We flew into Milan and then rented a car and drove straight up to Zermatt, Switzerland. We had a fantastic room at Coeur d'Alps that overlooked the Matterhorn. I saw my first real cow bell and ate Swiss cheese.
From there, we drove down to Cinque Terre which was no small feat with roads closed from mud slides. We made it, but without the help of our trusty Garmin. We got the help of some Polizia and managed to take in our first look of the Mediterranean Sea. We stayed at Il Borgo di Campi near Riomaggiore. It was a breathtaking view of the sea, but our rooms left a little to be desired with very small twin beds. Great place to snuggle, especially if you don't have arms to get in the way!
Next to Greve and the wedding in Tuscany outside of Florence. We stayed at Castello Viccio Maggio which was the setting of the wedding proper. We were there for a few days and had a great time with the family. The rehearsal dinner was really not for eating it seemed since all the meat was so rare we just couldn't stomach it, but the show the crazy Butchers put on was worth it all!
David and I went into Florence alone in the car! He did great and we managed to go straight to the parking garage that lead us to the ponte near Academia and the fantastic 17' tall marble statue of David. How beautiful to witness this in person. I snapped a few illegal photos. This was one of the few things we stood in line to see as everything had a long wait and we wanted to see as much as possible. That always leaves something for next time too.
Next, Morgan's wedding was just lovely. I got to see Libero (her Dad) and hadn't seen him in many many years on his last visit to TN in the early 80's I believe. Aunt Sheila looked lovely and we had a good talk. Actually I had great talks with my Aunts, but especially Aunt Peggy. We had never really spent time talking like that and it meant a great deal to me. Ginny and David were there with Zac and were awesome as always. I had some time with Aunt Beverly. The really neat part was seeing how David hit it off so well with Cousin Brian. His wife Julie is so amazing and their daughter Emily is a bright and shining star and so kind and sweet. You can tell they are amazing parents and people and it was so good to spend real quality time with them.
We got to hang out with Dan and Sara too of course. They are so generous and FUN. Crazy cousins that make me feel tame for sure:>))) Dan and Sara were great to help us with our Rome plans too. So much to see and so little time to do it.
My favorite night of the whole trip was the last night in Greve when the family went to a small pizza joint in town. It was just easy and fun and perfect.
After Firenze, we headed down to Orvieto, but along the way stopped at Montevideo to visit a historic village on a mountain - these were common in these parts! We also stopped at Banfi winery and had yet another bottle of our beloved Prosecco!
Arriving in Orvieto was a little strange. I found a hotel on trip advisor called Misia Country Resort. The GPS was really taking us over the river and through the woods, but we had to blindly follow "Rhonda" as in HELP ME RHONDA. At the end of a winding road up to some cliffs, we found Misia, our favorite hotel on the trip. Georgio was the owner, a lawyer from Rome that wanted to get away from it all. It was just fantastic and we had such a beautiful and perfect room.
We took the train into Rome and literally did Rome in 4 hours - it was European vacation style with the Grizwald's - look kids....Big Ben, Parliament...., but it was the Colosseum and Vatican City, and the Sisteen Chapell and so much more. Still we had a great time and had a nice meal before getting back. We also had a hard time finding the train station parking that morning and we missed the train which allowed for a lovely tour of the historic town of Orvieto. We took the tram up to the top for a breathtaking view of the valley below. There was such a beautiful cathedral there and they specialized in ceramics and certain types of glass so we bought a little piece that looked almost Mexican to go with our tequila service in the kitchen at home.
After Rome, Venice. So beautiful with St Pauls and I finally heard some music on this trip - nothing until St. Pauls and then there was great live music everywhere in the plaza. This was probably my favorite night other than pizza with the family. So picturesque and the gondola ride was a splurge from my sweet husband, but we wouldn't have had it any other way.
It was hard to come home and catch up, but we are so glad we went on this trip. We love to travel and sometimes it's hard for David to enjoy all aspects of the trip with the stress of driving and traffic and crime while we are in the moment, but he seems to always enjoy reflecting on every part of the trip when we are home which makes me very grateful.
David has gigged a lot this fall with the House Band (Micah playing bass). He was also the UTM Academic Speaker as the winner of the Cunningham Award and his speech on the Civil War - 150 years later - was absolutely brilliant. I was so proud of him as he really tried to cultivate change and awareness while not just outright polarizing and pissing off passionate Southern Rebel types. David is just so good at finding that balance as a speaker. That's why I think he should run for office, but he says religion or perhaps the lack of it, will keep him from it. Oh, and we aren't rich. That too!
October brought many things:
My 40th birthday
My Dad finding out he had a brain tumor and stage 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme cancer.
David and I both took this pretty hard, but decided to support Pop in any way we could. David went over and installed safely features in the house for Dad post surgery. Lagena has been a rock.
Dad, an inspiration as the prognosis doesn't read so good on the median survival rate, but he is determined to be a new statistic. I love him so much and am so proud of his courage and ability to appreciate every day and to always LAUGH and LOVE.
And, our 2nd Annual Day of the Dead Party was in November. Cile and I were both dressed as Frida Kahlo. That party was good fun.
We have been doing home projects and Tommy Stewart has become almost like family with his working on our trim and windows around the place. We have a long way to go though.
Claire came to visit for Thanksgiving and David was very sick during that time with sinus that seemed very flue like. Claire and I had a good time, but I think David has been determined to make up for lost time around the house at Thanksgiving with all of his efforts in the past week over Christmas break. He is building a recycling shed, redoing the paint in the kitchen and more, and all sorts of wonderful lighting stories to make our place look more hip. I love it!
We had our 2nd Annual Basement Ramble and this went better than last year. Great fun and great musicians. I hope we can keep that tradition going.
Helen continues to me a rock of a friend, coming down for my birthday and then again for a few nights over the break.
The Andersons came over and Dad and Lagena (who has been completely and utterly amazing in her support and courage this fall) and we played games and had a ball. It was like old times for me as I haven't felt very Christmassy this year and need to work on that for next year. No more ba humbug. Hell, I didn't even put up a tree this year, what's wrong with me? David bought me a new suit and I didn't do anything. I tried to cook and do a few other thoughtful things, but I always feel so overwhelmed with work that breaks seem like times to catch up and get slightly ahead on work rather than take time off. I don't see this ending for a few years and it's my own fault, buy at least when I retire or at least finish with my service to the Percussive Arts Society, I will feel like I at least did my best to help others as I could.
Well, that's the update for this fall. We are going to have a nice bottle of champagne together for New Years Eve and then I go to Indianapolis for a PAS summit for two days and then Caixa Camp/Concert for two days. I come back and then it's business per norm with Roots of Rhythm reh/tour and then judging All West and then school starts - blah blah blah. At least there are 2 more days to find a small balance before that begins.
Happy New Year!
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