Month: November 2021

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.

After 2 years of waiting and months of planning, I finally found myself at the ticket counter at LAX presenting all that documentation required to enter Italy as my final destination. Could this really be happening? Was I really going to travel over there solo after my travel buddy Carla was not able to come last minute because of an unexpected hospitalization? How bad did I really want to go back to Italy?

I guess pretty bad as I decided to proceed with the trip and and look forward to meeting the friends for the Thanksgiving reunion we had planned for 2020 that was delayed. I would spend my first week in the hills above Florence in Fiesole, working on my book and taking in the countryside at an agriturismo. That was the plan!

I upgraded to Business Class, securing the best deal I could – waiting until check-in day. I wanted to treat myself as I would be flying solo round trip. That upgrade also gave me access to the executive lounge – pre flight. I went there after check-in hoping for a little bite before I boarded. I guess Covid really has taken a hit to these executive lounges now with options. I literally felt like my choices were something I might find in the refrigerated section of a 7-11. I decided to exit the lounge and find a good meal pre-flight. I went over to Vino Volo and that did the trick – I had a wine flight paired with a beef brisket served on a bed of Arugula with roasted peppers, avocado and a balsamic glaze. All fantastic. 

Finally, it was time to board that flight. I floated down the aisle to my business class seat against the window and got settled in. I decided to try to find the most Italian movie I could with the movie options and settled on Goodfellas for the flight. I hadn’t see it in years. The movie does a masterful job of making the most intense mafia actions seem like normal every day talk and actions. I think real life in the world the last 2 years is so mutes, that this type of movie is an escape that feels better, like a more simple time – ironically! I was riveted all through dinner service and paused it as I tried to settle down to sleep in my flat bed. 

Okay – who has tried to sleep with a mask on all night? Um, it is just plain horrid. You feel like you just need to sneak it under your nose so you can breathe and not suffocate. I’m astonished that on a plane that you can’t board without a negative COVID test, 100 other details about your life, and you are in a cabin where everyone is 6 feet apart, and the cabin air is filtered – all that and you have to wear a surgical mask while you sleep. What? I guess I should be thankful I could remove it to eat and drink. Even in that situation, you feel like they expect you to put it on in between bites. I threw caution to the wind and fully took the mask off to eat. No one said a word. Okay, back to trying to sleep with a mask on – it was so claustrophobic. It makes you hot and really, I don’t think I slept. I would wake myself up when I did dose for a few, cough-choking. So my trick was, to turn so they couldn’t see me, literally hide my face and sneak my mask under my nose. How is it we live in a world where we have to hide our face to breathe? Anyway, so many times I felt so hot, I just stripped off all of my layering to sleep with just my t-shirt and joggers – that did the trick to cool my body temp down.

90 minutes before landing they woke us up to serve breakfast. The food was generally pretty good, so I kept eating trying to get myself in the Italy time zone of meals. We soon landed and I knew I had a tight connection. For whatever reason – Paris airport Passport control is always severely understaffed and it can take 30-45 minutes to get through even in the off season. You are also required to go through a security one again to board. My 1:15 minute transition time made all of this tight as they close the doors 15 minutes before arrival. I literally got to my gate after running once I passed through passport control right at the time they close the gate. The gate lady said as I arrived huffing and puffing, ‘You can relax now, you made the flight.’ Phew! She should have had a shot of Limoncello for me waiting – that would have been amazing.

The flight from Paris to Florence is short and soon I was viewing the beautiful autumn rolling hills, with little farms as we descended into Florence. It felt so incredible to be back on Italian soil after I exited down the plane steps and walked on the tarmac to the terminal. Once in the terminal, my bags came quickly and I was outdoors headed to the rental car area. I had to take a shuttle bus there and it was packed. It also took at least 20 minutes before it showed up. Once at the rental lot, it seemed like everyone on that shuttle bus needed to go where I went and it was 4 agencies represented by one lady. I was at the back of the line. I thought well, I have no where to be, even though I know I have ‘platinum’ status, I doubted anyone would have appreciated me walking to the front and using that leverage to get serviced right away. I didn’t have anywhere to be other than just wanting to make it to the agriturismo before it got dark.

