Road Trippin'

The next (Saturday) morning, we caught and early train home to Rome where we went pretty much immediately to get a rental car. We drove out of the city, or tried to at least. We made it but did get lost within three turns of the rental center. Papa was really happy because we got a red Cinquecento. I was hoping for one of the really old and impossibly tiny ones from the 1970s. I was actually hoping to get one next year for school but as Mama points out it would be impossible to get it repaired in Atlanta. Any car that has the nickname "FIAT -- Fix It Again Tomorrow" cannot be that reliable. Also, it would be comical and terrifying to try to drive that on the 85. 

Anywhoooo, we drove out of the city towards Montebuono where Mama, Papa, and Daisy had lived way back when. It was a little hard to find but we got to drive through a bunch of old Italian hill towns. When we found it, we drove by all the big tourist destinations. Namely, their house and the blind hairpin corner where Mama had broken the car. We also went to see Stefania (Daisy's babysitter from 25 years ago) and her family on their farm. We drove up and there were some kids playing outside who looked very confused at seeing strangers and a women came out looking skeptical but within 30 seconds, shouted "Sei Lolly?!?" They showed us around the farm, we had coffee, and looked at all the photos of the family members. The last time we had seen them was 13 years ago. 

After that we drove to Otricoli to visit Stefano and Donatella again. We unfortunately didn't know their address and drove around the town a bit. We finally got out and asked a woman if she knew where they lived. She thought about the name Donatella for awhile and we asked about Stefano. Then she was like "AHH, Siiiii, Stefano!!" She said that they lived a few towns over in Gualdo though. It was funny that she still knew them though. We got there eventually and Donatella had cooked an amazing and gigantic dinner! There was a great zucchini and ricotta pie thing, pizzas, eggplant rolls, homemade sausages and wild boar (cooked by her parents), onion casserole, two kinds of salad, and a fruit almond cake that was So Good. 

After dinner we hit the road again and made it back to Rome. Getting from the autostrada to my apartment was a little difficult but I was actually able to direct and I was very proud of that. I got us from north of St. Peter's to the river, then the gianicolo, then Monteverde! Quiet an accomplishment for someone who still gets lost in Princeton. 

Mama and Papa left this morning. Sad. It was so great to have them around and I am going to miss them a lot!!