Rainy Days and Mondays

13, September
In true wedding/anniversary form, it poured today. Not rain, actual downpour, with lightening and wall shaking thunder. The storm was fierce just like two years ago, but at least this time Jim will not need to concern himself as to whether Debi’s poncho matches her wedding dress. Francesco is ill so we visit with Annie and little Sophia for a while and then, with Lisa and Guiseppina in tow, we head to the restaurant. While nowhere near as huge as the wedding dinner, the anniversary fare was large enough to cause flashbacks for the previous attendees.




14, September
After our morning breakfast (no fighting with the Polish tour groups here) we are off to the bus stop to meet Francesca our taxi-van driver who will take us to San Gimigiano to meet up with Cristina for a guided tour of the town. The drive is hilly and beautiful and just before we reach San Gimigiano, Francesca pulls the van over for a photo op and a chance to steal some grapes…both are wonderful. We load back up, bring a rather large bee with us and finish the drive. We had a wonderful lunch that included the local boar lasagna, marinated ox tongue and wonderful vegetable soup (I‘ll leave it to you to decide who had what!). The town is beautiful and Christina gave an amazing tour. Francesca is at the designated meeting point and it is just as pretty driving back to Volterra.

15, September
Today we gave ourselves a guided tour of Volterra‘s Roman theater. We saw Annie giving an official tour but decided to keep a low profile and not interrupt her. Did some major alabaster shopping and faced the dreaded post office for some shipping. This time the shipping went off with out a hitch…ok, maybe a couple of small hitches but not bad for Italy!!

Bare Feet and the Park

12, September
We rested a bit today, walked around Volterra and toured the Commune where Jim and Debi got married. They took pictures of their sock-less feet in the piazza. After enjoying the giardino of the hotel we sneaked through the back gate and into the archeological park. Very quiet day…after our frantic arrival.

Death on the Appian Way

11, September

One last breakfast at the Hotel Scacciapensieri, bill paying and group pictures and we load up the van one final time. We hit the freeway towards Rome to turn in the rental car and catch a series of trains to Volterra. Better stop for gas on the way in, don’t want to pay those ridiculous rental car rates for gas! How about this one…no they always rip you off…how about that one…nah….ok, this one will work. Deisel? No, nothing on the tank, nothing on the keys…must be regular gasoline, wait, you must wear gloves to pump your own gas here…. you know once on “Amazing Race” a couple put gasoline in a car that only took diesel and the car died right there….good thing we checked it out. Back in the van and we are ready to head into the heart of Rome, traffic and all. Hmmm, that’s odd, don’t remember the van idling so rough before. We are finally at Termini, about 4 blocks from the car rental drop off spot, Uncle Jim pulls into a “taxi only” parking space and sends us to the car rental counter…”you must not park it in the taxi spot, bring it here”. Back to the van, no problem, Uncle Jim plans to just back the van back up the one way street the four blocks to the car droop off zone. Envision backing up against traffic on say…. I-5, but add pedestrians and Uncle Jim saying “I really can’t see out of the back of this thing”, all the while the van is shuddering in what will soon be death throes. We make it only 2 ½ blocks before Uncle Jim gives up, pulls into another taxi only spot, turns the van off and goes to the counter giving them the keys proclaiming “I’m not driving it any more you move it” in Italian. The van of course will not start now….what did you do fill it with gasoline….ummmm…yes??!! Does anyone remember the couple on “Amazing Race”…well, I guess we’ll have something to blog about now!

We bid Uncle Jim good bye and head for binario 25...about a mile and a half from our current location, certainly hope there isn’t any last minute changes to the track location. The ride is relaxed, we enjoy the lunches we prepared, read and knitted until we reached Cecina for our first train change. Where is the binario for the next train…hmmm…what does that little bus picture mean? Oh, no train, bus to Volterra-Saline. No train, no problem we hop on the bus and head off. From there we catch a smaller second bus and we are almost there. When we arrive in Volterra we are greeted with hugs from our friend Lisa at the hotel and relax until dinner. There is some sort of medieval festival with costumes and flags…very festive welcoming for the anniversary couple!! Jim calls home to let everyone know we have made it safely to our next stop, but Uncle Jim has beat him to it and already spun the van story so he is totally blameless for the van death. Jim: “But I didn’t pump the gas Ma, Uncle Jim pumped the gas”, “where the hell Bill? He never even got out of the van!” We have a delicious dinner and the join all of Volterra in the main square. Every window in the square has a candle in it and the medieval festival presentation is full of fire and singing and fireworks and costumes. It was breath-taking.

