Travel Day 5

Up before the alarm went off...I laid in bed knowing today would be an interesting day...and indeed it was. Travel days (especially ones that involve renting cars) usually involve some raised voices, saying multiple times "which way????" and trying to find road signs that don't exist. Today was no different.

Guy had booked two vans (automatics) at the Avis store closer to our hotel. We knew the rental kiosks at the train station can be a bit chaotic. So after breakfast Guy, John and I walked to Avis and when we got there a sign on the door said to go down into the garage. When we did, they said we had to go to Avis at the train station as this location was closed today. (I wish I had a snapshot of Guy's face to insert here - priceless). So we walked to the train station where Guy stood in line while John went with me to the bathroom (yes, I get turned around and wanted the company). I had been to this restroom before and totally forgot I needed a euro to get in. John and I had no coins but he had a $5 Euro and there was a change machine. I shared a coin with a lady who was having trouble getting the coins to work as we bonded because of the same "my bladder is about to explode" expression on our faces. And of course there is a line inside. Lots of work just to pee.

As we walked up to the Avis counter, Guy was already talking to the Avis rep. Again - if I could insert a photo of his face here it would be priceless. Apparently they only had one van and a car. After we did our Seinfeldism and said they know how to "take" a reservation but don't know how to "hold" a reservation - that was about the only laughing at the counter. Oh, except for the other agent across sitting next to our guy. She basically had to walk him through the steps and she kept wiping her nose with the back then front of her hand. Wasn't sure of her problem, but she was wearing dark sunglasses. Hand Sanitizer. When we finished the paper work and initialed in two places and signed in three places they told us to go stand outside. We did as told and played the game of guessing which van was ours. The kids joked about us having a "kidnapper van" where you couldn't see out. There was actually one out there. We checked the plates and they didn't match the number written on our paper, so we guessed/hoped it was not ours. So after standing for some time, a man came out and told us to get into the car - we had to go to the garage. Guess where the garage was. Yep...our first stop this morning. So as we sat in the back seat of the car the driver disappeared and the personalities of the two brothers came out. Guy was ranting and about to jump out of his skin. John is calm and making jokes about the Avis staff inside laughing as they are making the grumpy Americans sit in the car. John will live much longer - Guy will give himself a heart attack.

We drove to the garage with another American (British guy that has been in the US since he was a teenager) who now lives in Maui. Poor guy. He has had a similar experience except he had walked a mile to the train station with his wife and didn't bring his passport. They walked the mile back then again back to the train station. He also had to go to the garage with us and was a bit animated like Guy. He was only renting a car for the day to go to another town and started out at 8:30 this morning. It is now closer to 11:30. Grumpy but laughing. None of us got the cars we ordered as we only got one automatic van (9 person) and then a SUV type (manual). Plenty for us and our luggage, but the big van will be hard to maneuver in some of the small town streets. Thanks, John...he took that one.

Back to the hotel we gathered the group and headed out of Rome. We relied on the GPS 100% and she got us out of the city with only 1 U Turn. The drive is lovely, even on the interstate, but the side roads are really amazing. After several switchbacks and lots of winding roads we reach our lunch destination at Montepulciano. (I was corrected by the front desk lady here at the hotel as I said the last part like "key ah no" but she said "chi ah no"). We ate lunch at the Osteria del Borgo and like before, the food was as wonderful at the view. We perused the shops (most were closed since it was mid afternoon) but the town was quiet and charming. We made our way back to the car filled with good food and gelato and set out for our final destination - San Gimignano. We did learn that you can type in the coordinates into the map with both the N and the E and it will work the same as the address. The address wasn't working for us as we were missing the "Casolare" out of the Hotel Casolare Le Terre Rosse. It didn't like just Le Terre Rosse. We pulled over to figure all this out and Cara came over to help - success. We were only 2.5 miles away. When we arrived Guy and I were laughing because we had driven by this place several times and always commented on how gorgeous it was. It looked very different from photos online (they always shoot at an angle that makes it look like nothing else is in the area. :) However, the back side of the property is gorgeous,  beautifully manicured with a pool, trees, and bordered by hills of trees. It truly is a beautiful place! Who knew 2 years ago when we drove by this place that we'd actually be staying there some day. Pretty cool.

The staff is SUPER nice and helpful. We have two double rooms and two triple rooms. One room had a slight issue, so it took them a few hours to figure it out, due to being fully booked, but during dinner they came to tell Guy they thought they had it worked out and they did. With 10 of us, we had Betty and John (who had already unpacked) moved to their new room within 10 minutes. Now, back to dinner. We at at the restaurant here. The area is in the lower level of the building and is just as cute as can be. The dinner menu was an excellent selection of beef, pastas, salads, and desserts. Several of us split our meals to have a combo of steak and pasta. Rosalie had gnocchi with pears and a white sauce the was the best she's had so far. The steak was wonderful with a slight balsamic drizzle over the top. Really really nice. After a load of laundry, a beautiful meal and a long and slightly stressful day of driving, I decided to crash and blog the next day (which I did). But trying to remember all the details is a bit harder. However, I'm looking forward to today being relaxing and giving us all a chance to recoup from the hustle and bustle of Rome. This place is the complete opposite. Heaven.