Tuscany At Last!

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Drama, drama, drama
That’s my description of 10 women staying in the same villa for a week. Half of us want to be in charge (type A’s) and the other half are passive-aggressive or just passive. Or as Tom so eloquently put it, “Sounds like a Survivor episode! No need to go into detail, I’d rather let all those incidents fade with time. But certainly there were some classic moments that should have been captured on film.

The first stress came with the drive from our small town (6 kilometers from the villa) of Rufina. The directions were perfect. I guess we should have wondered when they instructions included notes such as, “take the white road” and “stay to the right of the white villa” or “go through two hedges”. I guess they forgot to mention the tips on honking around blind 180 degree turn pin corners. And when you meet another car, make them back up so you can pass - they’re used to it! All I can say is, half way up the mountain, I decided I really didn’t want to drive up and down it more than a few times. Scary!

Mom and I were lucky to be the first arrivals at the Villa on Saturday so we got our pick of the bedrooms. We decided on the smaller queen bedroom which is described as the apartment. Featuring its own bathroom with tub (there are six full bathrooms and two half baths in the villa!) We also have our own living room, small kitchen and patio. Believe me, this is the best part of getting in early. A quiet, private place to relax is exactly what we have needed with the drama queen daily displays and the general stress of travel. We’ll even still want to be together after our trip is over - I can’t say the same for some of the others.

Julie and Karen were next to arrive about 5:30pm at the villa. Then we waited to hear the status of our two other groups. Stephanie and Sarah got stranded in Levorno Saturday night. The Italian trains went on strike from 9pm Saturday to 9am Sunday. Those Italians - at least they schedule their strikes so you know not to try to leave. Linda and Betty picked up Leasha at the Pisa airport Saturday morning, but when Carolina’s airplane arrived from France she was not on it. So they waited at the airport for the next flight - just in case she would be on that one. Now those are good friends! Linda and I were able to stay in touch with our BlackBerries - nothing else seemed to be working. So we were able to meet the group down in Rufina at the Coop (local grocery store). Since it was Saturday evening and all the stores are closed on Sunday we needed food for 10 ladies that would last at least until Monday. Talk about trying to herd cats! It was hilarious seeing everyone toss food in the basket with no real idea what we would be making.

When we arrived back at the villa, there was a bit of a scramble for rooms. Karen gave the new arrivals a quick tour and showed each of them to their accommodations. Meanwhile Julie, Fay (mom) and I made a quick dinner of spaghetti with creamy tomato sauce and chicken with salad with a liver paté appetizer. We enjoyed a bottle (or two) of the villa’s vineyard Chianti wine a specialty of this region - of course. It was a great first meal in Tuscany. Once we had food in our bellies we were much happier.

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