HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Three Months Count-down

     March ‘bleated’ in like a lamb in lions’ clothing.  No matter how fierce the weather appeared, it was spring and all of nature, from the green grass on the hills to the swirls of ‘petal’ blizzards and drifts from the fruit trees, winter was long gone.

     After re-reading all the Mitford books, in chronological order, Marianne began re-reading the Tuscany books, Rick Steves, Doran’s “Reluctant Tuscan, and Tucker’s “Living In A Foreign Language”.  While catching up on Volterra, she can across Tuscan Tours, Annie J. Adair & Francesco Gronchi.  She had me get on-line and looked over their web site, drawn by the lure of a 5 euro tour.  I emailed:

Hi:

My wife and I are planning a trip to Tuscany in giugno of 2010.  We are staying two nights (26 & 27) at Seminario Vescovile Sant’ Andrea.

We read about your tours in Rick Steves’ books and are very interested in it.  We think Sunday, giugno 27 would work best for us.  Would it work for Annie?

Problem:  Marianne will probably be using a walker, so she might not be able to do a lot of climbing, etc. Please let us know if a tour is possible.

Thank you, David and Marianne Jones

Hello David and Marianne,

thank you for your email.

First let me address your valid mobility concern:

Volterra is not a very big city and therefore the distances walked to tour the city are not great.

However most of the city is on at least some grade of incline, which can pose a problem, as can the fact that at least half of the paving in pedestrian areas is made out of large cobble stones.

We can certainly create an alternative itinerary for the walking tour to avoid some of the steepest inclines and descents (for example by avoiding both the Etruscan gate Porta all'Arco and the Archeological park which lies above the rooftops of the city - and frankly isn't that interesting anyway!)

So a tour is possible, we just need to do it with a different lens and at a different pace.

I should warn you, however, that the walk from the Seminario to the city walls is perhaps longer that the walk from one side of the city walls to the other...

I don't want to dissuade you from staying there as it has a lot of character, but should you be interested in a reasonably priced alternative that is a bit closer to town or inside the town itself you might want to look at these places

B&B Primavera http://www.affittacamere-laprimavera.com/

Albergo Etruria www.albergoetruria.it

If you would still like to do the private walking tour with me, I am indeed available for Sunday the 27th of June.

We could start at 9 am and continue until 12 pm.

The cost for the tour is 105 Euro for a half-day, which means up to 3 hours.

I could meet you at the Seminario or in the center of town, whichever you prefer.

I look forward to hearing from you

Kind regards

Annie

Annie J. Adair & Francesco Gronchi

     When Marianne read Annie’s email, Marianne told me to “go for the half day tour”.  She also had me visit the B & B and Albergo web sites.  Once she saw La Primavera, she convinced me to email:

Buongiorno:

   My wife and I are planning a visit to Volterra in giugno (26 & 27).  Currently we have a reservation with the Seminario.  In contacting a tour guide, Annie J. Adair of Tuscan Tour, she suggested your B & B.  From the looks of your web site, it looks like a beautiful place to stay.  That being said, we are on a budget and the Seminario was more in our price range.  However, I was encouraged by the price quote on your web site, 70 euros a night 01/01/10 to 01/01/11. 

   Please let us know if you have a room available for the two nights we are there and if the total will be 140 euros.

Molto grazie, David and Marianne Jones

info@affittacamere-laprimavera.com

Dear Marianne and David,

for nights 26 and 27 I can offer you a double bed room with private bath room shower at Euro 70,00 for night included breakfast.

The total bill for 2 nights for 2 person is Euro 140,00.

The B&B is at only few step from the centre of Volterra and if you have car you can park it in my private parking.

Please if you need to confirm it please write me an e-mail.

Thank you,

Silvia Pineschi

Buongiorno Silvia Pineschi:

We are so happy to hear you have a vacancy for both those nights.

Deo Grazie!

How do we go about reserving the room and paying for it?  Do you 

need payment in advance?  We will have a car so a place to park is wonderful.

We are so glad we found La Primavera.

Grazie,

David and Marianne Jones

I also replied to Annie’s email:

Annie:

     Yes.  I we are interested in your morning tour.  I am not sure if we can 

do a full three hours, but will are willing to try.  Marianne says she will attempt 

anything... reasonable.

We want to thank you for your accommodation suggestions.  Marianne 

immediately had me looking La Primavera.  We heard from Silvia this morning 

and, yes, we will be staying there instead of the Seminario.

Money-wise we are spending more than I had budgeted for, but I think we will 

be much happier in the long run. 

Tell us how to reserve and pay for the tour, please.

We look forward to meeting you in June.

Saluti,

David and Marianne Jones

     We had not heard anything from Cristina and Tuscany Accommodations about the Calzaiuoli apartment in two weeks and frankly we were about very nervous that we had lost the place—and the money.  Finely, on Friday of the first week of March (three months before we were to leave) she responded:

Dear Mr and Mrs Jones 

do not worry your staying in our appartment is not jeopardized! 

I understand your concerns and I apologize for my request, but as I  have 

to transmit the copy of your document to the italian authority within 24 

hours of the arrive,   on saturday afternoon (when you arrive) and on sunday 

(the day after) is very hard to find a post office open to do this 

communication.( usually hotels do this communication on line, at the moment 

we are not activated) 

Anyway this is not your problem! 

However it would semplify everything if you could take with you a copy of 

your  document to give me at your arrive in Florence. 

Sorry again see you soon in Florence  

Cristina Galardi 

The same day, Cristina from HEM (car rental in Sovigliana) responded:

Goodmorning sir, 

don't matter for the place: our office in between Hotel da vinci and Banca 

toscana, when you are here you could see it without problems. 

