Our last look at the Italian Riveria :( We are going inland now. It was wonderful to visit with Helen and her family. I would have loved to have stayed longer, but we had places to see and adventures to have (and to try and survive the road trip). I really appreciated the home stay (and female conversation) and can’t wait to come back and visit later. Maybe next time I can see their posh Milanese home.
On our way out of town, we ran by the COOP grocery store and picked up supplies. I do like how Savage travels, picnics are cheaper and easier than searching for restaurants sometimes. The focacceria, where we went with Helen, was packed with people but we got a number and waited -- a few minutes later we had fresh focaccia pizza. Drove up to a lonely street and parked and ate. (cheap meal)
Started our road trip (remember Savage isn’t good on long road trips, but I think he is well and appears to be back to himself). Both of us have a fascination with motor scooters. He used to have one in New Zealand (and he claims to have had a wicked helmet, but I haven’t seen any photos for proof). And I would love to ride one -- preferably a Barbie Hot Pink one :) -- I would want a really pretty helmet. I kept calling them mopeds and I got educated on the difference between mopeds and motor scooters. We stopped in Pontedera at the Piaggo plant but it was closed up tighter than a drum (it was Sunday, what were we thinking?). We can return the next trip (like we did to the McDonald’s).
The town was very industrial and not much else there. Not too far of a drive to Perugia -- but we had a problem finding the Holiday Inn. It was in a residential area and up on a beautiful hill (and far from the town center). Checked in -- used my points so we got a cheap room. At the front desk they told me about their local Jazz Fest --- I adore live music and think Savage does too. We unloaded the car (and I am all ready for my road trip packing -- ie only taking in one small bag-- yeah I am out of the doghouse for my overpacking).
The room was great -- two very soft twin beds, a wonderful A/C and a clean big bathroom. The weather outside was warm and we had been in the car awhile. Savage ran out immediately to the pool. I was a little slow following him but got out there too. I don’t think I have been in a bathing suit in over a year. I am not the best swimmer but I love to float and relax in the solitude of the water. The pool had a large waterfall type area to it, you could stand under it or float in the pool underneath it.
The pool overlooked the valley and you could see the town center. I love this area, it was beautiful. I wish we had booked two nights here, but we had planned on heading south. After relaxing by the pool area, we got showered and dressed. Totally refreshed, we headed into town. I was driving at first but needed a navigator. So we switched.
Savage is an excellent driver (don’t get the big head boy, I am a good driver too -- accidents or not) and I can find my way just about anywhere (not to toot my own horn, but I am a great navigator and love maps -- paper ones are the best FYI). Between the two of us, we ended up in the town center area -- lots of one way roads, pedestrian streets, and extremely narrow streets. It was kind of fun with the race car driver sweeping through the streets -- it reminded me of the time we were in San Gimignano and drove through the pedestrian zones. I even took a video of him driving through the streets. Quite fun, and to think, his natural side of the car is our passenger seat and the wrong side of the road (that’s a whole other saga).
We finally found a very odd parking garage -- it was on the side of the mountain/hill and looked like it was an old building. We had to give them the keys and leave it -- duh? we didn’t even get a claim ticket. We are two very experienced travelers. WTH were we thinking leaving a loaded car in a weird city and giving some random guy the keys. Then had to hike up the mountain to the top.
Tons of people out and stages set up in different areas. In one of the plaza areas they had a massive museum with lots of stairs -- fest goers were camped out on the stairs. Pedestrian streets everywhere with great looking shops (again, why weren’t we staying? My retail therapy nerves were getting tingles).
The sun was setting and we tried to find a place to watch the sunset. How did he know that is my favorite thing to see on a trip? We were laughing most of the evening -- stealing each others “artistic license” -- taking pictures of everything. I won that night with the best shots. How could you take a bad picture in a town like this?
my favorite sunset shot :)
They had little bands just set up in the streets/alleyways. Great music abounded here. More like French Quarter Fest than the Jazz and Heritage Fest.
We found the main festival area and they had a food court set up -- I love festival food. But we didn’t try the “yambalaya” but I was getting hungry walking around. A great ledge here overlooking the area-- took lots of photos. This area had a stage set up and had interesting fashions around it. We were getting the motherlode of people watching here.
Savage is a bad influence, he is worse than I am about pointing out fashion offenses and he likes to take pics of them. I have a feeling we will have quite a few pics from this trip. I don’t know who was worse taking the piss out of each other tonight.
I just don't get it with these skirts....
Tonight was the finals of the World Cup and the fans were out in force everywhere. Most restaurants we saw had big screen TV’s out for the patrons. We ended up at a little restaurant in an alleyway that had outside seating. The weather had cooled down and was the perfect pleasant temperature out.
We found seats outside and had a cute waiter (of course he had the obligatory chain on too). The owner appeared and was a little drunk. He tried to take our order also. The meal was very good and I fell in love with Perugia. Mark Knopfler was coming tomorrow night (just my luck).
The Europeans were out in force -- Spain vs. the Netherlands were in the finals and there were fans everywhere. We got extremely lost in the maze of streets trying to find our parking garage. I was glad Savage was there, it was creepy out because it was late and the game ended so people had gone home.
Inside the elevator:
Inside the elevator:
We finally found the car and luckily the guy was there with the keys. A very posh Porsche was next to our little Benz with a tarp over it. Guess we were in a safe place. Had to use the credit card to escape the garage.
The funniest part of the night was us (navigator was driving) trying to find our way to the main road -- in the dark -- and very little gas. If we had a camera on us, it would be an episode of the Three Stooges, but there were only two of us -- so I guess it would have been more like Laurel and Hardy. God must have taken pity on us, because there was a gas station right there for us and it took credit cards (most others close early in these smaller towns).
Hooked up on the main road and through the tunnel back to our hotel on the hill. Great quiet A/C (sorry Helen, I am from the South and that is a necessity for me), soft beds and it was so quiet. My jet lag was gone and my travel buddy was well and his old charming Kiwi self again (thank goodness, I don't know if I could handle sickly Savage the whole trip).
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