View from the villa

View from the villa

Day 1

(unfinished)

16 x 20

acrylic on canvas

Katherine and I took a cheap flight to Pisa and rented a car. We had a rough start because I couldn't find reverse in a Fiat.

There was a German man in the parking lot and I had him just point the car in the direction we needed to go.

There was no turning back, so we didn't need to worry about reverse. We were on our way.

My bragging rights for driving on the Autobahn were quickly replaced with those of the Autostrassa.

Our cooking class was about 2 hours away in a town called Merctale.

I learned to drive on Central Expressway in Dallas, so I am skilled in the avoidance of a turn signal. I also have adapted some very bad habits from driving on the Autobahn. This Autostrassa was a piece of cake.

My adrenaline rush began to dissipate when we arrived in the little town of Merctale. At this point our GPS system signed off and we had to follow a map given by our teacher. The kind of map that required you to turn or go straight according to landmarks, such as rusty signs with missing letters in a language hard to pronounce.

The villa was located on top of a very steep hill on a gravel road no wider than our little Fiat. It was difficult to keep it in first gear while crossing my fingers for fear that someone would be coming down.

In the hurry to see the inside of the big villa, we overlooked the view from the front terrace. This is the first beautiful view we saw and it brought tears to our eyes.

The first of many beautiful views we were to see that memorable week back in November of 2006.

The time we went to a cooking school in Tuscany.

Clouds masked the Umbrian valley down below like the froth on my cappuccino

as I slowly drank it all in...............