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… beautiful. As we hoped, it’s back to summer clothes for a wee while. Yesterday we wandered down to the beach at Positano. The village is still busy but that summer crush of people has gone and everyone seems more … Continue reading
Once upon a time there was a pretty girl and a dress. The dress was magically beautiful and hung in a shop window in the little village of Positano. The girl who was visiting Positano in July saw the dress and tried it on. It fitted perfectly. The girl’s sister said she looked beautiful in the dress. It was perfect. The girl said she must have it.
But the girl hesitated. Buying the dress would mean the girl and her handsome husband would have no money for food or drink for a week. The girl proclaimed “I will come and buy the dress before we leave. If it is still in the shop it is meant to be”.
Her husband was most pleased as he would not have to go hungry and would have a plentiful supply of ale to quench his thirst.
For the next two days the girl thought about the dress. She longed to wear it again. She vowed to make it hers.
When she returned to the shop, alas, it was shut. The wicked owner was taking an afternoon nap. The girl would return later. Again, when she returned the shop was closed. Many times she returned and each time the door was locked and the lights were dimmed. The girl was despairing.
Finally the girl’s time in Positano was ending. Still the shop remained closed. The girl’s sister reminded her “if you return to Positano and the dress is still there, it was meant to be.”
The girl left Positano with a heavy heart and no dress. Over the next months she had many adventures in the land of Italy but always in the back of her mind was the magically beautiful dress.
In November the girl and her husband returned to the little village of Positano. The girl resolved “if the magically beautiful dress is still there, I will purchase it”. Secretly she thought that a dress as magically beautiful as this one would have found an owner long before her return.
On her first day in Positano the girl rushed to the shop. She chose a time when the shop must be open hoping against hope that the dress was waiting for her.
As she approached the shop, through the window, she could see the dress. Still magically beautiful and still waiting for her. It was meant to be. She broke into a run, reaching for her purse filled with gold coins.
But alas, as she got closer to the shop the girl could see that the lights were off and the door locked. The shop was closed. She wept.
To be continued…
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On the way from Tuscany to Positano we stopped in the town of Cassino which is located about halfway between Rome and Naples. It was the site of a major battle in World War II with a correspondingly high loss … Continue reading
Inside stuff to pack
It has been a fantastic 6 months reveling in the Tuscan way of life but all good things must end. And our ending is just a new beginning as we swap Tuscany for Positano on the Amalfi Coast.
We were there in July when it was summer and it was almost tropically hot. In November it should be cooler but still as warm as a summer’s day back home.
Outside stuff to pack
We shall see, but first we have to get there and that means cramming everything we own into our Renault Megane Wagon and driving south for about 5 hours … 6 with stops for the girls.
Farewell Tuscany, hello Positano.
Note: For a larger version of the video click the “Share” button when the video is playing and select “Download Video”. A new window should open with a larger and better quality version of the movie.
The changing landscape of Tuscany – from our arrival in May to our departure in October. The photos are taken from the terrace at our place, 6 months apart.
This gallery contains 8 photos.
Siena is full of restaurants and most of these are either fully or partially outdoor. This is particularly true of those that ring the Campo. In summer outdoor dining makes perfect sense with umbrellas or awnings giving protection from the … Continue reading
Morning in the cottage means chores – dishes, bed making, vacuuming, all the usual stuff. Recently the girls have started watching this happen from the safety of the couch. Neither Jean nor I can make a move without two sets of eyes tracking us.
If we show any sign of deviating from the routine, all hell breaks loose.
When we headed to Europe in April, we didn’t really expect to be here when the weather started to cool down. As a result, winter clothes weren’t something we brought with us.
But in the last week, althought the days are still sunny and warm, the temperatures at night have started dropping. It was clearly time to go shopping for something warmer to wear than shorts and a t-shirt.
The good news is that Italy is a great place to shop for clothes. So stocking up wasn’t difficult.
For those interested, our new winter wardrobe consists of:
His
1) Geox winter jacket with fur lined hood
2) Mid grey coat jacket from Sisley
3) Wool scarf from Sisley
10) Cream V neck jumper
11) Grey and blue round neck jumpers
12) Hilfiger casual boots
Hers
4) Knee length cream wool coat
5) Geox winter jacket with removable fur hood
6) Max & Co grey top with gold buttons
7) A long woolen top
8) Assorted pants including Calvin Klein jeans
9) Classic cream roll neck jumper
13) Geox sports shoes
14) Black nero boots
15) Fur lined suede boots
Having looked at the photo of the clothes Jean’s comment was “where’s the colour”? So that’s something we still need to add as well as some gloves and hats. After that, bring on winter.
Our stay in Tuscany is coming to an end. We leave at the end of October but our original plans to head home have changed a bit.
We have decided to chase the warm(ish) weather south to Positano and have arranged to stay for 6 weeks at Villa Greta looking out over the ocean. After we spent two weeks there in July we always said it was somewhere we wanted to return.
So, at the end of the week, we pack up the Renault and head south until early December.
It sounds simple when you say it fast but after 6 months we are quite settled in our tiny cottage in Tuscany. We have a lot to take with us. Slightly more, we suspect, than our 3 suitcases can carry.
In a bar full of frenchmen, in the heart of Siena, we watched our boys become world champions. After 80 minutes our french friends quietly left as we watched Captain McCaw lift the trophy. It was a special moment. Well done.
And to Kiwis everywhere, enjoy the celebrations.
Poppie was sitting on Jean’s knee this morning as the sun was streaming in through the window. For Poppie this is about as good as it gets.
The weather forecast for today was a 70% chance of rain. And for the first time since June the grey clouds gathered and the heavens opened.
In the distance Siena disappeared as the rain enveloped it, only to reappear a few minutes later.
Around us the rain fell straight to earth as there was no wind (a novelty for those from Wellington) and you could hear every drop strike the parched ground.
I’ve shot a bit of video in Italy over the last few months but now have to relinquish the crown of family filmmaker to Jean. Prompted by our departure from Tuscany at the end of October she put together a movie about our cottage.
Jean shot it so we had something to remember the cottage by but I thought it was worth sharing.
In using a single handheld shot for the whole movie she follows in the footsteps of great directors such as Hitchcock, De Palma and Scorsese.
Enjoy.
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No trip to Tuscany is complete without a visit to Chianti. We took the back road from Siena through Castellina to Greve. We couldn’t resist showing Charlie and Isabel the deli in Greve particularly as Isabel’s business is dairy. Although … Continue reading
I think the best way to sum up the game today is with a very literal translation of what the Italian newspaper La Repubblica had to say about it:
“The New Zealand beat Australia 20-6 dominating from start to finish. Next Sunday in Auckland, they challenge for the title with the young cockerels, as 24 years ago, but the result is obvious in appearance.
The game ends with Richard Kahui flying from another part of the field and diving, he grasps the poor Quade Cooper, flinging him off the field. It’s the latest and exemplary image of meeting that consecrates Richie McCaw’s New Zealand, a perfect war machine that blows away the young and confused Australia.
The All Blacks beat hollow (20-6) in a match which from the first second of the game, the monstrous aggression of the hosts and was never really in question, with the kangaroos subjugated on each meeting point. Sunday’s final is with France, but it is a meeting apparently from the result a foregone conclusion.”
Toscanakiwi 