I have been remiss again in writing and have to catch myself up. At this writing I am a week behind in blogging and I am bound and determined to finish writing and pack up to go home within 24 hours. Will she do it folks??? Stay tuned.
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We joined up for one last breakfast at our hotel in Rome before boarding the coach bus and heading north to Orvieto and Siena, en route to Florence. I got everyone checked out of the hotel with no issues. The fighting brothers in law seemed to have made up, judging by the enjoyable time they had at dinner the night before. I think they'll be fine, and the wives seem to have dealt with the situation without threatening to call the divorce lawyers in, so that's a plus.
I gave a talk on the bus on the way to Orvieto about the importance of hilltowns in the centuries past. Basically they were fortresses with the vantage point of being able to see for many mils around if thundering hordes were approaching. Walls were built to cut off access and protect the citizens. Many of these fortified towns were pre-Roman empire, as Etruscan villages, and were absorbed into the empire after losing battles. After the empire fell in medieval times, city-states cropped up and this is where the real feuding began. Whether Siena was battling Pisa, Pisa fighting Siena, Florence battling everyone, many city-states feuding with the Papal States of the Vatican, there was also feuding between powerful families - hence the tower-building craze within the walls. Can't we all just get along? Apparently not.
The bus drops us at the top of town and we tour the amazing cathedral, then wind our way down the hill and meet up with the bus a couple of hours in the parking area mid-way down the hill. The patchwork of farmlands below us is a crazy quilt of the color green and it's beautiful.
Boarding the bus we make our way to Siena and have lunch and a few more hours of sightseeing. I gave a talk on the bus about the history of the rivalry between Siena and Florence.
The entire time I am up in the front of the bus speaking into the microphone system I can't help but notice Marco and Mamma in the back. While he's translating for her what I'm yammering on about this and that, she is simply beaming at me. It's nice to have someone being proud of you and what you're doing to spur you on. She had never been to Orvieto and Siena before. The group was amazed to find this out, and even more amazed to know that she had lived her entire life in Venice and knew only her little corner of Italy. We spend a lot of money to come to her world, and she has all this so close to her and has never been. What can you do?
During a quiet period (meaning while I wasn't speechifying) I went back to see how she was doing and she clapped her hands and gave me a "Brava, Kricka!" not only because she had no idea I knew so many mundane historical details, but that I pronounced things so perfectly. That cracked me up. Who cares what I'm talking about, I can sound out the names correctly. Ha!
We made it into Florence in the late afternoon and I got everyone checked in to the hotel and took a nap for an hour. After dinner at the hotel restaurant we took Mamma out for a short night walk to see the buildings lit up and looking ghostly. She is really having the time of her life and I am thankful that I helped in getting her to this point. Marco took me aside at one point and gave me a big squeeze on the shoulder and told me, "Thank you so much for this. She loves you very much and is very happy at this moment." He was rather emotional, and then I got a bit teary too. Guh.
We walked back to the hotel, her holding both of our hands and talking very excitedly about getting to see the inside of the Duomo the next day, and to see that guy named Il Davide.
After a long day of togetherness with my Venetian family "on holiday" I was really missing my own family. I didn't think it was possible to be so happy and unhappy at the same time. Why can't my worlds be together at the same time and not 7,000 miles apart?
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