Tag Archives: flat tires

adventure, house hunting

Bad vibes and beach views (part five)

On Wednesday morning, we got up and had breakfast– the very same as we had the day before. I notice in Italy, things get started a bit later. Breakfast started at eight o’clock at each of our lodgings, although at the B&B, we were requested to have it at 8:30 AM, due to kids going to school. It was not a big deal for us, although we usually rise early. I probably wouldn’t do that if I lived alone, but Bill is like a rooster, and he wakes up early most days. Then, by about nine in the evening, he can’t keep his eyes open anymore. I have repeatedly tried to get him to go to bed without me, but he refuses to do it.

We had big plans for Wednesday, having decided to visit another town called Castiglione Messer Marino. I had seen a villa there at a very good price that I liked a lot. I wanted to see what the town looked like. After we ate, we set off for our destination, which took us down the Autostrada and then on another, more rural road. I was enjoying the scenery, and we were on track to reach our destination at about 11:00 AM or so.

But then, Bill took a wrong turn, and that fucked up our journey for about an hour. We ended up on a very primitive road that sent us through some more towns, including one called Bomba. I kind of liked the look of Bomba, which was situated on a hillside. I took a few photos as we passed through. It was easy, because Bill was creeping behind an elderly man with no sense of urgency as he walked to his compact car. I couldn’t blame him. The town looked like the kind of place where people don’t feel the need to hurry.

After we left Bomba, we kept driving through the very rural countryside. At least an hour was added to our travel time. Both Bill and I were needing to pee, and it was getting close to lunchtime. But things appeared to be fairly dead in that part of Abruzzo, so we kept driving. I kept taking pictures. A lot of these look very similar, but the landscape was so striking that I felt like I had to keep taking photos.

We finally reached Castiglione Messer Marino, and I immediately didn’t like the look of the town. And then, we pulled into a parking lot near what appeared to be a school, and a rather aggressive looking man stepped out of what appeared to be a booth of some sort. He came near our car and seemed notice us. I got hinky vibes from him, and given that we were victims of shady folks in France once, I decided not to get out of the car. The guy gave off a belligerent aura.

Luckily, Bill agreed, and we kept going, at first to what turned out to be a closed restaurant, and then in another direction. Bill got out and did the European thing, peeing on the side of the road. I continued to wait for a toilet. Fortunately, we like the same kind of music and talking to each other… the weather was getting colder and rainy, so we headed back to a more populated area.

Castiglione Messer Marino

I’m not sure I will consider that villa anymore, even though it’s going for a very good price and looks pretty well kept. I just didn’t like the town’s vibe… It wasn’t just the belligerent aura from the stranger, but the overall feel of the place. And now, I wonder if the town is the reason why the price recently went down on that property. I also noticed there weren’t many trees there, which gave the area kind of a desolate quality.

We ended up heading toward San Salvo, which is a beach town. Bill pulled up to an open restaurant, which was a blessing, since I was getting pretty cranky. We were the only ones there for lunch, and we both had pasta dishes. I also availed myself of the ladies room… whew! The very young and kind server spoke some English, and we enjoyed Forst beers, which come from Bolzano. We encountered them in 2020, when we visited Parcines.

Salmone Carbonara for me
Tagliatelle Bolognese for Bill
They have karaoke there, too…

After lunch, we stopped by the beach so I could get a few photos. The weather was getting worse, so I hurried. I’m sure in the summer, that place is packed with people…

Once again, we stopped by a grocery store for snacks, because we had a somewhat late lunch, and because after our day’s driving on hairpin, primitive roads, we were just kind of ready to be in for the night. I love Italy, but it can be kind of overwhelming and chaotic!

Can’t seem to escape the JWs…

So ends my report of Wednesday. I am glad we went to Castiglione Messer Marino, even though I doubt it will be our future home. If nothing else, I did get some good photos, and I liked some of the other little towns we passed through as we traveled to and from there. Maybe we will find something in one of those places.