Buongiorno Cristina,  

  I have been reading and thinking more about our time driving in Italy and I 

have a few questions, if it all right. 

Petrol stations:  

Do the pumps only take cash, or do they take credit cards, now?   

What does petrol cost per gallon in Italy now?  

Do they still close for reposo?  

Will we have trouble finding petrol stations open on the weekends? 

Too many?  Sorry. 

   I did notice from the Google street view, that there is a petrol station a 

few blocks northwest of your address on Via Palmiro Togliatti-Da Vinci.  Not 

knowing how old the photos are, is it still open for business?  

  I still did not find Maggiore Rent, but I do see In Coop, Hotel Da Vinci, MP 

Insurance Brokers (glass building), David Ex, C.E.D. Universo, M & M, Banca 

Toscana, etc. 

Molto grazie for your time, David and Marianne Jones 

For the petrol station: 

They take also credit card but, as you said then they close for reposo or 

weekends and in this case is still possible to take petrol or gasoil with the 

self-service!! 

Bye, Cristina 

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Scratch La Foce?

     In late February as Marianne and I started to decide on our extra tours in Florence, and then the third week, the driving week, I started really reading about some of the places we had decided on going in a ‘sane’ and focused’ manner.  I knew if I were to screw-up the driving portion of the trip I would, number one, cause some major problems with treno schedules and albergo bookings, and two, Marianne would never let me live it down.

    And so it happened one unusually sunny weekend in late February, that while reading in “Blue Guides: Tuscany”, I learned that La Foce, the garden estate of writer Iris, and her husband Antonio, Origo is only open on Wednesdays—in the afternoons to the public.  I read it again several times just to make sure it was true.  I couldn’t believe it.  We wouldn’t be near that area of the Val d’Orcia on that day of the week; we would be in Lucca.  I was dumbfounded that I had not discovered this important fact months ago.  I didn’t panic, much, at first, and decided that the book was a good ten years old, and surely they would have surely extended the hours since then.  Confidently I went to the La Foce website (lafoce.com) and read that, yes, indeed, they were only open from 3 to 7 PM on Wednesdays, but that they had included Saturdays, 9 to noon and 3 to 7 PM. 

     Oh, great, I thought!  I have truly blown this portion trip.  How could I have been so stupid as to have not read this information and planned accordingly months ago, before the treno tickets, the car rental, and the booking of hotels?  I was beside myself with anger. 

     Marianne, in her calm, comforting way, just said “That’s just the way these things work out.  You can’t do it all.”

      I thought “oh hell, yes, you can!” and began to devise an alternative travel plan, that literally, threw everything I had done ‘high into the air’.  Quite a ‘paradigm shift’!

    I envisioned that we would have to leave Firenze on Saturday giugno 26, rent a car in Empoli, race down to Montalcino by 3 PM, check into the B & B, drive to La Foce for a 4 PM reservation, and then try to take in Chiusi after 6 PM.  That even sounded stupid to me.

     I panicked and emailed La Foce hoping they would let us in for a quick visit, since we were coming from so far away: 

Buongiorno:

My wife and I have been planning the trip of a life time to Tuscany in June of 2010.  We have worked very hard make sure we could visit the many amazing and beautiful sights of your area.  One of the highlights of our trip was visiting the gardens of La Foce.  I tired to plan carefully and schedule correctly, planned a place to stay and rent a car so we can drive the countryside of Val D’Orcia and visit the gardens and estate.   We can't tell you what pleasure this privilege means to us. 

Unfortunately, I did not see your only hours of operation are only Wednesday afternoons.  We are absolutely devastated.  We are planning to be in Pienza, Montepulciano and Val D'Orcia on Tuesday afternoon, giugno 29th only.  We are heart broken that we will come all that way from the west coast of the United States and not be able to see La Foce. 

Mi dispiace.  Per farvore. Is there any way that we could stop in for a short look around on that date?  It would be such a shame to just drive by on our way to Chiusi.  Please let us know if it is possible.

Molto Grazie, David and Marianne Jones

The response was quick and decisive:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jones,

I'm terribly sorry, but the Villa is now available for weekly rentals and the guests have the exclusive use of the gardens and the house, therefore we really can't open to gardens to anyone in any other day but Wednesdays.  I really hope you'll be able to change your schedule a little bit.

Best regards, Benedetta Isidori

   No go, Joe.   I even emailed Fernando, in a vain attempt to maybe switch days of Assisi and Spoleto on Wednesday for Pienza and Montepulciano (Thursday):

Buongiorno Fernando and Rosetta:

     I am sorry to keep bothering you.  I have made a foolish mistake as I was planning places to see our third week in Italy.  We wanted to visit La Foce to see the gardens and the estate.  Unfortunately, I planned it for Tuesday, giugno 29th.  Upon reading the information of the La Foce website, they are only open Wednesday afternoons. 

     Have you ever visited La Foce?  Do you know if they make any allowances for 'dumb' Americans who have trouble reading?  We would love to see it while we are there and it seems such shame to just drive by and not stop.  If you have time let us know.

Grazie, David and Marianne Jones

…but I didn’t hear back from him, so I assumed I set American/ Italian relationships back at least 50 years.  What a ‘stupido’ I was!

     As I looked at the scenario, I came to the awful conclusion that, yes, you can’t do everything.  The change would involve rescheduling everything.  There was go guarantee that any of these places would have opens at the new dates.  I was too much to do to re-book and reschedule.  I, wisely concluded, that there would be no formal gardens in the countryside of Val D’Orcia.  Sorry Iris and Antonio Origo, the cosmic ‘Travel-Nazi’ says ‘No “La Foce” for you--David!

