Leslie's take on Italy

This is an excerpt of an email that Leslie sent out to friends and fam, recently. It tells some tales from our Italian adventures that I forgot to write about.

On to the big city
After soaking up the sun on the coast, we headed up to Rome for another amazing week. We spent an adequate amount of time wandering (a nice way to say 'getting lost'), enjoying the sidewalk cafes and shopping to balance out the official sightseeing. My faves were the Pantheon and the Castel Sant'Angelo. I will spare you additional info about the history and structural details of the Pantheon (truly riveting stuff!!!). We got extremely lucky on the timing of our trip as it related to the Castle: we happened to take a free tour of St. Peter's one day and the guide mentioned that for 2 weeks of the year the passage between Vatican City and the Castle is opened to the public, and it coincided with our trip! So, our last night in Rome we went to check it out. It was incredible! We walked the passage, usually reserved for the Pope, and inside the castle we enjoyed exploring and seeing some of the exhibits while listening to an Irish folk band and drinking beer. AWESOME!

Train 'misadventures'
We then headed to Tuscany on the train. Getting to the train station was no problem and we were all set to arrive in Arezzo in time to pick up our rental car before it closed at 1pm. Feeling a bit tired from the previous night's activities, we piled into a train car with no air conditioning at about 9am. An hour or so later, the train just stopped in this little small town and the announcer stated that it would be 40 minutes before the problem was fixed! Annie and I decided to head over to the convenience store on the other side of the tracks for water and snacks--8 minutes later, we glance up to see the train moving! Shocked and beginning to panic, I realized that my mother was now responsible for taking all 6 bags off the train and that I HAD HER TICKET! In the case of a ticket check she would have been fined up to 50 euros! The town where we were was so small that there wasn't even a taxi within 30 minutes of the place, so all we could do was sit and wait for the next train 1 1/2 hours later. When we finally arrived in Arezzo, we found my amazing, super mom sitting calmly at a table in the station café, sipping a coke. Her first words were, "Well, that was a cheap way to get out of having to carry your luggage!" We all laughed and headed off to brave the unmarked Tuscan country roads in our rental car.

Under the Tuscan sun, but not "gay and away"
Sorry, I couldn't resist the reference. J Despite the frustration of getting around with minimal signage and less than ideal maps, we enjoyed day trips to Siena, San Giomagnano, and Florence. Highlights: meeting the grandfatherly-type man who worked at the local corner store and having him recommend some wines for us, laughing hysterically at the comedian entertaining hot and tired tourists in the main piazza of Siena (I have a clip but it's too big to send!), having excellent meals accompanied by excellent wine, and hanging out at our little villa meeting the other guests (German and Scottish). Florence was, of course, amazing, but we didn't get to spend enough time there, so it is on the list for next time.