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Our first French Christmas, part eight…

Our hosts at Au Miracle du Pain Doré were out in the vineyards when we arrived at their gite the second time, so they left the front gate unlocked and the keys by the front door. Checking in was simple, especially since we’d been there the week prior. Bill was pretty rattled about the car and even worried the people who punctured our tire might have even put something on the car to track it. Fortunately, they were complete amateurs. We found nothing on the car and it was totally safe outside of the gite, under a streetlamp.

Bill went to the supermarket, which was within walking distance of the gite, and picked up essentials for Friday night’s dinner and Saturday’s breakfast. The next morning, he got to work on reporting the crime. First, he called USAA to tell them about the tires, which apparently weren’t covered on our policy. Even if they had been, we have a $500 deductible, and today is New Year’s Eve. USAA took down our info and Bill later got a call from the German USAA liaison working out of Frankfurt, who was sympathetic.

Next, he called ADAC (German auto club) to ask about where to locate tires. He went to two places on Saturday. One couldn’t help at all. The other “fixed” the tire by patching the sidewall and advising us not to go further than 100 kilometers. Germany is, of course, much further than 100 kilometers from Beaune. Still, he made it so we could at least drive around the city if we needed to. The hole in the tire was near the tread, but still in the sidewall. We learned that driving on a patched sidewall, especially at high speeds, is a recipe for disaster. Bill is usually super safety conscious, but I think he was worried about getting home for work. Fortunately, good sense prevailed and he axed the idea of trying to drive on the patched tire.

Our poor tire.

ADAC was very communicative and helpful. They called us a few times to coordinate where to find tires. Yes, that’s right. We had to buy two of them, because French law dictates that unless you find the exact same brand of tire, you must buy two tires that match per axle. We couldn’t find a single Pirelli brand tire that was damaged on the Volvo, so we had to buy a pair of Bridgestone tires. That was 470 euros yesterday, when we finally found a place that had them in stock.

Bill then went to the local police station in Beaune, where he was told by the one English speaker working there that he’d have to go to the Gendarmerie, since the crime hadn’t happened in Beaune proper. So Bill drove the Volvo to the Gendarmerie office and spoke to two sympathetic but non English speaking ladies who used Google Translate to take his statement. They seemed shocked and relieved that we weren’t robbed and told Bill that there are gangs of people doing this… not just in France, but in places all around Europe. Hell, I think it happens in the States sometimes, too. It’s a well-known crime that probably doesn’t get reported as often as it happens.

Since it was clear we weren’t going to be able to leave Beaune on Sunday, as we’d planned, we asked the owners of the gite if we could extend our reservation. Much to our surprise, they let us stay Sunday night free of charge! That was really nice of them and completely unexpected.

Unfortunately, due to all the time spent running around Beaune trying to get the tire mess sorted out, our plans to shop were thwarted. But France doesn’t totally close down on Sundays the way Germany does, so we were able to get a few bottles on the “Lord’s day”. We walked into downtown Beaune and Bill bought a few nice bottles from one of many wine shops in Beaune. Then we stopped at a cafe and had a glass as the sun went down. Yes, it was cold, but they had outdoor heaters going… and Arran was mostly good until he met a female bulldog in a pink jacket who apparently said something he didn’t like. He raised a little ruckus, but everybody just laughed at him and kept drinking their wine or coffee. It was kind of nice not to be scowled at. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

  • French “sliders”… they were pretty good. They had ketchup, cheese, and pickles on them.
  • A shot of chocolate mousse in a glass! We bought it at the store.
  • A salmon quiche… French frozen food is pretty good heated up.
  • At first, I thought that silver tower might be a portable toilet… but it was actually a projector.
  • One of the wine stores we visited.
  • Are they in line for crepes, vin chaude, or waffles?
  • Nice little cafe…
  • I love this picture of Bill. He’s stylin!
  • More cafes, including the one where we ate last week.
  • We went in this place…
  • But no one was home.
  • If wine from Burgundy is what you love, Beaune is your place.

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