     Then, less than a week later, Fernando emails:

Dear David and Marianne,

sorry for delay ! We are at the moment in holiday in Australia .. a very

biiiig country!

Back to you: About La Foce, if it's: La Foce 61, Strada della Vittoria - 53042 Chianciano Terme we will try to visit it, perhaps we will exchange the tour of Wednesday with the one of Monday a.s.o.

Once we will be back home we will work through.. it's enough also to arrange it on your arrival, just let us remember.

Saluti,  Fernando

I fired back:

Fernando:

You are a blessing.  I don't want to push anything or mess up any of your planning.

Whatever works we will be content with.  Thank you.

We are both just delighted to hear that you are visiting Australia.  What fun!  You will have to share your adventures in the land down under when we see you in June.

Grazie!  David and Marianne Jones

Maybe there would be hope still.  I would just have to patient and wait.

Apartment Woes

Buongiorno Cristina:

We do not want to jeopardize our renting the Calzaiuoli apartment that we have reserved and paid for giugno 19 to 26, 2010, but after consulting with several friends who have traveled to Italy, and especially Firenze, and a several people who run albergos and B & B's there, we have decided not to send you the copies of our passports by mail.  They warn us that the right time to give documentation is upon arrival.  We understand that by law you do need these documents; we have every intention of complying with the law fully and punctually on our arrival.

    We are very concerned about these documents, and the personal information they contain, may not get to your offices without other eyes seeing them.  Identity theft is a very real and growing problem in USA, as I am sure it is all around the world.

We just do not think it is wise to put our personal information out in such an unsecured manner.  The copies have been made and we would like to hand them to you or your representative, along with the cleaning deposit and security fees, when we meet you in person Saturday, giugno 19, 2010.

   We sincerely hope that you understand our dilemma and will tolerate our concerns.  Let us know if this will be all right.  We await you response.

Molto grazie,

David and Marianne Jones

Firenze! Calcio Storico/San Giovanni Festa

Not sure you can get ticket on line, check eventually with your hotel if the y can get for you prior to your arrival. Normally the match starts around 5.00 pm so the consider for the parade a couple of hours before. The fireworks will be at 10pm or 10.30pm.

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Late Winter/Early Spring in the Umpqua 2010

    Well, time had moved on to the weekend between Valentines Day and President’s Day.  It rained miserably on Sunday, but Monday was such good weather that I was literally forced to mow the lawn and make a dump run.  The ground was so wet in the side and back yard I created mud just by passing over the grass with the mower.  You have to realize that there was standing water in the yard.  Really. What a mess, but now the lawn looked good, and I could tell how much moss killer I hade to buy.  Anyone from the northwest knows what our winters are like; dark, wet, and usually cold, and, yes, we do hibernate. 

     Oh and Fog.  Did I mention the fog?  Winters in the 100 valleys of the Umpqua are--simply--foggy.  The closer you are to the river, Umpqua (Uh-mp-kwah) the more fog you wake up to every day--and drive through, and look at until noon--or 2 PM--or 4 PM when it gets dark.  Some days the fog doesn't every leave.  So when you add the cloud layer, and at times, the inversion layer, it's just dark, grey, and depressing.  No wonder the word Umpqua means "the dead'.  It truly seems that it's all lifeless and bleck--grey.  It's a 'special' time of year in Southern Oregon.  That year, the fog and warmer weather did a great job of growing moss.  Moss is everywhere--in the lawn, on the sidewalks, on the blacktop, in the tress, on the walls--you name it and it had moss on it.  See, Oregon is green year-round.  Lovely.

     However, when we experienced spring the second week of February, and all the bulbs came up, sprouted and bloomed, everything budded, and there was no way I couldn’t get out in my yard.  Now I knew I couldn’t touch the soil until late March, it’s a rule here in Douglas County, but I had to weed, rake, and clean up some things from the short winter. And don’t forget the roses—they had to be severely cut back by President’s Day.   With the full sun shining and the temperature in the 60’s (February 15^th!) how could anyone stay inside?

     Hotel Sileo is one block nord of Roma Termini stazione.  It is on street full of albergos, hostels, etc.  Besides Sileo there’s Fawlty Towers, Hotel Blu, and Hotel Marco Polo sharing the same entrance, and many others up and down the street.  It seems to be the street where tourists go after getting to Roma.  I liked their emails and honest replies.  I couldn’t wait to actually meet them.  We confirmed our reservation and ask about sending our passports (copies) to the apartment managers in Firenze.  They replied:

hello thanks for the message yes you'll came in june and of corse when 

you arrive in roma came in the hotel no problem and for the passaport 

yes we need to have just for registration one second whenyou came thn 

we'll we give you back soon for the person who asked you now we think 

not correct mybe he wa't make sure that you go ther since for low we 

know that when the person arrived must give the passport by anna for to 

pay in money by

I was so please with the progress of our trip plans I ‘Facebooked’ my former high school teacher, turned writer Marianne Love:

Mrs. Love, it's David Jones.  I turned 54 (I can't even believe it) on Tuesday...Doug did too.

Marianne (my wife) and I are going to Tuscany in June!!!  We decided to take the 'plunge'.  There goes retirement.  O, well.

I have been blogging (to myself only) about the year-long process of planning the best (not the perfect) three week trip money can buy.  We have a week with a guide and a B & B in Magione, Umbria (Assisi, Spoleto, Perugia, Montalcino, Siena, Pienza, Montepulciano), then a week in Florence in a small apartment, and the third week we are going to drive from hill town to church, exploring.  It's like I'm following in the foot steps of Francis Mayes (she doesn't take your emails), Ferenc Mate (Hills of Tuscany, Vineyard in Tuscany, and Wisdom of the Tuscans) who does take emails and wants to show us their winery, and Phil Doran, who wrote Reluctant Tuscan (he volunteered his wife to help us with tour plans).