Well, it took over an hour before I made it to the front of the line. The couple in front of me was an older couple from Montana and ALL the wife wanted to talk about was COVID rates and the vaccine. I kept trying to change the subject as it was the last thing I felt like talking about on vacation. She was obsessed though – and borderline manic in wanting to process it all and had her opinion she kept wanting to barf on me. I finally was able to just get her to talk about her plans and where they were going. An all inclusive Hilton near Pisa? It didn’t sound appealing at all to me, but I told her that sounded lovely and I was sure they would have a great time. What do I know? Maybe the Hilton all-inclusive near Pisa is amazing.

I finally make it to the beginning of the line and the woman there was so apologetic when she saw I was platinum. She said, ‘Why, why didn’t you come to the front? I would have taken care of you right away?’ I told her not to worry, I wasn’t in a hurry and felt bad moving ahead of everyone. She quickly processed me – and asked, do you want the extended coverage for insurance. Many trips ago I researched this and remembered my Visa covers me for this so I am good. I was fuzzy on the details, so declined because it can add up on a 2 week rental. She said, okay, you are sure you want to be responsible for the cost of the Volvo? Yes, I said confidently. Still, I walked away thinking…hmm, am I covered? Note to self, check on that when you get settled in.

Soon enough they brought the Volvo SUV around and I plugged my destination into WAZE and I was on my way. It was only about 8 miles out of Florence but a 30 minute drive. It was about 4:15pm. I followed the directions pretty easily, even when it started getting hairy with traffic and it was sending me up crazy hills in neighbors with cars stacked up on my left coming the other direction, cars parked on my right, motorcycles trying to fit in between, and locals on my bumper. This car I was driving seemed 3x bigger than the other cars. I was sure I was about to sideswipe 50 cars in a row and thought, hmmm, I do hope I am covered. Gulp. I was about 8 minutes away when the directions were trying to send me down a skinny road that suddenly had a makeshift gate up. The kind that they use for crowd control that can be moved. I thought, what? How is this road closed? Every alternative route wanted to send me down this road. I’m being generous when I say road – in the US we call it a very narrow alley. WAZE you don’t know what is up!? You aren’t accounting for this little make-shift gate. Clearly I need to go around. But I have no idea how to find an alternative route.

I drove around a bit, back-tracking, hoping it would redirect. Still it was trying to send me back to this ally of a road. Also, it was getting darker and it was more and more rush hour with cars either stopped or riding your tail when it had any opening at all. I decided to pull into a parking lot of what I think was an engineering university. What to do? I felt stuck. It was madness out there. I switched over to Google Maps, and PTL, it showed me an alternative route. True I would have to go back into the jungle of Florence rush hour traffic, but at least it was a route to get out of this mess and to my final destination. I called the inn-keeper to let her know I was in route but delayed. I have driven in Italy many, many, times but this ranks up there with one of the most stressful experiences. I thought, I think this is the most stressed I have been all year and I’m on vacation. I just kept breathing and whispering, help me Jesus, you are with me. It was dark now, and my death grip on the wheel tightened through each turn and two-way road, that should have been one way roads with drivers on my tail. Somehow I made it. I was so happy to pull into the long country driveway of where I was staying and seeing the little inn-keeper there waiting for me waiving me in (much like my own mom and dad would have done if they knew I was coming).

She took my luggage and brought me up to my spacious room. Showed me where she would have my breakfast ready for me in the morning and with that I got settled, sent all of the ‘I made it safe’ texts back home and then showered and went to bed around 7pm. That was probably too early and I should have forced myself to stay up longer, but I was just so tired. So there I was, after 4 hours sleep, about 11pm – WIDE AWAKE. This turns out, is a perfect time to obsess over the extra car insurance I maybe should have purchased. This is the time of night where every little molehill in your life becomes a mountain. I found myself calling my agent from State Farm in the middle of the night, ‘Hey, am I covered in Italy?’ Nope. Okay, let me call my Visa company. ‘Hey, am I covered in Italy.’ Not sure. Call this 1.800 number. Hmmm, that number isn’t dialable from Italy. Okay, I will have to figure this out in the morning. Or go back to Hertz and get coverage. Yes, this is a plan. I will be fine. Still, this stuff has a way of hanging on in the night and I was up for several hours worried about all manner of things in my life. I think my right ovary is twitching. OMG. What if I need to go to the hospital because it is going to burst. See what I mean, totally irrational. If you are in my life and are reading this, I was probably worried about something for you. I’m not even a worrier, but Jet Lag was playing crazy tricks on my mind. I finally fell asleep again – worn out from worry. Tomorrow would be a new day – and I would be rested. For now I was safe in this beautiful room and a cozy bed and back in my favorite spot in the world.