Leaving Tuscany

I am not sure that OSH would approve of this balcony!!!

One of the dozens of little alley ways I walked up in down during my day in MontepulcianoI

Sunrise over Montepulciano - 5.23am

Leaving Tuscany.
I was awake again at just after 5am, but the sunrise was not as pretty this morning. The same noisy birds and barking dog were the only sounds at that time of the morning. I feel very sad to be leaving this beautiful area, and I hope one day to return. So many things still to see, I really have only touched on a very small part of the area.
The highlights – well all of it really. Alan asked me the other night what the highlight for me was, but I really couldn't say because it was all so good. I guess the biggest thing is that I have done it. A dream come true, and today going by van from Albergo San Biagio through Chianciano and down that hill that I cycled up, it is hard to believe that I actually did it. I think if I had travelled it by van first, and if Alan had told me on that very first day that I would be cycling up this hill, I would have certainly thought twice about doing it. So I guess it was luck that my hand was sore and I got picked up from Terontola instead and went a different way to San Biagio for that first nights rest.
My anxious moment this morning was knowing that I was going to be arriving in Milano about 4.00pm and I don't have an hotel booking. No wi-fi here, so was hoping that it wasn't going to be a repeat of my arrival in Firenze. The lovely owner at San Biagio further worried me by saying that Milano is big and busy and very commercial and industrial and that hotels are incredibly expensive, and I could expect to pay up to E250. OMG. But she kindly offered to look on the internet for me and we ended up booking a room at the Accor Ibis.. It was advertised at E69 for a room, so I said could we book on-line but she preferred to phone and it ended up costing me E92 without breakfast, but what the heck, at least I have a room, and I can get a taxi from the stazione. Darn, perhaps I should have kept up my Accor Advantage card (and I didn't bring the expired one with me either)
My bag is very heavy, and I have taken as much out as I can squeeze into my overnight bag, but it is the bag full of books, maps and souvenir brochures for my scrapbook that weigh so much, so when it comes time to fly home, I will take them out and carry them on as hand luggage. Alan estimates as is the bag probably weighs close to 25kg. I have carefully put the bruschetta plate in my overnight bag, I am terrified it will get broken, if I try to pack it in my suitcase, it feels very fragile. And I am still carrying around the postcards, I haven't found a post office yet. I feel I am going to beat the cards home at this rate. Oh well, at least you will know I was thinking of you when you get them..
So after paying my bill for my extra night at San Biagio and booking the Ibis, I turned around and Alan and Linda were walking in the door. Linda is wearing the lovely wee paua shell earings I gave her, and they really look lovely on her and tone in fabulously with the purple top she is wearing. And so a last ride through Tuscany to Chuisi-Chianciano railway station in time to catch the 10.13am treno to Milano. And in true Italiano style the board says ritardo 10 minuto. But on the plus side the treno is leaving from binnario uno, which means I don't have to struggle up and down stairs to get to bin 4. Alan offered to carry my bag one last time then on checking the departure board heaved a sigh of relief and said, “that's right bin 1, you are going to Milano, not Roma which is where most of the Headwater people head to leave to go back to the UK.”
And now I am on the train. It arrived exactly 10 minutes late and now we are whizzing through the countryside' hills all round. It's nice to be able to enjoy the scenery without having to struggle up another hill. Now how come the train is managing to go on a flat route. Hardly fair is it.
But from the train you see a much different part of the country side. You pass through more industrial areas which I really haven't seen much on my bike ride. There appear to be train tracks criss-crossing all over the place and we either pass over them or under them, likewise main roads, sometimes over us, sometimes we go over them. And lots of tunnels.
So back to trying to summarise the highs and lows.
Only a couple of lows really – the lonely romantic dinners and the puncture which I couldn't repair. Alan told me there was a rather big hole in the tube, right near where the previous repair was, but on the other side. How come I couldn't see it. Obviously wasn't looking hard enough.
And as for the highs – achieving the ride, making it up the hills, the walk up to Montepulciano, the cooking class, the history, the shops, the food, the wine, the whole splendour of Tuscany. The amazing scenery, the marvelous hilltop communities (each one a little different and each with their own special charm). Of them all – Montepulciano, San Quirico, Pienza, Chianciano, Montefollinco, Cortona - to choose one that I liked more than the others. Hard to choose, but I loved Pienza. It was small and quaint and charming, but Montepulciano would have to come a very close second if not first.
Just pulled through Firenze Rovenezza and the railway sidings are absolutely covered with the most amazing grafitti. Huge colourful murals really. Miles and miles and miles of it, every single part of the fence is painted but the train is going too fast for me to capture it on film. Maybe there is more at the main Firenze station. I have got my camera ready in case we go slow enough past it.
And then of course there is the usual gobbledy-goop stuff as well which is just messy. Reminds me of the train ride I took in Melbourne and the grafitti all along the way there. Obviously the areas along the railway tracks here are more poorer areas, because a lot of the buildings look run down and in need of painting and plaster repairing, and those buildings have been targetted by the messsy destructive taggers. Much the same as any city I guess. But I certainly didn't see any evidence of tagging around the hilltop villages. Probably too hard to tag those rough stone buildings, or maybe it is too hard for them to walk up there. Or maybe the taggers have respect for the buildings and the history. Who knows.
And now it 2.00pm and this train was supposed to originally arrive at Milano at 3.12, but it was 10 minutes late leaving Chuisi and now we have been stuck in the middle of nowhere for the last half hour or more, and the man who has arrived to sit in the seat opposite has informed me that the motor on the train has died. And Murphy at work again – Amazing how he seems to be following me on this trip. I had the option to change trains at Bologna and take the Eurostar which would have gotten me into Milano half an hour earlier, and we are still stuck here. However, the thought of lugging my suitcase off the train at Bologna, changing platforms and getting back onto another train was a bit too much of an effort, and also I think you have to reserve a seat on the Eurostar and so pay more, so having spent a heap on this travel pass I decided to just stick with the regional train. Well – I think that was the Eurostar to Milano that has just gone whizzing past us.
