Culinary Delights and Trips Close to Home

I'm sorry that I haven't been more consistent with accounts of our travels in and around Rome. We have been taking some day trips on our days when the temple is closed. Two weeks ago we visited a couple of tiny villages that were absolutely delightful. We met an American couple (Craig and Jody Anderson) at Church who bought a huge villa out in a small village called Calstelnuovo di Farfa. It's about an hour and a half drive southeast of Rome through beautiful scenery. They invited us and the Thordersons to drive up for the afternoon and have dinner with them. On the way there, we stopped in Isola del Liri and walked through a very memorable village. There's a natural waterful in the middle of town, the manhole covers have unique mosaics on them--which must have cost a bundle.

As is the case with many Italian cities, they have zones where traffic is prohibited for most vehicles and the cities impose hefty fines for simply entering the zones. I got a ticket in the mail from the police in Florence for our last trip. I had no idea I had crossed a ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitata) and the fine was a little over 100 bucks. I got two notices the same day. The first one said if I paid it two weeks before the letter arrived it was only 70 Euros. The other letter said the grace period was past and I owed 100 Euros. Well, we knew this town had a ZTL so we parked on the periphery and walked through. There's a sign where people apparently stop to see the waterfall and take their picture. The town has installed a sign noting that's it's obligatory to kiss there. I was standing next to Eric Thorderson when we noticed the sign and so we ....quickly found our wives and took photos.

There was a pastry shop along the road and everyone wanted to get some hot chocolate--it's winter now with temperatures often dipping into the low fifties. Hot chocolate is one of my favorite culinary memories of my mission. One of my companions noted that Italian hot chocolate was a lot like melted candy bars--consistency rather than taste. You need to add sugar. Before adding sugar to her cup Robyn suggested that I take a photo because it was so thick the spoon stood upright in the cup.

As we meandered towards the Anderson's villa, we stopped at a small beautiful lake.

I didn't take any photos at the villa--I think because I was so astounded at the whole thing. It's huge and was built in 1776. it was amazing.

Life has Returned Back to Normal

 My son and his family returned to the states two weeks ago--and seeing them and our grandchildren again was wonderful. We went to hike in the Dolomites, to explore Venice. Florence, Rome and Sardinia together. I think everyone had as close to a riot as is possible traveling hundreds of miles in tiny Italian cars. 

My son Nate taught me how to break a banana in half.  The secret is in the elbows--seriously.  It took me only a couple of bananas before I could do it reliably. The first two bananas were a total loss, but now I can walk in the kitchen, ask Robyn if she wants a half of a banana and then break it in half with my bare hands.

Taxi fare from the airport to our apartment is about 80 bucks each way. With Nate and his wife and their four kids it would have cost 160 bucks to get them home via two taxis, and it was about the same to rent a van so that's what we did. We rented a van to drive down to Pompeii, dropped it off the next morning at the airport on our way to Sardinia and then we rented another van when we came back from Sardinia that Nate drove to the airport the next morning. I think that worked out very well.

Sunrise in Olbia, Sardinia

Sardinia was beautiful; and since it's no longer tourist season or beach season for Italians, the places we went were nearly deserted. The kids got to play on several beaches, we took a ferry boat (with the van) out to a famous island--that I can't remember the name of--and stayed at a resort hotel the last three days that it was open for the year. It closes mid-October, and there were probably 25 guests staying in this huge resort while we were there.  They had a nice pool with a water slide and a beautiful view. Perhaps because we were the only people at the resort, all the employees were very solicitous of helping us any way they could. 

View of The Resort's Swimming Pool When We Arrived

Guests who check into a hotel in Italy are required to have their ID checked--and that means if you're a foreigner, they're required to register your passport.  We arrived late in the evening after the office people had gone for the night and so they asked us to leave our 8 passports until the next morning.  The next morning, I went down to retrieve our passports and we talked for a few minutes about how to get to the beach and what they recommended for meals. I mentioned that I needed to get our passports. They asked what rooms we were in the clerk went over to the desk, grabbed the stack of passports and then said, "Wait, these are American passports. You're not Italian?"  That was the nicest thing she could have said to me. She said that my accent indicated I was from northern Italy.  

Then she said, "How can you speak Italian?"  I said, "I don't know, I woke up one morning and I could speak Italian."  (That's not the first time I've used that line.)  They all laughed and then demanded a better answer. I told them that my wife and I live in Rome and they decided I had grown up in Italy.  When I explained that we'd only been there for nine months, they said, "So your parents are Italian?"  I said, "No, they're Americans too."  This was very mysterious to them.  I explained that 49 years ago I lived in northern Italy for nearly 2 years as an LDS missionary. They were very complimentary that I could have learned to speak with a northern Italian accent in a little over two years.  I didn't explain that I have spoken Italian at every possible opportunity in those intervening years. We all had a very enjoyable chat.  There must be something about my accent though, because last Saturday a Roman asked me if I was from the Veneto region (Verona and Venice area.)   

Grandma Robyn enjoying the family