The Night the Lights Went Out in Nettuno

9, September
We quickly ate this morning. It’s market day in Nettuno and we are off in search of bargains. Debi needs new shirts since the two she brought have grown with each wash and now will serve to cloth the entire group…at once. The main street is closed off for market day and the market stretches for a mile on both sides of the street. We are directed to only shop on one side on the way down and the other on the way up. We bought bread and olives and fruit for the train ride on Saturday. We ate a wonderful lunch in the Borgo- medieval Nettuno. We still managed to eat at La Lanterna (they are counting on us for their retirement fund) about half way through the meal the lights went out we all reached for our handy flashlights and the waiter brought a candle and by then of course the lights came back on. A typical night in Nettuno…let’s get gelato.


10, September

No problem with the breakfast now…we really have it all figured out. Sheila even procured some faux nutella for the train ride tomorrow. We head off optimistically for the grocery store to purchase lunch supplies for our train ride. Should be no problem since we now understand the produce ticketing system, Sheila can identify still water and we know exactly what we want for our sandwiches….ok, not really. We do manage to buy 5 different kinds of cookies, way too many rolls and Daddy’s first ever juice boxes. We haul our bags of food up to Uncle Jim’s apartment and construct sandwiches. Uncle Jim’s friend Enrico has driven in from Rome to see us and join us for lunch. He has brought us a giant box of cookies…thank you these perfect for the train! We went back to the Borgo for lunch and ate at the restaurant directly across from yesterday’s spot. Uncle Jim’s friend Sayida also joined us for lunch. Good friends, good food and good wine. Debi tried to save the wine bottle so she could remove the label and with 9 people watching the wait staff still managed to scoop it off the table….after some puzzled looks as to why anyone would want an empty wine bottle they got it out of the trash for her. ***insert here story of pam’s fall*** We meet back at Uncle Jim’s after organizing our luggage for tomorrow’s departure, and enjoy one last Nettuno gelato.

Rain Man (Oh, Man!)

8, September

We woke up to black clouds and a forecast of rain over the entire country of Italy, and still no cheese with breakfast. Confident that we could purchase our own train tickets into Rome, Uncle Jim just dumped us off at the train station and heads back home for a day off from tour-guide duty. Everything was perfect…well accept the ticket office is closed! Now what? Have no fear the magazine store is open! Tickets and rain gear in hand we are on our way. The first stop is the coliseum, which we learned from Vito (seriously Vito) is really the Flavian Amphitheater. The tour was interesting although Vito’s English dialect was difficult to follow. From the coliseum we walked through the historic section of Rome, stopping at the Vittoriano for a view of the city. We then headed to Largo Argentina, where we saw the cat sanctuary and the sight of Julius Caeser’s assassination. We met Alice, Debi’s friend from Ravelry, for lunch at Rossopomodoro. The company and the lunch were wonderful. Still no sign of rain. After lunch Alice showed us a LYS (sadly it was closed) we took in the Campo di Fiori and then headed off to the Castelo St. Angelo. The Castello, featured in the recent movie, Angels and Demons, was interesting and the view from the roof rivaled the view from the cupola without the horrible climb. We exited the Castello and set off for the Vatican for our last sight seeing stop. As we approached the square the rains came, but have no fear we had our rain gear and covered up. Not sure if the rain was seasonal or if it was caused by Bill Lightening and Jim Thunder being so near Saint Peter’s church at the same time. We boarded the metro back to the Spanish Steps for dinner, but we were still full from lunch. Not so full that we couldn’t sample the viagra gelato (tastes like brownie mix…not that any of us eat uncooked brownies!!). The young, attractive Italian girl at the gelatoria gave us all samples. Jim got a huge sample, we were not sure if she thought he was cute or just needed it the most…Jim is choosing the former. We decide to say good bye to Rome and head back to Nettuno on the REALLY early, 7:27 train (no flop houses in our future). Unfortunately the train got stuck in Padiglione and we don’t arrive home until two hours later - 48 minutes late..nothing in Italian time! We are all sad since we think that La Lanterna will be closed and we won’t be able to eat there (for the third time), but they are open and we eat there, again . A gelato and we call it a day.

