So I was going to made a big decadent purchase and then it didn’t come together so I found myself with money in the bank.  I thought, hmmmm what can I buy that will ease the disapointment of not getting this thing – a trip to Italy of course!  Honeybunny is not a big traveller, but the one destination we agree on is Italy. HB is part Italian but I’m convinced he’s mostly Italian between his ears.  Or is that his belly.

It seems wacky to be planning such a thing when International markets are plunging around us and the Canadian dollar is hitting the skids.  But hey, I figure maybe gelato won’t cost $14 in Florence and we’ll be welcomed with open arms even if they think we’re American (just kidding of course :-) ).

When Honeybunny and I went last time we spent a week in a house on the border of Tuscany and Umbria, a 15 minute drive from the walled town of Cortona and we loved it.  It’s how we vacation.  He’s not a morning person so I would go solo to the market and shop like an Italian grandmother, squeezing the fresh tomatoes from the dude in the street.  Just buying stuff we needed for the day. 

Or we’d do a day trip and then come back and make a vat of pasta with something wacky like Wild Boar sausage in it and drink a $3 dollar bottle of Chianti on the porch overlooking the hill of vineyards and Lake Trasimeno.  The best part of travelling is the eating ain’t it?  Especially in Italy. 

So we’ve talked about doing the same kind of trip, except invite other people this time.  We didn’t have a small person, Angus, with us last time.  So grandparents or friends with kids will only provide more options. He’ll have someone to chase lizards through the underbrush with.  Possibly there will be built-in babysitters.  Also since my family lives across the country it’s a great way to see them and travel at the same time. 

So we’ve initiated a few invites.  Sadly the friends we cottage with in the summer who’s daughter is like an indulgent grandmother to Angus aren’t in.  He’s keen but she’s more like – if I’m going to spend the money and time I want to see half of Europe.  And she’s right, this kind of vacation is more a micro approach to travelling and people generally think macro. 

But I have to say, last time we were there we were meandering through the countryside and spied this little stone church down in a valley from a small village.  It was a tiny Romanesque chapel made of yellow-toned stone.  There was no one else there. The plaque said that Charlemagne had visited it back in the day.  The light poured in through the rounded peaked windows and there was latin lettering on the stones that made up the floor by the altar.  It was the most calm beautiful church I’ve ever visited. 

Sure, there are plenty of in-your-face gold-filled cathedrals in the cities loaded with tourists and cherubs ready to drop on you any minute.  But this little find in that valley was my favourite of the trip.  So micro is where I’m at.  I”ll happily wander through a town and look at the old men in the square, take pictures of old doorways and notice the plants growing out of the ancient walls and wonder why I don’t do that at home with my ugly wall so that it too can look like it’s been there since the 13th century. There will just have to be other trips to discover the rest of Europe.

So I’ve realized that the challenge of this whole venture is that we can’t control who will say yes.  If anyone does.  We’ve invited two parties on both HB’s family side and mine.  HB who can be given to bouts of crankiness (we must be empathetic, I hear it can be terminal) said, “I don’t want to spend both weeks with just with your family *or* mine!”  (Sigh) and I hear that.  But we don’t get to control it.  When one party says yes we withdraw the offer from the other?  I don’t think so.  It’ll all come together, I just know it.

And maybe no one will come hang with us and we’ll eat the cost of the house we’re renting.  But that’s ok.  I’m taking this as yet another opportunity to learn to let go.  Regardless of who’s there, I’ll be pouring the $3 Chianti and squeezing fresh tomatoes at the market.