The Wash Up

Well, our holiday is about done!  As I tap out this post we are nestled in the Qantas Lounge at T1, Changi International Airport waiting for a flight that will deliver us to Melbourne tomorrow morning, then onwards to home by lunch time.
I’ve had a chance to look back at the first post on this blog, where I said that we hoped to be active participants of the places we visited, rather than passive observers of them.  I think we have largely achieved that - certainly as far as Lucca and Tuscany were concerned.  Its a little more difficult to make that distinction over the course of 9 days in Rome, but I feel that we started to build a rapport in and with the neighbourhood of Testaccio.  Certainly the man in the gelato shop just near our apartment got to know our smiling faces!
A running gag throughout the entire trip has been the wildly contrasting opinions of my innate “Italian-ness” and my fluency in the language.  But even that banter underlines our aim of active participation.  In all the places we have visited we have tried initially to establish our credentials in appalling Italian.  We have, almost without exception, been exposed at the outset.  One proprietor hadn’t even let me drop my best bongiorno on him before he offered, in perfect English, the light switch in on the right.  Italian waiters have an innate sense of nationality.  Many times we entered a restaurant or trattoria, having not uttered a word, only to be immediately offered a menu printed in English.  But, regardless of the degree to which our efforts to communicate in Italian were tolerated, the interactions were almost always fun and our efforts were, I think, appreciated.
Anyway, without writing a full dissertation on the degree to which we met the aims and objectives of the trip, its fair to say that we have had a heck of a time and we consider ourselves to be extraordinarily lucky to have had the opportunity.
Here are some of my highlights:

• The 3 day travel plan to get to and from Europe has worked a treat.  We seem to have been able to incrementally adjust our 24 hour body clock by 9 hours on the way over and 10 hours on the way back without lingering after-affects.
• The Ufizzi Gallery and Vasari Corridor were stunning.
• Our active pursuit of the Buon Ricordo (decorated plate) restaurants was a hoot.  Each offered a very different dining experience.  And Dory and I now have 6 decorated pieces of memorabilia to be mounted somewhere prominent in our house.
• Lucca.  Just go there.
• Puccini and Mozart at the Cathedral of San Martino.
• Our villa in the tiny community of Coll di Compito was a home away from home, and a place to spend time with old and new friends, all of whom will be part of our memories of this trip.  Our hosts, Luisa and Damiano, were a delight, as was the process of discovering the village.
• Rosella the Grocer parking outside our gate and singing her announcement that she had fresh fruit and veg for sale.
• Vespas, geese, dogs, roosters, donkeys, and firm opinions expressed in Italian.
• The quality of Tuscan food and wine.
• Driving in Italy (well, I had fun!)
• The hilltop towns of the greater Lucca area.
• Wine and food at Fattoria al Dotto.
• Jumping herbs.
• Bumping into Maree and Lorenzo.
• The free samples of tonight’s tiramisu brought to us by Niccolo at DiVizie in Vicopisano.
• The climb to Castellaro.
• Lunch at Dario Cecchini’s in Panzanno.
• Seeing famous and priceless works of art.
• Finding Bec Bain’s plaque.

Arrivederci 😉