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!