I just want to drive!

2009-11-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

Our tour of the Umbrian countryside just ended.

Now, Anne and I are sitting in our room just east of the main palazzo in Todi, Italy. The two of us are relaxed and having a glass wine. I have glass of local sangiovese and Anne a glass of grechetto. We started the tour here today just after our breakfast. Well truthfully, just after another due capuccini standing at the bar steps from here. What's interesting about today’s tour is that we drove ourselves. Not just on the autostrada but back roads too. We did it All with the help of a GPS unit.

It all seemed too simple. We have one in the Prius back home and have never really put it through the paces. I've driven here on many trips prior and I mostly stayed to the main roads or mostly felt lost. I, like many men, consider myself a competent and "good" driver. Driving has never really been the problem... The problem is navigation, like many men. I remember one trip almost to the point of "wacking" my back seat passengers, for talking too much, while trying to navigate to our hotel in the Alps. In hindsight, that was a reasonably easy destination. Today's navigation however, was beyond complex. "Roger", the voice on our GPS unit, faltered once when the road near the station in some puny town near Assisi was under construction and closed. Roger "the dependable" recovered quickly and re-routed us to our destination so fast that I never had the chance to feel lost. Thank you Roger.

I knew at the beginning that I had chosen an ambitious itinerary. From here to Deruta, a town known for lovely ceramics, which I had never heard of but Anne had planned on finding a deal on the plate of a lifetime. A short giro and 60 euro later (with no special plate) we were back on the road to Perugia. Arriving just prior to noon the commune of Perugia was a fire with traffic. Again, driving was fine but the navigation was better. We found ourselves and our mini-cooper in the middle of a huge chocolate festival that we had no idea was happening. There we were on a Wednesday stumbling into a continent wide chocolate festival. There were samples and demonstrations. We found chocolate hot and chocolate in large bricks. Tools made from chocolate that were dusted with cocoa to look rusty and even a chocolate climbing wall with a line of eager climbers and belay rope men to ease you down if you over do it. And to add a special feel to the already atmosphere viscous streets, someone on the chocolate festival planning committee decided to pipe in music. The selection was the sound track from the 70's Willy Wonka movie. What could be more appropriate or fun? From Perugia, we left our parking garage and immediately had Roger giving us the way. "In 200 meters enter the roundabout take the 2nd exit then bear right". As if that was too much direction at one time, we would hear "take the 2nd exit" as we entered said roundabout and we'd hear "bear right" as we left it. Some how with all this direction giving from Roger, I only felt more relaxed and never less "manly".

I emailed a friend back home who struggles with a wife for a GPS. "Steve, next time you are over here you need to get one of these. I only wish they made these for the bedroom." To me everything in Italy exudes romance and love. I can only imagine my bedroom GPS. It would need to have a feminine voice with the same UK accent. She would direct "In ten minutes say "I love you"” followed by “mind your speed and go straight on" and finally “you have reached your destination” as if I didn’t already know. Surely, an Italian would never need such a thing. Oh, how I digress.

By the time we arrived in Assisi I was starved and suffering a bit from Perugia's chocolate-sugar high. We toured the San Francesco Basilica with my mind more on my stomach than on the incredible frescos overhead. Assisi is a lovely town that has sustained its economy for the last 600 years with Christian tourism. There were lots of little shops selling knick-knacks that I might have found at my grandmothers house. Aside from that, it is largely a town free from cars. We walked until we found a small pastry shop that had panini too and we order ours "da asporto", To go. We found a curb with a view and ate. I found a resurgence in my failing spirits, all from a few bites and a view.

Last night in the hotel we discussed our route. Did we want to see Perugia and head east or west? Was there time to go to Lago Trasimeno and drive counter clockwise to Orvieto? Or did we want a route that had less stradi and more viccoli? By punching in various towns and routes we could determine times between each and total route driving time. We chose a tighter and smaller loop. Planning with the help of a paper map (aka manual GPS) that we obtained free from the tourist information office we could see that there we're many small roads lined in green denoting routes with beautiful views or tourist significance. Being tourists we felt we made the prudent choice and later confirmed this with the glass of wine in my hand now.

