ONE OF THE BEST MEMORIES WE HAVE

It was 2007 when we met my brother Wren and his Virginia in Rome to celebrate our 60th anniversary and their 40th for a few days in a villa in the Tuscany region of Italy.

We took the train to Florence where we rented a car and proceeded to get completely lost while looking for our villa in the "wilderness" of the beautiful countryside in central Italy. Our dear young Italian friends, Betty and Antonio were to drive from their home in Milan to meet us there.

We had directions to the villa, but no map. We stopped and asked many of the residents of the area how to get there, and most of them would shrug their shoulders and say, "No spicka da English", or they simply did not know.

It seemed like hours before we located a tourist headquarters in San Giamingnana for proper directions. (This is an old walled town in the center of Tuscany area). Wren's Virginia parked the car on the street in what was probably a no parking zone, but it was getting late in the day and we were getting a little desperate.

We had left Wren sitting in the back seat of the S. U. V. while the three of us walked about three blocks into the town. By the time we returned to the car, Wren had a strange look on his face. He was in a strange town, could not speak the language, and had become a little apprehensive, and also a little agitated. Time had passed and he had become a little more apprehensive and agitated. It was getting dark and his folks had not returned!

It did take a little time getting the information we needed, but in Wren's mind it took FOREVER!

After soothing Wren's "ruffled feathers", we finally drove into the driveway to the villa, and sure enough there were Betty and Antonio sitting out side the office just patiently waiting for us to arrive! WHAT A WONDERFUL SIGHT!

It was a great week spent in a beautiful country with splendid natives of Italy as our escorts.