I've written about 100 pages so far...and we don't actually leave until June 10th.  Yes, Marianne thinks I'm nuts.  You would probably be appalled at my writing.  I do go back occasionally and clean it up; Marianne helps me.

Olympic Opening Ceremony--Long.  Technologically Brilliant!  Curse NBC for running it so late!

I had to mow the lawn today.  All my bulbs are up and starting to bloom, flowering trees are flowering, everything is budding.  It's been a bizarre winter, and an extremely early spring.

I'll stop now,

David Jones

RVSP

Re: Tuscany Bound... 

She replied:

David, 

First, Happy Birthday to you and Doug, albeit late.  When you start feeling old, 

      always remember I'm ahead of you by nine years.  Will be 63 in June, but I don't 

feel that old----most of the time.  

What's really awful about my age right now is having lived in my hometown 

forever.  This past week the deaths of people I know reached an all-time half 

dozen.  That gets a little depressing, especially when many of them are younger. 

Your trip sounds wonderful.  It sounds like you've had time to explore every 

possibility.  I've heard nothing but good about that area, so I'm sure it will 

be a huge life memory for you.  Every time I travel, I always stew over the 

money spent, usually beforehand and while letting it slip through my hands on 

the trip. 

That said, my opinion changes completely after all bills are paid and time has 

passed.  I believe traveling gives us the best bang for the buck of virtually 

any other investment because the memories last a lifetime.  And, they get only 

sweeter with time.  

Two memorable trips for me, where I figured at the time I was spending too much 

money, were with my daughter.  One was to visit her while she was an exchange 

student in New Zealand, and the other was this past December when we went to 

Maui.  Both were life-altering experiences, simply because both places were so 

different and friendly and beautiful.  

The only problem after such big adventures is building up the bank account to do 

it again. 

Keep me informed as you get closer to your trip and keep writing that blog.  

You'll love going back to read and remember. 

Happy Valentine's Day 

The Other, Older Marianne 

     The question that still remained in my mind was what part of Tuscany was I going to really identify with most?  I grew up in southern Idaho, so the large, flat expanses of farmland, with volcanic plateaus and dry summers, would probably be most like the Crete Sense and the Val d’Orcia.   I spent my teens and early adulthood in the green hills, and mountains of the Idaho panhandle—maybe like the hills of Chianti?  And of course the family lived on the shore of a large fresh water lake (Pend Oreille), so would lago Trasimemo be most appealing to me.  Or would the green rolling hills and valleys, with vineyards dotting the landscape—like the Umpqua, make me feel most “at home”—like Umbria. 

     I really wanted to know.  I was four months away from finding out and I could hardly wait. 

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Reading Literature (February 2010—4 Months to Go)

    What do good Oregonians do when the winter rains really set in and they can’t go out in their yards to play?  They sit inside and read.  As I approached my and my twin brother’s 54 birthdays, I found that I was back into the obsessive habit of reading—a lot.  At that time I had both Rick Steve’s “Florence and Tuscany 2010” and “Italy 2009” dog-eared for the third or fourth read-through and Alta Macadam’s “Blue Guide: Tuscany” by my leather recliner in the family room.  I tried to drone out Food Network or HGTV chatter with some travel information.  On my night stand I had Pete McCarthy’s “McCarthy’s Bar,” 2000; it’s a great book about rediscovering the Ireland of today by a Brit who spend summers there as a kid.  After reading it, I either really wanted to go to Ireland or would avoid it all together—thanks to McCarthy.     

    And on the toilet I have both APA Insight Guides “Umbria” and the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides:  “Italy”.  “Umbria” has insanely gorgeous photos and wonderful history and insights into the “green heart” of Italia. Like all Eyewitness books, this one has great photos, detailed maps, and excellent cut away pictures of buildings, churches, etc.  The Florence maps are so detailed that we could see the building where our apartment was located. 

   On the night stand there was “A Thousand Days In Tuscany” by Marlene De Blasi that Marianne had already read and found to be “poetic/lyrical”—which really was not my idea of a good read.  The third one down was “A Small Place in Italy” by Eric Newby--recommended by Rick Steve’s --a book about building and renovating a house in Italy was more in-line with my interests, and it looked like a quick read before Mayes’ fifth Tuscany book “Everyday Living in Tuscany” arrived in March, just under “Piano by” Jean Echenoz (French) and Crichton’s “Pirate Latitudes” (why not--I’ve already read everything he wrote).

     When our 54 birthdays rolled around, I got a pile of reading materials from Doug.  He had included Frommer’s “Florence and Tuscany—Day by Day”, Lonely Planet’s “Tuscany”, and “Art and Architecture:  Florence” by Rolf C. Wirtz.  He also included things he had used while on his several trips to Italy: the ristoranti guide “Il gusto del viaggio: Taste Toscana”, two Florence maps, “Guida ai Sevizi Igienici del Commune di Firenze (Public Facilities)”, a guide to the Church of Santa Maria Novella, a business card for Trattoria Anita, a hand-out from “Dei Mori” Bed and Breakfast, a three maps--two enlarged color photo copies--of Lucca.  No doubt every one of these treasures would come in handy, if I could actually get through them all.  I also got a small book called “Italian Without Words” (Cangelosi and Carpini), a small humor book that our friend Molly thought would be so funny.  Marianne suggested that I do not learn this kind of Italian, and I believed she‘s right.

When March rolled around, Frances Mayes book “Everyday In Tuscany” showed up in the mail.  Of course I have read all of her books, except her novel “The Swan”.   

