Well, Tuesday did not go as planned. But that’s normal here. We arrived at the Questura in Vasto promptly at 10:00. Only to be told that we needed to go to Lanciano. So much for making a trip to Vasto last week to double-check. (Maria was right.) We then hopped in the car and took off for the 45-minute drive. When we arrived, there were two Ukrainian families there with an Italian advocate. And several very young children. No one seemed to know what to do. Except the kids. They had a really good time playing with each other. When we finally got to the window, the officer was very nice, although we could tell she was exhausted. She processed Mike’s paperwork, then attempted to take his fingerprints on a relatively small device. No luck. The machine just could not read his prints. Mike says it’s because he’s been washing so many dishes. The officer threw up her hands and said please come back next Wednesday and we will use the better machine in the back room. So, we wait. Our issues are not as important as the Ukrainians.
On Wednesday we drove to the hardware store in San Salvo so Mike could look for tools. We did buy a few household items and found a large supermarket where we stocked up on a more than we need. I drove home while Mike navigated. The GPS for some reason took us over back roads and hills that we had not seen before. I had to stop a couple of times to soak in the views. Absolutely beautiful. Miles and miles of rolling green hills all cultivated and dotted with villages. Mike took some photos, but, just as with Grand Canyon, photos don’t capture the essence of this country.
I continue to work on cleaning and reorganizing the house to suit our needs and tastes. I think I’ve finally got the kitchen and alcove done. We are moving some of Pamela’s things to the storage shed, carefully wrapping them, and Mike is doing his usual Tetris stacking to make sure we have room for everything. We had stopped at the Farmacia for Mike to pick up a script and the trash collectors were there carrying out boxes to be disposed of. I jumped out of the car and asked if I could have some. They looked at me like I was crazy – pazzo – but, no problem. The boxes came in handy.
Mike has his clothes spread out all over the guest bedroom. It doesn’t seem to bother him, but we need to find a wardrobe for him since we are expecting house guests in a few weeks. Yesterday we took off for Pescara to check out our options at Ikea. It was our first experience on the Autostrada. Mike drove there, I drove back. The drive was not as scenic as the road along the sea, but still beautiful. Rows and rows of vineyards and olive groves. At Ikea, we did find a few wardrobes that might work. We also found a mall that had a nice restaurant where we had a tasty seafood lunch. There also was a big supermarket that had a very large liquor and wine department. Most of the markets near us only sell Abruzzo wine. At this market, we were able to find Villa Sandi prosecco and some Barolo. And Aperol. I think we bought a total of 13 bottles of various wines. Never have enough wine.
Today we met our absentee neighbors Julia, Valerio (sp?), and their daughter Daniele. I say absentee because they live in Germany and only come to stay at the house a few weeks each year. They plan to retire here. Maria invited us to join them on their lovely patio. We brought a bottle of prosecco to share. I really enjoy these spontaneous get-togethers.
As we complete our fourth week here, we are very anxious to begin exploring the towns and villages around us. The weather is slowly getting more amenable to such excursions.
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