There Will Be Blood

6, September

We got up really early, tried to get some of the tour groups’ breakfast and then Uncle Jim drove us to the train station to catch the Nettuno-Rome train. He warned us several times not to miss the last train home for Nettuno, which leaves Rome at 9:44, or we would have to just spend the night in a flop house near the station…. Jim had mapped out the tour for the day and we headed off. We started at the Trevi fountain, threw our coins in (without incident this time…all Roman‘s were unharmed by errant coins!!) and did a little shopping. We were not in Rome for even an hour when Pam, Sheila, Jan and Bill turned up missing … Jan had started a rumor that they had ½ hour to kill while we attended to some train ticket purchasing business, when in fact we were just buying a shirt…5 minutes!. They were finally located and the tour resumed (no train ticket were purchased yet…) On to the Pantheon. We missed Uncle Jim’s careful explanation of the sights, but still enjoyed the view. Where to now Jim…to the Piazza Navona (you might remember it from the movie “Return to Me”) and the view of the newly refurbished Four Rivers fountain. It was really worth the walk. After lunch we now head back to the Spanish Steps, to actually buy the rumored train tickets. We left the rest of the group to check out the first Italian McDonalds and to climb the steps….Jan was really looking forward to that! We then took the underground passage to the Villa Bourgese and the Via Veneto. There we did some shopping at the Hard Rock, Rome, viewed the Cappucin monks and finished the tour with a beer and an aperol spritz before heading back to the Spanish Steps for dinner. We decided to have dinner at Il Gabriello, a restaurant we had eaten in when we came to Rome in 2008. We were barely even seated when a young waiter dropped an arm load of plates on the floor near our table. Pam was hit by flying plate shrapnel and blood flowed. The waiter felt terrible and offered to cut his own arm in a show of penance. Pam didn’t think that was necessary, a bandage would do. After dinner we caught an early (remember, we are with Jim…no flop houses allowed) train home, and ended the day with, yes, a gelato.



7, September

We are still trying to figure out why we don’t get the bread and cheese with our breakfast and the Polish tour does…

Today Uncle Jim took us on a tour of Anzio’s port, the beach (can you say sea glass!!) and the ruins of Nerone’s (Nero to you Americans) villa. We ate a wonderful lunch at a tiny restaurant in Anzio. Jim ate calamarette fritto, whole baby calamari…that includes the tentacles….remember, we’re talking about Jim here!! We finished the afternoon with a visit to the American cemetery in Nettuno and dinner at La Lanterna again. We went to Uncle Jim’s apartment for desert watermelon and to bed early, because tomorrow is Rome-part two!

Finding Nemi

4, September

This morning after accidentally eating the breakfast of some poor Polish tour group, we headed to San Felice Circeo…is it a punta or an isole? From Nettuno, Circeo appears to be an island, but it’s not! We piled into the van and checked it out. We saw beautiful views and had a beer in the bar at the top of the hill.

A stranger offered Debi a drink of his Aperol spritz…and she tried it! (if you know anything about Debi and drinking after anyone, you would know what a huge thing that was!!) We finished the afternoon looking at the beautiful villas and the amazing scenery. We ate dinner at La Lanterna, a restaurant within walking distance of Uncle Jim’s apartment and of course gelato afterwards.

5, September

Tried to eat the tour group’s breakfast again but they directed us to a different table…not sure why!! We are heading to Frascati and Nemi. First we stopped at Lago al Bano. From the “bel vedere” we can see the Pope’s summer villa…and the carbinieri head quarters. Uncle Jim pulled the van into the lot and was asked politely (with an uzzi) to not park there. Sheila thought a picture might be nice but they were not up for that either…really very little sense of humor if you are a carbiniero.

Then began the hunt for Frascati. The road signs in Italy point at the road you should take, not the direction you should go. Well, all signs to Frascati pointed every direction. Uncle Jim assured us not to worry, he had been to Frascati at least 25 times (of course we didn’t know that he had gotten lost 24 times…). One sign sent us up the hill..good Uncle Jim comments… up the hill is the way we need to go, oh wait we’re going back down the hill. We ask directions, and the gentleman sends us still another direction. The road is getting narrower and narrower; the van on the other hand is not! Hey Jim, how much clearance on your side? None? Well we got, maybe ½ inch on this side…did we get the rental car insurance? Can’t back the van back up the hill, so we’ll just go for…that’s what Al would do…where is he when we really need him. Quit hiding your eyes Pam, you should be used to this! One fender and a rear view mirror later, we made it down the alley (good thing that poor woman couldn’t open her door with our van lodged in the alley). Once in town, we parked so close to the car next to us, we all had to get out Uncle Jim’s door. Enjoyed a entertaining street market and an amazing lunch….hmmm developing a recurring theme here! Load up, we are off to Nemi.

