Hello Venice

Goodbye Monterossa, Hello Venice

Today we are  leaving Andrea and Monterossa.  We will truly miss this part of Italy.  Who am I kidding? We will miss it all.  Cinque Terre was extra special, because Grandma Johnnie was all around us. Katie kept saying she could smell her everywhere.  We finally figured out that fig tress are abundant in the villages of Cinque Terre  and that was what reminded Katie of Grandma Johnnie. It was nice having her tag along.

Andrea was special too. He made sure we had all of t train information and gave us the names of three restaurants to eat at while we are in Venice.  Five hours away and he still had contacts for us.  He also gave us a bottle of his wine to take with us. 

We had a pleasant train ride until we got off at the wrong stop.  I was prepared to go purchase another ticket or throw myself on the ticket counter and beg for mercy. Not Katie. She has always been the biggest rule follower in the world.  I’m not quite sure what happened to her but she has turned into a “rules are just a suggestion club”.  I never thought I would live to see the day that happened.  She said we didn’t have time to go get another ticket and told me to just jump on the next train headed  in our general direction.  I was stunned.  You have to understand that when traveling by train in Italy, first , you buy a train ticket, then you make a reservation on that train at which time you are  assigned a seat.  Then the day you are traveling, before boarding the, train you must validate your ticket.  Failure to do so will result in a `100 Euro fine.  I know all of this because I read it in the travel warnings.  She told me to jump on the train without a ticket so i did.  Once again my life in a Italian prison flashed before my eyes. When the conductor came by, he just looked at our tickets, looked at us, handed back the tickets and walked away without saying a word. He may have been mumbling "stupid tourists" as he walked away.\ but I'm not sure.  Personally, I think he took one look at Katie and decided it was best not mess with her.

Under the Tuscan Sun

Another great day!    We were on an all day tour that took us from Florence to Pisa with various stops along the way. We had lunch at a villa where they made everything but the cheese. Yes, we had lunch under the Tuscan sun and it was all we had hoped it would be. We started out with bread, white wine and a lesson in wine tasting. Our second course was rigatoni with red wine. The third course consisted of salad and whatever wine was left on the table. By the time the fourth course, which was antipasti and more red wine, was served, I didn’t think I could eat another bite. Just as I was ready to call it quits, they brought out biscotti and desert wine.  Suddenly, I had more room. As I was getting up to leave the table, I noticed that Katie’s desert wine was practically untouched.  Not wanting her to offend anyone by leaving a full glass of wine, I picked it up and quickly downed it like a shot.  It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it.

While I was unable to convert Katie to a wine drinker, she was a sport and tried each wine.  

A run in with the law

Today, with Katie as our guide, we toured the streets of Florence.  She had a map. A book, and a list of sculptures she want to see. Before we got started, I wanted to find some postcards to show where we had been.  Katie left me at the souvenir kiosk while she wondered off to look at a church.  I had picked up a couple of postcards then decided to get them later so I put them back in their appropriate slots and stepped away from the kiosk.  As I stepped away, a loud whistle began blowing in my ear.  I thought for a moment that the policeman didn’t see me put the postcards back and thought I was stealing them.  For a brief moment, my life in an Italian prison flashed before my eyes.  As I turned around, the policeman, continuing to blow his whistle in my face motioned for me to step aside which, I promptly did, wandering if I should put my hands in the air. I was thinking to myself that they should be out chasing pickpockets instead harassing me for something I didn’t even do. Right about then, I then looked over my shoulder to see another police officer moving  a  large crowd of people out of the way so  an ambulance could go by. I guess they just felt I required special attention.

Gail Thwarted a Pickpocket

A funny thing happened  on the way to Monterosso.  While boarding the train, I noticed two girls whose behavior led me to believe they were up to no good.  One of them insisted on getting right behind Katie.   I am sure they bypassed me because they recognized the travel safe purse I had purchased at the suggestion of the travel warnings. They knew it was useless to try to pick my fortress of a  purse.   This is the same purse that Katie has been laughing at since I purchased it. Katie, on the other hand, has a purse that I am sure was designed by a pick pocket, in order to make their job easier.   Anyway, I continued to observe the girls waiting for them to make their move. As soon as they did, I screamed “Katie  look out”.  The girl quickly pulled her hand back and showed me it was empty, and both girls ran off.  On our next train Katie and I both spotted two girls that we felt were there to pick the pockets and/or purses of the unsuspecting crowd of travelers.  I held my purse tight as the girls and I glared at each other, letting them know thatr I knew what they were up to.

Once again, the travel warnings that I spent hours researching, has paid off. 

I am sure the girls were better pickpockets than they appeared. However, I had been looking for a pickpocket since we landed so they were no match for my keen observation skills. I can now cross
“catching a pickpocket”  off my list of things to do in Italy. I wasn’t the only one that had

successful day.  Katie finally got to order a pizza with “no pomodoro" Life is good in Italy.