The Journey Continues (But not too far) 19-25th April

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This week probably hasn't been the most exciting after spending the beginning just relaxing and having a true holiday with way too much food. After completing this blog im slightly apologetic for its length and maybe next time i will write for a couple of days rathe than a whole week.

A brief outline of the weeks activities:

Monday 19/4 - Went shopping (and yes it is just as boring here as it is in Australia)
Tuesday 20/4 - Standard day went to Palmi in the morning, was forced to eat too much for lunch, played soccer with the cousins in the afternoon.
Wednesday 21/4 - Pretty much the same as the day before (although after hopping on the scales and seeing what calabrese food does decided i should do some excercise)
Thursday 22/4 - Continued with the excercise regime and went for a ride to Santa Elia (8km round Trip - some amazing scenery)
Friday 23/4 - Visited the medieval town of Seminara and went out to a pizzeria for dinner with the boys in Bagnara
Saturday 24/4 - Saturday was jam packed full of activities (all of which didnt include a visit to sicily which i had planned to do) details below
Sunday 25/4 - Today was standard family lunch followed by an interesting drive to Reggio Calabria and an unusually large bit of steak

This week can be told in chronological order but there are a few comments that will be made at the end that fit in with my whole time in Calabria.

Sunday 18/4 was like any other with relatives visiting and cards played until you so tired that you couldnt even remember each cards value. I inadverantly (due to my great italian understanding) played for my shoes (Not knowing what 'Scarpi' ment). Luckily i won! But the next day was spent looking for shoes so maybe somehow without me knowing they knew that i was in need of shoes (I wasn't). the worst part of this day was attempting to tell cousins that i did not need any new clothes added that they prob won't fit into my bag (with the thousands of presents that i have for people)! After getting frustrated with the whole process and giving up on the NO! response i eventually gave in and just accepted the clothes.

Well what is there to say about a standard day in Paparone. You do a little work in the morning (when i say little i mean none i actually watch everyone else do work) they wont let me help cause i could dirty my clothes. They couldnt have that! Following the strenuous work comes some food. Lunch time you eat so much food that you body goes into shock and forces you to sleep (unless you have had your 3 morning un'caffes) which then you struggle to sleep at all. The afternoon is spent outside with the younger cousins kicking the soccer ball around attempting not to destroy gardens, hit cars or break pottery. It seems to be that once oner of these things do occur it's as if the ball magically got there by itself as everyone scampers off to hide (I was caught out once or twice beforei got the hang of the 'Run Away' said in the Monty Python style voice). Dinner time we are called in from Angela's front window (Munja Munja). After gorging yourself on another feast it's TV time which i only watch for the pictures and hopefully they interview someone that speaks English so that i have some idea of what is going in with world. I kept being told that i was going to have to stay in Paparone for longer but had no idea why. Until i found out that there was actually a Volcano in Iceland disrupting flights.

Well Wednesday was like another typical day however i found a set of scales in my room and was curious to see what damage the serious amount of food was having. When the figure (+5kg in two weeks) came up i decided it was time to do some excercise. With Men's Health in toe i got out and realised how much fitness i'd lost in two weeks. After Lunch i realised that some people believe that if you cant understand the language that if they yell it at you from close proximity you may understand. from first hand experience you can't understand any better and it is a very harrowing experience.

The excercise regime continued today as Domenico and i rode to Santa Elia via the coast. I would have taken photos however i was more worried about my ability to stay on the bike and not go for a swim over the cliff edge. I must say though that the scenery was amazing! The ride there took about 20 minutes and the ride home on the along the road took about 5 minutes. I think the top speed was 55km/hr (wasnt the fastest i would go this week). I also had some issues working out which side of the road i was supposed to be on. I knew that they drove on the opposite side of the road but i forgot that ment bike riders also had to travel on the opposite side of the road. I was just mucking around on the bike at the 'piazzaini' or little park (which i might add didnt have any grass, a broken swing and a lumpy slide) at the end of the road and decided to do a lap onto the main road. As i was completing the lap Domenico began screaming at me for a reason unknown to me. I was completely oblivious to the fact that i was actually travelling in the centre of the lane of the on-coming traffic.

