Italy

We flew into Ciampino Airport quite late on Sunday night. The flight had been delayed a little from Stansted due to extra cleaning requirements. Maybe it had been a bumpy flight back on its last trip? Anyhow, we got into the terminal and found only one car rental place open, with one car left! Fortunately we could all fit into the 4 door Fiat Punto available – and with our luggage too. Well, most of that did fit in the boot – although I had a bag at my feet and Michelle and Vince had a bag or two between them.

Mike had reservations about the car, as it was a Turbo Diesel and he suspected a lack of ‘oomph’. But, after a few kilometres he was as hooked to the Punto as all Italians are to fast, small hatchbacks. It had plenty of herbs, and Mike is now toying with the idea of buying one as a shopping basket one day.

So we zipped off into the night, with some vague emailed directions from Alessandro from the Rio Mozzo B&B. However, the vague directions proved to be spot on (all directions in Italy seem to be ‘follow signs to Firenze’, or ‘follows signs to Roma’ or ‘follow signs to Napoli’ as that was all we used for the week are we were hardly lost at all – and that is unusual!!). After about 40 minutes we were pulling into the driveway for Rio Mozzo. Alessandro came out to meet us and open the driveway doors up. He showed us into our lovely rooms and made us a cup of tea (Michelle even got Camomile tea to help her upset stomach). We gratefully crashed into our beds.

When Theresa and Richard were exploring Europe for one last time before heading back to New Zealand for their wedding and resettling, they had stayed at Rio Mozzo and had a wonderful time. Theresa had left the brochure with us, and recommended it as a place to stop if we visit Rome. We enjoyed the place as much as Theresa and Richard did. Alessandro was an excellent host, and made us very welcome. His menagerie was also welcoming. Rosie was an English spaniel – tiny, but full of energy. She loved retrieving, and her tail never stopped waggling. Lila was some sort of minature Doberman-type of dog. Very shy, but liked a scratch behind the ears. And, a puppy that had an Italian name none of us could remember or pronounce. But although the puppy was cute, it was very bitey. And Mike pursued the various cats around, but they must have been working cats, and he only got to tickle one once.

Michelle and puppy at Rio Mozzo

Whether it was the old wives remedy of camomile tea or not, Michelle was almost as fit as a fiddle the next morning. Thankfully. I wasn’t sure what we would do if she were still sick. But, we had scheduled a relaxing day driving through the surrounding countryside in the event of Michelle still being off colour, so that was what we did.

Our breakfast was lovely, although Michelle and Vince would have loved some toast and vegemite or Honey Smacks. We ate on a large farmhouse table, with beautiful linen. Mike enjoyed the Italian coffee while I drank tea and the kids supped on orange juice. There were biscuit-like rolls, butter, jams and muesli. It wasn’t till later in the week that the kids discovered the wonderful hot chocolate drink.

A late relaxing start saw us leave around 10:30am for a drive around Umbria. This is a lovely part of Italy (not that we’ve seen much – and what we have seen we love too!), and some imaginative navigation on my part allowed us to see considerably more than the normal tourist. Personally, I’ve always wanted to drive around rutted roads through rows and rows of olive groves. And, now we know that Umbria is the capital of porcelain toilet production anywhere in the world. Why? Ask us how many factories we saw with toilet bowls, bidets and shower bases stacked to the sky! When Alessandro told us Umbria has been making porcelain for centuries I don’t know why I thought of ornaments and plates. How mad! But, now I know where to go to buy my toilet!

Our first stop was the local town of Civita Castellano. This was the kids first time driving on the right hand side of the road. We stopped off and went for a bit of a walk. The weather near Rome was a lot nicer than in London, so this was a shorts and T-shirt day. Civita Castellano is a lovely town built around an old castle up on a rocky hill. On the way back to the car we spotted a little supermarket with a deli section. We decided there and then to buy ingredients for a picnic at lunchtime.

So, armed with two children that speak high school Italian, and an excellent rendition of ‘Buongiorno’, we walked up to the deli counter with confidence. I was ushering Michelle forward with a huge smile on my face. It must have seemed strange to have two adults pushing two children forward to talk with the woman behind the counter. Still, she humoured us, and taught Michelle the word for ‘slice’ (we got some salami, ham and yummy cheese). Michelle and Vince both enjoyed buying the picnic food, as their dad, Dominic, takes them to Italian delis in Melbourne. I hope that next time they all go shopping in Melbourne, Michelle and Vince give it a go, as they were very good at it.

We chatted in very broken Italian with the staff there. Michelle had taught me the Italian words for Uncle and Aunty, and I managed to convey the idea that although we were the uncle and aunty, their dad was Italian. It seemed to work quite well. Italian’s not so hard. With a bit of French under your belt, you can almost figure out what is going on. Spanish must make it even easier! Admittedly, Mike’s method of using French words with Italian endings (and fake Italian accent thrown in for good measure) confused me a bit. I caught myself saying ‘merci’ instead of ‘grazie’ once or twice. We had a ball! And, at least the Italians don’t care if we butcher the language in our quest for cross-cultural understanding.

