Awe Geez: On The First Day...

Normally I make a point of sparing you a day-by-day recount of vacation events. "We woke up, had breakfast..."

But in reading my captain's log from our grand Italian adventure, I found myself chuckling with familiar glee as I mused back through our days. The best parts of these kinds of things, to me, are the little interpersonal exchanges and delights - no so much the action-packed excursions we took that day. Put my favorite people in a house together and I'll be thrilled, doesn't matter where in the world we are... though I'm quite partial to our Italian villa scenery.

In this case, muttering with my people while all of us were processing and observing new things resulted in tons of fun moments. So I'm going day-by-day with this one. I will, however, glaze past the initial day of travel because it was somewhat hellacious for everyone. Lots of delays, missed connections, one nauseating flight, and in my case, a really big and unexpected panic-attack that comes into play later on in my reporting. Also, Ellen, Lee, Brett, and I lost our luggage in Germany.

So, it was around lunchtime in Varenna...

DAY 1

The kids were the first to the house so Ellen met with the owner who gave us a painfully slow tour. "This is the kitchen sink... the light switch is here..." but finally he left and we were able to explore the big, gorgeous, rambling home. Stunning views! Amazing gardens!

Mom and Dad arrived just 30 minutes later - tired. They haven't been sleeping. After a quick catch-up, the fellas ran to a grocery store to get supplies for dinner. The Hons arrived around dinnertime and we all giggled and gabbed and gave them the tour. We had a big al fresco dinner on the most beautiful balcony in all the land. Brett made homemade spaghetti and we had olives, fresh bread, and salad. It couldn't have been more magnificent.

Lollie was on a mission to get gelato just as soon as possible, so despite the pull to finally sleep, we wandered into town right after dinner for our first scoops of the trip. Delicious.
Papa Don made me laugh with his musings about cobblestones and the great marble shortage of 1940 - resulting in having to "plug in some bricks on occasion."
Early bedtime for everyone. Took a glorious hot shower, borrowed clothes to sleep in.

Noted highlights/ comments:

-"She's pretty and all but I wouldn't take her to prom." -Dad (referencing Mom)
-Brett developed immediate obsession with olive oil. Almost seems heartbroken about it.
-Strangely, Lee travels with bar rags and koozies. We needed both tonight. He was the days hero of the day!

DAY 2

Slow morning w/ coffee and espresso on multiple levels of the house. Dad is posted on duty in case of potential luggage collection. Lollie, Don, Mama, Brett, and I wandered into town. There are strangely pruned trees. Don says they probably trimmed them wrong once but wouldn't admit it so they kept going with it. Brett bought us some focaccia bread from a little hole in the wall shop and it's the best bread we've ever eaten. We munched and wandered past Villa Monasero - some big swanky place they charge you to come see. We stood on the road above it and looked down into it. Mostly we watched girls pose for their Instagram photos. Lollie audibly cackled while Mom and I cringed.

Don and Brett lagged behind us for most of the walk - discussing all kinds of things including the possibility of using the town fountain as a large bidet.

Don notes:

-started his day by stepping out onto the balcony and yelling at us in Italian.

-Did not like being called ClaireVoyant

-Blurts out Italian sounds on occasion

-When asked if he speaks English, he responds "Non!" with an Italian lilt.

-He's had a lot of coffee today.

When the noontime bells rang, Lollie felt her own bells ring and needed to get back to the house right away. She hustled us along, telling Don to pick up the pace because she needed to go - to which he responded "me too!" - and it was all so urgent, until they saw the gelato shop and suddenly they both could hold it. Brett and I went on home but they stayed behind for a sweet treat.

The rest of the day was spent with the family coming and going from the patio. People would nod off, go into town, snack, chat, listen to music. There was a most excellent conversation of Dad trying to loan Brett some underwear. (We're still waiting on luggage.) The collective laugher about skid marks, discoloration, the underwear's ability to stand upright on it's own was just too much.

Ellen mostly stayed in her room today but came out once to see if we could find a clothing store.

"Your Dad wants me to wear his underwear!" - Brett

Brief chat about bunions.

We had dinner at a restaurant with the most beautiful view - on a cliff somewhere, at sunset. We all started out like normal people but were all cackling by the end of it. Lollie especially enjoyed my gnocchi. Best gnocchi I've ever had. Don was talking to Brett and accidentally called him "Big Boy" and then said, "I didn't mean to call you Big Boy... wanna wear my underwear?" We all had a great time.