Before that could happen, however, I needed breakfast. Sitting in the kitchen alone and putting jam on my bread, I heard a loud scream from the backyard and then successive yelling in Italian by Lorenzo's mother. Rushing out the back door, I found all the men peering into the well. Lorenzo's mother was hanging out of a second story window frantically pointing and yelling. All the men then rushed to the second smaller well just as Chi Chi, Lorenzo's mother's sister comes crawling out of it. Ah.. It turns out that Elliott, Chi Chi's Jack Russell Terrier had fallen in the well and Chi Chi jumped in the well after him. All was ok. Chi Chi had a few scrapes but nothing serious. Elliott was happy and jumpy as always. Below is a picture of the larger well.
After the well incident, we were almost ready to go. Me, Lorenzo, Lorenzo's father Giuseppe and Chi Chi's husband Pepe crawled into a very old Land Rover. It was so old, Giuseppe got out of the car to push it while Lorenzo tried to start it. Once we finally got it started, somebody hailed us down. The gelato man from San Gimignano (I looked him up, his name is Sergio Dondoli) was coming to pick up some fresh grape juice so we stayed to greet him. This guy is a world famous gelato maker. He really does use only the best and freshest ingredients. Nuts! It only goes to show, when you truly are the best at what you do, you can be famous too!
Anyway, then we were finally on our way. Never in my life had I ever had the chance to say I felt like Indiana Jones. But there it was. It was the only thing I kept saying as the Land Rover thrashed up and down through the thick forest behind the estate. At one point we stopped so they could show me the treehouse. Somebody had built a platform high up in the tree. The men would spend an afternoon there chatting and hunting birds. Crazy. It took me a full five minutes to climb up the dingy ladder but I did finally make it! The view was fantastic! It was worth it. Hindsight is always twenty twenty.
Here's a picture of a mushroom we found. Unfortunately, all the ones I found were not up to par. They were either too small, not the kind you eat or "not interesting" as Giuseppe put it. Not sure what the latter meant. I would say I'm a pretty savvy mushroom eater and I have nothing against plain white button mushrooms. I think they were on a porcini-biased hunt. But that's just me. Hmph.
After returning from the hunt and having a bit of lunch, we finally, finally were on our way out. Italians move quite slowly. Since it would be our last day with Lorenzo, we took a picture together.
I found it funny that four men would stand around talking about their shoes. But yes, this is what they were talking about. Apparently, they did not like Giuseppe's choice of footwear.
The women looked so cute together! From the left is Lorenzo's mother, Lorenzo's mother's sister Chi Chi and Lorenzo's sister.
A beautiful picture of Jennie and Chi Chi. (Chi Chi loved Jennie!)
Ah, finally, we (Lorenzo's mother, Chi Chi, Lorenzo, Jennie and me) all got in the car and went to Seina. I'm pretty sure I had been here before as well.
Look! The boy is riding a snail!
If you look closely through the blinds, there are two very old women enjoying themselves at the local pizzaria.
Timeless window! Yummy hams, cheese, and a bicycle entirely made of wood.
Pizza del Campo at Siena.
No one can resist the charm of Elliott.
Lorenzo and his 'everybody loves Hugo Pratt'. Who the heck is Hugo Pratt?
Isn't this awesome? Mint green Vespa in front of a bright yellow wall. SO Italian!
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