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Page 9 iChiari, Castiglione de Lago, Caldo?? hot or cold

MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY

This day we decided we would ride to Montepulciano, another challenging uphill, but supposed to be pretty. Also, the couple who put us up in Georgia for the Olympics had visited there, so we thought we would go check it out.

We went flat along the river valley for awhile, leaving Umbria and entering Tuscany, then climbed up through Chiusi, and along the mountain ridge to the town of Chianciano. After visiting so many rural towns in Umbria, we were just not prepared for this busy tourist town. It is well known for its thermal pools, apparently, and there were hundreds of blue haired ladies and gents in guayaberra shirts and straw hats walking around. Also, there were hundreds of hotels. By the time we got to the main plaza we were having serious culture shock.

I stopped at the tourist info center, but got little info, and then we went to the old town, cobble streets, etc. We had lunch in a park, and decided it was too hot to go up another 700 feet, especially if Montepulciano was more of the same. So we headed back down the hill to the river, and started looking for lodging.

Things were looking slim. Little tiny towns, no hotels, no cameres, no agroturismos. Finally we saw a sign for a Ristorante and Residence, and turned down a side road, rode through acres of wheat fields, much farther than the 900 meters the sign promised. We were just getting ready to turn back when we spotted a sign, and pulled into the drive, rounded the corner and espied a huge, lovely, cool swimming pool. The landlady showed us to our apartment, but said it was a bit early and the apartment wasnt made up yet, so would we be willing to wait in the garden at the pool, while she prepared it for us. Would we ever! We showered in the bathhouse, put on our suits and dove in. Boy! Was that good.

I Chiari turned out to be a real find. We have a roomy apartment with king bed, bathroom with shower, kitchen/sitting room, large deck and use of the enormous grounds, swimming pool, etc. As we settled down on the comfortable bed for siesta Don looked at me with a big grin, and said, Im nesting. We decided to see if we could stay for three days, instead of one.

While Don happily took his nap, I went to make arrangements with the landlady. When I found her she was with another woman who turned out to be her daughter-in-law, and who was really the landlady. Anyway, I tried, in my guide-book Italian, to tell them that my husband was happy. Mi marita contento. is what I wanted to say. Somehow my tongue got twisted up with Italian, Spanish and French, and what came out was, Mi marita es contento. The ladies thought I said, Mi marita sconto. This means I am selling my husband at a discount. Needless to say, they looked at me in a very confused way. Why is this woman selling her husband? And why would WE want him?, they must have been thinking. Seeing that there was some problem, I montioned a big smile with my hands and repeated, contento and then they understood. They happily agreed to have us stay for three days, and Roberto, the husband, took me into town to buy some groceries.

That evening we had a light meal of proscuitto, melon, and pasta. As we were walking back to our rooms a huge red ball of sun was just settling into the hills and I stood at the gate and watched it drop beneath the horizon, leaving a soft pink glow to light up the earth.

MAY 30, 2001

We woke the next morning refreshed and ready for a new bike ride. It was going to be a hot day, so I told Don I wanted to be back in the pool by 2pm. We had breakfast, and then found ourselves just sitting and enjoying the views of the wheat fields and mountains in the sun. We finally got off on a ride, but much later that we had planned.

We rode east over the hills to Lake Transimeno, which is a huge lake, as big as Tahoe. En route, who did we meet coming the other way!? Our tandem biking friends from Todi. We stopped and talked more, and finally decided to meet in Florence for dinner next week sometime. Don and I continued east and visited the town of Castiglione del Lago. While we were eating our lunch in the park we met a Backroads guide from Bear Valley, California. She was on her week off, and doing some touring on her own. We pumped her for route suggestions.

After lunch we rode around the hills and vineyards and were back in the pool by 2pm, as requested.

A few more anecdotes about language. We have been in Italy for 6 weeks now, and yesterday Don complained, Every single spigot in Italy has the hot and cold handles backward. I asked why he thought that and he said, Everytime I turn the cold, out comes hot! It is very difficult to get a good adjustment in the shower when they kep installing the plumbing backwards! I laughed and explained that in Italy C means caldo (hot) and cold is F for freddo.

From that we got to talking about other words that confuse and we laughed about uscita. Coming from the USA we assume that anything starting with US is related to the government, and USCITA is written everywhere in Italy. Often we also see the word ufficio too, which looks mighty official, and sometimes we see ufficio uscita or uscita ufficio. One day in casual conversation Don mentioned that there sure are a lot of government buildings in Italy, and some of them are extra official. Guess what! Uscita really just means exit. No wonder we see so many buildings with USCITA written on the door.

From there, Don got philosophical, and we started talking about the dichotomy of fast and slow. As we sat under a tree in the peaceful, sleepy countryside we felt like it could be a hundred years ago, and then in the distance we saw the fast train (200mph plus) shooting along the track to Florence, and thought, How nice to be able to enjoy the serenity of earlier times and at the same time have the luxuries and speed of the modern times.

Things we miss most from home:

Isabella & Ryan, our grandchildren
Well, the rest of you readers too
Big fluffy terrycloth bathtowels
Cups and glasses that hold more than two tablespoons
San Jose Mercury News in the morning

Things we dont miss:

Energy crisis

Don tried to go online tonightthey advertise use of the phone as one of the charms of I Chiari. But, we were told the phone was out of order and they are hoping the phone repairman comes tomorrow.

MAY 31, 2001 THURSDAY

We jumped up early today and climbed the double arrow (pretty steep) mountain to Montepulciano before it got hot. Montepulciano is another hill town, pretty interesting, with a good museum. There were lots of tourists in town, and lots of tourist-type shops there, but not like Chianciano. We stopped for a cappucino and brioche and had a nice conversation with a woman from England who was on a hiking tour.

This area is the Vini Nobili di Montepulcianothe Wine Route of Italy. There are lots of vineyards and tasting rooms in the area. We bought a bottle of Montepulciano wine to try out, and then took a back route down the hill through the green vineyards. We got back to our lodging around 2pm and just lounged around enjoying the opportunity to be away from the tourist crowds. We started planning our next leg of the trip, trying to decide what we wanted to do next.

Don has begun to obsess about the phone situation. He says that he can get a dial tone, but that he gets a recording when he places the call to the internet number. He is convinced that they are fibbing about the phones, and they just dont want us to use them. He sneaks down by the office to check and see if he can catch them on the phone. [ foot note] when Geralynn was checking out the manager got a phone call but still insisted that the phones were not working.

We had our dinner on the deckshrimp salad and paella--and watched the sun go down at I Chiari for the last time. We have had a nice stay here.