Our story begins on the precipice of Orvieto…our hired Mercedes Benz on the edge of Piazza del Duomo.  

Let’s rewind…allora…the two Canadian chicks decide to explore the Italian countryside by car…we hired a Mercedes Benz from the local auto dealer with the assistance of an Itaian friend for translation. I quickly rediscovered my passion for driving a car with manual transmission and set out toward Pienza. Our Aussie GPS “Kenny” lead us on a long and winding road which we happily embraced.

Our route took us through Todi, where a shoe store caught my friends eye as I was driving so we had to stop! A few photos and a fabulous pair of Italian leather boots later we set off for Orvieto. Changing the course of our journey, our day and possibly our lives forever.

Orvieto was as charming as I remembered. We shopped and had a lovely lunch where we decided what our next stop would be. We strolled back to the Benz where my friend typed our destination into Kenny and we were off. To this point Kenny had not led us astray…however we had just finished discussing my trust issues with GPS devices…

We set off and Kenny directed us to take a sharp right…we turned….as I said ‘this does not look right’…there was no turning back, we stopped within 50m and my friend got out of the car to see where the hell this road would lead us…seriously! She disappeared through the arch and when she returned she said ‘turn around’ …my response, considering I had a major fear of heights until 2012 and haven’t driven a car in a few months, and here we are on a major ridiculous decline, I could not see the road ahead, I responded ‘No! I can’t!!!’ Meanwhile a little blue car comes up from nowhere and drives by us, so we know this crazy road leads somewhere. She does her best to encourage me and I drive down the moss covered cobblestones through the arch to the T in the road. Which was the edge of a cliff, which cannot be referred to as anything other than a cliff.

We contemplated two things at this point, fear and impending death or turning the car around. We soon realized that turning the car around was not a possibility. My friend surveyed the scene a second time, when I asked her to drive and she declined having not driven this car before and not having driven a stick since France several years ago. Instead she offered praise in Italian as I began to descend down the hill to the left toward the first hairpin turn…no, impossible this is a 3-4 point turn with a damaged fence on the edge…I stopped the car on this insane corner frozen with fear and said ‘I can’t do it!’ and my friend and I changed seats…this is Trust to a level most people would never understand! 

Allora…the following is my friend telling her experience…I took the reins of our Benz, let the park brake go, and exuded confidence that I certainly did not feel!! I know my friend saw the broken fence and knew that I could never make the turn without reversing at least twice toward the mountain. After a 4 point turn revving our poor Benz like it was my motorcycle we started down again, without injury to us or the Benz. It wasn’t over, Kenny had calculated the quickest way down the mountain failing to recognize that we are not billy goats!!

Once we got to the bottom, we looked up in awe at how far we had come! Literally. We then continued on to Perugia, where we found ourselves in another bit of a quandary. And then we found ‘saint’ Alessio, once again we trusted Kenny and followed him to the end of a teeny tiny road. Why didn’t I stop? Good question. Allora…my friend in her broken but getting better Italian asked Alessio what he would do, God love him, he offered to drive. And we gladly, greatly and exuberantly accepted! Poor guy. He got us turned around (the posts move!!), back down and actually drove us to the parkade of the town centre and escorted us up the escalators. We are sending Alessio our gratitude and promise to pass it on. A quick stroll through Perugia. Some Baci chocolates from a salesman with no personality. We set off again in the dark in our hired Benz for Assisi, our destination for the night. Lesson, use an address, especially when you have it! We made it to centro where it was smooth sailing. 

We learned today that there are keys to life that we feel apply to every day.

1 ~ Trust. You never know when someone will have your life in their hands. God love those who we know we can trust with our lives.

2 ~ Kindness. The kindness of an absolute stranger. He saw the fear in our eyes and took the wheel. We are eternally grateful to the kindness of a stranger. It reminds us to always be kind. Kindness can never be underestimated. 

3 ~ Never wholeheartedly trust technology. Sorry Kenny! 

in the end all is well and we enjoyed a lovely dinner and sagrantino wine in Assisi. 

ciao ciao…a domani

After being in Italy for a few months it is wonderful to have a friend from Canada here to share the experience of my adventure. I took a leisurely train ride into Rome to meet her. We had fun in Rome catching up and enjoying a delicious dinner at PizzaRe (we closed the place down). We spent the next morning exploring Rome, shopping on Via del Corso and visited the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. With another leisurely train ride back to my home in Soriano. We laughed the entire way up the hill as we dragged her luggage to my apartment. Settled in and went to meet a friend for aperitivo at Caffe Centrale in piazza. We enjoyed a few glasses of prosecco and numerous laughs. 

The next morning we were back at Caffe Centrale to meet the girls for coffee. We are noisy and cause a bit of a stir in this small town. Which really is part of the fun! A walk around town and lunch at Tre Scalini, which was delicious as always and entertaining. This is birthday weekend for my friend so we happily prepared spinach ravioli at our friends home for dinner. For us this was like being back home where we used to cook together all the time! For us it was a pleasure to introduce our Australian friends to Canadian ice wine…I had forgotten how delicious ice wine is. Which lead to a giggly night time walk around town. 😀

Day three was birthday day, crepes for breakfast and pasta for lunch! A visit to our friends to help us set up the Two Canadian Chicks Great Italian Road Trip! This is going to be a blast! A delicious birthday dinner at Rottezzia Osteria-Birreria which lead to the arrangement of a tour of some nearby Etruscan ruins…perhaps I drew too much attention to myself having fun the evening of Capo Danno…another story ha ha! On the walk home we came across a friend of mine and ahead a few laughs. 

Monday morning, time for a little shopping, down the stairs we go. A few food items, prosecco, limoncello and red wine…€33 in total, my friend is still in awe of this, at home one bottle would have cost that much. A few more stops at the panetteria for pizza and pane, and the water station for a refill of frizzante water at €0.05 per litre! Off again to meet our friend about a rental car for our road trip! Another offer to help me with speaking Italian…okay!! 

Watched Under The Tuscan Sun since we are visiting Cortona! Yay!

today…Piove! A quiet day at home. Lunch at Tre Scalini followed by a lovely walk in the rain and fog. Special delivery of wine today…this grey day has now begun to sparkle!

Now we are making pasta for dinner…there is no rolling pin in my apartment…chicks get creative! 

ciao ciao! Until the next update…

After watching the movie Under the Tuscan Sun a million times…I was aware that I would encounter various bugs during my stay in Italy. As I kid I loved bugs so I am intrigued to see the variety that live in Italy. I have seen some interesting bugs around my apartment. The classic daddy long legs spider and a large bug that buzzed loudly and was attracted to the light. A bright green bug that was oval shaped with long legs that seemed to hop more than walk. I was kind and escorted them out to the terrace where they belong.