An American in Provence

We got back from our trip to Italy at 4 am on Friday morning. It took us two days to recover.

It was quite a trip.

I guess I should start with what happened before we even left for Italy.

About a week and a half before we were supposed to leave, we got a call from Alain's cousin Jerome. He had just gotten back from Italy and said that there was a "little problem". Turns out, the toilet was backed up. He made it sound like no big deal, just that it drained a little slowly and you had to be careful. We thought about taking the portapotty that we had used when we re-did our toilet, but about a week later Alain's aunt Lydia called and said everything was okay.

We spent Friday, August 8th preparing for our trip- beach towels, snorkels, rollerblades, etc. as well as laundry and grocery shopping- and watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics.

We got up at 4 am Saturday, August 9th, and got on the road at 5. Alain drove for an hour, then I drove while he dozed. I have said it before and I'll say it again, the road from Marseille to Italy is Gorgeous! I was driving at around 6:30 am, with the sun coming up. Green trees, blue mountains, and a pink sky. Wow.

We arrived in Italy and took the exit after San Remo, which was a very smart thing to do- otherwise you spend about an hour inching your way through Italian traffic, versus taking a tunnel that leads directly to where the house is. (and by house I mean rustic cabin).

We arrived around 8 am, and Alain's aunt was just getting up. She was leaving that afternoon and regailed us with the unabriged version of the toilet catastrophy. Turns out, it was much worse than Jerome made it sound. To me, "drains a little slowly" does not mean "overflowing poo in the sink downstairs". The first day that they arrived, they tried to use the toilet, and it quickly became obvious that it needed to be professionally cleaned or else they could not stay. She contacted several different companies (thank goodness she speaks some Italian) who both said the entire pipe would have to be ripped out and replaced, for about 700€. A third company said that they could unblock it for 300€. Sold!

Anyway, by the time we arrived, it was working fine, just had to be careful to fill up an entire bucket each time and empty the bucket into the toilet, instead of being lazy and only doing half a bucket or so.

Saturday morning we went to the market and bought some Pecorino cheese and tapenade, then came back and slept for several hours on the inflatable bed (the mattresses are horrible). Lydia came and said goodbye, then took the train back to France.

Saturday evening we went for a stroll down by the Porto Vecchio and bought our first ice cream of many.

We came back, had pasta, and went to bed at about 9:30. I guess when there is no TV, no internet, and it gets dark at 9, you naturally get sleepy. Plus, we had gotten up at 4.