Rest Day at San Quirico d'Orcia

Monday – Rest Day at Hotel Palazzuoio - San Quirico
My official rest day in San Quirico, and as suggested I got up early, had breakfast and headed to the village to catch the bus to Sienna. Well I hope the rest of the day is easier than the start – I couldn't orientate the map, and I almost tried standing on my head so that I had the traffic moving in the right direction. It didn't help that the sign outside the village entrance had a sign to Sienna pointing down the hill on that road, and everyone tells me that the bus goes up the hill to Sienna. I hope they are right. And trying to find my way to the tobacchi to buy a bus ticket – well that was a mission as well. I headed off to my right – because that was the way I had read the map, but I should have in fact gone into the village. Luckily I started out very early to catch the 9.11 bus, because it took two trips into the village before I found the tobacchi. I took the chance and bought two tickets, at E 3.30 each, even though I had been warned that it is often a different bus company that brings you back. It is 42km to Sienna from here, so I think bus travel is very cheap here compared to other items. An ice cream costs E2 yet you can travel 42 kms for not much more.
Anyway, the bus arrives and it is very clearly labelled Sienna so I hop on and away we go. Up hills, down hills, past fields of sunflowers, And again I get off two stops too late. I am at the railway station which is at the bottom of the hill and the city centre is, of course, at the top, so off I go walking up and up and up yet again. But I am getting better at this and today it is much cooler so I am not puffing and panting like an old train when I get up there. And again, the walk was worth it. Sienna is very old and again I take dozens of photos, and spend my time meandering up and down little streets, enjoying the sights and smells of the city, the shops, the people. It is perhaps not as touristy as Florence and I succumb to shopping fever here and buy a handbag and a scarf. The first shop I went into looking for a scarf had some lovely ones, but they were all made in India and being sold by an Indian man who was most put out when I decided not to buy from him. He told me Indian stuff as good as Italian, and I told him I can buy Indian at home, in Italy I want Italian. He huffed at me and I walked out of his shop. I later found a shop claiming their goods were all Italian made, so I bought there from a lovely young Italian girl who was most charming and helpful, helping me chose the right colours.
Handbags, shoes, oh for a bigger suitcase, but luckily the handbag is very soft leather and folds down to next to nothing, and so I have repacked my suitcase yet again to fit all these bits and pieces in. I am only buying light weight stuff, but still the bag gets fuller and heavier.
I have seen the most brightly coloured hand painted Tuscan ceramics, and I would love to bring some home, but it is all so heavy. Maybe on my last day in Montepulciano I will see if I can get some posted home. It is so colourful and bright, and will certainly brighten up my place when I arrive home to the cold winter I hear you are having back there.
I wish I had a pedometer to measure how far I have been walking each day, but it sure was a long way today, and also today it was round and round in circlesas well as up and down hills, so I got myself completely disoriented yet again – not hard to do – and as I knew it was a hell of a long walk down the hill to the train station I decided to catch a cab – E5 well spent – it was a good 7 or 8 minutes in the taxi, so I would have been on a much later bus back to San Quirico.
About half way home it started to rain quite heavily, but then stopped just outside ofr San Quirico, for which I was very thankful, but just as I was walking up the road to the hotel (about 1.5km from the bus stop) the thunder and lightening started and the sky became very black all around. I got back to the hotel and about half an hour later while I was sitting out on the balcony enjoying a cup of coffee, the heavens opened up yet again and now two hours later it is still raining heavily. Does not bode well for my cycling tomorrow does it. All the English people on the HF tour are moaning about the miserable Tuscan summer. One nice lady named Sandra who went off on the short walking trip this morning sat and had her cup of tea with me and invited me to join their table at dinner tonight. She checked with her tour leader and he said it was fine, she felt a bit sorry for me sitting there all alone. I said I'm used to it, but it would be nice to share stories with the HF group and comparre notes.
When I went up to the bar before dinner to have a drink, I got chatting to another lady who was part of another group, which turned out to be a guided Headwater Group, who also invited me to join them for dinner, but I felt I should go with the first group. All of a sudden I was surrounded by people, the first time all trip and so it ended up a most pleasant evening. Sandra and her husband Allan were absolutely delightful, he was rather a character and they had done lots of adventurous things like trekking in the Himalayas, and Austria etc and rock climbing and mountain climbing all around the UK, and the other lady Rose was from Peebles (I think she said) near Edinburgh and she was here on the painting trip. She also shared stories of other holidays abroad, and it was a fun evening.
The meal tonight was again just so-so. The Brits all said how wonderful it was, but I didn't think it was a patch on the meals I had had in the Veneto. The antipasto was very tasty – very thin aubergine rolled around a tasty stuffing and fried, then a rather tasty tomato soup. Then came a pasta dish which was just like I would have cooked at home (and again only very luke warm) and the main course was sliced beef with a gravy and oven roast chunky potatoes, again nothing spectacular. And to finish ice cream with a chocolate sauce. I had a jug of vino rosso, and because I was sitting at the big table tonight, I had the Americano coffee which the waiter brought out in big jugs, and got to have a glass of grappa. Phew that was potent, and I must say not really all that pleasant. I remember drinking grappa at El Burcio in Turangi and I distinctly remember it being very very potent, but actually rather nice as well. Maybe Artillio used to sweeten his with something.
But the company tonight was wonderful and I got to use a lot of my 27,000 words so am feeling great and just hopeful now that the weather will stay settled in the morning (its stopped raining now) and I can get off on the bike. Its been six or seven days since I have ridden and tomorrow I head for Montefollonico – the hotel with the expensive menu. I have either 39 or 42 km to bike depending on which option I take, so I will stop now and pack my panniers and get ready for an earlyish start. And to round off a great day, I have just spoken to Rowan, who tells me that it is absolutely freezing in Waihi, and that he has no water in the house because his pipes are all frozen and his boots, which he left at the back door are frozen. Wow, I am glad I am enjoying a Tuscan summer (yeah right – I actually had to put my new black jacket on the other night when I went out for dinner and I really didn't expect to wear that in Italy).
Ciao