Some reflections

I don't have photos for this blog so if you are one that looks in just for the pictures, you can skip this one. I unfortunately forgot to pack my journal so I took some brief notes in a little notebook as I noticed things or had thoughts I wanted to remember. I will use this as a way of recording those observations.
In the bathroom in our apartment in Italy, there was a bidet. We don't normally use a bidet. There was only a shower, no tub, so when I needed to shave my legs, I decided the bidet was a perfect place to do that. For anyone who may not be familiar with this bathroom furnishing, it looks like a cross between a toilet and a sink. It's used for washing the parts of you that need cleaning after using a toilet. It worked well for shaving my legs.
When I first started noticing "SALDI" in store windows, I thought it was an advertisement for items of a certain designer or manufacturer available in that store. I was thinking it must be a very popular line of merchandise until I realized it was in nearly all the stores and was sometimes accompanied by numbers and percentage signs. Aha! It's Italian for "sale".
Russ and I are fascinated to watch construction and repair work here in Europe, comparing it to what we're accustomed to. At the Palazzo in Italy on Friday, the groundskeeper came to groom the lawn. He was an older man who arrived on a garden-size tractor that had a "wagon" attached to the back without wheels (it was welded onto the back of the frame). In it were his wife (we assumed) who wore a dress, a lawnmower, a broom, a weed trimmer, and some other tools. The man proceeded to mow, then trim, while the woman swept pathways and patios as well as sweeping loose leaves under larger bushes in the flower beds. They were very efficient and did a lovely job.
We have been constantly awed to consider that we have been looking at so many buildings (still inhabited and even updated to included electric, heating, air conditioning-not as common, and running water) all older that the age of the country we live in. There are walls and buildings and towers and roads and sidewalks that have been in existence for hundreds of years and are all still in use!
I guess Italy isn't the only place that has a "siesta" break in the day but we sometimes struggled with scheduling our activities to deal with it. Some places we wanted to go were closed in the early afternoon hours. We were a little frustrated at Italian kids joyfully and very loudly playing outside our bedroom windows until midnight or 1 in the morning. They had napped for several hours in the afternoon while we were trudging about, sightseeing. We tried to be quiet in the morningsince they were still sleeping as we drove away at 8 or 9 in the morning to spend the day traveling to yet another beautiful old Italian town.
I guess Russ and I will cling to our old-fashioned ways in some areas. Washcloths seem to be going out of style even in the homes of our children in the States. In Italy, we used a hand towel for a washcloth because there were no washcloths. We just prefer scrubbing our bodies with a washcloth rather than just liquid soap or a bar of soap or even one of those plastic net things. We also use it to dry off a bit before using the towel so we don't make the towel smelly so quickly because it has gotten so wet. Then we use it to wipe down the shower walls to help avoid water-spotting.
We have found some concepts that could be beneficial to Americans to adopt. For instance, obesity is more rare in Europe. Part of the reason is that they often eat more healthy than Americans- smaller portions and different foods. Another reason is that Europeans are generally more active. We noticed years ago when we first visited James's family in Switzerland, that everyone from the very young children to the grey-haired seniors skis. They also walk, a LOT, and ride bikes and generally spend more active time as families, on dates, with friends, etc. To accommodate that lifestyle, they even pull large enclosed trailers behind tour buses, for transporting ski equipment or bikes for traveling tourists.
One last little thing: when you stop along the highway here in Europe at gas station/rest stops, you have to "pay" to use the toilet. Initially this is annoying. Russ and I were glad that Susanne and James always had the right coins for us to use. However, as I thought about it, it's similar to Aldi's requiring a coin to use a shopping cart. Americans have found that annoying but it really helps to avoid the constant careless leaving of carts all over the parking lots. In addition to causing people to better appreciate the use of a public toilet so they hopefully won't indulge in graffiti or general mess-making, the gas stations offer an incentive of coupons that come automatically when you put the coin in the machine to get through to the bathroom. Those coupons can be used to purchase small items, candy being the favorite for our grandkids here, in the little mini-marts.
We will spend another 2 weeks here and are unlikely to visit Europe again. James has been posted in Europe twice so far so his next post will probably be some other part of the world. It has been a wonderful experience to see this part of the world. The only thing related to Europe that I might consider on my bucket list is a trip to Ireland. I have ancestors who emigrated from there and love Irish music and dancing. Maybe some day.....................

