Juliet in Tuscany
From the second we saw the trailers advertising the movie “Letters to Juliet”, Marianne and I started to get the Tuscany ‘bug’ bad. Another Tuscany movie—holy cow!
The critics absolutely hated it, especially sweet Amanda Syfried. They did, however, like Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. Syfried is the cute little actress from “Mamma Mia” who, in my book, can do anything—along with her co-star Meryl Streep; need I say more? As far as this movie, we didn’t care. We wanted to see Italy on the big screen and it did not disappoint. Okay, the writing was very trite, and the plot—predictable and contrived, but, come on, it’s Tuscany for God’s sake. Here are the places we will be in a month.
Although we had no plans to visit Verona, where the film takes you first, Marianne now added it to our ‘second trip’ list. When the film started to come alive, the trio is in Tuscany looking for Franco Nero. One of their first stops they make is under a huge spreading oak tree at the top of a hill overlooking an ancient village, which I immediately recognized and Vagliagli—Dario Castagno’s home. The pictures of Siena, and the Val D’Orcia were spectacular. We watched through the credits and tried to find out locations, etc.
When the movie was over, I told her Marianne about the picnic table over-looking Vagliagli and she leaned over to me and said “Get me up there and we’ll have a picnic”. I could completely envision the meal with a loaf of Italian bread, cheeses and a bottle of very expensive Brunello di Montalcino. Pinch me; I am dreaming again.
The Final Countdown
Real time, fantasy and reality began to blur the fine, distinct edges of our life. I could have been the new contact lenses I got, but I began to think that our monthly count downs dissolved into the month, the three weeks, the two weeks, and then the 12 days before we were to leave. So much was happening. I was finishing up my tenure as Music Director at church, Bill Maule passed (thank the Lord for the end of his suffering), I was getting monies right and left at school to up date and improve instruments, their were only seven student days left, and then the Governor announced he had made a mistake and that every school, police department, social services, etc. would have to trim about $24 million from their already meager budgets. I could possibly lose my job while we were gone in Italy. After 24 years, the district would cut mime and my colleague’s jobs because the state couldn’t do the math that they should have done three months ago. Needless to say anyone in education or the PERS system became outraged beyond reason. Even though we knew times were tough, the audacity to ‘screw-up’ so badly was reprehensible.
Memorial weekend began rather dismally. The sun finally started its come-back and my yard was looking great. The soggy side yard, created by the new neighbors ‘drainage’ problems, only kept me from mowing, not trying to enjoy the down time. That Saturday we slept in late, and went to the Farmers Market to find a dessert for our evening with my former elementary music teaching colleague, Wanda. A long-divorced mother of two grown kids, that I followed as music teacher for Winston elementary school twenty 23 years ago, and followed to the big burg of Rose, where I have been ever since.
The market is always a great place to visit. You will see your friends and people you haven’t seen for a while. You can find great produce, excellent plants, both vegetables and garden, as well as almost anything hand made. There is always a musician or small group playing that all adds to the carnival-like atmosphere of the place. We always head for the folks who own a bakery in Tyhee who have the best muffins and peasant bread. Mmm, wonderful. We found a great looking blackberry pie, talked to an acquaintance that hasn’t seen Marianne in years and headed for the Bagel Tree for a breakfast bagel and coffee.
To our surprise almost everybody else in town had had the same idea and was packed in the tiny café. They have the best and freshest variety of bagels you can find anywhere. The only tables were outside. Marianne and the dog laid claim to one of the tables that flank the door and I went in to order. It looked like the Presbyterian table, a standing Saturday ritual for the senior members of the church, had expanded to about four with at least twenty folks. The line took forever, but the wait was worth it; the sandwiches: mine, egg, Swiss and ham on a Swiss mushroom, and Marianne’s, egg, cheddar and sausage on onion. I had to maneuver and avoid people standing everywhere, making two trips out to bring the food and the Viennese roast. It was a good thing I did, because Marianne was suddenly entertaining a person, female I presumed who had just plopped down in the extra chair and started talking about her childhood in L.A. Marianne had quickly deduced that she was only a few years older than herself, but looked like she was in her mid-seventies. Luckily, I scared her away and we had a most enjoyable late breakfast, very continental, at a sidewalk café in Roseburg, Oregon.
After we finished one of the ‘Presbys’, Maury, someone we have know for over twenty years, stopped to talk with us. Maury lost his wife eight to ten years ago now, and is still chugging along quite well—and not looking for another wife, thank you. He introduced us to his son and his family who were down for a visit to mark his 80th Birthday, Monday—Memorial Day. As was usual, Marianne let him know all about our impending trip, and as usual, he was very envious—although he had been to Italy before. “You’re going to love it,” which is the standard response we had been getting for months now. And of course our standard response is “Yes, we know we will.”
The sun kept bright all day, amazingly, and we read outside under the umbrella. I even took the opportunity to get some sun on my pale white skin. Not that I got a tan, but it was nice to be warm.
