end a lovely weekend in such a beautiful area of Italy.

Tonight we are Italian!!

This evening we joined our good friends on their garden to watch Italy vs Germany in the European football championship semi-finals.  They threw together an impromptu festa.  They took the TV outside, and set it up in the garden. There was an amazing feast of salads, grilled vegetables, fresh fruit and veg and 'carpaccio con rucola e parmesan'.

Upon the promise of a late night victory swim, the children cheered loudly for Italia.  My beautiful neighbour from downstairs looked at me and said 'we are one', and tonight we were, tonight we were Italian, win or lose.  We tried to sing the Italian national anthem, we yelled Viva Italia! It was a great experience for our children to experience not only this enthusiasm for the sport, but the national pride.

These are the experiences that bring meaning to our journey.  I remember when we were first in Australia and my cousin asked me who I would bet for in the Melbourne Cup.  I had never bet on a horse race, generally only gamblers bet on horses in Canada.  But in Australia, they set up special betting stations for Melbourne Cup, parties are arranged, fancy dresses and hats are picked.  And on the first Tuesday of each November, the country nearly grinds to a halt as people celebrate and watch the cup.  It lasts only a few minutes, but the parties last a few hours and the memories for me have lasted years.

When the clock ran down this evening and Italy had won 2-1 over Germany, we could hearing cheering from the village, and squeals of delight as are group jumped into the pool.  A win for Italy and a win for the children.

Being a part of something special to a country, like horse races, medieval festivals and football matches enriches the experience of the place we are in, it is a window into what makes that country what it is.  As I type I can hear voices from the village still singing.  I hope that someone visiting Canada could have a similar experience when watching hockey, enjoying a tailgate party at a CFL game, eating a pancake breakfast during Stampede or watching our national sport, lacrosse.  And I hope that visitor enjoys for that moment being Canadian, as I have enjoyed being Italian.

What NOT to Wear

Here in Italy the fashion is diverse, but tends to definitely land on the fully dressed all the time.  Some of the outfits I have seen while in the grocery store have been amazing, some shocking.  Often the skyscraper level high heel is shoe of choice.  I am often left wondering how they manage with all these cobblestone streets.

Molly and Mieran have been enjoying watching 'What not to Wear' with Stacey and Clinton.  They like to see the physical and personal changes that each person goes through.  It is a bit like a modern day Ugly Duckling, played out on YouTube.  They then love to critique my outfits and they love to quote 'Clinton and Stacey'.  On more than one occasion I have been asked, 'Is that what you are wearing?'  Clearly, yes, I am wearing it, what is meant by this question?  I may even get a 'Clinton and Stacey would like/not like that', or some other suggestion they have learned from the show.  Once I got told by Molly that my outfit was a 'to', in my head I heard '2', and I asked out of what, luckily she meant a 'to' wear versus a 'not to' wear.

There have been makeovers, on me, Finn, Pippa, really anyone who is willing is welcome to the 'Molly and Mieran' make over.  But seriously, check your self-esteem at the door because these two mini fashion critics can be ruthless.  They have picked up some good tips; things don't have to match, they just have to go or if you can't button the jacket, you don't buy it.  All fairly sound, I can agree.

My in house fashion critics, M&M often ask me, why don't I dress 'that' nice all the time, after they see me get dressed up to go out somewhere, that is not shopping or work.  Well M&M, though Stacey and Clinton may disagree, you can't wear high heels everywhere.  First of all, we live in the middle of an olive grove, I have to walk down 500 meters of dirt trail to make it to the village, secondly, I cannot run well in high heels and I have 4 children and a puppy and running is required and to be perfectly honest I don't find high heels that comfortable.  Now i am sure S&C would disagree, but unless they want to drop one of those WNTW credit cards off to me, I am not shelling out for the comfortable high heel shoes, I know they exist, but they are not cheap.  So, I would prefer to spend my money on some well made and pretty flats.

Where am I going with this blog post.  Well, last night I got dressed up for dinner out with some friends so I put on some heels, Molly and Mieran's favourite pick of my shoes. They are very comfortable, well made and pretty.  It was great, I felt good in them and I managed to wander down some cobblestone streets with out breaking my neck or ankle.  So this morning, riding my high of the high heels, I decided to wear them out to the  grocery store with M&M.  All went well, came home still feeling good.  We all headed out again for the girls'  dance rehearsal and I kept rockin' the red high heels.  The saying 'easy tiger' comes to mind.  As the afternoon wore on, and I was standing or walking about, I did not feel like I was rockin' anything but sore toes and a blister.  When we returned home i could not wait to retrieve my poor feet from the shoes, to enjoy the flat feel of bare feet on a cold marble floor, it felt strange and wonderful.

