Tuscan Bike Tour

TUSCANY BIKE TRIP

Not much else to say except this has been the best experience of our lives.

SUMMER 2004

Okay, so it's not Africa.  Think of it as an adventure for geezers. 

Pisa

We arrived in Pisa in mid-afternoon after convincing a very nice man at British Air to bump us up to an earlier flight. We listened to The Lonely Planet and took the number 3 bus from the airport with our two bike bags, our large hockey bag, and assorted backpacks. We took up the whole back section of the bus. We almost killed two nice little old ladies who tripped over our mountain. Nobody said anything; it just seemed to be another day on the #3 bus. It cost us 1. 6E. The bus dropped us right in front of the Hotel Victoria (113E). The beautiful girls were there to take care of us. They brought us cold water, showed us where to leave our bikes, and brought us a bottle of wine up to the terrace after we were settled. Our room looked out over the Arno (you have to press to get these). It was noisy because of the street life below, but now that there is air in the rooms, that shouldn’t be so much of an issue. On the plus side, you have the view of the Arno, and can watch the late night street life from your window. The ambience of the hotel is wonderful. There are the beautiful girls, the terrace, the breakfast room, the hallways and more. We came to love it after some preliminary qualms about the room

The Leaning Tower was even more awesome than we expected it to be. It wasn’t at all crowded on July 6 in the morning. The climb up is cool because the stairs on the down side are so much harder to climb than are the stairs on the up side.

The grass on the bottom says stay off so it’s where everyone walks their dogs.

You can book your tour on the Internet like most of the attractions in Italy. Today it didn’t matter much but it can save you a many hour wait, like at the Ufizzi.

The road from Pisa to Casciano Terme is 46K. One of the beautiful girls at the front desk gave us directions because she said she was from Casciano Terme. We trusted that she knew what she was talking about even though she sent us north when our town was south. I think we had a miscommunication. Maybe she heard our pronunciation as Cascina which is to the northwest. An hour later we went back by our hotel going the other way. Most of the morning was pretty ugly riding through urban sprawl. The best part was when we caught up to a traffic jam. We went through the roadblock and found ourselves in the middle of a communist demonstration blocking the road. They let us through because we were on bikes. Then the scenery started to get nicer.

We stopped for our first ‘on the road’ lunch at a little Bar Ristorante with a patio looking out over a little lake. We had wine, bread, cheese and water for under 6E. We found out that it’s hard to resist a half litre of house wine for the standard price of 4E.

It became typical to climb the last 4K each day, which wasn’t too surprising because we were after all visiting mountain towns. At least we got to start each day with a 4K glide.

Arriving at Casciano Terme we found that we were the youngest people there by about 50 years and we’re not particularly young. The Albergo Stella (77E) was okay. The very small, modern, and unexciting room was air-conditioned. We spent an hour in the spa and had a dinner outside where they put on really loud George Michaels music to make us feel at home. We watched as they set up torches all around the town for the big event, which turned out to be a ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ dance for the old folks. The band played about twelve bars of Bob Marley and then sat down and drank beer and ate pizza. Everyone went to bed. Breakfast at the hotel was brutal. Much like a hospital. We scooted on out of there.

 

Casciano-Terme to Volterra

This is where we entered the true Tuscany countryside. After coasting the 4K downhill out of town, and then turning back up the highway we had come in on, we looked for the road to Terricciola. We asked an older gentleman for directions and he laughed and made climbing motions when he found out we were headed to Volterra. We laughed along. We headed back a bit to our missed turn and saw the signs to Terricciola once we were on the road. This is fairly typical of road signs in Italy.

It was at this point that we began our entry into the true Tuscan countryside. The views began. We started to climb. Hills? What hills?

Volterra (40K)

Coming out of Terricciola, there aren’t any signs again. Turn left and then right and then you see a sign. Below is the picture of Terricciola. We hoped to have coffee here but nothing was opened so we pressed on.

