Adri's Word: Determined to break our habit of tardy departures and arrivals, we reluctantly decided to skip lunch at the lovely, relaxed and picturesque Gubbio so as not to miss our afternoon meeting with a teacher from Greenslopes State School’s sister school. We hastily ate some very dribbly Gubbio gelati – which was easily done as this was the most delicious one yet for me! Then back in the Lancia to navigate to Città di Castello (City of the Castle).
We had arranged to meet Andrea from San Filippo International School near a public park outside the walls of Città di Castello . We arrived at what we thought was the correct place and the children eagerly jumped out of the car and rushed to the swings. As the adults waited by the car at the arranged time, and many locals came and went from the carpark, I was beginning to wonder if I’d recognise Andrea from his photos and if we were in the right place! Of course I did when he arrived with his colleague from school, Antonello. We exchanged greetings and gifts and then the men escorted us into the city centre where the school is. We had seen photos of the school but it was lovely to see it in its medieval context – although, unfortunately, it was shut for the holidays and we couldn’t go inside.
We went back with Andrea to his apartment and we exchanged photos from our USBs and laptops and learned more about how each other’s schools and programs run. Antonello picked up his daughter, Lavinia, and we all went to have some pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice). The men enjoyed exchanging stories about Italian and Australian sports people they knew.
Adriana
Adriana
Fred's Word: Today we headed for Gubbio which was 40min down the road. It is a medieval village that has been restored to its original medieval character. Films are often shot here using the authentic streetscape. It was impressive. I found a tartuffe shop here (truffle shop) and couldn’t help but buy some of the produce.
From here we went to La Citta de Castello to visit the place of Greenslopes State schools sister school and to meet two of the teachers there. They were really friendly guys and very enthusiastic about the school and meeting us. Their school is an international school where they do an English immersion programme. After Adri had exchanged teaching materials and photos with them they showed us around the town. Named after its three towers it had a Gubio feel to parts of it.
Getting over to Firenze (Florence) was the next thing to achieve today. It was a 1.30hr drive to our accommodation in Fiesole which is set up in the hills overlooking Florence. As we approached, it became obvious that it was lovely spot. With steep narrow roads up to the hills the area looked right over Florence from on high and you could plainly see the Duomo and other sites. The streets however were tricky.
By this time I felt that my driving was getting better in Italy. I felt I had mastered the right hand driving and mixing it up with the fast Italian drivers on the autostradas. Now I was working up to my next big test! Driving up steep one car wide laneways, with sharp right angle turns in them, parked cars everywhere and heaps of traffic coming at you both ways. It all felt a little crazy and out of control to me. There were moments of total chaos and swearing! But I kept saying to myself ‘when in Rome do as the Roman’s do’ and so I would just block the whole street while I did the twenty point turns required for the seven seated Lancia. Finding a park near our Hotel meant driving up a lane where there were literally only centimetres between the car, the walls and other parked cars but we made it without a scratch in the end.
The views of the Tuscan country side were lovely from up here and all the stress seamed to be worth it! Genevieve particularly loved her little balcony from the hotel room. I think it reminded her of some of the old musicals she sometimes watches. The views over the gardens were nice. There is no shortage of olive trees in Italy that is for sure.
Fred
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