Off to Fondi
Time to leave, what a shame it has been lovely living in our museum. I have recorded the bells so if it ever get too quiet I can play them on my laptop.
On the last night there was a Mary parade and then a big fireworks display in the vally. It was as if the did it just for us, Faye and I sat on chairs on the balcony and the fireworks went off at our height, was great and the bangs echoed round the valley.
Time to leave, what a shame it has been lovely living in our museum. I have recorded the bells so if it ever get too quiet I can play them on my laptop.
On the last night there was a Mary parade and then a big fireworks display in the vally. It was as if the did it just for us, Faye and I sat on chairs on the balcony and the fireworks went off at our height, was great and the bangs echoed round the valley.
Also included a photo of the Italian version of the kiwi tree near Dunedin. A bit floppy. 
The photo of Faye and an old lady is to record her new best friend,Gaeta, this lady met F and bonded instantly. Any time I went out without her Gaeta would ask after her and when they met she would grab her with both arm and the pair of them would grin at each other not understanding a single word they were saying to each other. It was hilarious to see and very sweet. F made her a book mark of a Pukeko and wrote out a little Italian goodbye note only to find when she gave it to her Gaeta held it upside down as she could not
read. She kept asking when will she be back to stay again.
Up tidied, had breakfast with Kay said our goodbyes and then away.
Drove to Aquino hoping to meet the local pilot and arrange a flight over the Liri Valley, but he never showed up in time.
Drove through lovely countryside and mountain villages till lunch time. The bar/café we stopped at only had meat or tuna in all their food so the owner took me next door to the bakery and the man there made me a cheese Panini… how nice was that!
The off to Fondi, we waited at the local maxi sides ( a supermarket) and Sally came and met us. Sally has been in Italy 30 years and Fondi 15 yet still speaks with her original UK accent. She met us pushing her bike and wearing a large shapeless black smock , obviously acclimatised. She was like something out of a movie on ex pats.
Went to the apartment and it is lovely, set on two levels with a bedroom lounge and balcony
upstairs and a dining kitchen bath bedroom downstairs.. All newly painted white with lots of windows ( and the shutters). Joe and I moved in upstairs and he set out his computer stuff ready for the next 7 days of photo matching.
Went for a walk in the town it is big and more touristy than the others we have visited,
With large piazza and a strange disjointed castle. We took the son of the landlady with us, he is 17 and getting over a failed year at uni caused by a love affair gone wrong. He is “hiding “ out in Fondi in one of his mums 5 flats and has even given her his cell phone so no one can call him. Poor thing.
Anyway we walked then bought food and then moved in for the night.
Fondi
Internet really hard to find there is only one so far and it is a betting shop with 2 computers used by young men to play poker etc. So sorry folks blog sadly lacking.
We have been exploring and to the beach for a day lying in the sun. Joe did some bridge photo matches and I swam.
Today went to Formia, along the road side you could see the old Apian Way, the roman road for Caesars time still in amazingly good conditions. These Italians are exceptional road tunnel and viaduct builders.
C has a new job in Dunedin with a coffee company from Wellington that is setting up. She will be pleased to get away from the paper shop as the boss has been very mean to the staff for the last 6 months or so and she was sick of it. Nice to have success her application included the fact that part of her honour marketing paper was on coffee marketing, I am sure that helped, and then a phone and a face to face interview. Nice not to have had to drop her cv all round Dunedin to find a job. Maybe she can learn to make good coffees like the ones I have here.
It is very hot here the mid day reaches 30 and everything shuts for siesta which is fine when we are at Fondi but if like today we are in Formia Faye and I had 4 hours to fill. She was dragging her feet by the end of the day.
Up stairs at the apartment gets hot as well and I have a door and 6 windows open and it is still a bit sauna like. I must absorb the heat to release in mid winter Glasgow.
Nearly time for the walk and gelato as it is 11.00 at night and that is the ideal time for heading out!
