Well, we are up and running.  Checking out of our little apartment after a week.  We have train tickets, or at least Lindsey does, at 11:38, (I have paid for tomorrow, as I was supposed to meet Greg and Leslie again after Lindsey left) for a place called “Poggibonsi”.  I can’t seem to get the name of this place straight in my brain, so I am calling it “Pongobongo”  😊  Greg and Leslie are checking out of Siena and picking up a car and some groceries.  We will arrive at our destination at approximately 12:44 and wait patiently for them to arrive. 

We took up 4 seats on the train.  We feel a bit guilty as the train is quite busy.  There is no place to store our larger bags, so they are in the seats with us. 

We change trains at a place called Empoli.  The next train we are on is much less busy.  We have approximately and hour on this train.  This area of Tuscany has many cyclists.  This train has a section to accommodate them.

We arrive In Pongobongo a bit late.  The train station has a bar.  I head in while Lindsey sits with our bags on a bench in the shade of a tree.  I return with 2 nice cold Birra Moretti to enjoy in the warm sunshine.  As we wait, we look at our bags and start to feel that the car might be too tight with 4 adults, bags of 4 adults and the provisions that Greg and Leslie are picking up.  I switch the SIM card in my phone to my Canadian one, so that I can text Leslie.  With my Italian SIM I can only call or text Italian numbers.  Not the most convenient, but not the end of the world.  I text Leslie to say that we can grab a cab to our accommodation so that they don’t have to pick us up.  We get a reply that they are almost there, so we hold pat.  Once they arrive we need to repack the little Citroen like a 3D puzzle.  All set, we are off to our “Luxury Villa in Tuscany”!!  Woo hoo!!!

We stop in the little village nearby, Castellina di Chianti.  Stopping at one of the first restaurants that we see, we have pizza for lunch, we are starving.  When we pay we discover that there is a 3.5 Euro “Coperto” charge. This is a common charge in Italy, usually to cover sitting at a table, cutlerly, table linens etc. We sat outside with paper napkins and had basically takeout pizza. A bit exhorbatant. We will be more careful. 12 Euro is about $18 CAD just to sit down!! Also pick up some wine in town before we arrive at Agrotourismo Rocca, it is so lovely.  This is the kitchen/living/dining room.  There are 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  The setting is beautiful.  A vineyard and olive farm.  Some people take naps, some people don’t.  While the naps are happening thunder and lightning rolls in and the clouds open up.  The rain is absolutely teeming down.  I don’t know how someone (Lindsey) can sleep through this thunder. 

Greg and Leslie leave to pick up milk, cheese and other perishables that they didn’t want to pick up earlier as the long car ride would not be good for those items.  Just after they left a HUGE thunder clap rocked the cottage.  They were on the road when that happened!  They arrived back, like drowned rats.  The power keeps dropping and coming back on.  No one was going to go out for dinner.  We improvised with what we had.  I had some local pasta from the Cinque Terre area and pasta seasoning packets from the Central Mercado in Florence.  Leslie had picked up some tomatoes.  Great Italian dinner!!

The Tuscan/Chianti adventure begins!!