Italian Road Trip…Texas Style.
I’m still playing catch-up on the ol’ blog. Crystal and Dionne leave Bologna on Wednesday so I’ll be back to my normal routine soon. In the meantime, I’m delivering old news. But, it’s new(s) to you! So, I hope you enjoy. xo
Crystal and Dionne rented a car so we could road trip to Lago di Giarda to visit Elizabeth Lee and catch a few of her gigs in Italy. We were set to leave at 9am on Saturday morning. At 10am they still weren’t at my house and my cell phone plan had expired. I needed to make a trip to Vodafone before we could hit the road, but I was afraid to leave the house and miss Sister and Dionne. Around 10:15a they arrived…completely exasperated. It had taken them an hour and a half to make the 15 minute drive. Street signs, road names and directions in Italy are a whole new ballgame. So is trying to make a cell phone payment via an automated phone system when there’s no “Premi uno per l’inglese”. They decompressed on my couch as I took the bus to the nearest Vodafone location and made my payment in person. I wasn’t about to ask for a ride.
Finally, at 11:30am we were on the autostrada (toll road) headed nord (north). About 45 minutes into the drive, I smelled a familiar stench, gasped and rolled down the window. Dionne giggled in the back seat as she ripped one…the seal on her sweet and hot beef jerky, that is. She also brought out smoked almonds and sour gummy straws, the perfect Texas road trip accoutrement. We turned up the radio and finally relaxed into`the drive to Lago di Giarda where Elizabeth and Enrico awaited our arrival.
Of course, when Americans make an Italian road trip, the peace of mind is short-lived. Trying to follow google map directions and find the appropriate road signage to back up the written directions is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Especially when you get into smaller towns and villages. Everyone there already knows where they’re going. They don’t worry that an outsider might get lost. But thankfully, when three American girls stop at a road side fruit and veggie stand, there’s an Italian man anxiously waiting to be their knight in shining armor. After some broken conversation and then a cell phone call between our Fruit Knight and Enrico, all was well. We purchased some saturna peaches, grapes and a watermelon just as Enrico and Elizabeth pulled up on their scooter to guide us the rest of the way home. (Which ended up being about 3 minutes away.)
The village of Prevalle (translate: pre-Alps) would be our home away from home for the next five days.