We had the best meal ever last night. F in new dress and low heels ( so a very slow walk to the restaurant) I wore a little black plunging shortish number and new strappy stilettos and Joe as tidy as he could be in nothing new. We went to a restaurant behind the castle in the old Jewish quarter ( which is where our apartment is ) and there were only 3 other diners ( Thursday night). The owner came to chat and he spoke good English so I explained that I was a vege and he created the meals for us . No menu at all. We got what seemed like warm ricotta with figs and buffalo mozzarella and also a plate of melon and proscuitto. Then we all got a vege combination that was about nine different vege in a lovely not too strong garlicky sauce with chucks of toasted Italian bread in it. Then the other two got pork with peas and mushrooms of various types. Then dessert was fabulous home made vanilla gelato with warm fig jam. (E123 so not a cheap meal ) we got champagne to start and a bottle of red to go with a lovely meal and so friendly. ( there were kittens about 5 weeks old playing under the tables as we sat under a tree outside) When we had paid the owner ( who had served us all night and made the vege dish specially for me gave us a bottle of chianti because he liked us…… ahh)
It really is too hot during the day now. I spent a day being “spotter” for P which involves driving round small town Italy looking for doorways and hill ridge lines trying to match them to 1944. Better air conditioning in the car would have made this a much better idea. Was great to check out lots of places that I am sure most tourists do not go.
We were on top of a mountain in a small village of narrow one way streets and after waiting for a light to go green headed back down only to be met by a car coming the other way… we had to back up and then wait again I was filming at the time as it seems impossible that the3 car will fit in some of the alleys, so was lucky enough to catch the whole thing on the camera ( nice bit of swearing from P )
I have the record for the longest steepest narrowest alley drive ( had to fold the wing mirrors in to fit ) the worst part is not knowing if it comes out anywhere or just ends at someone’s front door. A couple of times I have had to do 40 point turns to get back out again. The narrow one went down a steep street and then it seemed to end but there was a tight left hand turn and more down hill steep stuff, no way I could have backed up it.
After a long and only average success we headed to Formia beach and had a hour to swim and recover ( at 6.30).
Did manage to find some unsecured wireless so we checked our emails on the way home ( after taking the laptop out for a day trip)
Sunday he headed off by himself and F and I went to the clothing market, took a bit of finding and I got a long list of directions off an Italian lady managed to get enough destra and sinistra to get us there. Was stinking hot was we pottered about, F looking for presents for the family and a top to go with her new skirt. I bought a dress of the not really there sun dress variety (and have worn it round the house ever since) and a nice strappy evening top which is multi coloured and has shiney things on the front, sound horrible but is really nice and I wore it to tea last night. Being Sunday everything shut at 1pm and never reopened so we had to go out for tea rather that buy something at the supermarket.
Monday we are all home P has finished going out in this area, we did thinking of going to Rome but it is scorching hot so will stay indoors till 4 or so then do a trip to Gaeta and check out the old town and then have a swim. Tomorrow the plan is to go over to Cassino and present the NZ flag to the museum which does not have one. Been a logistical mess trying to organise all the people to be there at the right time.
The photo of Faye and an old lady is to record her new best friend,Gaeta, this lady met F and bonded instantly. Any time I went out without her Gaeta would ask after her and when they met she would grab her with both arm and the pair of them would grin at each other not understanding a single word they were saying to each other. It was hilarious to see and very sweet. F made her a book mark of a Pukeko and wrote out a little Italian goodbye note only to find when she gave it to her Gaeta held it upside down as she could not
read. She kept asking when will she be back to stay again.Up tidied, had breakfast with Kay said our goodbyes and then away.
Drove to Aquino hoping to meet the local pilot and arrange a flight over the Liri Valley, but he never showed up in time.
Drove through lovely countryside and mountain villages till lunch time. The bar/café we stopped at only had meat or tuna in all their food so the owner took me next door to the bakery and the man there made me a cheese Panini… how nice was that!
The off to Fondi, we waited at the local maxi sides ( a supermarket) and Sally came and met us. Sally has been in Italy 30 years and Fondi 15 yet still speaks with her original UK accent. She met us pushing her bike and wearing a large shapeless black smock , obviously acclimatised. She was like something out of a movie on ex pats.
Went to the apartment and it is lovely, set on two levels with a bedroom lounge and balcony
upstairs and a dining kitchen bath bedroom downstairs.. All newly painted white with lots of windows ( and the shutters). Joe and I moved in upstairs and he set out his computer stuff ready for the next 7 days of photo matching.Went for a walk in the town it is big and more touristy than the others we have visited,
With large piazza and a strange disjointed castle. We took the son of the landlady with us, he is 17 and getting over a failed year at uni caused by a love affair gone wrong. He is “hiding “ out in Fondi in one of his mums 5 flats and has even given her his cell phone so no one can call him. Poor thing.
Anyway we walked then bought food and then moved in for the night.
Fondi
Internet really hard to find there is only one so far and it is a betting shop with 2 computers used by young men to play poker etc. So sorry folks blog sadly lacking.