     And for some inexplicable reason I kept wanting to watch Diane Lane (it’s obvious) in “Under The Tuscan Sun”—a movie that basically used Mayes title, but totally changed absolutely everything about her life (except that she’s a writer) in Cortona, but the town itself.  The cinematography in the film is outstanding, and I can identify all the locals of every scene, including passing by Tempio San Bagio (really outside of Montepulciano) with the sign for “entering Cortona” on the road beside it. 

     The movies’ creator-writer-co-producer-director, Audrey Wells, had some narrative lines that not only stick in your brain, but give insight into the land of the Etruscans and resonated deep in me.   Every time I watch it, I know again why Tuscany is so alluring and enduring.  The landscape and architecture are overwhelming in their beauty.  The romantic, far-fetched idea of getting off a romantic tour of Tuscany (“Gay and Away”) tourist bus and stumbling into your own Tuscan paradise (your own ‘private Tuscany’) is so unreal, but so encouraging to the dreamer in us all.

     Lines like: Salute to freedom!  …How can you say no to Tuscany?  …Inner voice that’s saying what the fuck are you doing!  …At a crossroads an empty shell person  …“terrible ideas, don’t you just love those”…  ‘Signo di Deo’!  …‘Living spherically’ “…built a train track over the Alps from Italy to Switzerland, because they knew that one day a train would be built that could make the journey… Any arbitrary turning along the way and I would be elsewhere, I would be different. 

     I feel that way all the time--that I am the total sum of my collected parts.  My life being the whole and all my experiences, however shaped by myself, others, fate, God, or whatever, has put me here.  Something has put me into a new phase of my life.  I will retire in about four years and then what are we going to do with ‘our’ lives?  I cannot see sitting idle and watching the last part of my life process by.  If Italy’s calling, I am going to answer.  It might be for just three weeks, but I need to find out why this place has affected so many people so profoundly.  I guess I see my life leading us to this.  I used to think I wanted Austria and France, but now Italia?  A vineyard in Tuscany?  That’s pazzo!

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Take On Truffle Issue Thing (January 2010--5 Months to Go)

     After reading about black truffles in my Umbria book, remembering what Ferenc Mate and especially Peter Mayle have written (France, but they still grow in the same place--under ground by a dwarf/young oak trees), I really wanted to taste and smell this earthy delicacy.  I told Marianne that if I lived in Italy I would want to do the whole experience:  take the dog out to route and find them, watch the process of preparing and cooking them, and learning to do it for myself.  Of course, it goes without saying that I want to eat them too.  Hell, if Michael Tucker thinks they’re the next thing closest to heaven, they have got to be good, right?  Marianne just looked at me with a wrinkled nose and said, “Well you’re the only one that’s going to be eating them.  Why would anyone like a black mold?” 

     I just stopped mid sentence and vaguely nodded my head, knowing this dream was not going to come true—any time soon. 

     “What is the big deal with ‘treasuring’ a fungus?  If it were in our house, we’d put on breathing masks, hang plastic sheets, and pay an exorbitant amount to have it professionally removed as toxic waste.”

     Later on, silly as it seemed, I was just messing around on ‘You Tube’ and started to type in names of writers, Mayes, Mate, Dorn, etc. just to see what might be currently out there.  That’s the way I found an old interview that Mate did promoting his book, “A Vineyard In Tuscany” and few years back.   I found that Mayes is not on video, and Ferenc wasn’t talking about his latest book, yet.  To my surprise, I found a silly video that Phil and Nancy Doran did as a sales device for his book “Reluctant Tuscan.”  It was very home spun and quite humorous.  I felt I needed to send him a note about it.  He responded days later, as if he didn’t have much going on this cold winter in Italy:

Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the video. I'm glad to hear you're planning 

to come to Tuscany. We're here now and it's cold! But it's still beautiful albeit in a 

different way than the summer. 

    If Nancy and I can help with any suggestions for your trip please let us know. 

Ciao for now' 

Phil

     I liked the way he volunteered his wife for the duties of tour guide.  Coincidentally, we did have some questions about a few travel plans, and sadly I feared, I would be emailing and bugging them.  I could just imagine Nancy getting an email from someone she does not know, asking about the idiosincercies of off-the-main-road travel in Tuscany.  When she discovers that it was her husband who gave me the green light to proceed, I am sure she will have a few “Boh!”s and a good tongue lashing about communicating with strangers (stranieri).

     I also re-contacted Fernando in Umbria and asked him about arrangements before and after our stay with them.  I also asked what he thought about  Cristina’s (Florence) request and if it was appropriate.  He responded:

Dear David and Marianne,

nice to hear from you!!

Sorry for delay, we are working for maintainances...

About your questions:

- Pick up = Rome at your hotel (Sileo) on Sunday June 13th around 09:30-10:00 am.

- Departure = Transfer to Florence on Saturday June 19th around 08:00 (Florence 

around 10:00) to the train station where you can store your luggage so long you need, 

then by taxi (ab10 euro) you can reach the Piazza Cimatori that is not allowed to the 

private cars.

- The low provide that passports have to be registered on arrival... I would not send 

copies...

The tour you have in mind on your own is very interesting so we are sure you will 

have a nice holiday in Italy.
Once you are here if you need to arrange something we will help you with pleasure.

Saluti, Fernando

     Fernando continued to impress me as one of those very intuitive, savvy and just plain smart men.  The kind of guy that never boasts about his knowledge, just shares it whenever asked.   I had never met the guy, but I could tell I liked him already.

