The priest is called and says he will met us at St. Anns in half an hour. We are already there, but it is locked up so we go for coffee down in the town.
Two things you should know:
1. It is very hard to speak on the phone in a foreign language.
2. Sunday morning is the time for all men to gather in the town square.
Outside St Anns
Here are most all of the men in Monte San Giacomo on a Sunday morning, having coffee and playing cards.
Sunday @ Monte San Giacomo. Touch for Video
We have coffee and go back to St Anns but again no one is there. It is close to 11:00 so we think some people must be coming to Mass. On our way back down we see a woman washing clothes in the public wash basin. Well it turns out that she has been sent by the priest to open St Ann for us to see inside. We gather he is at a different church. St Anns is a very nice small church and very well maintained, at least inside.
Patty in church
St Anns Altar
The Church
Gifts from America
It is approaching 11:30 and time for Mass. I knew there was another church in town so that is where we head to. One more time through the square with all the men socializing and then I realize that this larger van will not fit on the street that leads to the church. So we hike down to the church and get there just as Mass is starting. Since it is all in Italian, 3 out of 5 of us understand very little of the Mass.
Mass in Italian. Touch for video
As we are leaving, Kathy and I go up to thank the priest for opening up St. Anns Church for us earlier in the day. The next thing we know, we are seated in his office and he has a couple of the older church members calling on the phone to find paople who might have known Cerbo's (Mary Ann's ancestors family name). No luck there, so down come the church records from a cabinet overhead.
Church Records Cabinet
Mary Ann and priest going over records
The priest and Mary Ann find her great grandfather's baptismal record from 1868.
Baptismal Record in Latin (sideways)
The priest mentions that he is going to Hoboken NJ this October to attend Columbus Day at the San Giacomo Club in Hoboken NJ. Then one of the younger men meñtions he may also go because he has an Aunt that lives in NJ. A town called Carlstadt. The town we lived in for over 20 years. And just 2 streets down from where we lived. Not too wierd.
A few goodbye pictures and we are headed back to the castle.
St Rosario Church
Our new found friends
Monte San Giacomo Street
We need lunch and since it is near 2:00 o'clock we pick the closest place we come to. Again no menus. The owner just asks if we like meat or fish, and the food starts to flow in a never ending stream.
And then the rains came. And never left. So much that we could not make the short walk home. So there we were with some towns folk and the local band waiting for the rain to stop. And then Sal from Edison NJ starts talking to us. He and his sister come back to Teggiano every few years to check on the home their parents left them when they passed away. He knows everyone and is a great interpreter.
Somehow the restaurants chef/owner gets the idea in his head that he can house and feed us a lot cheaper than the owner of the castle can. Maybe but its not a castle. The video below shows his reaction.
Trapped with the band
Chef and Owner
Band waiting for rain to stop
But Its Not A Castle.
As you probably know by now, the rain stopped, we went back to the castle, and tomorrow we head to Paestum and Pompei
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