After coasting downhill for an hour or so and going down a rather busy road, we stopped for lunch right where the road divides to Volterra and Vicarello. We had lunch, little knowing what was ahead. We hadn’t noticed the two little arrows all the way up the coming road. One arrow, we found out, means steep hill; two arrows means the Matterhorn. We watched a couple meet in the parking lot for what was obviously a lunchtime assignation.

It’s after lunch. That’s Volterra after an hour and-a-half of climbing. We thought it was some other town. I think our brains had stopped working and we hoped we would kind of bump into the city around the next corner. It’s 37 degrees. For three hours in all, we pushed, rode, rested, drank, prayed for rain (we got three drops) and climbed up the 11K hill. It seemed like it would never end. We were both losing it near the end. Dizzy, tingly arms and legs, and barely lucid. There was an air-conditioned grocery at the top. We laid in the frozen food section and drank fresh water as we had run out at the 9K mark of the hill.

After another K and-a-half uphill, we finally got to the Albergo Nazionale (67E) on the backside of town. They were very friendly, as usual, and had a place for our bikes, as usual. This time it was in the photocopier room. When we got to our hotel room we didn’t think that it was anything special but then we opened the blinds and stepped out onto the balcony. This was our first experience of what became typical for the trip. We are used to getting postage stamp sized rooms with a window looking out into the kitchen, but on this trip, almost every room was fabulous. Whether it was because we had booked so far in advance, or whether it was because they love bicyclists, we always got one of the best or the best room at prices that were way below what was posted on the door. We never felt that we had to check the rooms first like we have gotten used to in Europe. We also found that rooms with a terrace were the same price as ones without, so you might as well ask when you book. The Lonely Planet was a great guide for helping choose

 

San Gimignano

The trip is 30K. First 4K downhill as usual, followed by a 4K climb that was the only serious hill of the day until the end, of course. I mean these are called hill towns for a reason. Along with the arrows on the map, we also by now knew that scenic route is Italian for hill. We also groaned whenever we saw little snowflake signs on the road that mean you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of not climbing a hill soon. The trip took three hours including coffee breaks. Around thirteen K an hour was our average.

We stopped for lunch just before the climb to the town at the Anticco Terra Rosa for lunch. Little farm like place on the left. The food was tremendous. Chicken rolls, beef crepes and spaghetti carbonara. It was incredibly good! Did I say that already?

We were staying at the Hotel Antico Pozo that is a Karen Brown recommendation. We had stayed in one she had recommended on another trip in Prato and it was fabulous (I’m running out of adjectives about Tuscany), and so we had great expectations for this one. It was also the most expensive on the trip. (130E inc brekkies). The room was average. It looked out over the courtyard that was okay. The best part of the hotel was the well where they claimed peasant girls who didn’t want to submit to the ‘droit de seigneur’ were hung until they changed their mind. Paula needed to sleep as she was sick for the first part of the trip and so I went out to explore. The really cool part about doing this is that have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. I lived in Montreal for four years before I realized that it was an island. I was able to plan this trip largely because it was a circle. However, with me having two hours on my own generally to explore these towns, and a map, and because they were mountain towns only so far to go in any one direction before even I knew I was lost, I would end up with a much better knowledge of the town than did Paula, and so for the first time in my life was invariably right when we disagreed about directions. I lost this advantage as she recovered.

Also on this scouting trip I bought a cheap bottle of Chianti (we still at this point did not know how to find a good Chianti), and found a print maker just down to the left from the hotel. Drinking my putrid wine in the courtyard I met two couples (Three Finns and an American) that we kept bumping into in San Gimi and in Siena. I was quite down on San Gimi at this point, but I think it was bound to happen after the incredible experience at Volterra.

Our second day was much better. Paula had recovered, she told me to have a better attitude, it was less crowded, and we started off with a great brekkies in the courtyard. We went up the Torre Grossa. The steps all the way up are see-through, and so it’s not for agoraphobics. There are also fresco rooms. We managed to miss the naughty ones of the ladies taking a bath. The frescoes of Little Baby Jesus (LBJ) were good for that sort of thing and gave us an excuse to avoid them for the rest of the trip. We had lunch that day at the Antica Taverna Bruschetta – a wine bar with 86 varieties of Bruschetta. Good food and ambience.

