Italy, Part One

At the end of July, Tom and I flew to Italy to spend a week with Anna. I think I spent the whole time laughing, I had so much fun. We didn't do anything major, it was more just visiting and spending time with Anna but that ended up being perfect in of itself. As such, I wouldn't be able to write about it like my last visit even if I had the time to. The days blended into a delightful blur of homemade Italian food, summer heat and too many jokes to count. Instead, I'm going to post my favourite pictures and either write about them or just some general thing that happened while we were there. 

Much less organised/easy to read but way easier for me (and the sporadic writing is helping jog my memory!)

After waiting a million years for my suitcase (and discovering that Tom is a hundred times more patient than I am), we met Anna's sister in the airport and walked to her cousin's car. They told us that Anna was in Barletta (their hometown) and so we would have to meet her there. Panicking slightly at how the two of us were going to keep up conversation for two hours while battling a language barrier, we got in to the car. What followed was one of the scariest driving experiences I've ever had. I have absolutely no way of describing the driving in Italy and I'm gutted I didn't film any of it - it was like nothing I've ever experienced before (I will say though, Tom's reactions had me laughing enough I could ignore it most of the time).

Filippo drove us through Naples before stopping outside a gated house. He spoke in to an intercom then turned to us and (we discovered after Domenica translated what he said) he told us we were stopping to pick up some drugs. Domenica was laughing which slightly reassured me but I think that right up until Anna walked towards us, part of me actually thought we were at some kind of Italian Mafia drug house.

It took a total of 14 hours for us to get to Italy (an extra two for Tom though, since he had to get to Newport) and then another 2 hours on top of that to get from Naples to Barletta. Fourteen hours is a long time, especially when you're tired. At one point, Tom and I were sat on the bus in Victoria Station crying with laughter because of a story about jam. That's right.. Jam. We were being so loud that people were turning around to stare and neither of us would be able to tell you why that story was so funny... We also had a disastrous time in Sainsbury's; I managed to get stuck in the queue (I was trapped by my suitcase) and neither of us could stop laughing. I'm glad we weren't stopped over in London for long because we probably never would have made it to our second bus. The best part of the whole journey was that it was never boring and never quiet. We talked for the whole 14 hours! Well, Tom did the majority of the talking (surprising both of us..) but still! That photo is Tom trying to copy the way I was sat on the bus (with both my knees against the chair in front). Of course, he was too tall to actually copy me and ended up with one leg just stuck out in the air over us... ha!

Please excuse how gross 14 hours of travelling makes me look but here's the first (and only!) picture of the three of us taken during the trip. As soon as we met Anna at Filippo's cousin's house - well, after we met the family as well - we all piled back in to the car and went out for food with two of his cousins. The restaurant we went had an outside section that looked out over the whole of Naples. It was amazing (as was the food). I have missed proper Italian pizza, I love that we had it on our first night! We went back through Naples after our food and stopped off for some ice cream. We stood outside the shop looking out over an expanse of water (I never did find out if it was the sea or not) and just catching up, and admiring the view. Tom and I slept in the car on the way to Barletta and I was so sleepy, I don't remember anything of getting to the apartment or getting in to bed. All I know is that it was 2/3am (maybe?) and I was in the bed I was in last time (heaven). Falling asleep has never felt so good!

We spent most of our time with Anna's family, in her Aunty's house in Fiumara. It's a private village just outside of Barletta that back out on to the sea. It's mainly just rocks with steps down to the sea but there is a rocky beach that lets you walk out in to the water rather than having to swim out over the rocks. Tom, Domenica, Little Anna and I visited there a few times over the week - we were either in the sea or sunbathing on the rocks. It was so calming to just be led listening to the water lap against the stones. I did hate the steps into the sea (is there health and safety in Italy?) but sitting next to them with my bottom half in the water was lush. 

When we weren't by the sea, we were either playing in the pool or doing stupid things under the gazebo thing (read: taking stupid pictures or making each other laugh with stupid songs). We almost drowned Anna's little cousin Mario when the four of us were trying to dunk each other under the water. He was fine though and kept us entertained with his "Bonzai!" shout whenever he jumped in to the pool. Being in the pool also meant we couldn't stop Chico (Anna's family's dog) from stealing our shoes or socks and running wildly around the garden with them. Thankfully he only got one of my shoes once but I'm pretty sure he took Tom's socks most days we were there. One of my favourite memories is of Mario singing something to me and Tom repeating it word for word only for Anna to rush over and tell them both off for singing a rude word. I could not stop laughing (I'm actually laughing while writing this) at the fact that Tom was singing "arseface" loudly with Anna's 6 year old cousin in front of her whole family. I hope I never, ever forget that.