Saturday June 8 On to Tuscany

We actually did what we intended!  Met for another great buffet breakfast and then set off to explore Camogli.  I'm pretty sure we traversed the whole city!  We started with the statue of Simone Schiaffino, Peter's ancestor, just outside Hotel Casmona. Took MANY photos and tried very hard to figure out what all the Italian carved into the statue meant. We made only some progress in our translation.  So we proceeded on our walk admiring all of the trompe d'oeil artwork on the buildings. We found the end of the jetee, the basilica with 37 chandeliers, the old chateau/fortification and even a Schiaffino street named for one of Peter's ancestors!

Back at the hotel after a little shopping, we made plans to meet on the patio to check put at 10:15. Peter and Tom took some small items with them to retrieve the car from the "secure private" lot, a ten minute walk. After 45 minutes, Bea and I got concerned. I called Peter, he sounded stressed but said all was okay. Tom arrived and Bea, Tom and I left the hotel with ALL the rest of the luggage and SCHLEPPED it to where Peter was with the car. It was another case of narrow streets, one-way streets and closed streets! So, off we went, finally. 

Tom became the navigator and I sat in back with Bea. Our trip to the villa in Foiana Della Chiana took about 3 hours. Arrived shortly before 3; Osentons, Wards, Gallaghers and John were already there.  

First things, first!!  We started the kitty, wrote a shopping list and Bill, Peter and I left for the town of Foiano. It took us a short while to find the supermarket, the Coop, a large and very well stocked supermarket, where we began our next adventure. First of all, we had to drop a 1 Euro coin into a slot to free and begin to use a shopping cart. Then, in the produce section, we had to weigh everything to get a sticky price ticket to put on the bag. After that, we progressed fairly well to find everything on our list. Fortunately Bill found a woman who spoke English and directed him to the trash bags and the sugar. We ended up with 2 carts full of provisions and then we had to bag our own stuff AND pay for the bags! But, lo and behold, upon returning our 2 carts we got a euro back for each one!

Our next adventure was finding an ATM to replenish our personal funds. Foiano is a town of 10,000 so we figured it would be a simple task!  NOT!!  After driving around and asking directions of several people in our VERY limited Italian, we finally found ourselves on a street we had been on a couple of times and.....there was the bancomat!!  Mission accomplished!

Back at the villa, the kitchen team for night began preparations for dinner on earnest. The Combes, Drew and Masa had arrived so only the O'Connells were missing. They arrived in due time, we had cocktails (no ice) and appetizers and began vacation conversation.  The team consisted of Peter, Jan, Drew, Carol and Tom. They served tagliatelle con pompadoro fresca e saucisson along with a delicious salad and bread.  After dinner we began our individual "Vacation Highlights" presentations. Francine described their Viking cruise disaster...the ship went aground!!  Bill told us about their Rome hotel fiasco...they finally got another room. I talked about my magic day in Dublin with my new cousins.  We sat around the al fresco dining area on the patio talking and drinking wine until we went to bed in the fabulous, 3 story Villa Ponti.