Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.
~Unknown
Let’s be honest: I’m tired.
My first group left Saturday, and my second group arrives today. My weariness has really nothing to do with either group. Italy is HOT, and trying to navigate in the heat and humidity is difficult for everyone. Add in that you will not find “ice-cold air,” as we have in the US, and ice cubes are, well, a precious commodity here. Making it worse for me is that the side effects of a medication I take includes increased heat intolerance. Yay.
I’m not complaining (Well, I guess I am.), but I have had to decide how to relax between the two groups. I flew to Alghero on Saturday morning when Maggie and Mary left, and I took the bus to Cagliari. That doesn’t sound bad, does it? Well, I had to get up at 4:00 to get to the Rome airport in time for my flight. Once I got to Alghero, I had to wait almost six hours for the bus that took us from Alghero to Cagliari….three-and-a-half hours of bumping along.
It really wasn’t too bad, and once I got to the hotel and cleaned up, I went to find a restaurant. Since it was not quite 7:00 pm, there were not a lot of choices open. Many restaurants in Cagliari open at 7:00, 7:30, or 8:00pm. One restaurant told me that I could sit, but I would have only 30 minutes to eat dinner. No offense, ragazza, but if you think I’m going to try to sit, order, eat, and pay in 30 minutes after spending more than 12 hours traveling, you are more than pazza.
I ended up at a small place with outside seating only, and ordered Porchetta Dell’Oste—pork cooked in wood, mixed salad, soft cheese, dried tomatoes in EVO, Taggiasca olives, EVO. In addition, they added friarelli sauteed in EVO and plain brushetta. The restaurant serves it cold, which was fine, and it was very good. Actually, it was so good that a bee decided he wanted to join me for dinner.
If you have ever watched Seinfeld and have seen the episode where Elaine is dancing (Jerry describes it as “dry heaves”), you will understand the entertainment I provided for the other diners.
“Are you afraid of bees?” the waitress asked me.
“Allergic,” I wheezed as she tried to swat it away. “AUGH.” The manager came over and tried to move Beelzebub away with a menu, but that little devil was determined to have a bit of porchetta. Finally, the manager batted the little thing into the street, and the waitress brought me a spray bottle of insect deterent.
“Spray it on your arms and hands, and he will stay away,” she informed me. I did as told and tried to finish dinner, but the stunned devil came back and hovered over the same bit of pork (which I had not touched because there was no way….NO WAY… I was eating anything a bug decided he wanted). Having had enough, I paid and power-walked back to the hotel.
Back in the room, I went to bed and slept, which was the same thing I tried to do Sunday and yesterday. On my rounds Sunday, I went by the self-serve laundromat where I had thought I might clean my clothes, but I changed my mind when I saw how small, dingy, dark, and creepy it was. I thought the boys might be a little uncomfortable. Instead, we headed to lunch and had two foccacia which were big enough to feed me and the flock of pigeons waddling around the restaurant.
Pigeons, you ask? Yep…. Dozens of pigeons wander the streets of Cagliari pecking at crumbs and trying to make friends with anyone eating at the next table. Next table, you ask? YES. Two of the little flying rats decided I might like to share my meal with them. They first jumped on my table (Insert mental video of Elaine’s dancing again), but my screaming sent them flying (without leaving me a surprise gift) to the empty table next to me.
They stared at me and then the foccacia until I waved my arm to scare them away again. Off the jumped, and back on they flew. One of them apparently thought I might fancy the other more, so he started a fight. If you haven’t seen pigeons fight, I can only say that they are mean little dudes. The fell off of the table and continued to fight at my feet until a no-nonsense waiter walked by and swiped his foot at them. Into the air and down the street they flew, which was too bad because I left about 80 percent of that foccacia on the table. Considering how little service there was at that place, those birds could have had a big feast.
So, it’s Tuesday morning, and I’m thrilled that I found someone to do my laundry…. Truly, it’s the best 18 euro I’ve spent. Still, though, as I mentioned above, I’m tired mostly due to the heat and lack of half-way decent food. Once the four arrive, we’ll be off and running, but I think what I’ve planned is going to be easy, fun, and big cultural fun…and relaxing.
Stay tuned.
coldpastaandredwine.com 