- Our peppy little Lancia.
Driving in Italy…what an experience!
- Lots of tunnels in Italy! I never realized how mountainous it was….I tried to pay attention to road signs while on the bus to Sorrento, before renting a car.
- Rent a motorcycle if driving isn’t exciting enough…
Suzanne and I both went to AAA and paid for International Driver Licenses before we left the states. We never needed them, but we could see why they were good to have. Italian police officers do not read or speak English! I am going to practice my Italian for next time…. At least I bought maps in English before we left, too.
We picked up our car in Rome at the airport. (Referencing my last blog…) The car was supposed to cost 298 euros for the week. $450. I got the extra insurance, added Suzanne’s name to the agreement, and a GPS. Now the cost was 615 euros and we hadn’t even paid for gas. That’s a whopping $900 to rent a car. Ooh la la. Mama Mia.
But how else are you going to get to a farmhouse in Toscana? I looked into bus’ and trains, but we were 5KM from the nearest town.
- Italian countryside
The hardest part is the language barrier and lack of flexibility. I should have memorized the signs and more Italian before I drove. Yes, many signs are understandable – just like ours. But others are not. Most things with a red circle around them mean danger or don’t. I was expecting a slash through the circle if it was not allowed. Besides, the red minus signs are everywhere and drivers just ignore them.
http://www.accessitaly.com/post/Driving-in-Italy-part-10-e28094-Italian-Road-Signs.aspx
- Roads in Sorrento looked easy enough to traverse…:)
- Driving in Tuscany was pretty laid back…
The highway is like the German Autobahn and the cars go fast. I didn’t want a ticket, so I drove the speed limit. Well, most of the time. Suzanne had to keep telling me to slow down. We were obviously noticed because the trucks were all honking and flashing us. Did the license plate list us as newbies???
Driving was okay even though I am not as aggressive as the Italians. Actually, it was fun! Yes, they drive fast, but at least they are on the right side of the road for me. I didn’t have any scary close calls, but I did have to brake a few times…and pull over when they zoom up behind you flashing their lights.
- Maybe the signs would be less confusing if there weren’t so many of them!
- Montepulciano
- See the lady walking in the white hat??? She’s the one who gave us the ticket…grr.
We couldn’t find our farmhouse, so we stopped in Montepulciano. Turns out we were only three miles away! Why they didn’t tell us that when we rented it is beyond me. We really need a latitude/longitude because the directions said “about 4 km” “about 2 km” and there were no street signs or directions on the main road.
While asking directions in the Montepulciano tourist office, we got a ticket on our car. 39 euros. I thought Suzanne was going to cry. I felt like laughing. What a day. Good thing we are rich airline pilots…! 
Don’t get me wrong. The farmhouse and the experience were worth every dime. We both filled squares on our bucket list – squares I didn’t know I had!
Suzanne wanted to fill another square on her bucket list by going to Pisa – a childhood dream of hers. I thought the Leaning Tour was just touristy, and if you read this blog, you already know I don’t like bucket lists. I really didn’t want to go and was in a pissy mood after our late start.
We ended up on some really crappy roads going to Pisa because Suzanne wanted the scenic route instead of the toll roads. Understandably. The countryside was beautiful, the toll road wasn’t, and we had paid enough toll from Rome – a whopping $23. But we hadn’t left the house until 11 that morning, and I didn’t want to take all day going to see the stupid leaning tower.
PISA leaning more than usual?
- Motorcycles everywhereAnd we think gas in the states is expensive….
- Way cooler than I ever expected the Leaning Tower to be!!
I’m sure I was frustrating Suzanne because I was reading signs and not always trusting the GPS. Then I would miss a turn, and instead of telling me, the thing would find a new route. We never knew if we should go back or stay on the new path. It was a TomTom, and quite different from the ones we were used to. Maybe that’s why Hertz calls it “Never Lost” – because it never lets you know you are.
The slow life in Tuscany
For five days we drove around Italy, eating and drinking (most of my drinking was done back at the farmhouse – Italian drinking and driving laws are strict – .05%!), sightseeing and shopping.
The Cat House
Enjoying life in Italy
At first, I kept second guessing myself about the extra expense. Did we really need a GPS? The extra insurance? We did. The only thing we really didn’t use was the extra driver. The one day Suzanne did drive, her international license was in the farmhouse, so I go nervous about her getting in trouble. Luckily she didn’t, but I don’t think we were supposed to be in the little streets of Chiusa – and it wasn’t just the little red minus signs that gave me that impression. There just weren’t many other cars.
Chiusu, Italy
But, we squeezed our way through and went to a lot outside town.
We were glad we had the GPS, especially when going to Pisa or Venice. But we used it all the time in Tuscany, too. If we weren’t supposed to be in some places, it never told us. Like the red circle with the minus sign…. In fact, it led us into some one way streets. Grr.
- You’ve got to be kidding us…$6 a gallon! WOW!