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Life Happens…

    Around the first part of January, I started to loose focus on the Italian trip and had to start focusing on my life.  Shit started to happen while I was out making other plans, as the song goes.  School began to get more intense.  The Elementary Music Teachers, over reaching again, were looking at doing three or four grants for instruments, equipment, a traveling drum set, refining a keyboard methods book we had all had a hand in developing, and just plan teaching.  Vintage Singers had their annual Twelfth Night Concert and we did one of the hardest Handel pieces I think I’ve ever done, ‘Dixit Dominus’, written by a 22 year old Handel while visiting Italy.  You see, even Handel went to Italy.  Our director promised that our spring concert at the end of April would be much easier.  We all hoped she was telling the truth. 

     And church.  Church had barely let up after Christmas.  I was losing choir members left and right.  One had cancer surgery and was awaiting the second surgery to put her internals back together after her chemo.  My only tenor was quickly succumbing to Lour Gehrig’s disease, and his wife, my strongest alto, had to become his caregiver.  My other strong alto had been out of two months with a strange auto-immune disorder.  My friend and lead soprano had to tend to her business degree before she failed the classes.  That left me and a soprano, who fell and dislocated her lower leg bones, to sing tenor.  I had to switch my other good alto to soprano, and my lead bass was retired, going off vestry, and probably going to runaway with his wife in their motor home for some place far, far away.  Preparing and planning for weekly services was taking more and more time, and interfering with my real job and my home life more than it had every in the past.  It was with great sadness and resolve that I decided to resign my Music Director position at St. George’s.  I had an Epiphany during Epiphany. 

    I would be 54 in two weeks and I was still running around, multi-tasking, pleasing everyone else, but slowly watching my life drift away.  I did the things I enjoy doing, but I felt like I had to work through it all and I really didn’t get the enjoyment out of it.  I planned to tell the Priest around annual meeting at the end of February; I would work my last day the first Sunday in June and that was all I would do. 

     Knowing the way things were going with the trip, that would be the day we would have to pack our bags for the plane ride on the following Thursday.  I could already envision that last week before the trip being an absolute ‘madhouse’.  I would have to work Saturday and Sunday at school to get grades done.  At Church I would have to file music and make everything presentable for the next director.  The list was getting longer by the day and I hadn’t even finished planning the Italy trip yet--or paid for anything yet.

    So while all of these things were swirling around in my life, I got sick and lost a day of work.  That day, after returning from the doctor, and two hours in Rite Aid waiting for prescriptions to be filled, I wrote down a little list of things that needed to get done—things that I could remember, at the time, that we had to do or decisions we would have to make.

TO DO LIST ITALIA:

• European cell phones
• Check limitations/transaction fees of credit cards
• Buy a large suitcase (checked)
• Walker for Marianne
• 4 photo copies of each passports
• Get Euros
• Money belts 2 for each?
• 2 Small or 2 medium packing ‘boxes’ for both

PORTLAND June 9 & July 4

• Motel in Portland 2 nights with free parking & shuttle to and from PDX

ROMA     giugno 10 & 11

• Shuttle tickets from Fiunacino to Termini Roma    (at airport)
• Confirm/Pay Hotel Sileo  Roma        ($220)
• Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour in Roma

MAGIONE

• Fernando Scattini:  Driving us to Firenze or taking treno? 
•       Or Ticket cost: Magione -S.M.N.
• Pay F & R (Bella Magione)

FIRENZE

Locate luggage storage in Firenze giugno 19 noon to 4 PM ?

• Find Transportation
• TAXI/Elettrico Bus A to Piazza Cimatori 19.6.10
• TAXI/Elettrico Bus costs/stops in Firenze/Fiesole
• Book Firenze/Donatella tours / pay for them
• TAXI from Pz. Cimatori to Treno stazione S.M.N. 26.6.10
• TRENO Firenze (S.M.N.) to Empoli

EMPOLI

• Maggiore Rent
• Locate: Maggiore Rent in Empoli
• TAXI to/from Maggiore Rent from Empoli treno stazione (26.6.10 & 30.6.10)
• Phone #’s for Maggiore & taxi in Empoli

SAN GIMIGNANO

• Elettrico Bus stops/costs/schedules in San Gimignano

TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE

• Admission Costs for: 
• Etruscan museum (Volterra)
• Ab. San Galgano
• Banfi Winery (Montalcino)
• Mate Winery (Montalcino)
• Ab. D’Abato
• La Foce
• Etruscan museum / parking (Chiusi)
• San Bagio (Montipulciano)
• Monteriggioni?
• Dievole Tour (E40)
• Treno tickets/costs: Empoli to Lucca

LUCCA

• TAXI to/from treno stazione:  Albergo Diana giugne 30 & luglio 2
• TAXI to Pz. Verdi and back/etc.
• Bus to/from Campo dei Miracoli (Pisa)  
• Schedule/book/costs for Campelino climb
• Lucca Tours/etc.: bikes / Torre Guinigi / San Giuseppe concert tickets?

TRENO tickets/cost:  Lucca to Roma

Shuttle Treno:  Roma Termini to Fiunacino

Shuttle to/from motel

Motel at Fiumicino airport luglio 2, 2010

     I suddenly started to get a panic attack.  This was too much to do in such a short time—well four months time.  I handed the list over to Marianne who appreciated it very much, but I could tell she really couldn’t believe that I was worrying about all matter of minutia while being sick.  She smiled and thanked me.

