Arrivederci Roma

We're headed out of Rome today.  The Termini station isn't far from our hotel, but we decided to pay for taxis to take us, and all of our luggage, to the station.  Our goal was to catch the 8:58 train from Rome to Chiusi, where we'd pick up our cars.

We purchased tickets, without much confusion, at ticket machines in the station, then headed out to find the track we'd be leaving from.  The ticket didn't have any info about that, but a girl standing near the machine told us the track number.  We argued later about whether she was an employee of the station or a gypsy.  She didn't ask us for money, but she didn't look very official either.

We were glad we'd taken a cab over to the station, since the walk out to our track was pretty long.  As we were standing, pondering which direction to go, a gentleman approached us and asked if we needed help.  I asked if he worked there, and he said yes.  He reminded us to validate our tickets at the machine, and pointed us in the direction of the track we needed (wrong track, as it turned out.)  We thanked him, and then he held out his hand, asking for money for a coffee.  No way, I said.

We got to our train, and got situated for the 1-1/2 hour ride out to Chiusi, in Tuscany.  The scenery outside of Rome wasn't very pretty - graffiti on the walls of plain, ugly buildings - but once we got well out of the city it started to get scenic.  We sped past green, rolling hills, with a glimpse of a hill town or monastery or winery every once in a while.  Get used to it, kids.  From now on it's just cute, cute, cute, quaint, quaint, quaint, and pretty, pretty, pretty.

On the train.  Mark is always smiling, even when he's sleeping.

Trying to find the car rental agency was a bit of a challenge, but we'd allowed enough time before they closed at 1:00.  We got directions from a policeman in town, and picked up our two station wagons.  We'd left some of the group at the station with the luggage, so went back to pick them up.

We headed up the road to our little village - Badia Agnano - near Arezzo.  More cute, quaint and pretty along the roads.

We knew we couldn't check into our villa until 4, so we looked for a place to stop for lunch.  We'll try the Autogrill one day, but hoped to find something more unique for our first lunch in Tuscany.

We pulled off the road and headed to the village of Monte San Savino.  Walking around the village, we couldn't see any possibility for lunch.  Rick asked a young man walking with his wife if there was a place to eat, and he pointed to what looked like a butcher shop - Le Delizie di Aldo.  He said they had seating downstairs, and it was a good place.

It was a great place!  We were seated downstairs, in a charming cave-like room, and there were hams hanging on the walls - real ones, not decorating props.

Real hams on the wall behind us

Our waitress, Christina, tried to tell us about the menu in halting English. She helped us to understand what she could - meat of moo being one of our favorite translations.   Finally she ran upstairs and came back with her Ipad, where she'd plugged in the translation of what she was trying to tell us.  They had a typical Tuscan tasting menu, she said, which was a good way to try the meat that they specialized in at their shop.  We all had it, plus wine and dessert.  All great.  We bought some ham to take to the house with us.  We'd go back there, for sure, if we were in San Savino again.

You may have noticed our celebrity traveler - Nick Cage.  He's been happily accompanying our group all along, and has been welcomed with open arms by the Italians we've met (at least the females, and even they sometimes wonder why, out of all the handsome men in the world, we're drawn to Nick.  Who can explain that magnetism he has?)

Everyone loves Nick

We arrived at our rental villa, Podere della Fraternita, at just about official check-in time - 4 p.m.. Our landladies were here, along with Roberto, the husband of one of the ladies.  The house was remodeled a few years ago, and was beautiful, comfortable and up-to-date as far as the bathrooms, laundry and kitchen were concerned.  There is a view of the surrounding hills, dotted with lights at night.  What did I tell you?  Cute, cute, cute.

After checking in and getting instructions, mostly in Italian (!), one of the cars headed out to the nearest supermercato - Coop - for provisions.  What did Ben Franklin say?  Thirst is a terrible thing?  Or was it, God loves us and that's why he gave us beer?  Either way, we made sure there would be no thirst or hunger at our place for a few days.

Chef Ricardo (Rick), along with a great prep staff, put a good dinner on the table.  Chicken thighs, cooked with tomatoes, served with ravioli and ribbon pasta.  Salad.  Chocolate and some kind of pastry for dessert. We are never without biscotti here either.  They're appropriate for any meal.
The kitchen is too small for the large clean-up crew that is always insistent on taking care of the after-dinner chores.

To bed late, in spite of the fact that our plan is "wheels up" at 8:00 tomorrow morning.  Mark is retired from Boeing, and we love the jetliner inference.  I don't think we really have our wheels up at the right time, but it's the thought that counts.