Mom, Part II: Under Tuscan Storm Clouds

Ah! The first day the entire trip this far that we didn't have to rise at the crack of dawn and go somewhere. So, we slept in...the bed is still hard mind you, but more like limestone instead of granite and mine is only 4" off the floor, but I sleep like the dead, until 11:30!!!! Mama Mia, but I feel great! Poor Amy is still suffering from sinusitis/flu like symptoms, but a true trooper, or a crazy woman, not sure which she ventures out into the early Montepulciano afternoon. Let me make this very clear...this town is spectacular,so quaint and friendly and oozing charm at every turn of the winding roads. It would be possible to stay here forever, but haven't seen a hospital here so not sure what kind of work I would find. Maybe something stomping olives into olive oil?

We journey into town which takes us up a very steep winding turn, that may just harbor some local in a tiny car trying to make it down the narrow drive which by the way doubles as a walkway. We jump against the wall just in the nick of time and the local looks thankful that he didn't have to kill anyone on Sunday. Once we make it to the top of the hill it is all downhill towards town. I am getting better all the time making it up the steep inclines so it must be true that "practice makes perfect" and with so many opportunities to practice here I am not sure what I will do when I get back to the flat landscape of Florida.

Lots of fun shopping as we walk up the hill and we have both made some fun purchases before we stop for lunch.  We are wedged in a small table for two in front of the shop door and against the bar, I decide on the spinach soup and the bread with goat cheese and truffle sauce and a glass of the local wine, while Amy chooses the eggplant cheese fondue and the grilled veggies and lots of water. The food is scrumptious and the soup is one of the best things I have had so far. After lunch we try to find a pharmacia so that Amy can get something for her ailments and are told first down the street then up the street and finally they confess that it is Sunday, so  most likely not open, and after all it is only about 2pm and shops close from 12:30 till 3p for siesta.

We wander in and out of wine tasting places, spice and pasta places and olive oil stores, but are drawn like moths to a flame to the leather and paper stores. One darling little paper shop we stumble into has the sweetest young gal who takes the time to show us how she personally binds the journals with ribbed leather bindings and tells us that some of the paper is also made at the shop. What beautiful craftsmanship, we are in awe! Sweaters, hand knit of course, leather shoes and boots, purses and bags, scarves and baubles, it's enough to make your wallet pucker! Amy and I are world class shoppers and this place is like Mecca!

Finally, as the sun sinks slowly into the Tuscan hillside we find a Pharmacia open, but some cold medicine and decide that it would be great to get back to the apartment and turn in early, tomorrow is another day and we do have to leave for Chainti with a short backtrack to Hertz in Chuisi to see about getting the GPS squared away or the car lighter unit fixed.

We have a glass of tea, (medicine for Amy) and a biscotti so fresh that feels like they picked the figs today and we will be off to sleep dreaming about Chianti!

Math Sucks

Woke up at 3:00 am. Cute dogs from yesterday? Decidedly not as cute barking their heads off all night. I thought Italy was full of cats? I lay there for a while meditating. Doing breathing exercises. No dice, so finally I got up to make some more tea and began looking through Lucia's travel brochures, picking out a few things, when mom got up. We decided to eat a few of the cookies we got at the grocery store, then went back to bed. She, curled up with her Nook. Me, with my head under a pillow. 

We didn't get out of bed until nearly 10:00 am. The phone is now working. Apparently, it takes 24 hours to activate. Here's the funny, slash slightly humiliating part... I actually have no idea how to make an international call. Not within Italy, and not to home. Do i need to include the calling codes? What is the calling ode for he US? I feel like a five year old. In my ignorance, I think I use just about all of the minutes trying to call Delta and Alitalia about the luggage, via the ,19 euro connection charge and ,10 euro per minute fees. We get half a call into the matriarch mermaid (grandma) before the phone cuts off. As we top up the phone at an ATM later (yes, wicked cool... And figuring this out makes me feel smart again), mom insists on adding 50 euros, which I think is insane. However, as some of my good friends will attest, I'm the kind of girl that only takes money out of the ATM in $20 increments when we go out. My reasoning: if you have it in hand, you'll spend it.) So -- phone recharged -- we now have to wait for it to take effect. In the meantime? No phone. Again.

I was able to get through to Delta before we called grandma. Uber helpful, really. I'm being sarcastic. Really. Despite my having BOUGHT the ticket from Delta, and the trip ORIGINATING with them, they are unable to give us any information about the status of our bags. You might ask at this point, am I kidding? Friend, the answer is a resounding NO. I beg. I plead. I promise to bear his children (this I am joking about, of course. I only promised him one of mine...) I explain that each time I get through to Alitalia, I can't get someone who speaks English, and when they realize I don't speak Italian, the line goes mysteriously dead. Meaning they hang up. And don't think I'm being pessimistic here... it happens about six times. Six times multiplied by a ,19 euro connection fee plus two minutes each multiplied by ,10 euros per minute. Math sucks.

I do, however, gain some incredibly valuable information on the Delta call. We can go out and buy what clothes and toiletries we need to get by until the bags come. Rrrrrrrrr (insert sound of record scratch here). Excuse me? That would have been helpful information to have had, um... yesterday. I ask him what the daily limit is.

There is no limit.

No way. No way (bears repeating). Once again, limoncello from the hand of lemons we've been dealt. But this is delicious limoncello of the gods. He adds that we shouldn't go out and buy Versace, but we should get what we need. Ok, maybe I will bear him a child. 

I'm just saying. 

Shall we go shopping?