Well we have had our first major driving day for this holiday and managed to escape unscathed !
Like most things in Italy – which seem to move at their own pace – our checkout this morning was a bit slow so it was after 9.30 am before we were away. The guy at reception was obviously a fan of the movie “The Matrix” as he seemed to be taken by our surname and had to say the movie quote “Mr Anderson” – not quite the same with an Italian accent !
Leonardo’s home
Finally on our way, we headed for our first stop for the day – the town of Vinci – the birthplace of one Leonardo. The little stone house where he was born – illegitimate to a servant woman – has recently been setup with an audio visual experience of his life – we caught the Italian version but is was very well done. As we arrived in Vinci, we got the first of the rain that followed us most of the day – certainly in the early part.
We struck another bike race with road closures again – just outside Vinci we came to a police road block with details of a road closure on a sign. When we got to the police officer, Adrienne expertly enquired if we could get as far as da Vinci’s house and a confidant “Ce” from the officer indicated she had got her message through. So off we went and sure enough just as we headed off a side road to the da Vinci house we could see the road closed a bit further on.
That Tower
From Vinci we moved on to Pisa. We struck some torrential rain along the way and at a couple of points could hardly see in front of us. We arrived in Pisa in pretty steady rain. We headed for the best parking station option and found that the rain was obviously keeping the crowds away as there were hardly any cars there. In fact the cars were wildly outnumbered by the most ravenous pack of hawkers I have ever seen. They were here in numbers – at the ticket booth on the way in, they then followed you to your parking spot and more converged as you got out of the car. And you can guess that umbrellas were the sale of the day ! Adrienne already had an umbrella but I just had my raincoat – my hair doesn’t get too effected by the rain ! But at one point Adrienne wanted me to buy an umbrella just to get rid of the hawkers as I was like a magnet without one.
Anyway, we took our photos of the leaning tower – all be it in pouring rain – then headed for the nearest cafe for some lunch. Obviously we were not going to be sitting outside so we came to the first one which looked ok where the waiter was directing people inside. We went in but there were no vacant tables. We headed out and he caught us again and said there was another room. We headed back in and out the back but this was full as well. We managed to sneak past on the way out again before he pointed us somewhere else !
Next door was a much nicer looking place so we went in there and found a table without any trouble. We ordered bruschetta and pizza to share – which were both tasty again – and headed out into the rain again and back to the car.
From Pisa we got onto the Autostrada to head north. It was nearly 2.30pm and we had a drive of over 3 hours to get to Lenno. The rain eased and stopped as we headed further north and we even got some sun. We stopped at an Autogrill along the way – basically a highway rest point with petrol station, restaurant, amenities etc. – and filled up with diesel. As we got further north and into the mountains, the clouds came in again.
The Lake from our balcony
We arrived in Lenno just on 6pm. Our hotel, Albergo Lenno, is right on the lake and our room as a little balcony overlooking the lake and the little ferry stop. It is a beautiful spot even in cloudy/ drizzly weather. We were given a voucher for a “Welcome Drink” so we sat on the verandah with a glass of Prosecco and some nibbles and enjoyed the view across the lake as it got dark and the street lanterns came to life. We decided to have dinner in the restaurant here tonight. It was a set menu – about 3 choices of each course – turned out to be nothing flash but quite tasty. Adrienne had stuffed pork and I had fish.
The Internet here is pretty ordinary again – would have to say it has been a bit of a disappointment but we have probably been spoilt from what we are used to in the USA. Liam seems to be having the same problems as he hasn’t had much access either.
More news from Lenno tomorrow.