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Published: October 28th 2008
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Scarlino
Up on the Hill Ciao!
Well the last few months have just been cruising along as usual, in saying that there have been alot of changes too, i've made some great plans for Christmas and my Birthday (which you can read about later) and my entire flat is changing (except for me of course). Three of my friends are leaving and only now (after nearly 21 months of having people come and go) I think I've accepted this fact and am just enjoying the short time I have with them.
A few of you have asked for photos, i've added some from the last few months at the end of this blog ( I will try and send more soon).
I was lucky enough to get away to Tuscany last weekend for a bit of R & R (with Annette), although i'm not sure it was exactly what i'd envisaged when I thought of sipping wine 'under the Tuscan sun', let me elaborate..
The weekend began on Friday night when we flew from Gatwick at 5am. Carmel kindly let us stay at her place (as it was cheaper to get to the Airport but still £40 worth!). So we awoke at
Col de Sasso
This is the area we stayed in, there were 2 villa blocks 1 and 2km down the road. the crack of dawn and took the short 2 hour journey to Pisa Airport in Tuscany. We arrived around 9am Italian time and headed off to pick up our Fiat Rental Car.
The weekend literally kicked off with a bang which was unfortunately the sound of the wing mirror on the passengers side of the car being taken out by a bus (keeping in mind that the passengers side is the opposite side in Europe!).. We pulled over and checked the damage, luckily not much apart from the Mirror. After a few minutes of staring at eachother for answers I decided to do what any normal twenty four year old would do in a time of crisis -call Mum and Dad.
After some reassuring words and a bit of a giggle we began the 2 hour (180km) journey to Scarlino, the little village we would be staying in for the next two nights. We headed towards 'Lucca' which ended up being 20km in the wrong direction. We only learnt this because the man we asked for directions at the Petrol Station responded with 'Ah Problem' when we pointed to Scarlino on the map.
We eventually made it
Our Apartment
This is just the living area.. It was huge! and arrived in Scarlino around 4.30pm (god knows how after seeing some spectacular Italian driving and being on the opposite side of the road!) but couldn't seem to find our Accommodation. It was an odd little Village on a hill and there were loads of narrow streets. Luckily a little car with 'Cabinieria' written on the side pulled up behind us to chat to a car on the other side of the road so I wound down my window and showed them our Map of 'Col de Sasso' (where we'd be staying).
The two uniformed Italian men signalled for us to follow them and led us all the way to our accomodation, phew! We met the guy at Reception and told him that the 'Cabin men' helped us find our way. He then told us 'Oh not the Cabin men, The State Police'. He then said 'There are the police who navigate the area and then there are ''The State Police'', no one wants to mess with the State Police!''. So I guess it's a good thing they didn't know I lost my license a few months ago and my international drivers licence had expired!
We spent that
night eating freshly made Ravioli in the Villa's Dining Room with only two other people as it was a very quiet time of year for them. On Saturday we spent the day relaxing by the pool reading books and on Saturday night the man at Reception organised for us to go to their yearly Local festival 'Sagres della Polenta' for Dinner.
He made clear that it 'wasn't modern' and didn't that turn out to be the understatement of the century! It was like going to Bingo night with the elderly, long wooden tables, a DJ (playing all italian music) and a few families here and there. The Plastic plates, Tablecloths and School Hall said it all but it was great to be amongst the locals and be the only English speaking people there.
We ate Chicken, Wild Pork (which was caught especially for the festival) and drunk Red Wine (for 9 Euro a bottle, cheap as chips) before heading back to our little apartment. It was fun attempting some Italian and we managed 'Prego' and 'Grazia' to thank them for our meal.
On Sunday we made the journey back to Pisa, we stopped in a little beach
town called Follonica (which we decided sounded more like an STD than the name of a place) which we'd passed through on the way home for Gelati and Italian Coffee.
We dropped the Rental Car back (with a huge sigh of relief from me!) and had a lovely guy that said the damage shouldn't cost us too much as it's just a mirror. More 'Prego's' to the helpful man and off we went and celebrated with a bottle of wine whilst waiting for our flight only to find (once we were in the queue to check-in early) that we were an hour ahead of ourselves with daylight savings!
So we headed back to our Italian friend at the bar who was happy to keep us occupied with more free wine and chips until we caught our flight at 6pm. It wasn't until then saying 'Prego' for our Pizza that he corrected us, 'Prego' means 'you're welcome'.. All the 'Prego's' i'd used in the wrong context over the weekend came flooding back.. Note to self, take a phrase book next time!
The Weather in Tuscany would have been around 25 degrees, it was muggy the first few days
but beautiful on Sunday (typical, the day we left!). Tuscany is very pretty and reminded me alot of home, particularly Martinborough with it's vast greenery and Vineyeards scattered here and there.
Flights, Accomm and Rental Car for the weekend cost only £250, from a great little website called lastminute.com
So all is well in London, I have some very exciting plans coming up for Christmas. As alot of you know, Hannah and Nina go home to Australia for a month in December each year. I decided to use the time wisely and have planned a month Safari in Africa, we travel through alot of Eastern Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda to name a few) and even do a three day Gorilla Trek in the Congo. I am very excited (and a wee bit nervous) and the preperation is taking longer than what the trip will but no doubt it will be worth it in the end!
Apart from that i'm back into work and have a Halloween Party and Hen's Night this weekend to look forward to. I'll try and take lots of pictures and send them soon. Speaking of which, i'd love to see some of you
guys too, make sure you take some at Toast!
Love and Miss you all heaps and hope that you are well and looking forward to a fun-filled Summer, hope to hear from you soon.
Olivia xoxo
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