Tuscany Bound

We woke Thursday morning with a forecast for continued unseasonably hot and humid weather. Hotels in Siracusa and Catania were full and with the dollar sinking faster, against the Euro, than a torpedoed rowboat, the prices of rental cars were somewhere between absurd and sublime. The seafood in Sicily is excellent, but it features swordfish, which I can’t eat (very serious allergy) and calamari, which I’d already eaten in every conceivable manner of preparation. We needed a change!

Over breakfast we discussed our options. We needed cooler, dryer weather…… and meat! We checked out and headed for Florence.

The prospect of a dinner featuring wild boar, or rabbit (perhaps wild boar and rabbit) made the eight-and-half-hour trip to Rome bearable. A comfortable first-class car with power for my computer meant I could catch up on editing some of the hundreds of images I had yet to view. A delightful pair of sisters, from Geneva, who spoke English, made the ride even more enjoyable.

Being Swiss, they are organized and precise and were appalled to learn that we had no hotel reservations in either Rome, where we would arrive at 9:16 pm, or Florence. The younger sister was so concerned; she offered the use of her cell phone to call for reservations. Now old hands at the ‘no reservations’ route and with the large number of hotels within walking distance of Rome termini, we felt certain we’d be okay.

Wrong again!

After trudging through a succession of hotel lobbies, to no avail, the night manager at the Hotel California (no kidding) suggested the Hotel Atlantico about a block-and-a-half away. After first being told there were no rooms available, the desk clerk quizzed me as to why we would come to Rome without a booking. I explained that we were on the way to Florence, but couldn’t get a train until morning.

He stood quiet for a moment and then offered two “very small single rooms, you must looked at them first, before you accept, they are very small!”

They were more like closets than rooms. Each had a very narrow single bed and a bathroom. One bathroom included a very small shower, the other, just a toilet and sink. The irony was not lost on us; just five days earlier, we were at Le Sirenuse, in a room as big as some apartments.

Our train would leave at 8:50 in the morning; we would be here less than ten hours, for 100 Euro, total, we took the rooms!

After checking in, we went to the rooftop, outside, Garden Bar, for a nightcap. Jane ordered a Sidecar; I had a Gin Fizz; we felt like characters from 1940’s romance flick!

After finishing our drinks, we retired to our separate rooms, on separate floors – make that a 1950’s TV sitcom!