It can be fun to have my fashion advisors/critics around but not all advice is sound, and practicality must weigh in at some point.  And the good old saying less is more is definitely my advice when in comes to wearing high heels.

A Weekend By the Sea with Friends

A few weeks ago we went to Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri with some friends.  We have lived numerous places and in each one we have been blessed with fantastic friends.  We are very fortunate for this and it always makes leaving somewhere more challenging, as well as always feeling a pull to return to places where we have left friends behind.  Each time we have arrived somewhere new we have been very lucky to meet someone who then opens the doors to many other friendships. I like to think of these people as connectors, they bring people together.  Though we have made many friends along our travels, it is the connectors that can really make you feel at home quickly and can really shape the experience you have in a new place.

Here in Italy we have made friends with a wonderful couple who have introduced us to many people.  We feel really fortunate to have met Kirk and Charlotte, who run the Oklahoma University program in Arezzo.  I met Charlotte in the grocery store and she invited us to her house for dinner.  We have made a number of friends through them, two who connected me to a job and one who connected us to a puppy.  Once I went to Florence to listen to one of Kirk's art history lectures, which has helped to reignite my interest in Art history and architecture.  With this group of friends we have now shared many meals, had parties, helped pick up garbage in the community, seen magic shows and recently we took a trip to Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri.  

Mark and I and the children drove down to Pompeii where we met up with Kirk and Charlotte, their two boys and a group of people from OU.  It was so great to have a chance to tour Pompeii, a place I had studied about as a child.  And to go with friends makes it so much more enjoyable, and even more so when these friends have been here before and know a great deal about the site and the history.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we walked the length of the site both ways peaking into old ruins of house, churches and other buildings.  It was amazing to see how well developed a community there had been when Mount Vesuvius had covered it in ashes, rocks and deadly gas in 79AD.  

After the day in Pompeii we drove along the coast to Sorrento, a beautiful seaside town clinging to a cliff of the Mediterranean.  Sadly the drive from Naples is along garbage strewn roadways and garbage filled tunnels.  We stopped at a pull out to take a picture looking back across the bay to Vesuvius and as I glanced down to the beach it too was littered with bags of garbage.  Once on the peninsula the garbage gave way to brightly coloured towns stacked on the sides of the rocky coast.  It really refreshed the feeling of 'being' in Italy for us.  

Saturday morning we took a boat to the Island of Capri, a beautiful hilly island with white washed buildings climbing upwards.  We walked up a winding path from the port to the town of Capri, I stopped frequently to snap photos of Madonnas and gardens.  

After a cappuccino with a fantastic view of the sea, we took a bus down an impossibly winding and narrow road to a beach on the far side of the island.  

It was a bit cloudy but looked as though it might burn off.  Kirk knew of restaurant at the top of the island, above Anacapri so we decided to leave the beach and head towards the clouds and what a great decision that was, not only was the food amazing, but by the time we reached the top, over an even more impossibly windy and narrow road, the sun had burned away the clouds and we had the most fantastic view of the island and the sea.

On Sunday we headed along the Amalfi coast to the town of Positano.  We had a friend in Canada tell us it was one of his favourite spots in Italy and from the moment we arrived we could see why.  Pastel coloured building and vibrant vines of flowers climb up the side of the hill from the sea.  When we drove into the town, our search for parking coincided with a man from a restaurant telling us he had parking and Pippa desperately needing a bathroom.  Lucky for us, because the food was great and the service very friendly.  Mark had one of the best gnocchi he had ever tasted, and I had the best Limoncello.

We then wandered down through the streets towards the beach.  Stopped for a gelato and a quick wade in the sea.  It was a beautiful day and we wished we had more time, but we had spent the morning in Sorrento having sandals made for us, and now we needed to get back on the road to go and collect our dog from friends.  It was a lovely end to a lovely weekend.  Just like Venice we vowed to return one day and I hope that we get the opportunity as it is very beautiful and it would be nice to have more time to further explore this stunning coast.

I am not sure we would have made the trip to Pompeii and Sorrento had it not been that we had friends going, but we are certainly glad we did, it is one of the many great experiences we have had here that we will always remember.  And the whole weekend was that much better by having good friends to experience it with.