From Assisi we really ventured from the beaten path. A short hop on the autostada and a warning from Roger that I was exceeding the speed limit and a that traffic camera was ahead in 500meters (thanks again Roger) we slowed our pace to pass through Foligno on our way to Montefalco, a wine town. The roads were a drivers delight. Twisty and curvy climbs led to wide-open ridge top vistas of vineyards and mysterious hill towns. We stopped to admire and photograph what our eyes found almost too beautiful. Ahead we found Montefalco quiet and peaceful with its town square devoid of traffic and other tourists. We stopped for our requisite coffee at the bar. The light outside was so sharp and the clouds showed the first hint of yellow that indicated autumn and announced the coming of evening.

We chose our next town with no prior knowledge and more for the location along the green route than for the interesting name, “Bastardo”. We didn’t stop as we were having just too much fun driving and did not want to meet the town’s namesake so we continued on through to Vietri. A blip on the map with roads barely paved and where the locals watch as you drive by because we might have been the first non-local car to pass through since June and that was entertainment. We smiled and waved and that was reciprocated but with a look of “who was that?” I didn’t much need Roger just then as all the signs from there forward pointed the way to Todi. I am glad he was there just to confirm that I was heading in the right direction.

The Sorrento Alignment

2008-04-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

There are times when the cosmos, time, and place all align to bring us events that, if one has the vision to see it happen, can slow and sharpen our space and this is where travel memories are created. It can happen in everyday life but often goes un-noticed or is written off to annoyance.

From where we sat yesterday afternoon, the traffic coursed through the roundabout at the center of Sorrento with all the regularity of a river flowing at runoff. Our drinks were paid for with the 20 euro note I found in the shrub as we sat down. We could have been in Santa Barbara except for the Italian spoken and all the British English too. The air was perfumed with jasmine and orange blossoms. The sun warmed.

I am not sure exactly when the alignment began...maybe it was at the point where we decided not to go out to the island of Ischia. We both believed that it didn’t sound fun to walk around in the rain...which is exactly what we did most of the morning. Maybe it was the standoff between a cat and dog down in the old port with the cat again proving to be just a bit better adversary or perhaps it was when the rain actually stopped. Maybe the un- choreographed jelly fish ballet that we observed at the breakwater marked the beginning or possilbly the alignment happened about the time we waited too long to decide our lunch spot and chose the wrong one.

More than likely though the alignment began like infinity begins and had no real definable beginning.

What happens in these alignments can not be defined as a single event. I find that it’s a series of events either random or orderly. One decision leading to another event. Much like the movie Sliding Doors where missing the subway by seconds has the effect “life changing”. We missed the train today. No my life has not changed but the alignment continues even now. So many little ocurrences yesterday have me thinking. There, after drinks, with the remainder of the 20 euro note we found our way to a crowded gelateria. Paying in advance, we waited behind Duddley Dursley while daddy prodded him to make a choice. Coni in hand we ate street side leaning against the building. This was the best free gelato ever. We both were all smiles.

What happened next could be the point of alignment or just another thing. We stood there, tipsy and nearly satiated on gelato and a limping bearded man on his way to the gelateria began speaking in tongues just 3 inches from my face. Clearly he wanted to say something to me and he really was not happy with the fact that I made no effort to reply. Anyone who has been around me long enough knows that I am a magnet for this kind of thing. I wish I had a tape recording of all the events previously that make believe this. If our smiles were wide before; now they where positively oceanic.

Nearly in tears from laughter, we proceeded on our way with that feeling that can only come from a good laugh. Then the nuns in the car and the old man in front of us at the street crossing who passed gas with gusto. Really, what happened to manners...and again everything seemed to be so amusing.

Later we had take away pizze (plural for pizza, not a misspell) from a place that translated to “Arms of Iron” and had Popeye as a mascot. It seems that the crust really is the truly important part that we have ignorantly missed in the States. That was the second best pizza I’ve ever eaten. The first being in Naples the day before.

On the train today, we sat with some newlyweds, he an Army Chaplin and she a double music major. I made up that he is spending his entire years salary on the memory and forcing his own celestial alignment. As the train pulled in to Orvieto my phone actually worked for once and Sabrina, the B&B owner, insisted on picking us up. It turns out that money cannot by happiness. Just being in the moment is where that is often found. Our best place of the trip so far...is the least expensive.

From the Trail to the Kitchen

I just want to drive!

The Sorrento Alignment