We’ve been back home in Italy for almost three weeks now, and I’m finally getting around to blogging. It was a whirlwind trip to the States, having visited all of the kids plus Mike’s mom. You can find the photos by clicking here.
It took us a long week to recover. But it felt good to be home (in spite of the fact that Google had locked my accounts--but that's a whole new blog). One day we had a terrific thunderstorm that blew everything that was outside all around. Which left a big mess at House 1, and since we’d been gone for so long there was already a mess, the wind just added to it. We were able to clean up the portico and clear out the dead plants. One day the door guy finally showed up and installed a new door to the front of the house. Besides improving the appearance of the house, it will certainly help with the heat this winter. We have notified Pamela, the owner of the house, that we are ending the lease effective October 31. (Be sure to read our blog "House One and House Two) Which means we will need to buy a car.
So, we’ve spent a good deal of time researching cars. We’d narrowed it down to two: Fiat and Volkswagen. We drove to a dealer in San Salvo and saw two cars that we thought would work for us. One was a Fiat Panda and the other a VW T-Cross. I liked the VW, but the battery was dead so we were not able to test drive it.
So, the next day we decided to drive to a dealer (the same chain) in Lanciano to see what they had. As usual, we arrived during the lunch hours and the showroom was closed. Except that I saw someone walking around inside and the door was open. So, I asked, in my polite and limited Italian if we could just look. He said, sure. After a while, he came around and started to talk with us. Before we knew it, he, Alfonso, had us sitting by his desk looking at cars on his computer screen. One car that seemed to fit turned out to be the same car we saw in San Salvo.
Alfonso arranged to have the car brought to Lanciano so we could test drive it on Friday afternoon. Bottom line: we bought it! More photos here.
The whole process of buying a car in Italy takes about two weeks. You can’t just walk in and drive off with a car. First, we put a deposit down and we
got a contract to buy/sell. Then, we transfer the full sales amount to the dealer. Then the dealer sends us more paperwork (via email) so that we can get quotes for and buy insurance. Then we can pick up the car. This all takes time. It’s Italy.
We had coffee one morning with our friends Heidi and Raymond. We told them about our car finds. Turns out that the Fiat we looked at used be theirs! Small world.
We have enjoyed a couple of Friday evenings at the bar/mercado near us. It seems to be a great gathering place. We enjoy the company of our ex-pat friends very much.
This week we will be gearing up for visitors. I’ll be planning day trips, booking restaurants, and planning meals. The rest of September and October will be busy!
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