Wow, what a place!

Ciao!

Well, here we are in Le Marche! And WOW, what a place! I am writing this off-line, as we don’t have a telephone in our apartment – but there is one in the so-called “Club House” near the pool that they will let us use, so I have hopes that while I may not be able to get to much email this week, that I will be able to post as we go along! So...let me take up from yesterday, when I last wrote, which was I think with a long walk along the beach in front of our Rimini **** hotel. Walked for miles along the beach (paralleling numerous hotels, I might add...) Most of the beach near Rimini is private – that is, the hotels have things staked out with cabanas and umbrellas; our hotel was Beach #8. Lovely beach; nice and sandy, lots of shells, with the next stop Croatia! Lots of crabs too, as we found one and I was worried it would be interfered with as it was washing up so high. So, asked R to move him back into the water – and when Robert picked him up, it bit him! So much for good deeds! At any rate, a lovely walk. Returned to the hotel for dinner in the dining room; R wearing his last clean shirt (that’s another story...) It was a set menu, starting with a nice table full of various antipasti. I had tomatoes, mozzarella, grilled eggplant, a wonderful zucchini and cheese dish and I don’t know what all. For starters, we both had baked canelloni, which was wonderful! Then for mains, R had what was called “Angler fish”; he said it was great, and I had the beef (coward that I am...) The beef was excellent; thinly sliced with lemon and olive oil. Dessert for Robert was fragola (strawberries; really red all the way through!) and I had (what else!) chocolato gelato! Yum! Only problem was the entertainment at night! Across the street from the hotel was a disco...hmmm...went on until well after midnight, and even with double-glazed windows and ear-plugs, you could hear the noise–oops, excuse me! music... Up early this morning, and went for another long walk along the shore. Beautiful and bright and warm; just wonderful! Left the hotel around 10 and headed for the Republic of San Marino – and it’s WONDERFUL! Who knew?? Lovely country (about 23 sq. miles); even Robert was very impressed! Lots of towers and fortifications – hopefully we’ll be able to include a picture, but not sure at the moment. At any rate, we parked and walked into town; just lovely! Had lunch – pizzas for both. Didn’t want to stay too long, as we had all our stuff in the car, but will definitely return there this week for a good look around! We then headed toward our Agriturismo near Urbino; check-in time was 2 p.m. R guided us through some of the most beautiful countryside we’ve ever seen! Just magnificent – nice small roads, lots of poppies (yes, they’re here in Italy, too!) and incredible views of the countryside; very wooded, lots of birds and trees. (Just heard on the TV news that Juventus won their game today, which means that they are back in Seria A (the ONLY place to be), after their one-year suspension for match fixing ...) YEA! So, wound through the countryside, following the signs to the Valle dell’Olmo Scuro in Monteguiduccio. Found the check-in place (no one there, but there was a phone number, and fortunately, our phone had a signal!) and a nice man guided us to our apartment. It’s wonderful! He showed us the important things (all in Italian, of course) and then left us to our own devices. There are several apartments all built around a VERY small church (which I understand will be in use tomorrow morning!). Some of them are rentals, like ours, but there are also several that look to be occupied by entire families! And YEA!!! A WASHING MACHINE!! It’s VERY odd ... and a Whirlpool on top of it! (It has a vertical tub; you put the clothes in and then latch it, then go from there...So far, I’ve done two loads and am on the third – each load taking about an hour each! (I’m trying a new button this time, which hopefully will shorten the time ... ) And there is no real clothes rack to hang things on, so clothes are ALL over the apartment! (Bob and Kate, reminds me of your room in Siracusa!) So, left clothes washing to head to the local grocery store – which IS OPEN ON SATURDAY AND ON SUNDAY! What a concept! The French should learn something from this – but probably won’t! There is a large supermarket near Urbino, so picked up wine, water and groceries for dinners the next couple of nights. The apartment is really ill-equipped as far as cooking equipment (pots/pans/dishes) goes (SO glad we have some of our own things, regardless of how much it weighs to schlep), but we’ll manage; may have to buy a pyrex dish; don’t know yet. One good thing, though, is that whatever we buy we’ll be able to take to the next two places and use! And, when we got back from the grocery store, surprise, there was a basket full of freshly picked cherries on the step! R is in HEAVEN! He has been sighing because he couldn’t get cherries in Paris – but now he’s happy! Put the undies outside on the garden table and chairs in the sunshine to get a head-start on drying, and sat alongside them with glasses of wine and good books. What a way to spend the afternoon! As the daylight faded, we moved inside, and I made us a very light dinner – bresaola salads on argula with parmesan cheese; YUM! R then did dishes while I dealt (yes, again) with laundry. And, just a few minutes ago, while I was writing this, our nice little man came back with another basket, this time with fresh eggs in it! Let’s hear it for scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow! So, will close now, with the hope that this will be able to get out to you in the morning. Not sure what we’re up to tomorrow, as it’s Sunday, and we may just hang-out (and dry laundry...)!

So that’s it for now; more later!
Much love,
m

NOTE: No pictures today, as we are struggling with on-line...maybe later today or tomorrow!
Stay tuned!
m