Thursday - Sunday - Lucca, San Gimignano, Pisa, Florence, Home

Since our car had died in the road on Wednesday night, and since there was no rental car place in Greve, Bill & Jo took a bus to Florence on Thursday morning and got another rental car.  While they did that, Simon, an employee of the vineyard, gave us a tour of the winery.  When Bill & Jo returned, we all climbed into the car, grabbed a quick lunch in Greve, and started for Lucca. 

The plan was to visit the ancient town of San Gimignano, make a sweep past the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then go on to Lucca. Since we were travelling the backroads, it took us a while to get to San Gimignano, and we didn't arrive until after 3 p.m. San Gimignano is famous for its towers. Once, there were 72 towers in the city. Now, 14 towers remain. We parked the car outside the city walls and went into town. The streets were narrow and hilly.

 

A shopkeeper in San Gimignano recommended that we take the backroads to Pisa, as it would be both shorter and faster because of rush-hour traffic on the big roads between Florence, Pisa, and Lucca.  We punched the address into the GPS and set off.  We drove, and drove, and drove....

Rush-hour traffic in the small towns was no piece of cake, either.  A few miles outside Pisa, we gave up on Pisa (it was already dark) and made a bee-line for Lucca.  In short, getting there was a nightmare.  We finally arrived around 8 p.m.  We were to stay at the La Romea B&B.  We phoned ahead.  Guilio, the owner, said he would meet us just inside the city wall.  We parked in front of a bicycle shop, and within a few minutes, Guilio's car screeched to a stop behind us.  We transferred our suitcases into his little mini-van.  Guilio recommended that we not attempt to drive around Lucca.  "It is a very small town, and the streets are very narrow...."  Narrower than what we'd already seen?  Guilio had no problem convincing us to park the car and walk everywhere we wanted to go, for the day's drive had strained our nerves to the limit!

The hotel was down a tiny alley - we'd never have found it without Guilio's help.  There was a tiny courtyard outside.  A tiny wine shop opened onto the courtyard.  The owner was standing in the doorway when we drove up.  "Stay right there," I told him.  "We'll be back in a minute!"  We took our bags upstairs, dropped them in the floor, then ran backdownstairs, intending to head straight for the wine bar...but he'd already closed up and gone home.  :(  We walked around the corner, found a quiet restaurant, and had an antipasto plate and an entire bottle of wine.  As we were eating, Libby & Jordan came in.  They'd arrived earlier in the afternoon and had already been looking around.  We invited them to join us, but they'd already eaten. 

The next morning, Bill & Jo went for a bike ride around the walls of Lucca.  Joey & I caught a bus to Pisa.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Joey in front of the Leaning Tower

Notice how the Leaning Tower managed to right itself when the camera was in Joey's hands.  ;)

In Pisa, we snapped shots of the Tower, then - what else? - went to find something to eat.  Afterward, we managed to get on the right bus back to Lucca.  We walked around Lucca for the remainder of the afternoon.  I wanted perfume for a souvenier, so we found a perfume shop and I chose a scent.  As we were paying, the clerk reached up and brushed my cheek with the back of her hand.  "Oooooo, so dry!" she exclaimed.  She made tsk-ing noises, reached under the counter, and handed me a little tube of moisturizer.  "For day or night!" she said, dropping it into the bag.  Gee, thanks.  "Grazie!" I said.

Bill and Jo, Libby and Jordan, and Joey and I had dinner that night at La Giglio, a restaurant not far from the hotel.  Joey ordered a pasta dish with rabbit in it and amused the waitress with comments about "bunnies."  When she brought his plate, she told him, "Here's Roger!"  Funny, "Bugs" was the first cartoon rabbit that had come to MY mind.  :)

The next morning, we packed our bags.  Bill, Jo, Libby & Jordan were going on to another town south of Florence, but, alas, Joey and I had to end our trip on Saturday and fly back on Sunday.  Bill & Jo helped us check into a hotel near the airport, then dropped us off in Florence, near the Uffizzi museum.

There must have been a million people buzzing around the Uffizzi. We walked around a while, then got in line for tickets to the museum. After 30 minutes, the line had not advanced an inch. The throngs of people were beginning to get on my nerves, and Joey's too. Noise. Jostling. Pidgeons swooping our heads, even under the porch of the Uffizzi. "Let's get out of here," I said. Joey seconded that motion. We did a little shopping, ate lunch, then started trying to figure out how we were going to get back to the airport hotel.

We walked and walked and walked, looking for a bus station or information on how to get to the bus station. Finally, we found a tourist information center. A clerk showed us a map. We were "here." The l'autobus estatione was waaaaaaay over there. We set off walking. After a good many blocks, Joey spied some taxicabs waiting outside a hotel. Good idea! We hailed one, and rode back to our hotel.

That afternoon, it began to rain, and we were glad we had given up on Florence in favor of the airport hotel. We rested a while, walked a while, went back to the hotel and ate dinner. Our flight was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. We had not been successful at checking in for our flights online, so we decided to get to the airport at 5:30 a.m. We called it an early night, since we had to be at the airport before the crack of dawn.

At the airport, we learned that our flight would not take off until 9:30.

Finally, we were on the airplane. Unlike most trips we've taken, this ride home seemed infinitely longer. As the plane approached the U.S., I'd have gotten out and walked, if I could've. We landed in Memphis just after 5 p.m., and spent another hour or more getting through customs, chasing our bags around the airport, and trying to remember which lot we'd parked our car in when we'd arrived more than a week ago.

It was a great trip - maybe a "once-in-a-lifetime" trip - but we were mighty glad to see Memphis, and even happier to pull into our driveway.  We'd grabbed some fast food on our way through Millington - mmmmmm, hamburgers! - and as soon as we washed off the road grime, we ate and collapsed into our own wonderful bed.  It had been almost 24 hours since we'd last slept. 

My "clock" is still a little messed up.  I woke up ("bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," as they say) at 4 a.m., Memphis time, starved for a good old country breakfast of bacon and eggs.

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