Lui Ha una pistola

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So true to DeLuca style we head off for our Italian adventure to show our children and their spouses thier roots. We leave Atlanta for the airport with out any incidents, no laptop left in the turn about, no irons left on. We are good to go. Our driver heads to the airport and we hit normal Atlanta traffic but we have plenty of time to catch our flight. We all take our seats and set up camp for the eight and half hour flight. Of course Rich proceeds to go through his usual check list, pens, pencils, protractors, paper, calculator (did I tell you I married a GEEK) and we are doing well until he gets to PHONE! You guessed it we have not even left Atlanta and we are down one phone. I was really proud of Rich he did not lose his cool when they would not let him off the plane to search Hartsfield International Airport for his $20 phone. We arrive in Milan somewhat rested by the naps we took on the plane and spend a restful day in the airport waiting for our flight to Brindisi. When we finally board six hours later it seems that since this flight is only scheduled twice a week they compact as many folks on one plane as humanly possible. We proceed to fold ourselves up and quickly fall asleep with visions of olive groves on our minds.

As we exit the plane into the small airport we begin to retrieve our luggage. Within minutes it is obvious that Richard's bag that was large enough to transport a small child did not make the flight from Milan. At this point a police officer with his friendly pup came up to us and says "No bag, no come, go there, lost". We proceed to try to communicate with the folks at Air One that we have a piece of luggage that could hold a small child that has not arrived. They hand us a notebook of pictures and ask us to point to one that looks like the lost bag, ok this is going good. We find the best representation of our luggage and fill out a bunch of paper work. It seems that no one is too concerned here in Italy as this is a common event in this part of Italy. "We call you" they say with a big smile........WE say, "we don't have a phone, you see it is somewhere in Atlanta", ...Ah Prego we email you, oh great this is going real well. Finding Richard's clothes not is dependent on a good WIFI signal.

So we head to the Rental Car to pick up our small bus so that we can drive ourselves to the villa with directions that basically state when you see a stonewall and a vineyard you are there! We draw straws and Jared loses so he gets to play navigator. We head out of the parking lot and start our trip to Ostuni to find a vineyard and a stone wall. Thankfully we have a GPS system that speaks to us in English with a bit of an Italian accent. Unfortunatly, it had no selection for a stone wall. So we decide to head into the center of Ostuni and navigate through the local roads where our vehicle is almost as wide as the pavement. The village is certainly not a tourist trap and you feel as though you have stepped back in time by 100 years. Once in the town we pull out the directions provided by the caretaker of the villa with hopes that they will make more sense now. Remember nothing in Italy is precise but seeing that we are all of analytical minds we decide that we should turn exactly at 6.5 Kilometers. As we proceed up a steep drive my motherly instinct kicks in and I say, Guys I do not think this is right. But we continue to proceed by the herd of goats and the beat up automobiles looking at the abode in front of us. This is about the time I am thinking great they always make the pictures look better on the internet......... Once we reach the top of the ridge we see a very unfriendly native, so we proceed to give a friendly wave say Bueno dias and quickly make the decision that this is probably not the place! At this point Rich attempts to perform a u turn with a seven passenger bus with a stick shift on a gravel steep pathway surounded by lots of goats a few unruly children and one very unfriendly face.

As we desend the gravel road, Talia who based on her size was riding with the luggage screams........He has a GUN!! About the time Talia reaches her last syllable we hear a loud pop. We all scream, Oh My GOD...... Rich steps on the gas trying to save his family and the rest of us try not to lose our lunch. The "tourist mobile" stalls at the end of the drive as we buck down the rest of the road we all try to catch our breath and decide what just took place. This was not the welcome I had envisioned for our dream family vacation. At this point we are trying to figure out how we will ever find our villa, and if we do will we ever build up the courage to venture out to find our wonderful family heritage. I am begining to think maybe they are better off not found and remain a vision in our minds through out eternity.

Thankfully we came upon a small market and the six of us ran into the establishmet with the hope of finding a friendly face and lots of alcohol! Joyfully we found both ! With the proprietors little English, some sign language and the benefit of our care taker being somewhat of a local celebrity we were on our way to the villa within 45 minutes. With bundles of groceries to pay our saviors for their good deed we started our journey following Bettina or Austrian caretaker in her Audi TT convertable to our villa. It was reminecent of Eat, Pray and Love it seems we had done all three in very short order, mostly the Pray part. Thankfully our villa looked just like the pictures. When we shared our experience with Bettina she told us that folks around here are all a little "crazy" but no worries. We drank lots of wine, ate some great pasta enjoyed the amazing outdoors and laughed about our day. Poor Rich watched us all shower and get ready for bed while he neatly folded his outfit and laid it out for the next day.


Ciao

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Photos

Rich
Missing Bags!

Bags
We are all ready to go........

Contemplation
Did that really just happen!

Comments

[anonymous]

I am LMAO. That is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Tell Rich he didn't like his phone anyway, it's very European to be smelly and dirty and I am proud of him for saving his family from the gunman. Please be careful, have gun and drink a glass of wine for me. Jackie

[Jane Rohlck]

Your Trip
Andrea - you should really write a book -- the way you tell stories is the best. I find myself always laughing out loud when I read about your awesome journies -- and the adventures that often come with them. We LOVED Tuscany -- it's a place I would visit again and agian. Big hugs - and safe travels. Jane