I bought a print from the print maker ‘Primaverde’ and it’s now hanging in my office to remind me of better days.

Siena (45K)

We approached Siena with some trepidation. We had had the most difficulty booking the hotel in Siena. The owner doesn’t take credit cards and so we had to send a bank draft. Then we could not get a response for the longest time. We even e-mailed the Siena Tourist Board to try and get a hold of him. He finally e-mailed back saying everything was okay. Then we heard from friends that they had had trouble at the hotel. They said the owner was grouchy. That the rooms were poor, and that you were never allowed on the terrace, which is the whole reason we booked it. The Lonely Planet says that he plays the accordion.

It was an uneventful voyage with average hills and gorgeous scenery. When we arrived, we saw the GUYS so we went to a restaurant on the outskirts.

The Italians are generally really gentle with both their children and their dogs. The restaurant was an exception. Three screaming kids who played ‘Tiiccolo’ throughout the meal. By the time we got back in the city, the GUYS were singing in their first bar. Siena is big (compared to what we were used to) and it took us awhile to find the Albergo Bernini (82E). Despite our fears, the staff was really nice and the room was charming. The view from the terrace is unbelievable.

There are three nice restaurants down the road. One right below, we only heard was good. Down and then up the hill there are two restaurants on the left. The waiter at the one with the outside tables flirted the whole time with Paula and ignored me. You don’t mind this in Italy because they do it so well and are so complimentary when they do it. The Chinese restaurant just a little further up is great as well. Gelato store just down from the restaurant good as well.

Paula had to recover from a resurgence of flu so I got to explore and then drink wine on the terrace where I met Boris the cat. Boris is most pleasant and has the run of the place. I never felt uncomfortable going up to the terrace. You do walk through the family’s dining room so time your visits to avoid dinner, as this is a sacred time for Italians. The owner was very nice. Unfortunately, he did not play the accordion. It was fun sitting up on the terrace when new people arrived. They always looked stunned and then each one said, “Wow!”

The Campo is a great place to sit at one of the patio bars and have a beer. It’s hard to imagine the horse races being held here. Apparently the winning town gets marching rights hence THE GUYS. When I sat down at the patio, the GUYS were just finishing their second march. When I left, they were in the restaurant again, singing ‘La Cuccharocha’. By now, I had a pretty good idea of the town and could lord it over Paula again.

We went out for dinner that night at the restaurant you can see from the terrace . We ordered a cheaper, well cheap, bottle of wine and the waiter burst out laughing. Service was horrible. We ended up tipping the bugger rather than wait another hour for change. This was one of only two tourist traps we hit in Italy (The other was the Osteria dei Cavalieri in Pisa).

We decided to have brekkies on the terrace and they were very nice. Brioche, bacon, eggs, fruit, and coffee. For dinner that night we went to the Taverna di Cecco. A lady traveling with two teenage daughters had been there years ago and told us about it. It’s one of the nice things about Italy. You can return ten years later and visit the same restaurants and be served by the same staff. It was wonderful as well, except for the panhandler bagpipe player who makes the owner’s life miserable as he plays the same songs for two hours each night near sunset. You may want to time your visit around him. He’s like the pigeons; don’t feed him or tip him!

Another nice moment in Siena was when we went to the Bianchi store to get Paula’s gears adjusted. They had been a pain ever since we started. While they talked to her an old guy dragged me to the back. It turns out he is one of the original Frere Rossi who designed the Bianchi frames. He showed me the frames and all the medals he had won in the thirties. He had never seen a digi before and was delighted with the photo. He brought his wife over to look at it. We were to return here later when we left Siena and I kept getting flats. It turned out that some spokes had jagged ends protruding through the rim and so they filed them down for me. This was one of many experiences of the friendliness of the Italians. They adopt you very quickly, and are eager to help. We never felt unsafe, and never felt as though we were being taken advantage of (with the exception of the restaurant above).

