Nov 16, 2021 – Tuesday – Narrow Escape in my ‘RV’

I do believe I finally fell sound asleep at 6am, only to be jolted awake by my alarm at 8am. I had told the inn keeper, Silvia, I would be ready for breakfast at 8:30am and as I am the only one staying here right now, I didn’t want to keep her waiting. Ohh, how I wanted to sleep, but I know from previous trips it is best to just make yourself get up as early as possible so that you can get adjusted to the time zone sooner rather than later.

I quickly got ready and ran downstairs to the breakfast area. And there Silvia was with the full display of breakfast items including two types of bread that she had made that morning, eggs, yogurts, fresh made granola, cheeses, juice, water, coffee. All a girl could ask for on her first full morning in Italy. She was wonderful to talk to and get to know and she gave me all sorts of tips, showed me where points of interest were on a map, and communicated general guidance about the area.

It was raining today – all day a steady rain – so I stayed in and worked on my book and my blog. About 2pm I started to feel hungry and decided to venture out to look for a bite to eat. There were two close places she mentioned, including a pizzeria – which I assumed would just be open all day. In Italy most restaurants close by 2:30pm and don’t open again until 7pm. I was eager for my first official meal in Italy – so was thinking I could find the places she recommended quickly.

Well, with the rain, and me trying to get to know the new town this idea proved more difficult. Driving up and down small roads in the rain, I just had general names of places expecting a big sign to say ‘Pizzeria’ – no such luck. Also – nowhere to park unless I wanted to try to park my boat of a car up on a curb parallel. In Italy a Volvo SUV might as well be an RV. I drove around for a while and then saw signs for the CO-OP – which is their version of a grocery store. I thought, well, maybe I can find a sandwich or to-go salad to eat now that the restaurants are closed.

I see cars lining up, so I get in the line thinking it is in the line to go down into the parking garage. A guy seems to be checking each car. Maybe you need to show vaccination proof before you can enter? I had no idea. Different country; different rules. As I get near the front, I see a tent with people in hazmat outfits and cars pulling in. I’m like ‘Ohhhh, this is April 2020 in the USA and this is the line for a COVID PCR test.’ No thanks! Excuse me while I exit this line pronto. I giggled to myself as I drove away.

Silvia described the main town Fiesole so nicely, maybe I will just drive over there and see what’s open this rainy Tuesday afternoon. Well, it was another Medieval town with tight squeeze roads. As I got near the top, again, I didn’t see any big parking lots for my ‘RV’ – so I decided, hmmm, not the day to see Fiesole. I should head back to home base and decide what to do. Ask Silvia some advice on parking and more details on exactly the restaurant names for dinner. I still haven’t had lunch, so maybe an early dinner will be best.

I get back and ask her about parking for these two places she recommended. She says, ‘Oh park at the Co-op, underground.’ And she said for Fiesole, I have to park at the bottom of the walled City and walk up. Why haven’t I learned this lesson? Best not to just drive on up into the walled city and try to find parking. LOL.

I head on back out to get maybe a few snacks for my room and a pizza to go. I get to the co-op and see the ramp down to the garage below. I think – oh boy, I hope my RV fits down here. Thankfully, I get down there and it is the most spacious parking I have seen yet. I walk through the co-op and pick up some fruits and nuts for snacks in my room and head over to the Pizza place. It’s about 6pm.

I am so excited, I see a big wood-fired oven and many options of pizza. I try to order and they guy tells me. ‘Oh Pizza doesn’t start until 7pm, I can put your name down for a table.’ I let him know I just want to pick up something to go and he repeats, ‘The oven doesn’t start until 7pm.’ Now, I just want something – anything. I ask, ‘Do you have a sandwich or something?’ He points me to a display case like you’d see in a train station in Italy. This place has the ambiance of an ice cream shop, complete with plastic chairs. I really don’t want to eat here, but I also don’t want to bring back something cold to eat in my room.

