Today's entry will feature our four days with Fred's brother and wife and sons. As I said in the last post, seeing things through the eyes of people you love makes all the difference. Probably the same reason my son took his girlfriend to our little town's annual fair—something he hadn't done in years. It's all new again when you have a friend.
First, cast count: four. It's slowing down.. and only 9 days to go...
The family left for Assisi yesterday, but will be back again Sunday for another couple of nights. We packed in a lot in their short stay. I already mentioned our first night with them, so on to the first full day. Fred had to teach, so the rest of us went to Capodimonte, a nearby town on Lake Bolsena—where Fred and I had been a few days earlier. The boys wanted to swim, so we rented a pedal boat and Sean took them out, while Susan and I had cappuccino at one of the many bars along the coast. (Is it a coast if it's a lake?)
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| Oh, and the boat had a slide :) |
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Susan joined later.
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| Susan and the boys looking over the lake from Marta, the town next to Capodimonte where we had lunch. |
Fred suggested I show them the terme on the way home. This is a field of thermal baths that used to be open to the public, but now you have to pay—for this particular one, anyway. There are others. This one might even be a private club. People come from far and wide to lay in the hot sulphur water detoxing their bodies. It's a sight to see, all these tanned bodies, mostly just heads, sticking out of these shallow pools. And it's a sight to smell! Rotten egg/sulphur pervades.
Then, across the street, hay bales to climb!
Back home they rested up to prepare for cocktails at our place, and dinner out. This night's dinner was at L'Archetto, another visitor favorite, as it's outside in an arched alcove.
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Brothers being brothers. Reminded us of our boys, except that Henry always liked to keep his chair mostly inside the apartment, not on the crumbly scary-looking balcony.
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Saturday, the next day, we put Sean to work. He's an artist and a teacher, too, so he's got a lot of experience hanging shows, which was the task at hand. Fred's work will hang on the walls of five stories of a tower in the neighboring town of Vitorchiano. Someone found his work on Instagram and pursued the show. About a third of the pieces are of Vitorchiano's charming streets, doorways, nooks, and crannies. The rest are towns nearby. Here's the announcement:
Here's where we were —Fred Lynch photo credits:
And some pics of Fred and Sean hanging the show. It took four hours!
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They hammered nails into the grout between the stones, then held the posters on with really strong magnets.
So strong the boys could put one on each side of their earlobes and wear them as earrings. |
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| Fred and I spent a day at RISD printing these posters -- or I should say, watching one of Fred's co-workers and his assistant print them. They're about 2 X 3 feet. Not bringing originals, and having them enlarged helps on lots of fronts. We can leave them till next year, and the space is such that the work is better enlarged. |
While the men hung the show, we roamed around Vitorchiano. Here are some sights.
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| These are obituaries! As I said in my Facebook post—I would hate for my interest in obituaries to have to be such a public thing. I think if I were Italian I'd take a quick snapshot and examine it when I got home with a cup of tea. Then again, if I were Italian, obituaries would not be my idea of the sports page. |
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| At the top of the tower. |
When the hanging was done, we grabbed a bite and hit the road to Civita di Bagnoregio, a must-see for anyone in the area. It's a town that stands alone on a peak, the surrounding earth having fallen away. (Parts of buildings have also fallen away for that matter.) It used to be that the only money you spent on this little excursion was the euro or two you'd give to a really old lady who promised to show you the best vista, from her back garden. It didn't disappoint, but it just felt a little weird. And she was a bit scary. Now, thanks or maybe THANKS A LOT, to Rick Steves, tour buses deliver people and now they charge... but we paid willingly since it will hopefully preserve it for future generations to enjoy.
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| Civita di Bagnoregio. |
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| We got there in a thunder and lightning storm. Rain? Just a little! |
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A regal kitty with great whiskers.
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And, back in the 'hood, dinner (after balcony cocktails) at the Garden of the Duck. Our favorite. It's always a magical night on Mareno's white-pebbled rooftop garden. Mareno is a lighting guy by trade, so the lights are really cool... little pin lights hanging from the trees, spots that light up a bamboo wall, tables that change colors. And Mareno himself lights up the place. He's got Einstein hair, wears skinny white jeans, a necklace, and a ton of stringy, beedy bracelets. He's just fabulous.
The most hilarious thing that happened—probably ever in the history of the world—was when Mareno came over to ask if we wanted dessert. We declined, WAY too full, of course, and he grabbed Fred's belly from behind with both hands and shook it and shook it and shook it. I thought the boys would fall off their chairs. I'm laughing now just remembering.
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| Photo credit to Sean Lynch. |
Sunday morning we met the Poughkeepsie Lynches at a caffé and sent them off to Assisi. Buon viaggio!
A little bit about the rest of Sunday after they left. Fred and I drove to Canepina, a neighboring town—apparently they are all neighboring towns, where he drew, and I walked and then worked. It's been a busy time for work with some last minutes things to do over the weekend/s.
I guess I didn't take many pics... but this one was funny. Absolutely NO room to get in and out of this house via this door, anyway!
And we made a discovery, one week into the trip. Our car is, in fact, a four-door. The handle is sideways, at the top right. Who knew?
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