Well, the airconditioning is still working thankfully, so the train is relatively cool, and it isn't crowded in my carriage and a couple of people have left the carriage next door and come in here, I wonder if it was because there was a dog barking madly in there. But there is a constant stream of passengers moving past me and going backwards and forwards, don't know where they are going, but I am not about to go and investigate. I don't know if there is a dining carriage on here or not, but too much of an effort and I am loathe to leave my suitcase, even though it is probably too heavy for any wannabe handbag snatcher.
But what a waste of a perfectly good day, sitting in a train. The thought has just come to me that perhaps I should have taken an overnight train. Aha, it seems not. Have just done a quick look through the Eurorail timetable and as it is five hours from Chuisi to Milano that would have meant getting to the station in the middle of the night. Not a good idea huh. And so against the rules for “women travelling alone.”
We are back on the move again. Travelling through agricultural areas, vineyards, and small places which we don't even stop at.
I wonder what awaits me in Milano. I have three photocopies of the photos that De sent me just before I left, which show my dad outside a building in Milano in 1945. I want a photo of me outside that same building and really, apart from checking out a few fashion store windows, that is all I want to see of Milano. I must admit to being almost to the all churched out, all frescoed out, all statued out stage by now, and I have done all the shopping I can afford to do, or more's the point, can carry home, so am looking forward to seeing something different now, and arriving in Geneva and catching up with some dancing type people. You know, my kind of people who talk my kind of language.
I guess really I am at the stage where I actually just need to talk. It is very difficult to go for twenty something days, with at the most, two hours conversation in a day, and most of those days with only a few barely understood conversations.
Like take the conversation I had when I got on the train this morning. That is over four hours ago. A lady asked if she could sit beside me so that she was facing the direction the train is going. I said of course. And then we tried ever so hard to conduct a conversation with her speaking “Inglese – solo un po” and me speaking Italiano solo un po as well. I did establish that she had been la vacanza with her familia and she showed me her photos of the holiday, and I shared some of mine with her, and then it just became too difficult and she took out her mazaine to read and I labelled yesterdays photos. So I guess we chatted for perhaps half an hour on and off and then she shook hands with me and said piachiere ( nice to meet you) as she left the train at Bologna. And so back to talking to myself as we rattle our way north to Milano.
We appear to have left the hills behind us for a while and looking at a map of Italy, we must be somewhere about level with Genoa, but in the middle of the country and still probably about an hour and a bit away, and I would think somewhere in the area that dad was in. The army records that Mel photocopied for me before I left showed that he landed in Napoli, but gave very little information about where he was stationed, although the photos that Dee had were labelled Milano. So it would seem that he actually saw quite a bit of the country, although I would assume that they were transported by a troop train. I would hope that they didn't have to march this far.
But I guess a project for me when I get home will be to try and put it all together. It would have been nice to have had a chance to do it before I came, but I think it will actually mean a lot more when I actually get home and have a good picture in my mind of where everything is. We are just pulling into Parma, and that rings a bell for some reason (was it on the army documents I wonder). Anyway, just knowing that I am somewhere near is important
Well Parma was a busy place, all of a sudden the train was full and there were people standing everywhere. So I had to put away my laptop and put my overnight bag on my knee to make room for other passengers.
And so we finally pulled into Milano Centrale. What a huge railway station. It looks at least twice (maybe more) the size of what I remember Wellington Railway station to be. And crowded. People everywhere. Noisy, hot. OMG what the heck am I doing here. And here we go, stairs again to get out. I find the taxi station and finally work out where I am supposed to stand to get a taxi. Remember Heather the opposite side of the road to what you are used to. I ask the driver to take me to the IBIS and guess what – there are two IBIS hotels in Milan. Great!!! So he takes me to the closest and tells me to run in and check that there is where I am booked. Well no it appears not, and so they check the other, and no not there either, but they have a spare room here so I say I'll stay and run out and tell the taxi driver it's here and grab my suitcase and pay him E10 for the privilege of him bringing me here.
So back inside and start the registering process. It takes so long, and then once she had my passport she found that I was booked here after all. They had spelt it differently over the phone this morning.
So up to the 4th floor to a pokey little room with just enough room between the bed and the wall to stand my suitcase. I open the blinds and look out again at rooftops and take a photo of yet more thunder clouds. Yep, it's thundering here as well. What is it with me arriving or leaving in thunder.
So a quick freshen up and out to investigate the city. I only have a short time here, and I'm also starving, nothing to eat since breakfast time. So out I go, and find myself a pizza place, and have my first olives – on the pizza – cheese, tomato, salami and olives. It was okay too, but then I was hungry. But the olives weren't anywhere as nice as those big fat black olives we can buy at home. But the pizza was good, and I had a coffee afterwards and then headed back to the hotel It is still thundering and raining quite huge rain drops every few minutes. Not steady, just intermittent, but really big drops. It isalso incredibly hot and sticky.
And so, my last night in Italy. I think I will try and get hold of the Kaleidoscope organiser and head to Geneva tomorrow, if I can connect to the internet here.
So guys, this may well be my last blog from Italy. Catch you tomorrow.
Ciao.