We left Rome on Sunday after a big Italian Easter dinner that was lovely. We then headed for Tuscany (Italy's famous wine country) for a 4 day vacation. We are staying in a little B & B on top of a mountain with great views of the vineyards and hills. The roads are windy and the drops are 2000 feet in some places as you drive around the beautiful fields. All the towns have buildings that look like The Olive Garden--except the real thing. It's picture postcard beautiful. It's amazingly under-developed. These are hilltop medieval towns that look like the classic postcard italy you would expect.
Unfortunately, yesterday we had a bit of a dramatic incident. After we checked into our B & B, late in the evening Jamie dropped some boiling water on her foot. She got burned. She was in a lot of pain, but tried rapping it up in ice and tried going to sleep.
But before long, we could see that the pain was too much and that perhaps this could be more serious than we think.
Marco was totally asleep, but around 11PM, we woke him up and told him we needed to take Mom to the hospital. He was incredibly cooperative and helpful and in his PJ's, we got in the car and headed into the dark, windy roads of Tuscany to find the nearest hospital.
Thank God for GPS, which gave us directions to the nearest Emergency room about 40 minutes away. We tried to get there as fast as we could since our aspirin were not helping Jamie much. So, we made our way down the hills and found the emergency room.
It wasn't too busy, and within 10 minutes, the Italian nurse had bandaged it and put on a cream that stopped the pain. Within 1 hour, Jamie had seen the doctor.
Marco---I'm not kidding here---kept me awake by telling me the difference between Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism. He talked and talked and talked and it kept me awake because we had had a long day as it was and both J and I were exhausted.
Eventually, we got out of the hospital--and this being Europe---there was no charge.
It was about 3AM when we got back to our room and Jamie felt much better. We all fell right to sleep. The next morning (today) we went to the dermatologist at the Hospital and made the trip down there again.
Once again, all the Italian doctors and nurses were extremely helpful and friendly to the foreigners trying to navigate the big hospital.
When it was time to go, ....once again....there was no charge. Jamie said the nurses and doctors laughed because the expression of Americans receiving free medical care is always priceless.
So Jamie's in the room resting and hobbling around. Marco's being patient with all the upheaval, and we are here for another day before we start the long drive back toward Berlin.
Thank God it all came out okay and that Jamie wasn't seriously hurt. It was first degree burns and she said it was the worst pain of her life---but she hid it, because she didn't want to freak Marco and me out. We are both basket cases when Jamie gets hurt. She's our lifeline.
Italy continues to be unbelievably gorgeous. And now we'll remember the nice people that helped us when we needed them to. Much more later.