Chapter 5; caprile' and Roccassecca.

I almost arrived in Roccassecca alone and without luggage; Roly charged off ahead in Rome's Termini station (without the slightest idea where he was going)and disappeared from sight amid the crowds of people. I figured he'd look for the information desk once he realised I was gone, and either wait there for me to find him, or go to the appropriate platform and wait there. Accordingly, when I failed to find him at the information desk I went & purchased the tickets, and then started looking for him. The reason we'd been separated was my tendinitis that caused every step I took to be painful, and the stiffness of the tendons caused me to limp. I hobbled about the platform for over an hour looking for him, and was almost ready to go without him (the train was leaving in 15 minutes...)when it occurred to me to use male logic, and look for him in the only part of the terminal that we had never been before, (and would not need to go to...) and sure enough that was where he had decided to wait. We just had time to get to the platform and board the train, before departure. Once aboard I learned that he'd only a very sketchy idea of where we were going, and could never have found his way alone.

We managed to depart the train at the right stop, and there was our friend Kay, waiting to take us to our accommodation. (She probably has no idea how happy we were to see her...)She drove us out of the fairly ordinary Italian town of Roccassecca and up along the hillside to the ancient town of Caprile', past some very picturesque scenery and the birth place of Thomas Aquinas to the prettiest little village I have ever seen. The charming stone buildings of the town are over 400 years old, and, externally at least, are unchanged. Each building houses several apartments ranging from one bedroom to comfortable 3 bedroom homes. Kay's house is on the ground floor of her building, and is actually below street level. She showed us the many charms and potentials of her home, and then took us to see ours. It turned out to be up several levels (the town is built into the side of a steep hillside, and the cobblestoned roads zig zag upwards.) Her friend Francesca helped drag our heavy suitcases up the steps, and we entered our temporary home; It was an enormous 3bedroom stone house, even older than Kay's, with antique furniture that looked as old as the house itself! Nothing was very comfortable, and it was all rather rundown, but had bucket loads of atmosphere. One of the charms of the house was the church & bell tower right outside the lounge window. We did eventually learn to sleep through its ringing (every 15 minutes...)

Thus began our 10 day idyll in Caprile'...