As fate would have it...
On the 27th of July, Elly and I packed our bags once again and took a cheeky bus ride back to Chiusi station then onward to Arezzo. It was here that we would meet Anne, a school friend of my mum's from South Africa who just happened to have a home in the countryside in Tuscany and who just happened to be one of the loveliest, hospitable people I've met.
Since I first began travelling in Europe back in March, I have had this uncontrollable urge to meet new people and put my trust in them and vice versa and so I jumped at the chance to meet one of the people who new my mum from a young age and would share her ideals and values - and background!
So Anne met us at the station with open arms and an air-conditioned car, and took us to Esse Lunga - the local supermarket (which by the way is massive and is overwhelmingly amazing), where she filled up the trolley with goodies for us and the guests of her holiday home up the road.
When we got back to the house we were overwhelmed by the view, the smell of lavender and the warmth. It was 42 degrees and the air was comfortably dry. We were given a tour of the house, a tour of the kitchen, and then were given the afternoon to chill out before being taken into town to meet up with her friend for drinks.
A fellow Aussie who had met an Italian and settled in Arezzo, Tina was lovely. Her son, David turned up - he impressed us with his Australian accent, yet slipped back and forth fluently from English to Italian depending on who he was talking to. Roberto, his dad soon arrived and together, all six of us wandered through the streets to a pizzeria and chatted constantly about the differences between our lives. On our way home, an amateur version of Sydney's Vivid was set up in the main square and we were consumed in awe by the ebb and flow of people and atmospheric club-like music (which Roberto, who knows absolutely no English, excitedly announced the name of after "Shamzazzing" the song - so cute).
After kissing each other goodbye, the two lots of us separated into the swarm of people and Anne, Elly and myself followed our urge for gelati to the end of the street and then drove home to snuggle into bed. Elly and I were so happy that for the next 4 nights we were here with good company, good weather and good views of Tuscany.
The next day was knighted "Chill out by the pool for 5 hours and get chronically sunburnt" day. That night we met Belinda, a neighbour and friend of Anne and her husband Robert, who had a daughter a couple of years younger than Elly and I who we would hang out with a couple of days later and get a tour of Arezzo town. Belinda owns her own places in Djerba, Tunisia, and invited us to stay with her any time she went there. Talk about connections and opening yourself to opportunities! Throughout the evening we were inundated with different Italian wines, liquers, digestifs - like limoncello, amaro etc, and by the end of us we were all happily silly and quiet - ready for bed and the next day.
Elly and I went back to Florence the next day with Anne to give it a rematch which I will touch on later. But that night we headed to Belinda's to have dinner there and meet Sophia, her daughter. Upon arrival we learnt that the storm earlier that day had cut the electricity, and their electric-operated gate wouldn't open, so we leaped fences to get in and out, having a lovely meal in-between by open window and candlelight. It was perfect.
Sophia took Elly and I into town the next day and showed us around, taking us up to a 10 euro lunch on the hill with a faro salad, fried zucchini flowers and steak with caper sauce. That afternoon we met up with Anne and we went to a house to pick up Paolo, a 6 year old italian boy who she had conversations with in English. He was moody and opinionated and a mama's boy - typical Italian man-to-be. Sophia took him to a toy shop whilst Elly and Anne were at the doctors - bad decision! The kid was adamant on having everything in the shop and pulled a real tantrum when he didn't have enough money.
The stay at Anne's in Arezzo was exactly what we needed to reset and feel a sense of home again after chopping and changing, and we were soon off again to face our next adventure, and our next country - Croatia!
Since I first began travelling in Europe back in March, I have had this uncontrollable urge to meet new people and put my trust in them and vice versa and so I jumped at the chance to meet one of the people who new my mum from a young age and would share her ideals and values - and background!
So Anne met us at the station with open arms and an air-conditioned car, and took us to Esse Lunga - the local supermarket (which by the way is massive and is overwhelmingly amazing), where she filled up the trolley with goodies for us and the guests of her holiday home up the road.
When we got back to the house we were overwhelmed by the view, the smell of lavender and the warmth. It was 42 degrees and the air was comfortably dry. We were given a tour of the house, a tour of the kitchen, and then were given the afternoon to chill out before being taken into town to meet up with her friend for drinks.
A fellow Aussie who had met an Italian and settled in Arezzo, Tina was lovely. Her son, David turned up - he impressed us with his Australian accent, yet slipped back and forth fluently from English to Italian depending on who he was talking to. Roberto, his dad soon arrived and together, all six of us wandered through the streets to a pizzeria and chatted constantly about the differences between our lives. On our way home, an amateur version of Sydney's Vivid was set up in the main square and we were consumed in awe by the ebb and flow of people and atmospheric club-like music (which Roberto, who knows absolutely no English, excitedly announced the name of after "Shamzazzing" the song - so cute).
After kissing each other goodbye, the two lots of us separated into the swarm of people and Anne, Elly and myself followed our urge for gelati to the end of the street and then drove home to snuggle into bed. Elly and I were so happy that for the next 4 nights we were here with good company, good weather and good views of Tuscany.
The next day was knighted "Chill out by the pool for 5 hours and get chronically sunburnt" day. That night we met Belinda, a neighbour and friend of Anne and her husband Robert, who had a daughter a couple of years younger than Elly and I who we would hang out with a couple of days later and get a tour of Arezzo town. Belinda owns her own places in Djerba, Tunisia, and invited us to stay with her any time she went there. Talk about connections and opening yourself to opportunities! Throughout the evening we were inundated with different Italian wines, liquers, digestifs - like limoncello, amaro etc, and by the end of us we were all happily silly and quiet - ready for bed and the next day.
Elly and I went back to Florence the next day with Anne to give it a rematch which I will touch on later. But that night we headed to Belinda's to have dinner there and meet Sophia, her daughter. Upon arrival we learnt that the storm earlier that day had cut the electricity, and their electric-operated gate wouldn't open, so we leaped fences to get in and out, having a lovely meal in-between by open window and candlelight. It was perfect.
Sophia took Elly and I into town the next day and showed us around, taking us up to a 10 euro lunch on the hill with a faro salad, fried zucchini flowers and steak with caper sauce. That afternoon we met up with Anne and we went to a house to pick up Paolo, a 6 year old italian boy who she had conversations with in English. He was moody and opinionated and a mama's boy - typical Italian man-to-be. Sophia took him to a toy shop whilst Elly and Anne were at the doctors - bad decision! The kid was adamant on having everything in the shop and pulled a real tantrum when he didn't have enough money.
The stay at Anne's in Arezzo was exactly what we needed to reset and feel a sense of home again after chopping and changing, and we were soon off again to face our next adventure, and our next country - Croatia!