     By the end of the week, she had found a hotel at the Rome Airport—researched to make sure it had a free shuttle, etc., and even paid for it.  This is when we found out that a foreign business will not take credit cards that have an expiration date before the reservation date.  Our card’s expiration date was 2/10.  I had called the card company and they had assured me that the card was good through the end of February and that we would have the new cards within three weeks, but that did not calm the apparent fears of the Italian people.  We had opened our travel account with another bank in October, and of course they had given us a Visa card.  We just hadn’t called to activate it because we didn’t want another credit card.  One is just enough, thank you.  So, while Marianne’s on the computer making the reservation, I am on the phone conversing with the automated card activation service.  It didn’t take more that 15 minutes and we had a non-expiring card and a reservation at the Hilton at Fiumicino.  The next day I found the best rate anywhere near the Portland airport for a ‘stay-park-fly’ package that cost just about as much ads the Hilton room in Italy. 

     Soon Cristina, from Firenze, we thought, was bugging us to send her copies of our passports.  I had assumed that this would be collected along with the €30 cleaning deposit on the afternoon of June 19 in Firenze.  She wanted it sent electronically, but I ‘mi scuzi, mi dispiace’ed her that we had no way of doing that and that I would be glad to run out and photo copy the documents and send them by snail mail.  She agreed and sent an address, Bologna.  I couldn’t believe it.  Bologna.  I though she was going to greet us in the Piazza Cimatori in Firenze.  It was sounding like she wasn’t going to be there for that key exchange, but yet someone else.  I actually had concerns about she premature tactics and I emailed the Firenze Chamber of Commerce.  Yes, they actually do have one of those. 

     Next, we had to find out if Fernando would drive us all the way to Firenze or if we had to get treno tickets.  We knew that if he did drive and drop us off, that Fiona could probably help us find our way to the apartment.  Next came the problem of, which sometimes woke me up in the middle of the night, finding the car rental place in Empoli. 

     I searched and found a contact email and began a brief conversation with yet another Cristina, and found out exactly where the Maggiore Rent was located.  It was not out a country road as Google Maps claimed, but across the Arno River in the town of Solvignana, about five minutes from the treno stazione.  Once I had that all confirmed I started looking a Google Maps to find the easiest, and I mean safest, route for us to drive out of the two towns and south to San Gimignano.  The roads I found came within 20 km of the hill town of San Miniato.  I couldn’t believe it.  Early in my search of places to visit in Italy, I found Vinci (Leonardo’s birth place) and San Minato.  Vinci was a little north of Solvignana and not in the direction we were heading, but we could, in theory, take a 30 side trip over to this absolutely picturesque hilltop town of San Miniato.   Then we could wind down adequate rural roads, avoiding some of the more populated areas that are on the highway that leads from Empoli, south and east, eventually to Poggibonsi.  We could leave the highway at Cauldo and head up S-1 to San Gimignano.

     I was feeling confident about things, until I realized that both Fernando and the Albergo Diana in Lucca had our credit card information, with questionable expiration date.  Would our reservations be disregarded because of this ‘glitch’?  Then I remembered that the Hotel Sileo in Roma hadn’t communicated with me in two months, since before Thanksgiving, and I was sure they didn’t have any credit card information.  We were stuck until the Visa Company reissued our new cards.

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Visit to Port Orford, Oregon

     Our friends from down the street, Peter and Lana, bought a house in the nearly remote sea-side community of Port Orford, Oregon.  Both of them are retired now and have spent a great deal of their free time somewhere on the coast dreaming of the day they might have a cottage at the ocean.  They found a terrific house, very sound and weather-tight.  It isn’t on the beach, but in Port Orford you don’t really want to live at the beach.  It is a bit severe—climate-wise.  Between Christmas and New Years we visited then in their home on the southern Oregon coast. 

     Marianne and I, just as everybody in western part of the state, love the Oregon coast no matter what part of it we are on.  When I was growing up in Idaho, my dad took the family on a Oregon vacation.  I remember vividly visiting the Oregon coast, especially Sunset Bay, near Charleston and Coos Bay.  If you don’t know about the tide pools at Sunset Bay, which every school aged kid on the western side of the Oregon Coastal Range knows about, and then you don’t know the Oregon coast.  It is absolutely one of the best places in the world to witness the beauty of creation.  Shore Acres, just a few miles south, is one of the finest botanical gardens you’ll find, and the crashing surf is breathtaking.  Situated on the grounds of former timber baron, J. P. Simpson, the multi-acre park, secluded in coastal pines, over looks the dramatic Pacific coast.  Marianne and I went there on our honeymoon.  Although the Oregon coast has gotten terribly over-run with development and tourists, most of the beauty remains. 

      Bandon is the favorite get away spot for many ‘Roseburg-ers’.  Bandon-by-the-Sea was a quiet fishing town, once ravaged by wild fires; it was the perfect place to get to the water, either in a cheap motel or camping at Bullard’s State Park.  In the last ten a years the poor sleepy community has been battered into “Californication” by the addition of a world class destination golf course, Bandon Dunes, which is said may be on a par with St. Andrew’s in Scotland, but it sure sucked the ‘ow-key’ cheapness out of Bandon. 

     For over about eight years, we have been going to Yachats, south of Newport (now shamefully and grossly commercialized and over-built).  Yachats (Yah-hahts) was the perfect tiny town on the Oregon coast.  We would always go over after Christmas and stay until New Years.  Summer was also a great time to find a week to hang out in the sleepy wind swept community.  We have even contemplated finding a house that we could buy stay, rent, and retire to when I was through teaching. 

     Our favorite place to stay was the Shamrock Lodgetts—cabins that had a pristine unspoiled vista of the whole Pacific right outside the front porch.  It was what the Oregon coast use to be.  The shops and restaurants were fun and funky to explore and it was quiet, except for the Landmark on the weekend.  We stopped going after the strip malls started to dot the highway and some senseless greedy-types bull-dozed the Lodgetts and turned the property into multiple family dwellings—cheap looking boxes going for $800, 000 to a million. 

