What’s a Little Rain?

What’s a Little Rain? Well it wasn’t just a little rain.  It was pouring down rain and high winds.  But that didn’t stop a group of six determined women who wanted to see a Caravaggio exhibit. 

Organized by the itinerant traveler Monica Dalton, a group of us – me, Susie, Susan, Susanna, Diane, and Monica -- boarded a train to Teramo Tuesday morning.  Armed with raincoats and umbrellas, it was an outing to be either remembered or forgotten.

We had reservations at a restaurant that Susan recommended, the Borgo Antico.  Google Maps said it was a 15-minute walk to the restaurant from the train station.  In the rain and up hill, it was bit longer than that.  Plus, I had to stop several times to catch my breath (still not fully recovered from pneumonia).  Three of the group went on ahead to secure our reservation.  What a surprise to be told that the kitchen closes in five minutes!  But no worries, they accommodated us.  We do recommend this restaurant – the food was excellent!

Then off on another walk in the rain (huff, puff) to the museum, the Polo Museale Teramo. There were convenient lockers to put our things in, a coat rack and a place for our very wet umbrellas. 

There were only a half-dozen or so other people there, so after getting our tickets validated, we eagerly entered the first of the blackened rooms.  The exhibit was definitely interestingly curated.   

I was disappointed, though, to learn that were only two actual paintings by Caravaggio.  All of the other paintings were by his students or artists who studied his work.  Nice, and interesting, but not what I expected.  I should have read the promotion pieces more closely.

We all agreed that a walk back to the train station was probably not a good idea.  So we headed for the closest bus stop, actually just a couple of blocks from the museum.  Not sure how to pay for the bus, a nice young man offered advice.  It was good that some of us speak Italian well.  Diane and Susanna walked over to a tobacco shop and bought our tickets.    We must have looked like a bunch of crazy foreigners.  Oh wait.  We ARE crazy foreigners.  But it all worked out fine, we got on the bus and arrived at the train station after a short ride.

Then it was like an instant replay.  How to buy the train tickets?  What time?  Who’s going to Pescara?  Who’s going to Silvi?  Again, a nice young man offered advice.  I stupidly forgot my passcode to my debit card and had to pull out my phone to look it up.  Finally I got my ticket and eventually we all got our train tickets.  Then we learned that we had to have the train tickets validated by a machine, which gave us more angst.  It seemed that the machine was out of ink and unable to validate the tickets.  Maybe.  I’m not really sure.  So confusing.

The train was warm and dry and we had a nice “get to know you” chat.  We arrived in Silvi, and Monica and I said Arrivederci! to the others.  We found Monica’s new red Fiat waiting for us, drove to pick up her dog Rocco, and she drove me home to my warm and dry apartment. 

To see all of the photos: Click HERE

A nice by-product of this adventure is that we have created a group of women who like to take short trips with a purpose.  Where to next?  Rome?  Maybe….