First, Happy Independence Day!! We canceled our 4th of July party this year because very few people were in town this weekend and there was construction at the country house where we hold it. I'll just have to come up with another reason to make some beer can chicken and barbecued ribs....you know, like a day of the week ending in "day."
Second, we bought TWO new cars!!!!!!!! Whoot whoot. Both from Seat (pronounced C-ot), a Spanish brand owned by Volkswagen. Fabri got an Ibiza pictured above and my
Altea XL will arrive in September. In Europe they don't make thousands of cars in advance to sit around parking lots and be bought, they do more custom orders and you have to wait for the factory to make your car. I think it's good because dealers aren't stuck with cars no one wants and it eliminates the need for giant parking lots, but I really miss that instant gratification where you buy a car and they hand you the keys that day. Fabri's was one of the cars that was already made, so he got his a few days after we bought it (they had install the Bluetooth for him).
So the new cars were very important because two days after getting Fabri's we drove it about 9 hours to Caserta for the weekend. For those of you who don't know, Caserta is down near Naples and it's where Fabri's parents are from and were many of his aunts & uncles & cousins still live. We went down for Fabri's cousin's wedding. Olney came with us for his longest road trip ever and he was great in the car. He slept in the backseat pretty much the entire time and did not bark or cry or make any noise at all. I have decided we need to sell our house and buy an RV and just live there so that Olney can be so perfect all the time!
We left Thursday afternoon after Fabri finished work and got to his uncle's house in Pozzovetere (in the hills above Caserta) where we were staying about 12:30 at night. We had a quick meal and were off to bed. Unfortunately, since Olney slept all day, he had some extra energy and we didn't sleep that well...
That's the palace of Caserta which was built to be like Versailles in France.
On Friday we took Olney around Caserta vecchia which is the medieval town of Caserta up on the hills above the modern city. It's very beautiful and you can see Caserta and Naples all the way to the sea from up there. There were a lot of stray dogs around and one of them took a liking to Olney and followed us around a bunch. It wasn't a big deal until he followed us all the way to the car.... It was very funny though, there was some old bread on the road, and the stray dog passed it by without a thought, but our dog who eats two meals a day and gets a ton of treats pulled to eat some of the old bread....
I need to go into a little detail about the lovely Caserta vecchia. It has excellent tourist potential, and we talked a while with two owners of a bar/restaurant where we had aperitivo who said they do get a fair amount of English tourists. The problem is that a lot of the beautiful medieval sites aren't open to the public. During the week, the cathedral and the smaller churches are closed and the castle and tower have been deemed unsafe and you can't get closer than Olney and I are in the picture below. Sadness.
There are beautiful medieval streets to explore and a LOT of restaurants and bars with good local food and wine, so Fabri and I happily went there both Friday and Saturday mornings with the Olney pup.
Saturday afternoon was the wedding. I went down to the center of Caserta to get my hair done with Maria Pia & Francesca. Life is very different in the south of Italy from the north. The cities are dirtier and more dangerous and the mafia presence is much, much more apparent. People are really only concerned with themselves and don't think about other people. Even though Caserta is a relatively small city (the same size as Cuneo), it is full of beggars and crime. There are a lot of stray dogs that form packs and roam around at night looking for food. The center around the palace is very nice though with nice stores and restaurants and parks. It's nice to visit, but I would never want to live there.
After the hair we went back up to Pozzovetere to get dressed and go. The wedding ceremony was in a room of the castle of San Leucio (above), another town in the hills above Caserta. Unfortunately it started to rain as the guests were arriving and got even worse when the guests were exiting to go to the reception which was held at the groom's parents' country house. The house was gorgeous and like at all Italian weddings, there was a ton of food.
First there were passed hors d'oeuvres. Then there were two buffets of appetizers. One with meat and cheese including 3 types of mozzarella di bufala, the best, freshest mozzarella in the world. The other with fish and seafood including stuffed mussels and octopus salad. Then there were two pasta dishes and a main course of fillet of fish and a mini eggplant parmigiana. Then there was a HUGE cake and an even huger dessert buffet. I just had a little cake and a couple mini cannoli.
Sunday we left in the morning to get home as soon as possible. Fabri had to work early on Monday morning and it was a tough week because 3 of his colleagues were on vacation. Now we're looking forward to the next weekend road trip. Our summer vacation is made up of several short weekend trips, but I think that's great and it means seeing a lot of different places! Next stop: the beach!!
