For only the second time this summer I woke up in possession of a car that I could use. We wasted little time heading out to Torremaggiore, Italy, before 9 a.m. Our destination: the cemetery. We went to see the graves of family members who have passed on, as well as to see the memorial that I began working on before I returned to New Jersey last year. The ceramic photo on the memorial is now up, and the memorial is complete. The florist near the cemetery in Torremaggiore, however, was closed today.
Getting to Torremaggiore took me through some of the richest farmland in the world. The country roads that wind through the farm towns were pretty busy, especially for a Sunday. However, for a holiday weekend I expected more traffic. Tomorrow is the big Italian summer holiday of Ferragosto. As with everything here, there is a religious meaning to it. Around here, people just take a day off from work, head to the beach, and eat roasted chicken.
The car I have is the “soon to be in America” version of the Fiat 500. The Cinque Cento is a world famous classic car model that Fiat has been churning out for ages. They redesign it here and there, but recently went back to a classic look.
We have already begun the preparations for our departure. Since we returned to Campomarino yesterday evening, we have done about six loads of laundry (at more than two hours in the wash for each load), gardening (vines that keep growing back), sweeping, and we covered the couch. We still need to strip the bed, put the car on blocks, and bring in all of the patio furniture and bike. We can do all of that tomorrow.
