sailing!

Italy

The North Wind catches
Your sails, blows you along, new
Places call, and you drift.

It's Sunday?? Eek! We didn't even realise that that our week with the farm was almost up until the very day was upon us! The only reason we figured out that it was Sunday (and, consequently, that we have to get going tomorrow) was that we went into town with Greg and Fiorella, and all the shops were closed. I guess we're getting underway in the morning!

Anyway, talking about tomorrow so soon leaves today in the dust, and today was a very good day! We woke up not-too-early and ate a breakfast of bread and jam and cheese. Greg joined us some time later, and he showed us how to use an espresso maker the Napolitana way (you need to push the grounds to the sides of the basin initally and fill in the middle last; this makes the water flow through better to pick up the flavours). We enjoyed coffees, and he told us about a boat regatta that was scheduled to happen down at the harbor later today. We were invited to come along for a ride on the sailboat!

So, of course, we accepted. Jean had left earlier, and he didn't return when the conch was blown for him, so sadly he didn't get to come with. We all hopped in the car and headed to town to pick up Fiorella from the office where she had slept. It was a quick ride down to Villanova on the coast, and Greg kept us entertained with stories about his job. He was part of the team that brought Robotech to the US with English voices, and he also wrote the English script for My Neighbor Totoro! I fracking love that movieeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

But, anyway, this is not the blog where I am permitted to nerd out about animes as it is rather the blog where I must talk about the things we are doing on our trip. So back to that! We got to the port where things were, in particular Italian fashion, not very organised and instead drinking coffee. So we waited around for everyone to finish coffees, then with an old Englishman in tow hopped onto Greg's sailboat (called 13 Moons) and headed out to sea. It was a beautiful day for sailing with a stiff wind and loads of sunshine. The peace flag at the back of the boat flapped in the breeze, and we raced along with our sails full.

There's nothing like being at sea. Greg and Fiorella told us that they have done several longer trips in the boat, more than two weeks long, some of them. They are comfortable with the undulations of the waves, and Evan and I found ourselves getting comfortable with them, too. Plus, Evan's great beard makes him look like a proper pirate captain.

We spent a few hours at sea, and finally headed in around lunchtime. Some other friends of Greg and Fiorella's joined us, and we headed to a restaurant that specialised in seafood antipasti. I do recommend it. It's just off the water, and everything is fresh, and they serve things like gratined mussels and plates of squid and shrimp and crab cakes. For some reason, everyone in the area likes drinking beer (instead of the wine we were used to), but beer can accompany seafood, too. :)

We finished up there with plates of lobster tortellini. Fiorella chided me for using my bread to clean the plate (apparently it's rude to do that in Italy, but they do it at the garden to prevent so much oil from going into the sink drain). Oh well. :) We dropped Greg off in town at the office and Fiorella, Evan, and I headed back to the Garden. We settled in for the night, and told Fiorella that we were thinking of leaving tomorrow morning. We got invited to breakfast in Ceglie to talk about our experience at the Garden, and we spent the evening using a giant pole to knock walnuts out of trees. Walnuts are tasty.