Transcription
C O P Y No. 6 Perugia, Easter Sunday, 1951
Dear Family:
We are at the end of our third week, and what a marvelous week it has been – even better than our second week which we thought was about “tops”. In Sicily we were thrilled with the mountains and the cliffs dropping precipitously into the sea, but they were just a good “warm-up” for the scenery we had on the famous Amalfi Drive. We had supposed that the town of Amalfi would be the main point of interest on this drive, but from Amalfi we climbed up to the little village of Ravello and found it to be the climax of our trip. We ate lunch by a window overlooking the Mediterranean. Our hotel was on the edge of a cliff with the sea about 3,000 ft. below.
In Naples I had quite an experience getting our car. All the arrangements had been made by the Akron Automobile Club before I left the U.S.A. The rent was fully paid, including insurance and a foreign driver’s license, so the car should have been ready for me when I called at the Fiat office on the appointed day. Instead, it took all morning for them to go through their red tape. I was ushered into the office of a Doctor Pugliese. The Fiat office is a modern building, but the Doctor’s office was equipped with antique furniture. The Doctor could speak no English. When I showed him my Rental Contract he pulled out a file and seemed to know that I was expected to call that morning. He said, “uno momento”, [sic] stepped out of his office and did not return for over an hour – quite long for “one moment”. After signing documents in quadruplicate for about ten minutes, I asked to be taken to my car. I found they had just started to wash it. When the wash job was finished the Doctor drove the car off the wash rack and I thought he was going to crash into the wall of the building. He let the clutch in with a jerk, jammed the brakes with a jerk, back [sic] up the car with a jerk – in fact, I believe he rides to his office on a bicycle and seldom drives a car. When I asked him what pressure I should carry in the tires, he said 1.65 atmospheres in the front and 1.50 atmospheres in the rear. I insisted the rear tires should carry a higher pressure than the front tires. A mechanic finally told the Doctor the rear tires should be 1.75 atmospheres. There was no gauge in the establishment, so I was told to go to an “Experto”, meaning a Gas Station, I suppose. I asked them to check the oil, and found it needed about 2 quarts. Finally a customer who could speak a little English came to my rescue and let me drive him down to his store while he explained the operation of the car. It bothered him because I did not blow the horn. He wanted me to blow the horn as I approached each crossing, and blow it as I passed each vehicle. All drivers in Italy seem to be “horn happy”.
In Naples we had some interesting walks through different sections of the city. In what might have been called the slums district we found that the chief amusement was gambling. All along the sidewalks there would be groups of men huddled around improvised tables. At each table the owner of the gambling game would roll dice and the men would place bets on different numbers on the table. Several men were running gambling tables for children only. Then all along our walk we saw children pitching coins and playing other games of chance. A good bringing up for future citizens of Italia!!
I was supposed to tell you about the first half of the week, as Judy is covering the last half, but I am going to have to omit Pompeii – that would take another whole sheet. We spent an entire afternoon wandering through the streets and in and out of houses in Pompeii – it was an entirely different experience from any we have had thus far.
Judy will start in with our departure from Naples. We had to omit going to the Isle of Capri – already we are two days behind schedule. Would that we had more time.
Love to all,
WillardTranscriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English