The family arrives! and Day 1

The sun was streaming through the door when I awoke. This was it – the day we had been waiting for. At this point, all of my family members were en route to Italy. They would meet at the airport in Rome and drive together to the villa in a rental car. Almost immediately, my phone pinged announcing that my sister, Theresa and her husband, Ray, had landed at Fiumicino and were in the lounge waiting comfortably for the rest of the clan. The plan was coming together. I needed to make quick trip to the supermarket for bread and a few things that I had forgotten. By the time I returned, my youngest sister, Carol, and her husband, Robert, had landed and were in search of the others. Things were moving along. Then my sister Mary, who had WiFi on board, announced that she would be landing early. That was great news. I expected that they would arrive here around 3:00 p.m. and if there were no unforeseen issues, that was realistic. I did some last minute preparations for our meal. Then I went to take a shower.

After my shower, the messages started coming fast and furious. They were at the car rental place. Mary had landed. Car rental was taking forever. Mary is through customs. OK, we have the car, now

Guess where we are?

let’s find Mary. Several trips around Fiumicino and they finally have everyone on board. The next message is a photo of my sister, Theresa, in the passenger seat with the question, “Guess, where we are?” I could tell from the photo that they were on the autostrada. Now it was just a question of time.

The next hour and a half seemed to pass in slow motion. I busied myself getting things ready, putting out plates and glasses. All the while there was radio silence. Finally, I texted “Where are you?” They had just passed Orvieto, so I could estimate their ETA. Next thing I heard was that they had just gotten off the highway in Tuoro, which for me meant that they would be here in five minutes. The plan was that I should drive the Hobbit car down to the main road and lead them up the goat track to the house. I was in the car ready to exit when my phone rang. They had taken a wrong turn. What followed was a real comedy show. I was not yet very familiar with the terrain and I really only knew one way to get here. In the rental car, they had multiple navigators with conflicting navigational systems. I was trying to talk over all of them. I had an image in my head of where they were and were trying to direct them to the one road I knew would get them here. After calls being dropped and fears about data overage, they decided to revert to the GPS coordinates that came with the directions. I started down the hill and got as far as the dumpster, when I heard a car approaching. I looked up, and there was Ray at the wheel. They must have been much closer than I expected. They were here! Hooray!

Our nightly sunset gathering

As I expected, there was much ooh-ing and ahh-ing as folks began exploring the villa and the property. I was so happy to see the excitement on their faces. After the basic tour, I asked if anyone were hungry – which, in fact, they were. We all tucked into the buffet and took are places at the big long table on the veranda. This was to become our hub for the next eight days. They were all tired from their long overnight journeys, but they were resolved to stay awake until 8:30. On their first night, there was a spectacular sunset. Drinks on the veranda at sunset became another standard feature of our time together at Antiche Pietre. Finally, their endurance ran out and all retired to their separate chambers for the night.

The morning dawned grey and chilly. That, plus the shutters, lead to some late-risers. But, hey, we were on vacation. Our daily struggles with the in-house coffee pot began. The small Moulinex coffee-maker, was a quirky beast. It took about 30 minutes to fully brew a small (4 cup?) pot of coffee. This was not going to work for four adults. I was fine with Italian coffee and my sister, Theresa, is a tea drinker. Still we needed an alternative. Eventually everyone surfaced and we began to plan our day. By consensus, we agreed that the first day should be an easy one. I suggested an easy drive to the nearby town of Passignano sul Lago for a stroll and some lunch. Passignano is a pretty little lakeside resort town. By now, it had started to rain intermittently, so we all donned our rain gear and set off. It took less than fifteen minutes to reach the 

Appropriate

town (even with a wrong turn). We parked and began our exploration, which didn’t take very long. Being a summer resort, by October 1 the town was very quiet. It was also a rainy Monday, though the rain seemed to have stopped. One stop was at an ATM so that people could get cash. First things first. Then it was food.

For a Monday, there were a surprising number of restaurants open. Of course, the one I had researched was inexplicably closed. No matter, we reverted to plan B and headed for the Osteria Il Maremanna. This turned out to be a great find. Being six people, we soon occupied a good section of a small place. The friendly waiter brought menus and the fun began. The menu was fairly basic.

The first of the 3-hour lunches

Maybe six antipasti, six primi and eight mains. Before long, I was helping my family understand the art of ordering in a restaurant in Italy. It was great. Eventually we all decided on something and ordered. The tagliere, a board of cured meat and cheeses, was a great start. Pasta served in individual frying pans was also a nice touch. Soon we were all enjoying our food. I am fairly sure we were at the table for a good two hours, initiating the practice of the so-called “three hour lunch.”

After lunch, we decided to drive completely around the lake to get our bearings. By now, the sun had started to peek through and the sky cleared. As we rounded the lake, it emerged that we had a few “needs”. We needed decent sized coffee mugs, a bathing suit and some gym shorts, perhaps a yoga mat, and some more food items. As we neared Castiglione, the principal town on the lake, I thought we might have some luck. On the outskirts we struck gold. On one side of the street there was a sporting shop with a Speedo sign prominently displayed. On the other was a very large COOP supermarket. We hit the sporting goods shop first. The girls went in by themselves, but, before long, Carol was waving for me to come in. I explained to the woman my role in the negotiations and she seemed pleased. Carol was finding her bathing suit and Mary her gym shorts, so I just kept chatting with the owner. Soon the sisters were making their purchases and we were all happy. At this moment, a man walked in and the owner introduced him as her husband explaining that we were visitors from l’America.  He shook my hand and introduced himself as “Paolo” and I said, “I’m Paolo, too.” Next thing you know, he was telling me that he was remodeling a hotel in Castiglione and that when I come back next year I should let him know and he will fix me up with a great room. My sisters watched on incredulously as I made my newest best friend.

Our next stop was the COOP. This pronounced Co – Op in two syllables, not like pigeon coop. This was my first exercise in group shop. Theresa, Carol and I went in together, but then parted ways as

each went to look for their respective items. By the time we got back together, we had almost a full wagon. Including coffee mugs, soda, bread, shower gel, more wine and remarkably, a deck of UNO

cards. That deck of cards was to play a pivotal role in this vacation. More about that later, though. By

the time we got back to the villa, the sun was shining brightly. Some repaired to the Jacuzzi, some to the pool, and some to the veranda to enjoy the late afternoon sun and a drink. I repaired to the kitchen to get tonight’s “light supper” ready. Soon we were sitting down and eating, again. After supper, we moved inside to the table that would become the site of our nightly UNO extravaganza.

A "light" supper on the veranda