Leaving Pompeii

Hello to Heidi, Cheri and Tara! You seem to be the only ones reading, or at least commenting! Great to know you are there! Here's the dish on yesterday. I’m going to try to remember to insert the day and time of the entry when I write it. Because I seem to constantly be a day behind, this just gives you a sense of when/where I am when I sit down to write:

Rome, Maryelen B&B, July 9, 2008, 6:47 AM

I woke up early for some reason--I couldn’t sleep beyond 5 AM after having gone to bed so late after the dinner at Bocconci (?)--but stayed in bed until 7 AM when I showered and packed for our trip to Rome. We went upstairs to breakfast where Antonio was running behind schedule and chatted while he finished setting the buffet. After a quick breakfast, not as leisurely as the day before due to our nerves about making the connection in Naples, Mom returned to the room to pack her stuff while I spent close to 30 minutes playing with Romeo, the 5 month old golden retriever. What a schmoo.

Romeo is in the teething phase of his puppy career, so I let him pretend to chew my fists the way I let Radar do when he was little. Although he is a much bigger dog, his breed is known for its soft bite, so it only got painful a couple of times. He released when I said ouch--he was very responsive to all commands--so it never became a problem. After about 30 mins, I put a dirty sock over my hand, which he loved, and we transitioned into tug of war then catch.

Saying goodbye to A and I was bittersweet. We had really bonded with them over our helplessness with the train strike and our reports of our passegiatta, delicious meals and Pompeian and Vesuvian discoveries. Mom had brought along four Pittsburgh kitchen magnets to leave with each of our hosts as a memento and Ione was so touched she gave us each commemorative bronze coins they had in their office. We took photos with each A and I and vowed to stay in touch (which they were quick to add they don’t say to everyone.)

On the way to the train station, Antonio told us more about their lives. It is his second marriage (which Mom has suspected) and he has an 18-year-old daughter who normally lives with him, but is on a tour of Greece and Cyprus for two weeks. He said he had been in the food import/export business, but didn’t like having to deal all of his employees’ issues, so sold off the business 5 years ago and opened the B&B. Ione has two advanced degrees, one in Art History and one in ancient Italian, and is an accomplished piano player. He says she may be small of body but she is big of mind. They have been together three years and she is 15 years younger. She wants to have a baby, but he’s not sure he wants to start all over again, plus his daughter is very jealous and doesn’t want a younger brother or sister running around.

We made the train with two minutes to spare.