Really easy traveling at 5 AM on these often congested Italian roads. We hardly saw anyone till we hit Pizzo and Vibo marina at round 5:30.
Seems like I can find the Lamezia airport blindfolded now. I've been three times in the last three weeks and don't need to even think about where to turn.
We pulled into the airport lot at about 5:50, a quick trip from Tropea. Got D's bags out of the car. He had a smoke while I parked. Had I been thinking and you realize that this is a 60 year old man talking here on like 5 hours sleep, I would have walked into the dark and seemingly abandoned car rental center to see if they had a key drop off. But no, I was just concerned with getting D to the counter in time and not whether or not I could make a 6:52 train rather than having to wait for the 10:45 to Tropea.
I had spent several frustrating minutes on the internet last night trying to find out the hours of operation at the car rental and finally found that they were 8 to 10, which didn't meet our arrival time. So I just decided that after D left I'd go and fill the car and wait till they opened to turn it in. I mean really, why didn't key drop box enter into the equation? Duh.
As it turned out I could have had D drop me off at the train station to catch the 6:52 and he would have had plenty of time to check in and clear security. But had we did that I wouldn't have had nearly 4 hours to explore beautiful Lamezia. Actually, not that beautiful and not that much to explore.
We got inside, got D's bag checked and had 20 minutes or so before he had to go in, so here's D's morning "buying the biscuit" ritual. Oh and 8 days later and he still didn't learn his lesson about "coffee Americano". Silly, silly boy.
All too quickly it's time to go through security and our journey in Italy is over.
Notice how quickly I react to the finger wagging security lady. Okay. No video. Of what??
Man, it had better not be 40 more years till I see you again. Okay it's 7 AM, what now.
Off I go to gas up the car. I sit and kill some time at the gas station. Then I drive back to the airport. Then kill some time in the terminal. Then I go over to the rental agency and find that we could have dropped the car off, I'd been back at the villa before D reached Rome and I'd be bored there and not in Lamezia. Oh well. Live and learn. I mean who'd think the the Italians would have drop boxes. Duh (It works in Italian as well.)
I wait until 8 to insure the car is inspected and that no new dings are found then catch the 8:30 bus to the train station. Time to start walking and take a look around town.
Found a nice grocery store, a full size store about a 10 minute walk from the station and lo and behold they have my ultimate junk food. Sorry not Cheetos. I should be so lucky. POPCORN! We had actually seen Popcorn in a shop window in Agiegento in Sicily but didn't purchase any. But I did today and it was just like a slice of home. If I'd only had a movie to watch, I would have been magically transported back home.
You can probably tell by the lack of pictures that Lamezia wasn't much to look at. It's located on a coastal plain between two mountain ranges and the surrounding mountains are snow capped and attractive. The problem is getting a clear shot of them.
At 10:00 o'clock I finally tire of walking around town and up and down the train platforms and sit down to await boarding on my train. Good workout, probably 6 plus miles I'd say.
10:45 on time from Lamezia, arrive 11:48 at Tropea. Bought some fruit for breakfast tomorrow from my vegetable guy. Some sausage from my market. Then up the hill to the villa and complete silence.
I think that this is probably the hardest day for me since I've been here. After having someone to sit with and talk to and explore the countryside with it's gonna take me a while to get back into the groove of being by myself. I know I've got Cristian and Didi the Transylvania and my market clerk that I can speak to in English, but I really miss D's company. At the same time, I'm grateful that he had the opportunity to join me and it was really special being able to spend some of this time with him.
So I'll end with the usual. Ciao for now.
And hey, Skype me.
I'm not desperate or anything!!!! BUT SKYPE ME!!!
later
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