Volterra

Friday, June 26th
Today was started by Chef Brian making his special brand of Italian cowboy coffee followed by medium cooked eggs on Italian toast, melon, salami and prosciutto. It was a “do the best you can” feast and was great. We didn’t rush, but soon found ourselves in the car heading to Volterra to look at alabaster. Brian did all of the driving today, Ken and Bella navigated and Jen and I sat in the back singing songs to fit the occasion. Some of them were: The Hills Are Alive, I like Big Butts, Maria, The Long and Winding Road and on and on. We think we are quite amazing.
In Volterra, we visited the alabaster workshop called alab’ Arte (www.alabarte.com) and were shown the lathe and how the artiest/owner did his work. The owners and artists are Roberto Chiti and Giorgio Finazzo. When we were about to leave he wanted to show us what he was working on. With a small but proud smile on his face, he showed us an Obama bust ! The people here have such hope for him. They realize that our success is their success and know it will take more than 4 years for him to change things. The reaction to Obama is pretty amazing.
After a lunch, browsing and some internet time (not easy to find), and a quick cat nap for Brian (Driving in Italy can really take it out of you!), we went to San Gimignano. We 1st stopped at a ceramic store called La Bottega Di San Gimignano (www.madamepottery.it) where we have been to twice. We love the store, but the man and his wife that own it are so sweet. Marco always reminds me of my nephew Billy. It doesn’t show in a photo, but when he smiles and those eyes twinkle and he lights up a room….it’s Billy. He has an 11 year old son and Marco said “little boy, little problem: big boy, big problem”. That’s all the English he knows. Kiss, kiss, good-bye and we go to leave and hear thunder and a downpour of rain. We look down the street and people have taken off their shoes and just keep walking. Brian and Jen walked around and Ken and I sat and had coffee cake and beer…..hey, it was humid!
We brought pizza back to the apartment and ate outside on our deck and watched a beautiful sunset.