Elastic Time

It's true - time bends, stretches, elongates, shortens and then snaps back - depending it seems on where you are, what you are doing and of course who you are doing it with. Since the last post we've been caught in all of times twists and turns.
For three and a half months now we've been messing with the time/space continuum thingee. It feels like both a lifetime and a nanosecond have passed. We are saturated with sights, sounds, smells, textures, tastes and experiences and we're still thirsty for more.
Our time in Greece with our dear Danish friends reinforced for us the fun of being with friends in foreign places. We loved our time in that sunny, hot, blue-skied place. We determined to slow down the pace to a human scale. We started our days with a late Greek breakfast of spoon-stands-up-in-it yougurt with honey, fresh bread and the ubiquitous Nescafe coffee powder with hot milk.
We filled our Grecian days with beaching (not bitching) big lunches, and late, late dinners and fun drives to ancient sites in our little Fiat Panda. Long after the sun had set we took the little ferry across to Poros. We slowly the climbed the steep streets which still radiated with heat to Elsa's place tucked away in a back road. We dined on her specialties like "Grandma's Pot" - tender chunks of lamb in rich gravy topped with cheese. The surprise was the "chunks of potato" described in the menu turned out to be french fries. We pushed them aside and dug in. As delicious as the food was it was the wine that kept bringing us back. Made by Elsa it was definitley meant for the food. We liked it so much we asked if we culd buy a litre to take home in our plastic water bottle. Her reply, " Only a litre, that only go around table once!" So we bought 5 litres for 7 euros. Deeply chilled, delicious.
Seventeen days in Greece all passing in the wink of an eye. When it was time to go we all stood on the ferry slip with barely controlled tears - another trick of time had made our experiences fly by. We all wanted to grab those moments and hang on but that was it. Time to move on.

The only thing that made leaving less sad was the fact that we were soon to meet up with family again this time in Cavtat, Croatia near our father's birth place of Dubrovnik. In a great stone house on the main street we all joined together - brother, sister in law, nephew, another sister, another brother in law, AJ and I. Can you say FUN! We cooked for each other, drank more delicious wine that we thought was possible, watched as the local festival took place below our balcony and of course visited Dubrovnik. A twenty minute ferry ride away. For some of us it was a revisiting from many years ago. We were worried that things would disappoint - they didn't. As crazy as busy as it was with tourists (it's a very popular cruise ship stop) it still maintains it beauty and charm. It is "the jewel of the Adriatic." The water is still that unreal blue, the wall still stands and the lovely red tiled roofs still glow. Of course it has undergone massive restoration after the 1991 war which did extensive damage the many buildings and parts of the wall. We mentioned the crowds of tourists to our last remaining cousin in Dubrovnik and she said, "We don't complain - we need them, the money allows us to fix our town." Sadly, no amount of money will mend the pain and suffering of the people who, if my cousin is any measure, are deeply scarred from the experience.
After our time in Cavtat some family left for Italy and the remaining travelers moved on to the island of Vis (pronounced Wees) the western most island in the Croatian archipeligo. A supposedly unfound treasure. Well we found it and so had hundreds of others. We had expected to finally find a place without too many tourists but we despair that there are any places like that left. I think what the guide books meant when they said unfound was really undeveloped. While there were lots of tourists there weren't a lot of services. At first we were a bit disappointed but then we realized how lucky we were after we visited the very chi chi island of Hvar (pronounced Whar) - all fancy resorts and 100 euro massages on the beach. That is a highly developed island and really we think maybe we are more Vis than Hvar people.
We were all sad to leave lovely Croatia behind but the fact that once again the trusty travelers would meet again in Pescina, Italy made the leaving bearable.
We have been in Pescina for ten days that once again have sped by filled with food, fun, wine with side trips to Rome and Pesscarolia. So much has happened, so much has been done that it doesn't seem possible that it has only been ten days. We feel so blessed to have had a true Italian experience thanks to our trusty Italian guide, interpreter, and general all around great guy/brother in law Luigi. So much has happened in fact that it will require another post another time. Unlike the fabulous food, and awesome wine which is plentiful and inexpensive Internet access in Pescina is not. This post comes to you from a nearby town of Avezzano. We leave in two days for the Tuscany region of San Giamagno where we are staying a a little villa which will be our base for trips to Venice, Florence and little towns nearby. We hear internet is more readily available there and will post more often if possible.
We are soooo sorry that we can't post our pictures from our times in Greece, Croatia and Italy. Sadly our nifty new computer broke down and can't be fixed here in Europe so no photo transfer is available. Don't worry - we1ll bore you with them when we get home.
So, speaking of time that is it for now. Caio for now.