Journal 1

We arrived at our hotel early afternoon. Crashed for an hour before dragging ourselves out of bed to catch a taxi to pick up our rental car. It wasn't to far away, just down the road to the NICER hotel. A smile appeared on Stacey's face to find out his rental car was a brand new Alfa Ramero with only 34 miles on it! Stacey was happy with "his office" for the next six months, seeing how he was going to be spending long hours in his car. But when it came to "my office" I was not so lucky. The saying, "You get what you pay for," certainly pertained to our home for the next six months. I didn't think I was spoiled, but then again, maybe I am when it comes to traveling around Italy in the way I have become accustomed too. I was having to really give myself a big pep talk about our living conditions! From our room we had a great view out our back door onto a beautiful golf course...that is to say, if the building had been two stories high and we happened to be on the second floor, because that way we would have been able to see over the BIG FAT HEDGE that blocked our view! Not to worry, I had a fallback plan. Not only was I looking forward to the view out my new Italian villa, I was also looking forward to sitting outside my villa to soak up some of the those Tuscan evenings, sipping on the wine Stacey and I had just purchased at some quant winery that we had discovered on one of our many adventures that I had dreamed up in my head. Ok, so I wasn't going to be in the Tuscan countryside everyday, or even look at it off in the distance out my window, but if I walked out our front door, down the hallway, down the stairs, across the parking lot, up the stairs, around the building with the rooms that had a view of the pool with cute little sitting areas just outside their doors, uhum, across the lawn to the pool, around the pool to the the cute little cabana covered in the sweetest smelling flowers, to those cozy wicker chairs, I could just about make it work! I could sit there, close my eyes and smell the flowers and pretend I was in some Tuscan country home and the flowers were growing up the side of my villa! That wouldn't be so bad, and I could just about make myself believe it, because after all, I WAS in Italy! But NO, that wasn't happening either! I think every soccer loving Italian within a mile radius squeezes into that cute little cabana area covered with the sweet smelling flowers, because of the TV installed into the upper corner, tuned into the World Cup Soccer games! So much for my months of dreaming, planning, and envisioning my country estate with the "room with a view" of a Tuscan vineyard that rolled up and over a picturesque horizon, or my lesser preferred view from my downtown Rome apartment, looking out at the postcard view of the rooftop restaurants scattered across Rome! Wow is me at this point!!