The Hooks' Adventure Continues!: Field trip to Tuscany

Yesterday, the boys and I went on a trip to Tuscany with James's class. Apparently, many of these kids became friends in Kindergarten, and since that time they have had an annual end-of-year trip.

The grueling schedule started at 6:45, when we were expected to be down in the middle school parking lot. Accordingly, the boys and I left the house at 6:40, and arrived at the lot in time to join the crush of parents at the door to the local bar. Coffee, anyone?

Caffeinated, we made it to the bus that was just a few steps away, and the bus was leaving the parking lot at 7:05...remarkably, only 5 minutes after the originally scheduled departure time. How often does a cat-herding operation of this magnitude (over 40 participants) happen?

About an hour and a half into our trip, we had to stop the bus. Somehow, we'd managed to get into the middle of a bike race, and (also somehow, because I saw no communication happen) been told we had to stop so the bikes could pass us. Because obviously a faster vehicle should make way for the race of the slower vehicles? Nothing daunted, we all got out to stretch our legs and cheer on the cyclists. Luckily, we were on a ridge and had a gorgeous view to admire while chatting and waiting for the clumps of riders to come through.

First official stop: The source of the Tiber river. Scratch that. First actual stop: bar for coffee. Upon piling out of the bus in the parking lot of some sort of wooded area, we saw signs leading to the source of the Tiber (only 100 meters!). We also saw a bar in the near distance. Tiber? or coffee? Coffee, hands down.

Refreshed, we went for a lovely walk in the woods that was NOT 100 meters. It was more like half a mile ... which really made for a nice jaunt rather than being too annoyingly close to the parking lot. We actually got to enjoy the sensation of walking through the forest, which every single boy enhanced by picking up a stick...either as a walking aid or to use to slash the underbrush.

There it was! A column noting that this is, indeed, the source of the Tiber...river of immense importance in the history of Rome! Delectably cold, we enjoyed a few sips and watched the boys playing Poohsticks in the trickle and doing what kids do in running water: building dams, whooping, poking at things with their sticks, and so on. Delightful!

We continued ambling down the path, and to my surprise it ended up at a lower parking lot where our bus was waiting for us! Meanwhile, Jeremy wanted to find the older marker for the Tiber's source which was at the conjunction of the Tiber and an even smaller trickle. He reported that he'd found a base and possibly a plinth of a marker IN the conjunction of the trickles.

Jeremy, baptized in the Tiber

Congratulating ourselves on having so much fun, it was time to move on for more. After however long, we ended up in what looked like a national park. It was labeled a "sanctuary", and silly me, I was thinking about a bird sanctuary or something of that sort.

But, no. This is a religious sanctuary where St. Francis spent a lot of his time: La Verna. We had a picnic lunch in a deliciously wooded area, enjoying the cool spots of the shade, and Jeremy and I took a little hike while the rest of the boys played with (you guessed it) sticks. We investigated a little chapel, enjoyed a ridge path, and were amazed by the huge boulders that were casually stacked on top of each other. Lovely spot!

Having made our way back to the group, we saw Giovanni (one of the group's organizers) surrounded by the other parents demonstrating avidity with their body language. Hmmm. Must be interesting! I arrived to see him holding a bottle of what looked like brown hooch: you know, glass bottle, peeling alcohol labels...definitely a home brew. But what?

You're probably ahead of me, and I only realized in when I saw the cups and stir sticks emerge: yup, coffee. And it was hot! Apparently, Giovanni had gone down to the bar and had them make a liter of coffee into his spare liqueur bottle.

Happy once more, the herd of cats went down into the sanctuary area, which included 4 other chapels, St. Francis's bed, a gorgeous shrine in the rocks, and moss! Cool breezes!

At 4:00, we were to meet at the bus. The boys and I made our way back together to the parking lot, but were waylaid by a sign advertising gelato (prepackaged, not the homemade confection), and we were very amused to see these flavors:

A little after half-past five, we arrived in the parking lot at the bottom of the hill...at the top of which was the castle...which was rumored to close at 5:30. Someone had the happy thought of phoning the ticket booth to ask them please pretty please if we could see the castle; no problem, but we were sternly enjoined to leave by 6:20 because someone had somewhere to go. Woo hoo! Up we trotted, a newfound spring in our step, and were greeted by the most magnificent little castle you could hope for. It's a complete confection, in lovely shape, from the 1300s. Truly lovely, both in shape and in decor...frescoes, wooden beams embellished with painted designs, stonework. It's definitely worth a trip back to savor.

But, sadly, at 6:20 we were, in fact, kicked out of the place (actually, closer to 6:35), so we milled around for a while discussing the plan. That is, I watched. Others milled and discussed.

Off to the zoo! Apparently it was supposed to stay open until dark. When we arrived at around 7, it looked rather abandoned, but our gallant Giuseppe leapt out of the bus to find out the score. Yes! We could go in!

In the chapel

The zoo is one that specializes in European fauna, which was actually great fun for me, and included such highlights as donkeys and deer. It was intended to provide the animals with a really naturalized habitat, which may be great for the animals, but it resulted in looking at a lot of cages saying, "Hm...says there's supposed to be an xyz here...looks pretty empty to me..." and wandering to the next apparently empty enclosure.

On the other hand, I managed to see a wild boar, which I've been dying to see in real life! I've seen pictures, I've seen them stuffed, but I have never been face to face with one. A great moment. Of course, not quite the same as in the wild, but still!

The Royal Owl (?) is HUGE! I had no idea! And he has feathery feet which I find rather endearing. The raccoons and beavers were precious, and the wolf looked very lonely. I felt sorry for her.

Meanwhile, the deer had a ton of babies (lessee, protected habitat, anyone?). And I learned an Italian word: the small horses that we call ponies? The Italian word is "poni" ... want to guess the etymology on that one?

The highlight of the zoo, though, had to be the monkey enclosure. There are crowds of monkeys on Gibraltar, and this zoo has managed to get a breeding pair. Which now includes a baby! So incredibly precious. The mother kept trying to hide it, but we managed to get some good looks at it. The teenager was hilarious, too, sticking his paw out of the enclosure trying to get food.

Since it was 9:00 or so at this point, it was time to start thinking about piling back into the bus. At 11:15 we were back in the parking lot of the middle school, in just enough time to walk up the hill and get the car to go pick up Michael and Florence...I'll let them tell you about their adventures!

Love,

Alexandra

p.s. Bonus pictures of the castle!