We have Bikes!

As I write this we are sitting on the train traveling from Campobasso to Rome.  It is a three hour train ride.  Chaim being the amazing student that he is always has his notes in front of him; except in this moment they are dangling from the tips of his fingers as he’s falling asleep J

We were supposed to catch a train at 2:20pm but missed it because our taxi did not come on time.  The only big surprise I’ve had here in Italy is how few people speak English, and if they do, how little they know of it.  I called the taxi company hours before we had to leave.  The man who answered the phone did not understand one word of English, not one word!  I kept calling him back trying to communicate that I wanted a taxi at 1pm using google translate to figure out any words in Italian that would help and :orry wasn’t one of them.  Finally after the third call he put someone on the phone who knew a little English.  Well, I thought the conversation had gone well and that he understood what we were asking but at 1:15pm when there was still no taxi I realized I might have made a mistake.

At this point I called Angiola to try and get her to help.  I didn’t want to call earlier because I felt like she has helped so much already, I email her every day with questions so I wanted to give it a break but that didn’t work out.  Luckily just when I called she happened to be at the train in Campobasso and was able to send us a taxi.  She told us it would arrive in 20 minutes so we were hopeful that we would still catch the train at 2:20pm.  20 minutes went by, no taxi, 40 minutes still no taxi so I started to get a little worried and frustrated and at that point realized we would not make it to the train on time. 

An hour later while I was still trying to figure out how to get us to the train station we heard a honk from a car down the road.  I ran outside to find an unmarked car driven by a man who had to be well into his 80’s.  I asked him “taxi?”, he responded with a slight smile and a slow nod.  Then I asked him to give us a minute, naturally using the hand gesture for “rega” in Hebrew, only then remembering that it’s rude I ran off back to the house to call Chaim and get our things.  I’ve only noticed here in Italy how many Israeli hand gestures I took on without knowing it, it makes me wonder how long we would have to be here for the Italian gestures to become a part of my daily conversation.

 It was 3:00pm at this point and the next train was not until 5pm but I didn’t want to test our luck again trying to communicate with this friendly old man that we wanted him to come back in an hour, so off we went to the train two hours earlier than necessary.  The reason this was so complicated is because there are no buses in Montagano on Sunday.  On a regular day we could just walk into the village, get on a bus and be in Compobasso 20 minutes later no problem.   

The good thing about not catching the earlier train is that I had time to pack us a bunch of snacks for the ride.  Four sandwiches, a bunch of fruit (plums of different sizes), crackers, and left over lasagna from Shabbat, which Chaim suggested we eat before we leave so it never made it onto the train).

We spend a lot of time making delicious food and eating it.  For the first few days we were here it seemed that we had developed a cooking pattern.  One day I would make breakfast and the next day Chaim would, then we would switch for lunch. Dinner we usually cook together and it has been a different kind of pasta each night.  We didn’t have any room to pack kosher meat to bring with us but hopefully over this trip in Rome we will be able to pick some up.  I love pasta but I’m also craving some protein now.  But I must say we are eating very well.

Delicious smoked salmon, basil, mushroom omelette 

Potato pancake topped with spinach, eggs and grilled tomatoes and grilled peppers.

Pasta by candle light 

On Thursday afternoon the bicycles we asked Angiola to arrange for us arrived with a very nice man named Marcelo.  When we booked the house we asked Angiola for them..she did warn us that the bike ride to Montagano is quiet steep and therefore difficult but she was optimistic that we would be able to do it because the view is so nice which it is!  Marcelo like most of the Italian’s we have met was very kind.  As a side job he and a group of his friends rent out mountain bikes and help tourists arrange extreme sport trips.  He also told us about a graffiti festival in Campobasso today (Sunday) and invited us to come.  We were definitely interested but with the whole balagan of the taxi’s we didn’t make it. 

That evening before dinner Chaim suggested we go for a bike ride…truthfully I was not really in the mood for it but he seemed excited and that got me excited and so we went.  Angiola was not lying about the steep road.  I think I survived going uphill for less than three minutes; at that point I happily walked my bike up the hill and picked flowers on the side of the road as I went.  Chaim was more successful than me, but not by that much ;).  We actually got pretty far up (and I did manage to get back on the bike) but not all the way to Montagano because it was getting dark and I wanted to go back. 

We have bikes!

As difficult as the ride up was it was worth it because the ride down was so much fun and the view was indeed beautiful!  Chaim happened to pick some flowers for me too and at the end of the ride gave me this little bouquet.  

I wanted to write about this on Friday before Shabbat because Saturday was my grandmother's birthday..I didn't make it on time but I wanted to say Happy Birthday Baba, these flowers are for you :)

More updates to come very soon!  I hope you guys are enjoying reading and if it’s too long I apologize but I know our grandparents love hearing all the details and I love sharing it with them J

Ciao,

Tamar