After wandering around Civita Castellano, we drove towards an area contain pre-Etruscan ruins. Alessandro had marked an ‘X’ on our map of its approximate location. This is where we drove around admiring fields of olive groves hiding behind the porcelain factories. Unfortunately the ruins were elusive. And, fortunately, we ended back up on the main road again. So we continued our drive towards Lake Vico bearing our picnic in mind (or in our rumbling tummies).

The villages we drove through were amazing. Everything seemed so old and rundown, yet functioning perfectly. The houses are spotless where you can see them (porches and frontages), but if you look over the rooftops, all you see is a jumble of tiles, falling masonry and plaster. Bright flowerpots stood on steps and hung from doors, and it seems Italians love the shade of apricot as many house were painted that colour. Visiting villages that have existed for thousands of years isn’t an everyday occurrence when you grow up in New Zealand or Australia. It’s amazing to step through roads that existed when Europe was in the grip of the Middle Ages.

We found our way to Lake Vico and parked the car on a grassy verge. We ate the best cheese (whatever it was) and delicious ham, washed down with Fanta (for me) and Coke (for the others). The Italian bread was fantastic. A crusty loaf designed perfectly for picnics and keeping fresh. Michelle and I also had a theory about the effect of the bread on the teeth of the locals. Our theory was either a) the bread massaged the gums keeping them healthy, or b) the bread ripped out any loose teeth. Judging from the of toothless grins Michelle had noticed, we pretty much believe theory b.

After lunch, we drove to Viterbo, which used to be a papal town in the Middle Ages. The inner city was still walled, and we drove through a gate to get a car park. We visited the Quartier Medievale and walked around looking at the old roads, alleys and buildings. This is where Vince went mad taking photos of a Ferrari. But, it was Italian after all.

Back in the car to visit another town perched on the side of a hill. San Cimeno al something. The buildings looked like they were ready to cascade down at any moment. But, given the age of the place, it must be quite stable. This village was very picturesque.

Eventually we ended up in Civita Castellano for dinner. We had hoped to visit a restaurant recommended by Alessandro, but it was shut on Mondays. In fact, all the restaurants in the region seem to shut on random days of the week. We found a pizzeria and I ordered pasta with ‘burro and salvia’ because it looked like I was ordering donkey and saliva. It wasn’t till it arrived that I remembered ‘burro’ is butter. And salvia seems to be sage. But, I’ll stick to the donkey and spit story.

Vince didn’t like his al dente pasta, and prefers his Mum’s, his Dad’s and his Aunty Mack’s cooking to anything the Italians could dish up. And, after the frozen tiramisu we got here, compared to Dominic’s excellent recipe, Mike and I almost agreed.

One hassle we had was trying to get still water to drink. It didn’t help that Nepia, a town just down the road, was the ‘town of water’ and was the local source of mineral water. Every restaurant had Nepia water. The kids didn’t like the natural water, which still had a light fizz. I wasn’t overly keen myself, but it was better than nothing. And, a funny thing at the B&B… Mike was filling up bottles to take with us for the day from the tap, thinking that this will solve the problem, and Alessandro wouldn’t let him. He gave us sparkling mineral water instead. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want tap water instead of bottled water.
Tuesday morning I decided we would go to visit Pompeii. I couldn’t come so close and not see it, especially since when Mum, Robert and Karen saw it, they raved about it quite a bit. It took us about 3 hours to drive down past Napoli to Pompeii. We got held up in a traffic jam as the autostrada came down to just one lane at one point. But, apart from that there weren’t any problems.

Pompeii itself was quite crowded, but you could visit areas with fewer crowds. Unfortunately, the kids didn’t really appreciate the spectacular nature of Pompeii. It is in excellent condition, with some superb mosaics; most of which are in museums. We bought a guidebook to help us around the site, but it turned out to be a bit useless at that, but a good read on its own. Michelle and Vince turned out to have free admission because they came from Melbourne. Apparently, there are places in the world that have reciprocal agreements with Pompeii, and the large Italian population in Melbourne appears to have sorted something out.
Mike and I will return one day to visit Pompeii with a better guidebook, and throw a visit to Herculeam in there too. Michelle and Vince summed up their thoughts on ruins by saying something along the lines of ‘Why does anyone want to see something that’s all broken?’. That they were being driven around the ‘ruin capital’ of the world by a ruin-mad aunty when they wanted to go shopping meant that the agenda for Rome had to change slightly.

Back at the B&B in 2.5 hours – Mike did love that little Punto. We finally got to the restaurant recommended by Alessandro – La Girette. It was fantastic, and Mike and I will return one day. The kids seemed to get a bit sick again – Vince this time too. We met a woman, Ann, who was also at La Girette, and happened to be staying at Rio Mozzo too. Her and her husband Peter had lived in Italy for years, although Ann was originally Zimbabwean, and Peter from England.

