Tuesday, we arrived at Pisa in good order after an uneventful flight from Seattle via Pisa. The only glitches in our plan to be in Partigliano by 2 pm was a late car delivery and getting a little lost on our way from there to Lucca. We dropped off our car rental guy (the marvelous Rosario) just outside of Pisa and I was driving. Somewhere I missed a turn and then it seemed logical to turn north and head straight for the Pisan Hills. Unfortunately, we ended up in a residential area full of dead end roads. Dom got the GPS up and running and it showed us the way home.
After a stop at the grocery store for a few supplies we arrived in Partigliano about 3 pm. Our friend Erina was ready with the key to the vacation house and we soon had everything unloaded. There were fresh flowers and Erina gave us tomatoes from their vines and some of their own olive oil. We had a bit of lunch (lovely mortadella, prosciutto, fresh Tuscan bread and sliced tomato) before running out of steam. So we set the alarm and laid down for a nap.
The Air France flight is definitely the quickest way to get from there to here—about 13 hours (not counting getting from Whidbey to Seattle). However, it leaves at 1:45 pm and so it is difficult to get much sleep. Just about the time it arrives in Paris is when I normally turn out the lights. It was bright and sunny in Paris and Pisa and that makes it easier but eventually the body just says, “Stop!”
We got up from our nap about 7:30 pm and went to dinner at one of our local favorites. It was then about 11 before we were back in bed for another go at sleep.
Today, we woke really, really early (3:30 am for me and 5 am for Dom). We sat in bed and read until 7 am and then got going. Our list of places to stop included the Questura (for our Permessi di Soggiorno), the bank, Mercatino del Usato (a consignment store to see if anything we left in the spring sold), Esselunga the supermarket for a few more things, the enoteca for some vino sfuso (loose wine). This being Italy what we actually accomplished was an appointment at the Questura to pick up our PdiS on Saturday, a successful visit to the bank but found out the guy we dealt with in the spring was transferred, found out we need to return to Mercatino del Usato tomorrow, picked up almost everything we needed at the market and bought the wine. Then it was back to the house for lunch. By 2 pm Dom had faded and I lasted until about 3:30.
For the next week or so our internet connection is a bit problematic. To get connected we need to walk over to the house next door closer to the wireless router at Erina’s daughter’s apartment. Email is easy but anything else is difficult. The result is there probably won’t be many pictures. However, once we are in Rome we are supposed to have free wireless at the apartment. We will see how it goes.
Tomorrow we are off on our first house hunting expedition.
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