   Fed up with the greed and the corruption of the Oregon coast, many of us Oregonians keep searching for a place that offers a small town life, uninfluenced by the outside world.  Our friends, Lana and Peter, also theatre/music friends, both recently retired, were longing for a pristine patch of coastal space.  They found it in Port Orford.  Located on Highway 101 26 or so miles south of Bandon, this very unassuming and economically depressed area has a lot going for it.  The town is situated around the headlands, on which the old coast guard center was located.  The old buildings are now a museum.  The clean and organized trails around the headlands are perfect for walking, in almost any weather. 

     We drove there in about two and a half hours.  Miraculously the rain stopped when we got into town.  However, the first night it rained hard—driven sideways by the high wind.  We had our appetites set on the best fish and chips on the southern coast, according to Sunset Magazine, at ‘The Crazy Norwegian’s’.  However, after two bottles of wine and appetizers at our host’s new home, we arrived at an over-packed hole-in-the wall restaurant at 7:30 PM to find that it had a wait-list—and hour.  Peter was shocked.  He couldn’t believe that the place could ever be that full.  The restaurant across the street was closed so we headed back up 101, near their home, and had pizza at ‘Hard Rain’.  They have never had a bad meal there.  The food was great and the young waiter kept us in stitches.  Pizza and salad was a complete meal.

     The next day the sun broke through and the coast revealed itself in glorious splendor.  Marianne was in a reading mood, but I needed some outdoor time.  Peter and Lana walk daily and have a favorite trail--the headlands.  We happened to choose to walk on the most perfect day possible.  Leaving Marianne to fend for her self (the town boasts an excellent Quilt Shop) the three of us took the scenic route, taking in a small lake right on the shore, the beach, the dry dock, and the headlands walk.  Talk about the coast at its raw best.  The surf was incredible.  The cliffs and bluffs are high in this part of the coast and the ocean is deep.  The combination creates thundering waves that crash on shore in an awesome crescendo.  This is not the gentle rolling surf of Seaside; it is unadulterated mother earth at her powerful best.

    The sunny day, extremely rare, afforded us the opportunity to walk the beach and comb for agates.  Coming into the park, we were met by a young porcupine, which was agreeable to picture taking, provided we were respectful.  The water was just a little too cold to walk in, and because the surf here pounds the shore with unbridled fury, it was best to keep on the dark, aggregate-like sand. 

    Next, my hosts showed me the highlights of Port Orford.  It was a typical rural town on the Oregon coast, except the houses around the lake, and the big ones on the way up to the headlands were impressive.  The whole park area at the former Coast Guard Station has been developed and maintained.  It was a great place to walk, with huge, majestic trees and absolutely stunning views of the steep shoreline below.  As you walk around the headlands, you can see the old rescue station where the coast guard would run down the hill, and slide the huge boats into the protected surf.  The light house is gone now, but the vista from the concert pad that remains was breathtaking.  We happened to run into a mutual friend, Diane, a former ‘Mousketeer’ (honesty) and dancer who was one of the first brave souls to move to Port Orford from Roseburg.  She and her husband Rick have a great piece of property up above the highway.  Marianne and I have done incredible theatre with both Diane and Rick—hugely talented, giant hearted.

     Being a former dancer, Diane has to walk, and walk briskly, ever day.  That’s how we meet on the trail; she was completing her third lap of the two-mile trail.  After a comical reunion, with howls of laughter, we decided to make plans for breakfast the next day at a local café.  Then, off she went power walking into the forest.  That night we ate in: delicious fresh-made ravioli from ‘Hard Rain’.  Along with a salad, left over pizza and wine; it was a feast. 

     Breakfast at a local café brought rain, but the food was great and the company ‘molto’ fun.  Rick and Diane were ecstatic about our plans to visit Italy.  The outgoing couple has been helping with a fledgling theater in Port Orford, Theatre 101, which our mutual friend, Perry, has created.  They have already done a dozen shows in the three to four year history of the theater.  Rick and Diane took us on a tour of the space and we were pleasantly surprised by the place.  By the end of the tour, the rain was sideways again and rivers were coursing through the parking lot.  We said our goodbyes to all and headed back out on the road for home.  We are hoping to get back to Port Orford soon.  It was definitely worth a second look.

     When we got home I emailed Fiona Lapham:

We are hoping you will be working and cooking so we can dine there (if we can afford it).
We will be staying in an apartment on Piazza Cimatori (via de'Cerchi and via Dante Alighieri  --about four blocks (?) south of the Duomo).  We are getting 'dropped off' by the tour/B&B people from Magione, where we'll be the week before.  What's the best place to get a taxi or ride the ellettrico bus A if he drops us off farther out of the city?
I started reading the travel books and found that the Thursday we are there (giugno 24) is Festival of St. John of Florence and Calcio Fiorentino.  The books warn about avoiding this day.  Is it really that bad--that pazzo!?  I would love to see the soccer game, but can we get anywhere?  will we be able to get into a restaurant?  If I do in fact have a job you of course will be more than welcome to dine there. 

She responded:

The best way to get a taxi is to call the company, the number is 0554242, or, you can get dropped off at one of the taxi stands. If you tell me which direction you are coming from when you get dropped off I can recommend a stand. 

San Giovanni, or St. John's day, is really fun! The soccer game is really interesting, though very violent. The best part of the day is the fireworks at night. The city does get quite crowded around that time, but I don't think it will be too bad to get into a restaurant. The only difficult part is getting out of the city afterwards, but if you're staying in the city than it shouldn't be a problem. I usually go down to the city on that day since it is so fun. 

Let me know if you have any questions, Fiona