[Idyllchat] Fwd: Fw: Trip log to Tuscany North

[Kim Paschen]

 The following got sent to the wrong address for Idyllchat so I am reposting
here.

----- Original Message -----
 *From:* italia <italia at cfl.rr.com>
*Sent:* Friday, October 13, 2006 8:38 AM
*Subject:* Re: Trip log to Tuscany North


  We traveled to Tuscany North Sept 6 - Sept 20. We stayed in Calci, Villa
Rosselmini. We have the Alcova apt. Two bedroom (there were four of us) very
comfortable and spacious on the second floor overlooking the gardens in back
and the olive grove in front. Our trip there was tiresome and extra long. We
left from Miami, flew AF to Paris, CDG (this airport is a nightmare) avoid
going there if at all possible. Our connection to Pisa was scheduled for
three hours later but ended up being more like 6 hours due to delay which
they never told us about. We will never choose a connection there again,
ever! We visited Pisa, Siena, Lucca, Florence, and Calci. We had a bigger
rental car for the four of us and traveled to my home town of Capestrano on
the East side of Italy. This was the highlight of the trip. It took 6 hours
by car and we were treated to one of the most beautiful drive with
mountains, tunnels, small hilltop villages with castle towers and walls all
around the villages. Lucca was our favorite town while in Tuscany, it's
quaint, slow, and not crowded with tourists. We bought leather there at
great prices, and Italian all cotton blazer for the men. We went back there
three times. We did Florence in one day by train and that was enough. Siena
was nice but hard to get to. We were lucky to find a parking lot below and
were even luckier to find escalators going to the top otherwise we would not
have arrived at the top.In Pisa, we saw the beautiful architecture of the
leaning tower, the Cathedral, and the other buildings. This city was a pure
tourist trap, but worth seeing. We never got to the Cinque Terre, even after
two attempts by car driving to Lerici. There is no parking anywhere. We went
at 11:00 am and then again at 7:00 and both times we turned back and went
home. The driving was another matter. My husband did most of the driving and
even with me speaking the language and reading most of the road signs, when
I could find any, we had a Garmin GPS which was a life saver, and we still
ended up making the wrong turns because of the lack of street signs. If at
all possible, get a GPS to make you trip more enjoyable. AVIS rental has
them available for about $10.00 a day, well worth it. If you have one at
home, get yourself a map chip for Italy or whatever country you're traveling
to. This really saved the day! Untour did a good job in meeting us at the
airport and taking us to our apt. Caterina, their representative was very
nice, but was not able to answer all the questions the guests had when we
were at the orientation meeting, we found out later that she was only on the
job for six months and we have trust she will get better. The Trip home was
better, except that we made our connection in the nick of time in Paris
thanks to AF personnel picking us up at the plane from Pisa (45 min away
from the terminal) and rushed us through VIP check in line. Unfortunately
our luggage did not make the connection. Fortunately, Delta delivered them
two days later right to our front door. Word to the wise, take anything you
purchase on your carry on baggage if at all possible.
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