40th Anniversary Trip Day 3

40^th Anniversary Trip Day 3 – Wednesday

A good night’s sleep for both of us, and we don’t have to get up too early.  It’s nice to have a good long hot shower after the overnight flight.  Breakfast is typical European – coffee, croissants and other pastries and a little ham and cheese.  It’s light on the fruit, unfortunately for Vicky, but it gets us on our way.

After checking out we cross the road and wait for the regional train that will take us back to the airport.  The journey is only 7 minutes.  Vicky takes a seat but I just stand.  We arrive at Platform (Track) 1 of 3.  All of them are parallel and close.  Tracks 1 and 2 have the nonstop “Leonardo Express” that takes you to Roma Termini (the central station) in about 30 minutes.  A helpful Trenitalia lady tells us that our train to Florence will be the next on Track 1.  The current train leaves so we head onto the platform, knowing we’re in Car 2, but not where Car 2 will be.

Our train is a Frecciarossa 1000, which translates as Red Arrow.  It’s the equivalent of the French TGV and can reach speeds up to 350km.hr, although according to the onboard monitor we’ll never exceed 247, but that’s still 150mph!  It comes with 4 classes – Standard, Comfort, Business and Executive.  The last is very expensive but there’s not a huge price difference between the first 3, so we splurge on Business Class.

This gets us both window seats with a table between us, a “Welcome Aboard” package of a snack and choice of beer, wine or (for us) Coke Zero plus a bottle of water, and a selection of free newspapers (all in Italian!).  But it’s super comfortable, quiet and fast.   We’re able to get lunch at our seats – a light pasta for Vicky and a roast beef club sandwich for me, with more Coke Zero and water.

We have 2 stops in Rome, first at Termini where a lot of people get on, including 3 young people who sit opposite us and are very quiet, then at Tiburtina, a small suburban station.  From there it’s nonstop to Firenze (Florence) which is our destination, although the train will continue to Venice.  We enjoy the journey and the green Italian countryside.  Then things get interesting.

I’ve reserved an Avis car at a location only a 5-minute walk from the station and I have detailed directions from Google Maps.  Yeah, right!  After about a half hour we find it – the actual streets bear no resemblance to what google maps told us!  We booked the smallest car – a Mini – and they “upgrade” us to a larger car – a very comfortable Peugeot.  It will, of course, use more fuel, but it’s a diesel, and diesel fuel is cheaper than gas in Italy.

Once again, I have detailed directions from Google Maps, plus a map of Tuscany.  We explain which route we want to take to the rental lady and she kindly shows us which way to go.  Downtown Florence is off limits to nonresident drivers and if we cross into the so-called ZTL we’ll get photographed and fined.  The Google Maps route would have taken us right thru it, but she explains how to avoid it.

We do avoid the ZTL but her directions don’t work too well and we spend the next half hour braving the streets with motorcycles whizzing by us on both sides, and other cars trying to figure out what these slow-moving tourists are doing.  Poor Vicky is trying to read the street signs, which are few and far between.

We finally get on the right road, which turns out to be called Fi-Pi-Lu which stands for Florence to Pisa and Lucca.  It’s a good fast road, though not as scenic as I would have liked.  Our directions tell us which exit to take, and finding it’s not a problem.  Now the surroundings are more scenic and the traffic much lighter, but the Google Maps directions strike again and so, although we do eventually reach the hotel unscathed, the journey, which was supposed to have taken 1.5 hours, lasted more than 3!

Once we arrive, everything gets better quickly.  This is the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco, 5km from the mountain town of Barga.  We have 5 nights here in a “standard” room for free, using Marriott points.  But they’ve upgraded us several categories and we have a room with a large balcony, giving incredible views of the valley, the mountains and Barga.  There are 2 sets of doors onto the balcony, one from the bedroom and the other from the bathroom.  Take a look at the view from the bathroom!

We also find a welcome food plate, with marinated strawberries and home-made fruit tarts waiting for us.  We explore the resort, finding an amazing upscale clothing boutique where Vicky gets a belated birthday present of a very flattering black dress and complementing scarf.  While she’s trying on the outfit, I make friends with the store owner’s little dog.

We have dinner reservations at the hotel restaurant.  The table they take us to is right next to an area where a very noisy conference group is just starting to attack their buffet.  Although there are no tables for 2 available, when I ask to be moved, the manager gives us a round table (meant for 6) in a quieter location.

We opt for the Menu Gastronomique, a set 4 course meal.  You often find these in Europe, and this one looks intriguing.  The first course is tender beef carpaccio, one of my favorites, accompanied by a custard filled tart made from spelt flour, a healthy grain that I’ll come to learn more about.  Then comes spelt flour pasta accompanied by chicken livers and onions.  Now I’ve found a way to actually enjoy chicken liver!  The main is a delicious beef stew, and to end it all what the waiter describes as “the best tiramisu you’ve ever had”, which turned out to be correct.  It’s garnished with a yellow fruit the size of a cherry tomato, which we later find is called Chinese Lantern.

To make it even better, I get a non-alcoholic Italian beer I’ve never seen before.  A large meal, and a great start to our stay.  Then back to the room for a good night’s sleep.  Here’s a close-up of Barga, taken from our balcony.