Since our arrival at the tower, we have experienced more than one medieval moment. Even though the tower is furnished with all the amenities of a modern house, living in it is not the same as inhabiting a 21st century home. The exposure to the elements is considerable even though the walls of the tower are 1,5 m (almost 5 feet) thick and the windows well sealed. Towering atop of a hill overlooking the region in every direction for miles, you know what kind of weather to expect before even opening the shatters in the morning after waking up.
Tuscany has shown us her stormy face for the most part of our stay. There are some positive sides to this fact. How else would we be able to experience the hauling wind whirling around the tower, the lashing rain crackling at the windows and where else could we find a staircase so long to turn it into an excellent base for a jogging run for stir crazy kids (and parents) without having to leave the protecting walls of our medieval cocoon? Besides, the tower’s interior design is so beautiful; it’s full of modern art and made of that proverbial timeless Italian elegance, each room two stories high. It has a kitchen so large that the kids can easily play cops and robbers while we cook. Only too bad, we couldn’t make use of the large park with its olive and cypress trees that comes with the tower because of the rain.
How did we find such an unusual place for a home exchange?
I started corresponding with the owner of the tower over a year ago. I had found his listing in one of the larger home exchange clubs. (You must remember this was before I started JewettStreet.) He showed interest in our place but mentioned that his children were too small to travel any long distances at the time. We kept it open to try for a home exchange in 2007.
I usually keep a folder with the contact addresses of potential home exchange partners. When it was time to plan for our next summer swap this January, I remembered that spectacular picture of the tower and the nice correspondence with the owner. However, his old email address no longer worked. His property was still listed with that one home exchange club, but, when I contacted him via the listing, his email address didn’t work either. (That reminded me how important it is for a home exchange network to keep its membership listings up to date.)
Later, the tower owner mentioned to me that he had received such an overwhelming amount of inquiries for his tower that he had to take the listing off. A very understandable reaction for a person who has never dealt with home exchange before.
So, there I was - without any email address and phone number to contact the owner. That would be the time to give up, right?
(With another thunder storm approaching and the family calling for my attention I must leave the peace and quiet of this wonderfully secluded room at the top of the tower.)
