27 December – First Day of Twixtmas
On the Eighth Day of Christmas
We are here in Italy
Eight Dutchmen drinking
Seven laughs a minute
Six Fano Views taken
Five courses eaten
Four stockings readied
Three lots of shopping
Two people cleaning
And the house was only one degree
Today we are four friends on a mission, we have to go to the local winery to stock up with our friends. they have carefully worked out the van capacity and think 16 cases will do it!
We have quite a day ahead of us, winery visit, lunch, afternoon drinks with some nearby old neighbours and a meal out with M&G at a new trendy fish restaurant.
The winery visit goes off without a hitch, they don’t have the acacia honey we like, but everything else ticked off the list. Lunch – done, coffee done – now it’s time for an aperitivo at some old neighbours of J&G.
J&G used to have a house nearby and sold it this summer. Their old neighbours have invited the four of us and the new purchasers of J&G’s house for drinks at their house in Mombaroccio. What a lovely afternoon it was, seated around a comfortable big old farmhouse table in a roasty, toasty kitchen. We were treated to a tour of the house which has been restored magnificently, with immaculate taste – it felt like a boutique hotel, but had the warmth of a true family home. We were in the minority surrounded by tall Dutch people (well as a little one, I was in the minority height wise), but needless to say their language expertise put us to shame – even the young children can speak English well.
Somewhat reluctantly we tore ourselves away to go out to dinner in Fano in the new restaurant ‘Al Mare’. we were fortunate to secure a parking space close to the entrance, but noted wryly that although disabled access was okay, there were still some bumps and lumps to navigate. We had a fabulous last night meal with J&G, and retired home sated and happy after another contretemps over parking, when someone ‘helpfully’ had parked so that G’s wheel chair couldn’t get to the side entrance of the van.
Another day of no running – JCR get a grip!
