Friday, October 14, 2011
Siena, Italy to Lucca, Italy
Leaving Siena behind today, reluctantly, but we are moving on to Lucca today and on the way the charming site of Pisa with its cockeyed tower. Driving along, I was thinking of the challenges ahead, the traffic on the highway, the traffic in Pisa, the traffic snarl to try to park, the traffic getting out of Pisa, etc. Sometimes its not good to think, or at least not too much.
As always it wasn't that bad as we actually did it. Focused, absolutely; keyed-up, aware, all senses on the road and the traffic, absolutely; But, that said, no real incidents but one. Moving north toward Firenze, we transitioned from the regional highway over to the main Lucca-to-Florence freeway after a shortcut crosscountry at Mario's request. Entering freeways is never easy here, the on-ramp is just not long enough if there is any highway traffic to merge with, and the ramp is always much shorter than in North America. But this one was extra short, and there were three big transport trucks in a row to clog up the entrance. I was watching the trucks, watching Dick in the mirror, and trying to watch for the end of the ramp before I ran out of room. It almost didn't work, as I all but rammed my right front fender into the guardrail at the very end of the ramp before the trucks went by. I was caught by surprise by how fast the end approached, trying not to loose too much speed before merging. Then, the last truck past, darting left onto the roadway, foot on the floor, but such a small engine that I had very slow accelleration and the traffic caught us from behind. But, we made it.
We had some fun getting into Pisa, as we had no destination for the GPS to send us to within the city and near the tower, only the broad target of Pisa itself. But Jan had a Rick Steves guidebook that gave us sketchy and limited instructions to a parking area on the north of the city from which a shuttle-bus departed to the tower every hour. We'll take it if we can find it.
But we couldn't. The directions referred to 'the second traffic light after the first roundabout after leaving the highway' at a certain exit, but things must have recently changed because nothing vaguely like it appeared. Over in the distance, to the right, we could see the signs toward the tower, but not on the road we were travelling. Not knowing any better, or having a better idea, we pressed on into the city, the logic being that anywhere 'in there' was closer to the tower than where we are now. Eventually, the traffic thicker and the road bending to the right, Jan and I decided to stop and get our bearings. There were a couple of parking areas, and we found a recently vacated spot in a triangle of cars in the center of an intersection of three roads that was not controlled by a traffic light. Dick had to find his own slot, which he did (a better one than we had as at least he was in a parking lot) and I got out to chat with him and to ask some locals if we were even close to our objectives. And, frankly, to rest up for a minute as it had become pretty intense on the road. By the shearest, blindest luck we turned out to be three blocks from the Arno river, and on a road that crossed the river and went straight on down to the tower itself. About ten minutes said the two girls we spoke with. Then the scramble to get parking tickets, as yes you have to pay to park even in the middle of an intersection. It is Italy, you know. Ticketed now, but for only an hour as that was the maximum time we were allowed to park anyway, we set off.
We made it, but it took twenty minutes and that was with us pushing hard. The area is just not scooter-friendly, and Shiela had to go down the street rather than the sidewalk for most of the journey, dodging cars.
Arriving, we found the tower pretty much as we had left it last time, still leaning, still looking like it was about to fall. We did the tourist thing, snapping pictures including ones where the person had his/her hand up as though holding the tower while the photographer snapped. Then the always search for trinkets, though my idea of another pizza in pisa was vetoed as we were running out of time and had to head back. Which we did, another adventure, but all went well. Up and out of there at last, with the GPS giving us firm directions to our hotel in Lucca, we crossed the Arno and turned left to parallel it, then on the back country roads to Lucca. It was the back door route, in a way, but the two towns are so close it was the best way, and the road was incredibly scenic. Though different from the grape-growing area of Tuscany, as this area was mostly non-grape agriculture.
After some misleading directions from the GPS, we finally found our destination which as a small apartment/hotel that Dick had located via 'Booking.com'. It turned out to be totally inadequate, as all units were on the second floor or higher and there was no elevator so no way Shiela could get to the room. After considerable hassle with the 'desk clerk', Dick got a refund on his card and a second booking at a nearby Best Western hotel that was definitely wheelchair friendly, and off we went to the new hotel. It was excellent, and as advertised, and we took it. After a long attitude-adjustment period at the bar on arrival, and a nice dinner later after a bit of a rest in the room, it was bed for all of us and out for the night. Tomorrow, Cinqua Terra.