I order a ‘pizzetta’ that he puts in a toaster oven. He asks if I want something to drink. I don’t think this is the scene I imagine for my first cup of vino in Italy. I just say a bottle of water. I go sit and wait for my pizzetta, which is as exciting as waiting for someone to warm a Trader Joe’s pizza in a toaster oven. I watch a string of workers come in and out, getting beer and sitting outside under an awning in the rain. My pizza arrives and I am so hungry, it’s actually really good. Who am I to judge a little pizzetta at this ice cream ambiance place. I worked hard for this 5 Euro meal – I am thankful for my pizzetta and water. Now time to head back. Let me guzzle all of this water, I will be home in 10 minutes, right? Not so much.

I put the GPS directions back into my phone and head back home in the rain. It’s dark, cars everywhere, and it’s easy to miss your road. I miss my left turn and the GPS redirects me to a new route. All is going good until I start heading up this road ‘via del canto e rosaio’. I am 100% certain, I will not forget this road for the rest of my life. As the road progressed, it turned into a tight winding narrowing ally with a block wall on the right and and a drop off on the left. It was like an optical illusion looking forward – a real Alice in Wonderland moment.

Ever sensor on the car was going off telling me I am about to hit something on the right, the left and both front corners. I start praying, ‘Please God, let me just squeeze through and get to the other side.’ I get to a point of where I am about an inch away from hitting the wall on the right, I literally have to pull the side view mirror in, and on the left there is barely enough room to open my door into shrubbery, so I can get out and check out the situation. This is also on an incline. Again I say, did I mention it is also raining?

I sit there thinking, ‘I’m stuck. I am really stuck.’ I really need another person to help guide me out of this mess. But really there is no one for a mile. It was another – okay Jesus, it’s you and me. Help me! So, I remained calm and thought ‘If I can back out of this an inch at a time. I just MAY be able to spare this car with no damage.’ I was also feeling thankful in that moment that earlier that morning I was able to get in touch with my Visa company and confirm that I am fully covered, whatever happens. Still, no one wants to scrape up their rental the first day of a 2 week trip. Oh the humiliation! LOL.

So, that is literally what I did. I backed the car up an inch, got out, checked everything. Backed up an inch, got out, checked everything. Hazards on. Backed up an inch, got out, checked everything. Sometimes I would shut the engine off, because I wouldn’t see the parking brake engaged. The last thing I needed was the car rolling backward on me. If the car is off, for sure I can engage the parking brake.

I literally did that at least 20x. I kept getting out on the brush side. At one point, I got out straight into very thorny rose bushes that I had to unpluck from my clothes. This was such a tight situation on a curve – I had no room for error and was literally thanking God I wasn’t driving a manual transmission, it would have been over already – scrape city. The precision of the automatic and tight brakes were saving me. All this was happening while all of the sensors were going off and with the windshield wipers banging back and forth steadily. Also, the back camera was really hard to see out of – I pretty much had to rely on the side view mirrors, once I could pop the right one back open.

After about 30 minutes, miracle of miracles, I made it down that hill with no damage to the car and released one of the biggest exhales I can remember. I was calm when it was happening, but once I was out of it felt like I wanted to throw up. I just wanted to get back to the Villa and maybe not drive the car for a full day. I have driven so many times in Italy – but this trip, so far, has me feeling like I jumped a few levels in a video game and the game is creaming me, I am not used to this level! LOL.

I was so relieved to pull back into the Villa driveway and head up to my room. All that stress – I was sure I would sleep well on this night. BUT, just in case, decided to take some zQuil. I wanted no chances on this night. I texted a few folks back home and started laughing about the absurdity of the day wondering – what had it all meant? I think I learned even when you feel you are alone, you are never really alone – God is there with you. Not the greatest day in Italy I’ve ever had – but still grateful to be here, the lessons learned, and hopeful that Wednesday would be a MUCH BETTER DAY.