We have been exploring and to the beach for a day lying in the sun. Joe did some bridge photo matches and I swam.
Today went to Formia, along the road side you could see the old Apian Way, the roman road for Caesars time still in amazingly good conditions. These Italians are exceptional road tunnel and viaduct builders.
C has a new job in Dunedin with a coffee company from Wellington that is setting up. She will be pleased to get away from the paper shop as the boss has been very mean to the staff for the last 6 months or so and she was sick of it. Nice to have success her application included the fact that part of her honour marketing paper was on coffee marketing, I am sure that helped, and then a phone and a face to face interview. Nice not to have had to drop her cv all round Dunedin to find a job. Maybe she can learn to make good coffees like the ones I have here.
It is very hot here the mid day reaches 30 and everything shuts for siesta which is fine when we are at Fondi but if like today we are in Formia Faye and I had 4 hours to fill. She was dragging her feet by the end of the day.
Up stairs at the apartment gets hot as well and I have a door and 6 windows open and it is still a bit sauna like. I must absorb the heat to release in mid winter Glasgow.
Nearly time for the walk and gelato as it is 11.00 at night and that is the ideal time for heading out!
We had the best meal ever last night. F in new dress and low heels ( so a very slow walk to the restaurant) I wore a little black plunging shortish number and new strappy stilettos and Joe as tidy as he could be in nothing new. We went to a restaurant behind the castle in the old Jewish quarter ( which is where our apartment is ) and there were only 3 other diners ( Thursday night). The owner came to chat and he spoke good English so I explained that I was a vege and he created the meals for us . No menu at all. We got what seemed like warm ricotta with figs and buffalo mozzarella and also a plate of melon and proscuitto. Then we all got a vege combination that was about nine different vege in a lovely not too strong garlicky sauce with chucks of toasted Italian bread in it. Then the other two got pork with peas and mushrooms of various types. Then dessert was fabulous home made vanilla gelato with warm fig jam. (E123 so not a cheap meal ) we got champagne to start and a bottle of red to go with a lovely meal and so friendly. ( there were kittens about 5 weeks old playing under the tables as we sat under a tree outside) When we had paid the owner ( who had served us all night and made the vege dish specially for me gave us a bottle of chianti because he liked us…… ahh)
It really is too hot during the day now. I spent a day being “spotter” for P which involves driving round small town Italy looking for doorways and hill ridge lines trying to match them to 1944. Better air conditioning in the car would have made this a much better idea. Was great to check out lots of places that I am sure most tourists do not go.
We were on top of a mountain in a small village of narrow one way streets and after waiting for a light to go green headed back down only to be met by a car coming the other way… we had to back up and then wait again I was filming at the time as it seems impossible that the3 car will fit in some of the alleys, so was lucky enough to catch the whole thing on the camera ( nice bit of swearing from P )
I have the record for the longest steepest narrowest alley drive ( had to fold the wing mirrors in to fit ) the worst part is not knowing if it comes out anywhere or just ends at someone’s front door. A couple of times I have had to do 40 point turns to get back out again. The narrow one went down a steep street and then it seemed to end but there was a tight left hand turn and more down hill steep stuff, no way I could have backed up it.
After a long and only average success we headed to Formia beach and had a hour to swim and recover ( at 6.30).
Did manage to find some unsecured wireless so we checked our emails on the way home ( after taking the laptop out for a day trip)
Sunday he headed off by himself and F and I went to the clothing market, took a bit of finding and I got a long list of directions off an Italian lady managed to get enough destra and sinistra to get us there. Was stinking hot was we pottered about, F looking for presents for the family and a top to go with her new skirt. I bought a dress of the not really there sun dress variety (and have worn it round the house ever since) and a nice strappy evening top which is multi coloured and has shiney things on the front, sound horrible but is really nice and I wore it to tea last night. Being Sunday everything shut at 1pm and never reopened so we had to go out for tea rather that buy something at the supermarket.
Monday we are all home P has finished going out in this area, we did thinking of going to Rome but it is scorching hot so will stay indoors till 4 or so then do a trip to Gaeta and check out the old town and then have a swim. Tomorrow the plan is to go over to Cassino and present the NZ flag to the museum which does not have one. Been a logistical mess trying to organise all the people to be there at the right time.
1 comment:
Getting a bit duplicitous here eh? But impressed that you'll be flagging Cassino on behalf of your old country! SFV
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