While you are in Siena, be sure to visit the fortress. Not much to see there, but there is a great wine tasting place and store there. We learned a lot about Italian wines. No more obnoxious waiters!

Montalcino

This was a nice 35K with the usual climb at the end.

We stopped for lunch at Buonconvento for lunch at Il Pogolio. It was a nice patio lunch on a very hot day.

When we arrived at Il Giglio (80E no brekkies), they had a place for the bike all ready as usual. The room was the best yet. The room (#1) itself was nice enough, all done up in antiques. We had a gorgeous huge terrace overlooking the plains below.

We keep getting these gorgeous rooms. This was an easy town for me to scout out while Paula rested. The town itself is one big wine and cheese shop with some restaurants thrown in. Everyone is here for the wine – this is Brunello country.

Dinner was an experience for us. We had our first bottle of Brunello – a 1997 La Prata. Can’t remember the name of the restaurant. It’s in the square towards the town from the hotel and then up and to the right. It’s in the square and the restaurant is where all the motorcycles park. You can buy a Trib just down from there.

We went wine shopping and bought six bottles of Brunello and six Vino Nobile. We shipped them to our hotel in Pisa. Getting from the hotel to the airport was quite an experience with our bike bags, our luggage, and our wine. Only one of us could fit. I went because I could carry all the stuff and Paula caught the ever-reliable #3 bus. In Toronto we were sent to the bad persons section of the airport where, amidst a vision of true fear and loathing we got our wine through customs for only $60. The Russian next to us with the smuggled pork and the bottles of pure alcohol secreted throughout did not fare so well.

Short trip coming so we spent the morning in Montalcino.

Pienza

This was an easy 25K ride except, oddly enough, for a 4K hill at the end.

The hotel IL Giglio (99Einc brekkies) was modern and quite average. Quite a letdown after our last few days. Pienza is okay. We had dinner at a nice restaurant. Of course, I can’t remember the name but it was up a street to the left shortly after you get into town. It was at the end of the street on the left and it had really nice beams inside.

Montepulciano

This was only a 15K ride. We could have combined the last two easily enough. You can see the little knob the town is on from way far away. By now we knew that the highest point in sight would be our destination. It looks imposing, but it really wasn’t that bad. Maybe we’re just getting stronger. Paula is totally recovered now. I didn’t get to pre-scout Montepulciano and so she totally kicked my butt with directions from here on in.

Once again we had a fantastic room, #26, at the Albergo Il Marzocco (100E inc brekkies). This one is quite old. We had a pool room outside our room. And, yes, the best terrace yet. The terrace was huge and with a beautiful view.

We had dinner that night on the terrace with a bottle of Brunello. Lunch with a Vino Nobile. Life is tough. The next day we did a walking tour of the town that I had pulled off the Italian Foods Website. The best part was when it tells you to go into a wine and cheese shop and ask if you can visit the tunnels. They are happy to say yes. There are blocks of tunnels with wine stored everywhere and old torture chambers and weapons. Free!

We had our best dinner that night. Wish I could remember the name. It was on the uphill side of the town, was quite small (reservations!), and had won all kinds of awards. It was quite upscale but service was impeccable. The food was delicious and the wine list extensive.

Asciano

I booked a night in Asciano because the trip from Montepulciano to Castellina was too long for one day, and Asciano was in the middle. The ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ lady likes it. We didn’t. The bike trip (50K) was one of the best, though. We might have seen a dozen cars. The roads were narrow and up and down gentle hills. A lot of it was wooded and so it stayed cool until the end.

We got to our hotel just after 2:00 and it was a Sunday so we were pushing the limits for lunch hour. The family that runs the hotel was about to sit down for their lunch and so we joined them. We all sat and watched the motorcycle races while we ate which is what everyone seems to do on Sunday afternoon. The room was small. The town is industrial with no attractions. It’s the only place where Paula felt uncomfortable walking down the street. On the rest of the trip, the men would flirt and blow kisses, but it was all fun. Here it was nasty leering. The people at the hotel were really nice. The room was small and modern. Saving grace was that the hotel had a pool.