We went back to the B&B to chat to Ann and Peter for a while, and to fall asleep in a heap.
Next morning – Wednesday. Our first trip into Rome. I was quite excited. We had an early breakfast, and Michelle and Vince decided they wouldn’t eat it anymore (strange cereal and biscuits – Vince was yet to discover the good hot chocolate). So, our incentive to get into Rome early was so the kids could get breakfast. We missed the train at the local stop by about 10 minutes. So, we kept driving towards Rome. Just after the ring road we found, by accident, a perfect train stop called Grotto Rossa. It had a huge, free carpark, but no ticket office. So we got a free ride into Rome, with no inspectors, fortunately. We bought ourselves some tickets for the day and the next, and then stepped into Rome.

Rome was everything I had imagined. You can turn a corner and see some jaw-dropping building straight out of the history books. Everything oozes history and charm. However, as I said, the agenda had changed. Breakfast at McDonalds was first – although Italian McDonalds don’t have the usual breakfast fare. My McToast was nice, with cheese and bacon. And Mike liked his pork cheeseburger, but Vince didn’t.
Michelle and Vince had some spending money and Rome is an excellent place to shop. So, shop we did. Michelle and Vince shopped up a storm. They can’t possibly be related to me, Karen or Mum! They are miniature shop-a-holics. But, we managed to keep up with them. Vince bought some sneakers and Michelle got a skirt from Benetton just opposite the Trevi Fountain.

Angela at Trevi Fountain

The fountain was more beautiful in reality than in any film or book. We all tossed some coins in, and ensured our return to Rome at some future date.

We ate lunch on a street-side café, but had to run inside when a shower of rain fell. It wasn’t so nice, but filled a hole. Then we got to the Vatican where we showed Michelle and Vince St Peter’s Square with its beautiful columns. Coming away from the Vatican, we saw a shop selling Papal Blessings, and remembered Andrew’s request for a blessing for his sister, Iona and her partner, Col. So, Mike popped in and sorted one out. Done! We used Vince’s local priest as the parish priest’s name.

Then we slowly walked back to the train station. It all worked out so well, that we decided to travel in the same way the next day.

So, Thursday I was determined to see some ruins! No visit to Rome would be complete without a tour of the Coliseum. And this was a ruin that even the kids enjoyed (obviously it wasn’t too broken). Vince and Michelle needed breakfast again, and got an Italian hotdog – which was a little different to the normal hotdog.

The Coliseum was pretty cool. We just poked our noses into the corners and took lots of photos. Even the rubber chicken got its photo there. And Mike managed to capture some Roman stray cats on the video camera.

Wandering back from the Coliseum, we walked through a part of the Forum, and that was the extent of the ruin-visiting for that day. But I was happy enough. The Coliseum had been as good as I expected. And, it’ll still be there when Mike and I return (remember those coins?).

Michelle and Vince had to finish some shopping, and then we were back to the train for Grotto Rossa. Tonight we decided to picnic in the evening, to give us an earlier bedtime, as the Italians start dinner later than we were used to. So back for the third and final time to the mini supermarket where Michelle was a hit by now. This time they talked quite bit in broken Italian/English/French.

Dinner was very yummy.

Friday morning saw us packing up, ready for the journey back to London. We ate breakfast (well, Mike and I did), said goodbye to Alessandro and the dogs, and piled the bags and us into the car and left.
We thought a scenic route to the airport with plenty contingency was the order of the day. There was a large lake just north of Rome that looked inviting. So, Mike and Vince went off in search of lunch while Michelle and I waited next to the huge lake. This lake is supposed to be a crater lake, and while we munched on our pizza slices in the sunshine, we could see constant trails of bubbles surfacing. So, we believed it. A lovely place. The sort of lunch you dream about when you have to return to work, and you are reduced to memories of your fabulous holiday.

We drove back to the airport without any hassles at all, and we returned the rental car, passed through customs and waited for our flight. Vince drew a few planes while we were there, and Mike struck up a conversation with a wee Italian boy called Roberto.

Actually, Roberto was a very outgoing boy, and I laughed when he got up during the flight to go to the toilet. He walked down to the toilet area behind the cockpit, but didn’t know where the toilets were hiding (well, they are unusual doors until you get used to them). He looked back for guidance to his dad, who waved vaguely (as Italians do) in the direction of the toilet. But as Roberto looked around, the only door he could recognise was the door to the airplane. So, Roberto walked over to the airplane door he would have walked through about an hour before. At this point his dad leapt up very excited, shouting ‘No, Roberto!’ I wonder why? His dad walked up to sort out the toilet issue.

Back in England, we passed though customs easily (I had the luggage before the others arrived – aliens that they are!). Mike got his stamp in his new passport, so the old one is now relegated to history. Mike did comment that it was unusual no one questioned why he was travelling with two children not related to him. I read in the Mexico Lonely Planet that in this situation he would have been questioned for this, as many divorcing couples have their children whipped down to Mexico to avoid losing custody. But, obviously it isn’t a major hassle in Britain.

We caught the bus to the long-term carpark where der Bus was waiting patiently for us. We drove back to Hammersmith, and were home by 8:30pm. We had a message from Mum saying that Karen and Scott were trying to get on a 6am arrival the next morning but it wasn’t confirmed. I was in need of sleep, and was toying with the idea to ignore the early arrival time and sleep in instead. But, my conscience wouldn’t let me. So, I arranged to go and get them alone, and Mike would stay and let the kids sleep in for a bit.