Today we say our goodbyes to Rome. While dinner and the late-night tour were fantastic, it made getting out the door this morning rough. We needed to be at the airport by 10 pick up the car so we could make it to Grosseto at a reasonable time to meet my friend’s family at the apartment we’re staying in. We cleaned up the AirBnB and ourselves, shoved everything back into suitcases as best we could and headed to the bus stop.
Rush hour buses with luggage and backpacks are not a whole lot of fun. In hindsight, we might have been better off splurging on a taxi here. However, if we had done that, Kris would have missed out on what he’s pretty sure was a pickpocketing attempt. The first (that we caught at any rate) for the Rome portion of the visit. We disgorged from the bus (along with what felt like half of Rome) at the train station and discovered the train we were planning on taking was first delayed, then cancelled all together. Fortunately, the train to the airport runs every 30 minutes, so we just had to find the right platform and hop on the next one.
Picking up the rental car was a pretty standard affair. I am supremely grateful to have gotten it at the airport where I had some time and space to remember how to drive a stick though, and wasn’t immediately thrown into Rome traffic. When the agent assigned the car to me, she handed over the paperwork with a ‘Don’t worry the car is brand new, only 1000km, so there’s no damage on it.’ I signed the waiver, but still did a thorough walk-around before we left. Turns out she was right. Who knew!
We left the airport grounds and got on the highway. In hindsight, I probably should have brushed up on Italian road signs before I got here. As it was, Kris was looking up signs and explaining them to me at 110km/h. But we lived, so there’s that! We had some time between when we picked up the car and when we were to meet my friend’s family to get the keys to her apartment, so we decided to head to Pitigliano, an ancient mountain citadel that was for years just at the edge of the Vatican’s power. This apparently meant that many Jews who had lived in Rome before the Popes started consolidating power fled here. Here we saw the first synagogue of the trip and while there are apparently no more Jews living in Pitigliano, they still hold services there on a regular basis.
Pitigliano is like something out of a postcard or a painting. Kris and I spent most of our time there saying ‘Oh my! Look at that!’ Oooh! Look at that!’ and ‘Wait! I need to take a picture of this!’ Unfortunately, I don’t have Wifi right now, so I’ll post the pictures when I get to Florence. Or, check out Kris’ Facebook page. The architecture was amazing. These ancient houses are perched or cantilevered over the edges of cliffs and are stacked on top of each other like a feverish child’s Lego set. This was a lovely detour and I’m glad we took the time to see it.
We reluctantly left and headed back to the highway to meet our friend’s family. This was when we discovered that the TIM sims that we thought included texting only included about 5 texts. And remember, no voice…So even though we had made arrangements to meet, he was relying on us sending him a text confirming that we were on time. Que much stressful downloading and discarding of apps, swapping out for US sims, frantic phone calls to the States, until finally Kris got Signal working and was able to get in touch (30 minutes later) with our friend’s brother. This was then compounded when the ENTIRE family showed up to meet us! Brother, brother’s wife, brother’s daughter, friend’s/brother’s dad. So now we’ve held up everyone. Great! In the moment, there is no worse feeling than knowing that you are further inconveniencing someone who is doing you a favor at someone else’s behest. (We both still feel cringe-y about this one.)
Anyway, we make our greetings and load our luggage into Dad’s car and then follow them into Grosseto. Dad waves us to a parking spot and lets out brother and family and then proceeds into the walled city center (Only certain people or licensed cars, I’m not sure exactly, can drive inside the walls.) Brother and family then walk us into the city and give us the dime tour, pointing out attractions, restaurants, introducing us to friends they encountered along the way. It reminded me very much of visiting my grandparents in small-town Midwest. Everyone knows everyone and sees all. But in a good way!
We arrive at the apartment and friend’s dad shows Kris how to work the keys to the front door and the apartment. He then proceeds to show us how everything works. Now in a hotel, I’d be super perturbed by now, but staying in someone else’s house? I felt like I should have been taking video to ensure we don’t break, damage, or ruin anything! Oh, and did I mention, friend’s mom left us a huge basket of cookies, and sweet breads, two bottles of wine, a bottle of olive oil, a bottle of vinegar, and cold beer and water in the fridge. Ah-maze-ing!
After ensuring that we were safely ensconced in our new home for the next seven days, the family took their leave after ensuring that we understood we should contact them if anything is needed. Kris and I took some time to settle in and semi-unpack. At this point, we decided that with the super late night last night, the super early morning today, and the 45-minute stress ball of trying to make contact (remember kids, always read the fine print on your Sim contracts…) we were toast for the night. We ate some of the excellent cookies and called it a night. Tomorrow, there will be wine!
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