The Longest Road: Castellina (or was that Radda)?

When I first planned this trip, I was using the smaller scale map that didn’t show a road between Asciano and Monte Ste. Marie, but I thought there had to be one. It was there on the Italian Touring Club map. The road was 13K long and gravel. We got an early start knowing that it was to go up to 40 today. We also thought that we had 50K today and we knew it would be a climb most of the way. The trip to Monte Ste. Marie was grueling. The hills were extreme. On the other hand, it was absolutely gorgeous. And, as it turned out, it was only one-fifth of the trip.

Sometimes we’d argue. Are we going to climb the hill on the left, or the one on the right? Safe bet to pick the worst.  Really hot now.

It was a relief to finally hit asphalt again in Monte Ste. Marie. We wanted to stop for a break, but here wasn’t anything immediately available and the rest was further uphill so we went on. We took a wrong turn coming out of town and ended up with the choice of illegally going down the toll highway for the next 2K or climbing back up 2K to town. We took the highway. Once we got off, it was about 4K to Castelnuovo Beradenga. On reflection, this would have been a better place to stay than Asciano. We found a nice little farmhouse for lunch on the outskirts of town for lunch. As it was only 12:10, they let us sit but would not serve anything, even a drink, as they were about to eat before officially opening. It’s not that they are rude; it’s just that mealtime is sacred. Great meal and we weren’t in a rush anyway as we didn’t want to be back on the road before 2:00. After we started, it was so hot, that we figured we’d do ½ hour rides and then rest. We ended up feeling okay and so we pretty much just rode. At lunch, we started to see our first British tourists. We were to find that Chianti is culturally more British and German than Italian. Prices also are a lot higher in Chianti.

 As we get close to Radda, which is where I thought we were going, it was very much uphill. There were mountain streams with taps by the side of the road that I was showering under and drinking with no ill effects.

It was about 5:00 when we finally arrived in Radda. It had been our longest ride and it had been the hottest day. We couldn’t find our hotel so we asked for directions. The first few said ‘Castellina’ which I thought they were saying it was by the castle. However, a bad thought was growing in my mind so I told Paula to sit and rest while I looked for our hotel. When I planned this trip, I kept on changing my mind between Radda and Castellina. I finally settled on Castellina, but forgot to change the name on the spreadsheet that was our bible for names and distances. Finally, I confirmed that we were in the wrong town and that we had another 10K to go. Jim Bouton said that the hardest thing in baseball is explaining to your wife why she has to take penicillin for your kidney disease. The hardest part of this trip was explaining we were in the wrong town to Paula. I did tell her it was all downhill which was a total lie but I wanted to live to see sunset. We didn’t talk much for the next hour, which was a good thing.

I’m lucky. The Palazzo Squarcialupi (95E inc brekkies) is gorgeous and we’re here for two nights. The hotel was the original palace of the ruling family around here. It has been restored and has sitting rooms, a bar, and really nice rooms. They also have air-conditioning which we really appreciated tonight. Our room was on the top floor and overlooked the square. The rooms on the other side have a view out over the valley, but those are all suites and cost much more. You could sit out on the bar for the view, and we’d had so many anyways. The staff was extremely helpful. They put our bikes in a garage a block down the road. Later, I wanted to do some maintenance and so I tried to follow directions given me by the lady at the desk. I ended up crossing people’s terraces, wandering through garages and basements endlessly and finally popping out of a door behind the front desk to everyone’s amusement.

