Leaving Torre Orsina Monday morning hit me harder than I thought it would. The week before when we left we knew we were coming back for the party so it was no big deal. This time we don’t know when we’ll return. That morning Virgilio had so much to say to us that I just could not understand. He is a man of few words and talked more to us that morning than the whole time we were there. Luigina sat in the kitchen, eyes brimming with tears, pleading for us to return soon. When we started to leave for the bus, Elda said, “Cinzia, dov’e’ vai?!?!” (Where are you going?). Without Daniela there to translate Elda and I had found our own way to understand each other.
As we left on the bus I couldn’t contain the tears. I have grown to love these people and this little town more than I ever imagined.
We were thankful Tuesday that we had returned the day before. There was a planned 1 day (8 hour) general strike affecting all public transportation (including trains) and many museums. We saw a very colorful parade that day and assumed from the banners it was a strike of some sort. Since we didn’t use public transportation Tuesday we were not affected. I’ve found a handy website that gives travelers a "heads up" of potential travel disruptions worldwide. You may want to make note of it for yourself: www.easytravelreport.com Presently, there is another 24 hour rail strike planned for 17 September and a 4 hour local transportation strike set for 19 September.