Advertisement
Published: September 8th 2007
Bus ride
The view out Nolan's window on the bus to RotondaOn Monday morning, August 27th, Nolan and I took a bus to the train station then a train to the bus station then the bus for five hours south of Rome, south of Naples, south of Salerno....to what Milena described as a freeway off-ramp called Campotenese. This is where Milena's father was to pick us up! However...the bus was early, and we missed each other. Once again, the crazy mom who is dragging her almost-eight-year-old across Europe had thoughts of "what am I doing?" I'm standing on the side of the road, my cell phone doesn't have coverage, no one speaks my language, and there goes the bus....then, Milena's dad showed up, and we piled into the Fiat and headed up the road to Rotonda....then the car quit. Milena's dad hopped out, I jumped into the driver seat, and he pushed the car while I turned it to the downslope so we could pop the clutch...I haven't done this since living in Eastern Washington! Between the two of us pushing the car, and not daring to head back toward the uphill, we coasted long enough to pop the clutch and get going again. Nolan sat in the backseat listening to Harry
The Star Performer
Nolan with Milena's parents after Ornalla's performance Potter on the ipod the whole time. I'm still laughing about this little adventure!
After having the first of many wonderful meals with Milena's family, and then a much needed nap, we headed off to the piazza in Rotonda to see the play that Milena's mom was to perform in that evening...she was the star of the show! Nolan got to give her the bouquet after the performance. We were in bed around 1 AM...Nolan thought this was too cool.
On Tuesday, Francesca took us off to the beach in Praia for a relaxing day in the sun. Nolan built many sand castles and made many new friends. They even asked if he would be back again next year! After spending the day in that warm, refreshing water, the thought of returning is quite tempting!
Wednesday was Nolan's birthday! Milena's mother invited a bunch of boys over for pizza and birthday cake (which Milena had ordered from the local bakery a few weeks before while she had been there...she thinks of everything!) We ended up playing Hot Dice, the game with no language barriers, until it was time to head off to the piazza again for more
Nolan at the bar
Nolan loved going to Milena's brother's bar every night...he became a regular! I'd like a Pepsi with a lemon! evening entertainment and gelato!
Thursday was a down day for us....rest and pack for the journey back north. Several of the boys came over to play again, and one young man wanted to play more Hot Dice, so we had another quick round.
On Friday, we were up early to catch the bus back to Rome. We checked in at the Hilton at the airport so we'd only have to walk over the skybridge to the airport at 4:30 AM the next morning. We had hot showers, room service and went to bed at 8:00. Our flight from Rome to Frankfurt was delayed, so we nearly missed our connection, but thanks to a special Lufthansa escort from door to door, we made it with 5 minutes to spare...whew!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0488s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
