Qui in Italia.......(here in Italy)

After landing on terra firma again.....we proceeded to the first and most important stop....
The ladies room. As usual there was a line.
A few interesting notes about public bathrooms in Italy:

• the doors go all the way to the floor, you can't peek for feet underneath.


• the toilets have the flush button in the wall. one side of the panel for big flushes the other for small flushes.


• cleaning men are always in the bathrooms. that's right...men. They just come on in and clean up.


• most bathrooms come equipped with the options of the hand blow dryer or the cloth on a wheel. I am not down with public cloths.

Next stop - customs and baggage claim!

Like a herd of cattle we all made our way thru the tunnels, down the escalator, up the escalator, onto the little tram....out the door and down another escalator. The joy of Fiumincino is that everything is very well marked. The room opened up to several lines. To the right lines for EU citizens to the left everyone else. Oh, how I longed to be an EU citizen. The line was much shorter and everyone was better dressed.

Ahead of us was a japanese tour group following thier guide that was holding a yellow flag aloft. One by one, we waited for our passports to be stamped. Unlike other countries, as you approach the customs agent in Italy - he says Buon Giorno, you say Buon Giorno....he stamps your passport and off you go. Easy Peasy.

Walking thru the glass enclosed agent - you step out to Baggage Claim. Right away you are greeted with 2 places to exchange your money for huge fees and a luggage cart for rent that will cost you 5 euro. A note of advice from me to you......Don't ever exchange money...use the ATM's and you will get a much better rate. Pack light and save yourself 5 euro ($7.50 us).

Marisa and I headed to the appropriate luggage thing....and there was my bag! Yahoo! Then we waited for Marisa's bag.

And we waited.

And we waited.

One by one, all of the passengers collected thier bags....and suddenly we were left staring at a belt turning round and round with one lone suitcase on it....(not Marisa's) We headed to the lost luggage line and were faced with a line reminiscent of bread lines in Moscow. Knowing that we were well over one hour late, and that people were waiting to pick us up....we decided to head outside and let them know we were here....and then return to face the luggage dilemma. (Privately I was convinced that the agent in Washington had probably routed Marisa's bag to Toronto only since she thought she was Canadian and not traveling with me.)

We headed out the doors and began scanning the faces for our pick up people.

We had no idea who would be there to meet us. I had a feeling Paoulo would be there...he had always been the driver of my previous visits......Sure enough, I spotted Paoulo and began waving...we gave each other a big hug and the 2 kisses on each cheek. As I was hugging Paoulo, I could see Maurizio a little further up...he was still scanning the crowd when he looked over at Paoulo and myself. Hugs and cheek kisses all around! Marisa explained that her bag was not there. (Non che`) As is customary with our family there, Maurizio grabbed Marisa and began guiding her to where she should go. Paoulo grabbed me and kept me safely protected to the side as we waited.

Generally speaking, I think of myself as independent. I travel for work all the time, spend a great deal of time alone and taking care of myself. But there is something very comforting about being 'protected'. The family would never dream of letting us be left on our own. They surround you and take charge to ensure that you are ok. I was basking in this. Maurizio returned and told us Marisa was waiting in line. I was thrilled at the reaction both Maurizio and Paoulo had on seeing me again. I had lost a lot of weight since my last visit....and they were oozing compliments to me. Paoulo could not get over it....he said he thought that I was Meredith when I rounded the corner...and had to remind himself that he was picking up Annette and Marisa, not Meredith and Marisa. My ego shot thru the roof. (My cousin Meredith is so beautiful, tall and slender...I kept saying, if only I could look like Meredith)!!!

As we were waiting, Maurizios phone rang (telefonino)....The family was getting anxious as to where we were. There was big discussion about the lost bag and the unknown of when we would be arriving at the house. Uh oh - I knew this was potential drama. Pranza could not be late! (lunch) Pranza is a huge deal. It is the biggest meal of the day....and since we were arriving on Sunday....an even bigger deal. I could just imagine the hustle and bustle going on in Chiarinna's kitchen at that very moment. Suddenly I was hungry again.

