© Richard Randall

BRACIANNO

Richard and I had wanted to visit Italy together for some time, but we had been busy with our African travels. One day whilst eating lunch with Richards parents, they mentioned holiday destinations, and before we knew it it had been decided that the four of us would go away together. It was either Italy or Singapore, and as Richards parents had not flown before we thought that a destination with as short a flight as possible would be preferable for their first adventure, so Italy it was. As soon as we returned home from the pub Richard went straight online to look for flights, accommodation and car rental. Once the flights were sorted it was down to the more interesting searching for some accommodation. We all decided that we would prefer to stay self catering, so Richard found lots of villas for us to choose from. We had chosen the area of Bracciano, as it was near enough to Rome for us to be able to visit as often as we wanted, and far enough away from Rome so that we could enjoy some peace and quiet too. After lots of deliberation we had just two villas left to choose from. We chose Altare Del Lupo, which looked really lovely in the photographs. Next Richard sorted out a car, neither of us were keen on BMW or diesel cars but that was exactly what we hired, a diesel BMW. Well it seemed like the best choice, and once we arrived in Italy we were both very surprised with the car. It didn't feel like a diesel it was very nippy, and the best thing was that we hardly ever needed to go to the petrol station. In fact we were talking about the car recently, and neither of us can actually remember filling it with petrol, and we covered many many miles whilst we were in Italy. So all we had to do now that everything was booked was to think about what clothes we wanted to take, and then wait for the day of our departure. We flew to Rome sometime in March, and I think that Richards father in particular was slightly disappointed with the flight. As he had not flown before I think he thought that it would be more exciting and eventful. But as with most flights now, you enter the aircraft via a covered walkway which feels as though you haven't left the airport building, so he didn't even really get a good look at the plane. I think he would have felt more like he was flying if he could have walked across the tarmac to board the plane. Oh well, as soon as he was settled in his seat he fell asleep and didn't wake until we landed at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome. Richards father always falls asleep when travelling, within minutes of sitting down, he is the perfect passenger when driving, nice and quiet! Our villa; Altare Del Lupo, was not far from the airport, about an hour I think, so once we had struggled to fit all of our suitcases into the boot, and in the back seat with Richards folks we were on our way. Everyone says how mad the Italian drivers are, but we never noticed anything crazy. They do drive fast but then so do we, the one thing we did notice was what excellent parking skills they all seem to have. They can park a car in a space only inches longer then their car in seconds without a scratch, Richard and myself on the other hand are not that great at parking our cars. We have always claimed that it is because we don't drive the same car for any length of time, so we cannot get used to judging the size of any vehicle. For the last couple of years living in the U.K. we had driven hire cars as we didn't own one of our own. But since we have lived in France we have owned just two cars and we are still bad at parking, so I don't think that excuse will wash anymore, we are just not spatially aware! Well they say that women have no spatial awareness and poor old Richard does suffer with his back which makes reversing difficult ... oh here we go again more excuses so I'll just admit it ... when it comes to parking we are rubbish! Right, back to the drive from the airport to our home for the next couple of weeks. We found the roads to be quite well sign posted, and we found the road where our new home was located without any trouble. However we just couldn't find the actual villa, we drove up and down the road several times, and there just wasn't a property with the correct number. So eventually we rang the owner of the property and explained that we were in the road but couldn't find the villa. My memory is not what it was but I seem to remember that someone from the family came out to meet us, hooray we were 'home'. The villa where we were going to be staying was on quite a large plot of land, and next door was another property where the owners lived. Once inside we were met by the wife of the family who explained everything to us, heating, water etc and showed us round. We had been left some basics such as tea, milk etc which was a thoughtful gesture. The villa itself was incredibly spacious and furnished nicely. There were two large bedrooms, and one bathroom with shower and bath. The kitchen was more compact as is normal in many Italian properties, as eating out is a big part of Italian life, but it did have everything we needed and more, such as appliances and utensils etc. The lounge area was huge and divided into many different areas, there was a large dining area with a large table, and then several other areas with different seating. The main focal point of this huge room was a very large fire place, which we put to use every night burning some lovely big logs from outside, as it did get quite chilly late in the evening. The garden was pretty and there was a small raised swimming pool, although the weather was not warm enough for us to make use of it. It was early evening by the time we had decided which bedrooms we wanted, and we needed to go out and buy some food. We asked the friendly lady from next door where the nearest supermarket was, she told us where to go and it worked out that by the time we got there it would be open again for the evening. Richard and I thought that we would go alone just to pick up some basics, and let his parents rest as they are quite elderly and we had all been up since around 3am. But they said they both wanted to come with us, so all four of us piled into the car and we set off. Neither Richard or myself enjoy the supermarket experience and had his parents been able to drive we would both had gladly stayed behind and let them go, never mind. The supermarket was not far away and had a reasonable choice of food, during all of our travels we have found that all supermarkets are much the same wherever you are. Considering we had only planned to buy a few bits just to keep us going until we were less tired and could do a big shop we ended up with an overflowing trolley. That's the trouble with going food shopping when you are hungry! Back at the villa Richard set about cooking with a little help from me. We had already promised that neither of Richards parents would have to lift a finger on this trip, well that's the least we could do to say thank you for this fantastic holiday. Not that his father would have helped anyway as he is not that kind of man, he is waited on hand and foot by his wife, so we definitely wanted to make sure that Richards mother had a real rest for a change. I remember that we all slept very well that night, the beds were nice and comfortable and we woke the next morning feeling refreshed. Although we were all very keen to go to Rome we spent the next day in the town of Bracianno. Considering it was a small place we were more than happy walking round Bracianno for hours, window shopping; there was a couple of shops selling clothes and a nice jewellery shop, and a very large cafe which was always busy and sold the most delicious cakes and ice-creams. Obviously as it was our nearest village we visited Bracciano on a number of occasions. There was not that much of interest to do there except for the castle of the Orsini family dating from the 1470's. The Castello Orsini-Odescalchi (open all year Tues-Sun 10am-12; April-Sept also 3pm-6:30pm; Oct-Mar also 3pm-5pm). We went for a guided tour of the castle and managed to understand most of what was said with our very limited Italian, as well as taking lots of video footage; looking back I don't think it was that interesting to shoot, but the video camera was my new toy and I video taped everything I saw in Italy!

Caribbean

Sundries

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