When the time came to fill the car with gas, we were both shocked. Wow. A whopping $75, and we weren’t quite down to a quarter of a tank.
On the last day in Tuscany, we decided to pay our fine. Again. Not that we hadn’t tried. The police station was closed the other times, but it was the wrong station. We thought about mailing it, but found out that wasn’t a possibility. And we thought about having Hertz do it, but we think there would have been a huge penalty. Apparently you can only pay in one police station, inside the city walls, or wait in the long lines at the post office.
All our luggage was in the trunk, and I didn’t want to leave it too long. Suzanne walked up the hill to pay the ticket, and told me to meet her in front of the church. I drove into the town of Montepulciano to pick Suzanne up because there were lots of other cars doing it. (I know, if everyone else was jumping off a bridge…) Who knew? It takes a special permit to drive inside the city walls. I parked and waited for her, clueless until the municipal police drove up and asked for my registration and license. One of them was the same girl who had given us the ticket the first day. Uh oh.
I almost started laughing at the irony of being given a ticket while paying one. Somehow I made myself understood, with the help of a nearby shopkeeper. They let me off when they understood, and I could have sworn they almost started laughing too. The meter maid told me to wait right there for my friend. Then the two of them started giving out tickets right and left to the multitude of people driving in. And they weren’t cheap. All the drivers that got ticketed were angry. No one saw the sign. If we thought our parking ticket was high (39 euro), the fine for driving into Montepulciano was at least twice that. Bam. $120 or more, according to my interpreter.
Apparently there is an international symbol for “do not enter without the correct ticket”! I’ll have to do an internet search…. When you are staying in the town, the hotel sends you a parking pass. It was hard to figure out where to pay our fine. Not the police outside the wall. Not the carabinieri within.
The special municipal police office way up the hill into the main square, in a section of town we hadn’t seen yet. Suzanne wished she ha her camera with her, because the main square was huge.
Suzanne was tired when she finally got back to the car. It was a three-mile hike! And I was just leaving because the police were beginning to get frustrated with the long wait for her.
- Please, not another ticket!!!
Relieved, and free at last, we drove to Venice. Suzanne said the policeman she paid the fine to handed her change out of his own pocket. Along the way we talked about the system and had visions of Italian jail because of something stupid we had done. Or at least lots of cash.
- The toll road to Venice.
- Arriving in Venice…by bus!
I did take the toll road to Venezia. Or really, just to the crew hotel in Mestre. Tunnels and trucks, tunnels and trucks. It looked like California and then, Pennsylvania. It took a good 3 ½ hours, but at least it was uneventful! Except for the toll charges. Mama Mia: $30 from Tuscany to Padova, another $5 to get back on the toll road after I took the wrong turn.
At least we drove straight to the hotel, parked and checked in. No incidents. Or close calls.
- Venice at night.
We took the bus to Pt. Roma and the Vaporetto around Venice. Then we walked and shopped and ate. I went back to the place I had first eaten at, next to the Marconi Hotel, where Aldo was the waiter, and Suzanne agreed it was perfect. We went back to the room, satiated, after almost falling down the bridge steps. Limoncella and bed. Suzanne gave me her Capri bag because I couldn’t stuff everything in my suitcase!
- Suzanne with Aldo, my old boyfriend!
- Suzanne with Sean Connery
- Me with Aldo, the waiter at Marconi Hotel – 7 months ago in Venice
- Airplane arriving at Marco Polo, Venice
Speaking of cash, I didn’t have any to buy gas on the way to the airport with the rental car. I found a station, but it was self-service and wouldn’t take my card. If I didn’t fill the car, it was another $150!!! A nice Italian man with a mohawk told me what the machine was saying, and asked if I had enough gas to get where I was going. He pointed out a bank across the street.
I think I should have gotten up earlier! It was 5:30 in the morning, and my plane left at 7:10. At least I was First Class, so I didn’t have to wait in any lines. Marco Polo Aeroport is small, and the way to get there is really roundabout. I had good directions from the hotel, but stopped to load the GPS just in case. Finally I found it and the rental car return.
The man I walked in with from the parking lot was from Fayetteville, NC. He used to lived in Italy, and was just back seeing friends on business for the week. He told me to check in first, then turn the car in. Good thing, too. I had to go back to the parking lot to put TomTom back in the car because the rental slot was only for papers…Hertz wasn’t open yet either!
- Morning takeoff over Venice
In Paris, getting off the plane, I ran into Matt – the man from NC – again. Turns out he’s military, an air force C135 pilot. We talked all the way to our gates. My gate was in Timbuktu…it took at least half an hour to get there. Both flights were boarding when I got to the gates this morning, Venice and Paris! The funny thing is, I have been calm inside this whole trip. The driving was fun, and every thing that happened was an adventure, not a calamity. I must be feeling better, back to my old self.
Road closed due to four more broken poles. So much for Wasco Electric and Sherman County maintenance...where does all that wind tower money go?