As luck would have it, Marisa emerged shortly thereafter.....no bag. They had no idea where the bag was. No idea when it would arrive. They gave her a claim number, she gave them the address of the house we were staying at....and we decided to hope for the best. The biggest disappointment was that the gifts for the ladies were in Marisa's bag....we hated to arrive empty handed. Thank goodness for the Sambuca! and my bags had all of the gifts for the children.

Our little entourage started to make it's way to the parking garage......we loaded in the bags. Marisa rode in the front seat. ( a seat of respect for the older woman) I got into the back with Maurizio. We all began talking and laughing. Maurizio always gives me a bad time about my Italian.....he forces me to speak only Italian, despite the fact that I know he understands more English than he would ever let us know about.

It was a beautiful day, and we headed to the family farm in Practica di Mare. The drive is only about 20 minutes away.

It felt so wonderful to be back. I watched the world go by the car windows. Everything is just a little bit different than what you are used to seeing. The windows were down, the breeze off the ocean was wonderful, the radio was playing Italian songs and we were on our way to Pranza!

Heading up the road to the farm, we noticed an addition since our last visit......there was now a gate (cancello) to the entrance of the house. As the gate slowly opened, Paoulo turned and said he could not wait to see the look on Carla's face when she saw me. There at the end of the driveway was a group of family members waving wildly at the car!

Zio Mario, Zia Chiarinna, Carla, Valentina, Michela, Davide and a surprise too! Zio Mario and Zia Fausta from Venice!!!!!! It was a wonderful reunion! Lots of hugging and cheek kissing.....questions about our flight, exclamations over the lost bag, over my lost weight and of course were we hungry?

Are you kidding I was starving!

As we walked into the house we were greeted with the long table set for Pranza. Each place setting had the antipasto already in place. Down the center of the table were bottles of water and bottles of wine. (Aqua minerale and vino rosso and vino bianco) Our bags were quickly taken from us, and we were told were to sit....they put Marisa and I in the center of the table. Maurizio took a seat to my left, Marisa to my right, across from me was Zio Mario from Venice. Qui in Italia.....they waste no time feeding you. Everyone began pouring glasses of wine - some mix the water and wine.....

Before us was a plate of sliced proscuitto, sliced mortadella, carciofi, melanzane and olives. The meats were Marios own. He make them himself, the proscuitto hangs in the garage. The Carciofi are marinated artichoke hearts and the melazane is a wonderful eggplant side. It can be best described as pickled in olive oil with spices. I have watched her make this and love, love, love it. The last visit, she even made some for me to take home.

Following the antipasto, out came the next course of lasagna. The lasagna in Italy is not made with ricotta cheese. It is made with several layers of thin pasta, a light bechamel sauce and light meat sauce....I could also taste a bit of nutmeg. It was the kind of lasagna that fills your throat and stomach with warmth......so delicious and delicate.

Following the pasta, the platters of mixed roasted meats came out. The platter had both roasted chicken and rabbit. They were roasted with lemon, olive oil and rosemary. Simple and delicious. Roasted potatoes, green beans and then a salad of lettuce, fennel and tomatoes topped with a light vinagrette.

Next, Chiarinna set out platters of cheese. Asiago, parmigianno, a cheese that I should have written the name down because it was so good too.....

Baskets of fruit were set out on the table as well. Apples, pears, oranges, grapes..........

Then my favorite part, cafe! The little shot glasses of espresso were distributed and out came a mixture of dolci. a torta allo yogurt, a bread made with anise, assorted biscotti.....

And finally, lemoncello, grappa and of course sambucca.

Meal time has a religious quality about it........every course is savored, there is reverence as each course is laid out.....there is a great deal of laughter and conversation.....and of course, everyone lingers at the table.....for hours.

In my head, I could feel myself falling into a state of deep relaxation and content. This was the life.