Our last day in Italy

Russ and I were pretty tired of trudging through old towns and fortresses after 4 days so on Friday, when James and Susanne and the kids were headed into Montepulciano again, we opted to stay at the "apartment" and do laundry. The clothesline was strung in the olive orchard.
The picture below was supposed to be the last one for this blog but I still don't know how to change things around! Anyway, for our last night there, we went to a local ice cream shop called Be-Bop and enjoyed our last taste of local gelatto. Really yummy!!
We spent part of our day, along with doing laundry and taking the opportunity to swim in the pool when it was empty of children or other people, watching a repair being done on a main waterline leak right in front of our window. Can you believe that traffic, cars as well as a large truck, got by this truck on the road while they were working?

San Gigmignano

On Thursday we went to two cities, the first of which was San Gimignano, called a Medieval Manhattan for its many towers. Reportedly, at one time there were as many as 73 towers there but we only counted less than a dozen. Still, when you consider building techniques available in the 13th and 14th centuries, this place was impressive. The photo below shows Susanne, Jarom, and me as we are working our way back down from one of the towers we climbed up in. Lots of stairs!

The thing I liked least about this town was the vendors. The town squares were packed full of umbrella-covered booths selling all kinds of merchandise, not just souvenirs but clothing and home linens and all kinds of stuff. We even went by a vending machine installed in a wall for selling condoms!

Siena

This was another lovely church in Italy. This one was especially striking for the colors on the outside which don't really show up well here. There was a sign for the many things that were forbidden inside the church. Sadly, too many people didn't obey these rules. People took pictures and weren't modest about what they wore- they were just tourists going into another beautiful old building.

The picture below is a tower we climbed up in- always climbing, climbing, climbing!

Cortona

Photographs are wonderful but they simply cannot fully give you the same experience as seeing something firsthand. Much of the regions of Italy we visited were endless fields of sunflowers, olive orchards, vineyards, and hayfields interspersed with hilltop villages.

This gives you a little perspective of how steep the climbs were- nearly all day every day. But it was so worth it!

This was the view from the top of a high place in Cortona.

Every time I upload pictures, they don't come out in the order I expect them to. It's pretty frustrating. Oh well..... if that's the worst thing I have to deal with, I'm fortunate indeed, eh? So the photo above is to show a major mode of transportation throughout Europe but this is Florence, or Firenze as the Italians say. Florence wasn't as bad as the smaller Medieval era towns we went to but it is sometimes a little scary having cars whiz by you when there is barely room to plaster yourself against a wall.

This is just an example of how we felt after trudging up steep steps, up hilly streets, through museums and fortresses. I stayed awake most of the time but occasionally I just succumbed to exhaustion, as did others in our little group.

This is not the picture I had planned to post but I can't find the one I wanted to use. Oh well..... You can see, between Susanne and me, Michelangelo's David. It's actually a replica because we were not willing to go in the very long line to see the original. Thanks to Susanne reserving tickets, we were able to go into the Uffizo Art Museum where it was truly amazing to see paintings actually done by daVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and others that we have only read about or heard of remotely. However, it really isn't as much fun to go where you have to fight crowds and it really does get tiring to sight-see every day. But we wanted to make the most of what time we had in Italy because we will not likely ever return!

On Monday we went to the city of Assissi- famous for Saint Francis who is generally represented surrounded by birds and animals. In the lower level of the fortress there, we saw the armory and we couldn't resist taking this picture for Kadon. He is 6 and fascinated with swords. This photo is for you, Kadon! The place where we stayed in Italy was recommended to James and Susanne by another American embassy family. This day was the first day we spent with them. We climbed to the top of the fortress and got a picture with the kids all lined up.
Another Italian restaurant- it looks a lot like the one in Montepulciano, doesn't it? I think I had a focaccia sandwich here but I can't remember for sure.
This is the last part of the long, narrow, spiral staircase to the top of the tower. Russ and I did pretty well, as did the kids. We all hoped we got enough exercise to maybe lose a little weight but I guess all we did was manage to offset the food we ate- and the servings were never really large! The food was much better for us than big-portioned, over-salted or sugared, too often fried American restaurant fare. Alas, the daily serving of gelatto (Italian ice cream) was probably what did us in.