Exercise regime finished on friday. We visited a medieval town of Seminara (supposedly pirates used to hide there). It was fairly interesting seeing the old aquaducts and fortifications around the city. Friday night Pepi got home from boarding school so we went out for Dinner at a Pizzeria in Bagnara. They love battering things here, whether it be olives, frankfurts or just plain chips. I ordered a corona not realising that the served it in a glass that had salt around the rim. Didn't bother trying it with the salt and just dug the lemon out and shoved it into my corona bottle (probably not the most delicate procedure after covering a couple of cousins with lemon juice in the process)

Saturday the intention was to travel to Sicily and see Messina and Taurimena (that is probably spelt wrong) but due to work commitements of other cousins i wasnt able to. However we drove up Aspromonte (a mountain) to visit the Garibaldi museum (which was unfortunately shut). It was supposedly situated where he first first injured (he got hit be a cannonball). I did sneak a picture through an open window which i will add to this blog. We then went to Gambari a town closer to the summit were i was forced to have a gelato. There is some weird fascination with eating gelatos in every town you go. Drove past a scout camp that were setting up their tents in a paddock on the way home (i recognised the scarfs and woggles straight away).

Sunday was the standard day with the family lunch (Todays was at the Gaglioti's). Unfortunately i didnt get a photo of everyone as they all decided to go for a siesta by the time i got the camera out. Trying to work out who was actually a cousin and who was married into the family when Pepi has 8 kids and a couple of grandkids. Let's just say it was a big table to fit us all in. That afternoon i spent with Evan and his new Audi TTS. Went for a quick trip to Reggio Calabria i'm sure the top speed was a little over 200km/hr. After cruising around Reggio for awhile seeing some of the sites (the Paloni (Soccer) stadium and a Maccas) we drove back to Paparone. Again this trip was spent pinned to the seat due to Evan's driving style. I was invited out to dinner that night to go to a ristorante that specialised in florentine steak at 25 Euros a kg it had better be good. After ordering i found out that the steak was 800g. Luckily i had spent the last two weeks gorging my face i could know withstand eating this much food. That night after arriving home at Angela's house i was told that only 2 months ago Evan had written off his old TT by rolling it. Glad i found that out after the trip.

A great segway to talk about licences and driving in Southern Italy. I will just list a few things that i have noticed about their driving: If there is no park the foot path will do and if there is no space left there blocking off a road is fine if you leave your hazard lights on. One instance of this was when i was travelling with an unnamed cousin and decided to bloock a road cause it was the closest park to a fruit shop. after 5 minutes of cars beeping their horns "this cousin" realised that it was theie car cause the disturbance quickly moving it and parking it in another illegal parking spot (but it was fine cause they had their hazard lights on). After completing his fruit purchases they found that the hazard lights had sent the battery flat! (it was one disaster after another this day). Other things that i have noticed about driving here is that the signs that say "STOP" actually means something different here. All you need to do is check if someone is coming and if not go straight through the intersection. The round signs with numbers in them they are also for show here. I'm pretty sure i have not once been in car that have abided by the limit.

Hope you have enjoyed my weeks activities. I'm not sure what i'm going to do once I actually start doing things i will have way too much to write.

Till next week

Ciao

Nick

P.s Dasia Sandera count is at 3
P.P.s Mark for lunch yesterday i had crumb meat and lasagne

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Photos

Basilica in Seminara
This photo better have been worth it. I had to sit through mass in Italian to get it

Dinner with the boys
My first argument in Italian was had this night as we tried to work out how we were actually related

Garibaldi Museum
Unofrtunately shut but there wasnt anything to significant inside to look at anyway

The Audi
This was the beast that we broke the 200 mark in. The photo really doesnt do it justice. It was Beautiful!

Comments

[Rob]

Correct Spelling Dacia Sandero??
do you mean the brazilian car that James totalled in series 14???