Saturday (July 5) Car Exchange Day
We called Avis Car Rental and they said it would be no problem for us to switch out our car for one with AC that works. We have to go to the Pisa Airport to do this so I wanted my cousin Marco to come with us. We left about 10 am to head out for Pisa forgetting that it is Saturday and in Italy it seems like ALL Italians head for the Mare (sea) or beach for the day to get away from the heat. It took us 5 minutes to get on to the main street because of the stream of cars. I finally just put the pedal to the metal and pulled out like a real Italian squealing the tires as I took off. Marco got a big kick out of that and he called me Mario Andretti. We had to make one stop before we headed out for Marco. HE wanted to go to a store nearby to pick up a speaker. He is into Ham Radio and Treking with radios and he needed it. In Italy you have to pay to drive on their freeways. When you enter the freeway you grab a ticket and then when you exit you pay. The traffic was pretty heavy but somehow Italians manage to keep the lines of traffic moving on the freeway. I think it’s because only the fast drivers drive in the fast lane. Not like home where people will block you and not move over. Italians will practically run you down if you don’t get out of the way. I learned that years ago when I first started driving in Italy. We had no delays getting to the airport and once we found the car rental return office, Dan went inside and because he had paperwork was ushered to the “preferred”line. This Avis gal helped us and we got a new car really fast. We were upgraded to a VW Passat Station Wagon. It is really nice. It has a lot more room than the Alpha Romeo. It’s a pretty blue. Once we got the car we decided to go to Viareggio (beach) for lunch. It took us over an hour to get there because we were having a difference of opinion in which way to go. Marco said one way and Dan said another. It was pretty comical to say the least. We finally made it there and we went to this really good pizza place that he took us to 4 years ago. It is right on the board walk. The pizza was good and we were all hungry and thirsty. After lunch we went for a walk on the boardwalk that boarders the marina and the beaches there. I put a couple of photos on to show you. We spent about 20 minutes walking and then headed back to the car for the ride home. Marco took a nap…LOL. It was an un-event full evening at home with the family. Just talking and having fun. I headed up to bed at 9 PM. I was pretty tired and not feel all that well.
Sunday July 6th
Dan was going to go to Abertone with Marco however the clock in our room was over 2 hours off and Marco left without him. He wanted to leave by 8 am but Dan was not ready because our clock was wrong. I was not feeling well so I told him I was not going to go. I slept until 11 am and got up for a little lunch. Dan was reading the Rick Steves Italy book when I came down. Michela was working like a madwoman. She is such a hard worker at home. Unbelievable really. After lunch, Martina, Marco’s daughter took me to the pharmacy to get some cough syrup. It is very interesting the way they do things in Italy. You take a number and wait until that number is called then you go up and talk to the clerk and tell her what you want and they get it for you. Nothing like the US. We headed back to the house and I went back up to lay down and I did not get up until 4 PM. We were going to my cousin Christiano’s for dinner so I needed to get up and get ready. My headache was almost gone when I got up. We headed over to Christiano’s about 6:00 PM. He lives about 15 minutes away. He and his wife have turned their mansion into a bed and breakfast. It is very nice. His mother was there, Eda, she is 76 and the last of her generation alive. Her sister Emma died last year. Their mother was my dads sister, Ada. We had a nice visit with Sylvia, Christiano’s wife, his son, Omar and Omar’s girlfriend, Tiziana. Omar and Tiziana speak pretty good English. They want to come to USA and visit and I told them they have to come to Washington and meet all their American relatives. We sat and visited until about 10 PM and then came back to Marcos for the night. I was pretty tired so I went up to bed. I slept until 9 am Monday morning.
Monday July 7, 2008I woke up feeling a bit better today. You would think with all the sleeping that I have done in the past 36 hours that I would feel better. I think I hit the wall….Today we decided to go to Lucca. We love to visit Lucca, it is a beautiful town. It took us about 30 minutes to drive around until we found a parking spot. We only had enough money for 1 hour parking so Dan was going to have to go back and put more money in. We made our way to the center of town, it used to be a Roman style coliseum. The have made it into different shops and restaurants. We bought a few things and then sat down for a bite to eat and something cold to drink. Dan had to run back to the car for the parking tickets. He forgot to get the car key from me so he had to come all the way back…ouch. Finally he made it back and we shared pizza and panini. After lunch we walked around the city more and looked at shops (most were still closed for the lunch hour) until we made our way back to the car. We headed back to Marcos so I could finish my blog. Omar has WIFI at his office and he is going to let us use it. In Italy there are not any free WIFI connections. It is not like the USA that’s for sure. Tonight we will be at Marco’s for dinner and will have more fun with them. Tomorrow we are taking the train into Florence for the day. We are going to catch the 9:30 am train and will arrived in Florence in one hour. I’m feeling better this afternoon, I think I’m over the hump, knock on wood. I’m going to go to bed early again tonight so I can get my rest. More later…Ciao Bella
1 comment:
Hey,
Looks like you are having a great time. What a nice looking family you have. Now I know were you get your looks. LOL. Got your texts I am not real good doing them so I will fix your bracelet when you get back. Are you feeling better.
That really sucks
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