Wedding in Tuscany - Part V
After the dream wedding in Tuscany, I was getting ready to travel back to the States. But first, there was a Sunday evening to enjoy in Tuscany. The Irish have a custom where everyone must do a "party piece" at their big affairs. A party piece can be anything - as long as it's entertaining to the masses. Sing a song. Do a card trick. Tell a story. Whip out some cardboard and bust out some 80's breakin' moves. Whatever you like. I lead the Irish in a rendition of "Deep in the Heart of Texas". I was Texas Mike after all. My Texas friends were big fans of me teaching them the song. I had to find an internet kiosk the day before to look up the words. I'm not that good a Texan. (Sorry Ed.)
The wine was especially good (and free) on Sunday. The villa had given everyone a bottle of red & white as a gift for staying with them. Most of the Irish had no need for these bottles & I was happy to help out with the Chianti. The evening proceeded with lots more fine stories and then concluded with lots of fine pleasantries. It was my last night in Tuscany. I was off to drive to Rome in the morning.
At least this time I had a travel companion in the Golf to help with directions. JJ did one better by fixing the GPS unit. JJ's good like that. We both decided it would be more fun to find some little towns than rush to Rome and see it maybe for 4 hrs. So we made a lot of stops.
My least & most favorite was the town of Pienza. I bought a fantastic chunk of cheese there, and we also found some great espresso & gelato. Very quaint. Very pretty. An easy walk all around it. And all that for only $160 in parking fines. Parking in Italy is not fun. I wasn't too happy to find the parking ticket. I was less happy when we got to Rome, asked Google about Italian parking tickets, and found out how they will track you down (sometimes by getting the rental company to charge your credit card for them). So we paid it. Cost of having fun I guess.
It was 9pm by the time we finally found our hotel in Rome. I was tired. I was the only one licensed to drive the rental. But neither of us had been to Rome and it really wasn't a question if we were going out. We did. Found an interesting restaurant in the heart of the city. Found the Coliseum. Found a good walkabout & finally a cab ride back to hotel. I was exhausted. A great trip. Only three flights later (Philly-Charlotte-Houston), I was back in big Texas. It was 11pm. I was working the next day. A one & half hour drive north of the city - to find a very high strung project installation. Yay.
I tried to soothe my customer with stories about cheese & prosciutto & wine & parking tickets, but he was freaked out and doing 50 different things at once. I was jolted back to reality & work life. There would be no bucolic sunset & sipping Chianti for me that night. However, I was starring at impending trips to Delaware & Denver. Fun times were not too far off at all.
The wine was especially good (and free) on Sunday. The villa had given everyone a bottle of red & white as a gift for staying with them. Most of the Irish had no need for these bottles & I was happy to help out with the Chianti. The evening proceeded with lots more fine stories and then concluded with lots of fine pleasantries. It was my last night in Tuscany. I was off to drive to Rome in the morning.
At least this time I had a travel companion in the Golf to help with directions. JJ did one better by fixing the GPS unit. JJ's good like that. We both decided it would be more fun to find some little towns than rush to Rome and see it maybe for 4 hrs. So we made a lot of stops.
My least & most favorite was the town of Pienza. I bought a fantastic chunk of cheese there, and we also found some great espresso & gelato. Very quaint. Very pretty. An easy walk all around it. And all that for only $160 in parking fines. Parking in Italy is not fun. I wasn't too happy to find the parking ticket. I was less happy when we got to Rome, asked Google about Italian parking tickets, and found out how they will track you down (sometimes by getting the rental company to charge your credit card for them). So we paid it. Cost of having fun I guess.
It was 9pm by the time we finally found our hotel in Rome. I was tired. I was the only one licensed to drive the rental. But neither of us had been to Rome and it really wasn't a question if we were going out. We did. Found an interesting restaurant in the heart of the city. Found the Coliseum. Found a good walkabout & finally a cab ride back to hotel. I was exhausted. A great trip. Only three flights later (Philly-Charlotte-Houston), I was back in big Texas. It was 11pm. I was working the next day. A one & half hour drive north of the city - to find a very high strung project installation. Yay.
I tried to soothe my customer with stories about cheese & prosciutto & wine & parking tickets, but he was freaked out and doing 50 different things at once. I was jolted back to reality & work life. There would be no bucolic sunset & sipping Chianti for me that night. However, I was starring at impending trips to Delaware & Denver. Fun times were not too far off at all.
posted by Mike at
11:52 PM
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