They are famous for their wild strawberries…and the difficulty of finding the town. There are no signs pointing at any roads OR directions to drive!! Uncle Jim, the first man ever to stop and ask for directions, stopped at a small bar and went in. After getting guidance he climbed into the wrong black van and sent several small children screaming from their own vehicle. After locating the correct van, he exclaimed “I just scared the sh*t out of those kids!!” With perseverance that can only be developed with living in Italy, Uncle Jim managed to find Nemi. Nemi has a beautiful view of a huge lake, tasty graniti fragoline (strawberry slushies) and a quaint underwear saleman…since Jan’s underwear were still in Pismo. Back to Uncle Jim’s apartment for a cold watermelon dinner. Early to bed, tomorrow is Rome!

(Almost) Arrested Development

Who could have know when we all piled into the “Silver Bullet” commercial transport vehicle what adventures awaited us. After tossing our bags in the back we headed to our first stop - Starbucks, granted only a block away, but still, our first official stop. Al plugged in “the guy” (AKA Garmin GPS) and we were off, well until we hit Tracy and there we hit the infamous commuter traffic and slowed to …well let’s just say we could walk faster! Despite the traffic, we managed to arrive at SFO before our flight, actually about 6 hours before our flight! We unloaded the van, thanked our wonderful driver and said our goodbyes…wait why is the airport police officer pulling up behind the van and signaling for Al to move away from the van? For some reason, he seems to believe that Al is running some type of illegal shuttle service. Why else would a Lebanese man drive a 15-passenger van with commercial plates! Can we prove we are related, meanwhile, sir (Dave), please get out of the van and step to the curb. Once Pam convinced the officer that Al was indeed related to 5/6 of the present company, that we had not in any way provided him with compensation for driving us (does sushi count?) and that they had a big van because they had a lot of kids, he reluctantly agreed not to pursue the possibility of a huge underground, Lebanese shuttle cartel.

Free from possible prosecution for illegal shuttle solicitation, we positioned ourselves to be the first in line- not a difficult feat since even the cleaning staff had not yet arrived. We were able to secure Jim a seat on the flight which would allow him the ability to walk upright once we reached Italy. We ate a quick lunch and then headed for the security check line. Jim placed his carefully packed bag of liquids (and when I say carefully packed think “Jim packed”) in the bin. All of us passed through without issue…wait, where is Jim? He is having his liquids “tested”. Tested? For what? He evidentially passed the liquid “pop quiz” because he was finally allowed to proceed. Well, only until the next check point where he was pulled out of line and quizzed about the purpose of his trip, how many Euros he was carrying and what he planned on doing with them. Did something about him hint at mafia, bagel smuggling or perhaps they had heard of the illegal transportation accusations? Eventually he was allowed to board the flight and we were off.
In Frankfurt, the top notch security team nearly confiscated Jan and Debi’s knitting needles (it’s ok, fellow knitters, the Addis are safe). But we’re on our way…wait, where’s Jim? He’s been pulled out of line for a “Wanding”… why is everyone picking on Jimmy! We all finally board the last leg of our flight, land in Rome, gather our luggage, and head off to find the Leonardo Express…no easy feat. Just go straight and then up, well really down and the straight and then up and…well you get the picture. We did get six seats together…where’s Pam? Oh, there she is under the suitcases! When were arrive a Termini, Uncle Jim is there to meet us, help us secure the rental car and we are finally heading for Nettuno. The trip has begun!!

Bon Voyage in Lodi

Bon Voyage! The "girls" at Public Works threw me a surprise party to send me on my way! My work family is the BEST!

Thank you everyone!!

The card Denise gave me...

And the beautiful placemat Patsy designed...

The Ciao Comment Contest

As everyone knows (well, as at least 130 of you know), we are off to Italy bright and early tomorrow morning. For those of you who are following along, we really hope you enjoy the posts. But, as posters, we like to read too! So, we are proposing a little contest to bring out the competitive spirit in our followers. Each comment made on the blog will be read, analyzed and cataloged and the funniest comment or the longest comment or the most unique comment or person who comments most often will win (ok, the actual rules are in the formative stages!!). In the end, what will be the reward(s)? Well, the winner(s) will get bragging rights and a gift from Italy (I proposed a tiara but was out-voted again). So stretch out those fingers and get to tapping on those keyboards…see you in Italy!














Giacomo preparing for the trip...