I had been doing a final email check to make sure the places we had booked to stay were really out there. From Montalcino:
HELLO ROOM CARMEN IS RESERVE FOR YOU PLEASE LEAVE PHONE NUMBER. WHEN ARRIVAL IN MONTALCINO MUST CALL MY PHONE 3403959158 I DO NOT LIVE TO B&B BEST REGARDS MSR GIGLIOLA The car rental place:
Dear Sir/Madam, we have seen in our system that you have yet not received/read your voucher for your car rental. Please go to the Customer zone on economycarrentals.com and log in with e-mail address: sicum@charter.net and order number: 620462 to see and print out your voucher. Please note that we can not refund any payments because of not read vouchers! Important information is written on the voucher. It can also be a problem to get the car if you can not provide the voucher. Please note that this is an automatically generated message. It will be sent until you have read the voucher. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Best regards Reservation Team EconomyCarRentals.comGarden Hilton Fiumicino:
Dear Mrs Jones,
thank you for your kind message.
Just a quick note to re-confirm that you have a booking at the HGI Rome Airport on the night of July 2nd for one night and that is already prepaid.
On the arrival day: Our shuttle runs with a frequency of 30 minutes circa, leaving the front door of the Hotel at the hour and the Half Hour of every hour and go to the pick-up point at the airport as displayed on our web-site, please see picture of pick-up point location.
On the day of departure: you can book a ride to the airport directly at the front desk whilst checking-in. In fact we have a smaller 8 seats van available so we are able to take you to the airport even before 6, this service is absolutely complimentary.(I would suggest 04:30)
Also I see your room rate is inclusive of breakfast, be advised that you can ask for a box breakfast whilst checking-in and collect it in the morning before leaving at front desk.
Coffee won't be available at that time but you do have tea and coffee making facility in your room, complimentary for you to use.
I hope this information will help you planning better your stay in Rome but if you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Kind regards,
Cristian Tupone
Front Desk Supervisor
Earlier, I had ‘freaked’ that I made the wrong choice in Rome accommodation, after reading their website:
Anna: I believe that I have made a mistake in reserving a double room with Hotel Sileo for Friday night June 11 and Saturday June 12. I was under the impression that we would be getting a room that we could occupy for the entire two days. However, in reading the details of your web site I have found: "It has a contract to house train conductor who work the night shift, so its simple, pleasant rooms are rented from 19:00 to 9:00 only. If you can handle this, it's a wonderful value. During the day, they store your luggage, and though you won't have access to a room, you're welcome to shower or hang out in the lobby or bar." It was my understanding that we would have a room for two days and nights, air-conditioned €75 each night, that we wouldn't have to vacate during the day. Please let me know if this is or is not the case so we can try and make other arrangements for accommodations at this late date. Thank you, David and Marianne Jones hello david the room that you have reserved is the ones free for the whole time 24 hours without moving for euro 75,00 in case all is ok please just for to be sure that all is ok send us another message where you confirm and time of arrive by hotel sileo anna Lucca’s Albergo Diana:
Best regards Ivan Bellucci Reservation Desk Hotel Diana
Fernando and Rosetta:Dear David and Marianne,
you can call any time at (from Italy) 075.8473088 (this is the B&B telephon number)
or to my cellphone 338.7911652.
We don't know the trattoria Al Palazzaccio as we have many of this locals.
We generally use trattoria owned and managed from a local family and the day that we will visit Spoleto we will have a wine tasting in Montefalco a nice village not far from Spoleto and the most important area for Umbrian Red wine.
Saluti
Fernando
Volterra’s La Primavera:Dear Marianne and Jons, your arrive in the first evening is perfect for me. If you can when you are in trip if you have some problems or change your plans please phone me to this number 0039 0588 87295. See you soon, Silvia Pineschi Railroad Tickets
Rail Euro looks like a great site to find a train, but because European Italian specifically, hadn’t posted their summer schedules, I got as far as reserving, but when I went to pay, the only option was to mail them. Knowing full well we would never see those tickets until July 5th, I cast my fortunes to the winds and hoped that Fernando could actually secure tickets for us. We had the exact times and train numbers, so hopefully, it would be easy to pay for them in Magione. We would only be taking to trains, one to Lucca from SMN in Firenze, after dropping off the rental car, and one back to Rome Termini from Lucca. Because the train to Lucca is a regionale, I could not get first class tickets. We have been cautioned to get first class tickets any time it was possible. So I had to think quickly. I divided the return trip (Lucca to Rome) into to parts. The first leg Lucca to Firenze was the regionale, 2nd class, but I could get a first class set of tickets from Firenze to Rome. The length of the trip from Lucca to Frenze was 1:23 at $28 for the two tickets; from Firenze to Rome was 1:35. It looked like the bullet train, and for $158 for the two of us, it looked like a great way to return to Rome Termini.
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