We did a wine tour our first afternoon there and it was well worth it. We got the history of the Palazzo Squarcialupi, heard about the development of Chianti wines, and got to taste. We now know that a pink label on the bottle means that it is Chianti controlled. A black rooster means even more controls. The black rooster signifies the victory of Florence over Siena for control of the region’s wines. Lesson learned is that you should keep your rooster hungry if you want to wake up early. The girl leading the tour said that it is a myth that Italians drink a lot. After all, she said, when they have a couple over for dinner, they will start off with a bottle of white, then have a bottle of Classico, then a bottle of reserve and finish off with a Super Tuscan. And that, she said, is only three bottles (whites don't count apparently). We tasted the latter three. The Super Tuscan, a blend of Sangiovini, Merlot and Cabernet grapes was unbelievable. It has the complexity of a $200 a bottle single malt.

For dinner that night we went just outside the lower town. The setting was very nice. The meal was okay. The highlight was my primi platti, rooster comb pasta, which I assumed described the shape of the pasta. It didn’t. It came with eight little rooster combs. I managed to eat three of them. Paula declined. Chicken! It was kind of like tough bad-tasting mushrooms. We had a wonderful Sicilian dessert wine.

On the way out next morning, we visited the Etruscan Tombs. Quite interesting and free.  You can see where the Romans got the idea for the arch.

Greve

Greve (29K) was an adventure. I thought my back tire would last the trip even though it was somewhat old. We had lots of inner tubes but hadn’t packed extra tires. Just after coming down a steep hill, my tire blew. I replaced the inner tube and it went again. I saw that the wire had separated from the rim. We had a booking at an agri-tourismo that night and they were only open until 5:30. We decided that Paula would go ahead and secure the reservation and that I would walk and hope for a ride. After about 4K I hit a town with a bike rental place. They couldn’t fix it, but gave me directions to the place in Greve that could. Finally after another 2K, a guy in a pick-up stopped. He was taking his son to the bike shop to pick up a bike!

I bought a new tire. By this time, Paula had been at the hotel for about half-an-hour and is trying to decide what to do. Send help? Sit and wait? One of the problems is that we were staying at the Castello Vicchiomaggio (107E) which is actually 7K outside of town unknown to us. There is also a Hotel Viggniomaggio in town which it’s easy to screw up the pronunciations of. Paula had already had the mix-up when she reached Greve. I had too. The guys in the pick-up directed me to the wrong place. I double-checked with someone else and was pretty sure that their pronunciation sounded closer to ours. Plus I was pretty sure we were staying at a palazzo and not a hotel. After a 4K ride on my nice new tire, I saw a sign which directed me up an alp-like hill and said that reception was in 800m. 3K of mostly pushing later I finally arrived. Once I got through the Berlin Wall of security that surrounded the place, I got in to an immensely relieved Paula. We asked to make reservations at the restaurant only to find it was closed on Wednesdays. When we groaned faced with either starving or gliding 7K into town and climbing 7 brutal K back they said they would send us up a dinner. After our swim we returned to salad, bread, pasta, and a meat and cheese plate which went along with the dessert wine in the room and the bottle of reserve I had in my knapsack.

I have wanted to swim in one of these pools all my life!

San Croce Sur L’Aarno

We rode about 45K this day. We had been aiming for Empoli, but there was no reason to stop there. The riding had been fast. There were a couple of hills to begin with and then we started going down out of the hills along the Arno to the coastal plain. Here’s where we stopped for lunch and the Mother of All Crane Photos. Hamburgers and fries for lunch – a guilty pleasure.

This was the only night we hadn’t booked a hotel. Once we arrived in town we rode around unable to find anything. We finally asked at a tobacconist who gave long involved instructions, and then we asked someone else who gave us what sounded like easy directions to the same hotel. We ended up at the Arno and found a Bar-Ristorante with rooms. The room was small and right above the bar but we were tired of looking. While we had beers outside, they were setting up for dinner. This included a karaoke machine. We began to suspect that we might be in for a late night but figured we may as well enjoy it, so we booked a late dinner.

The place was packed. It was like something out of The Godfather. Now I know why they said I didn’t have to worry about leaving our bikes outside beside the restaurant. It was fun, though. The owner’s son, Diego, was in charge of the mike and he played it up to the crowd. We were given free chocolate liquor, which were really good. Things broke up by midnight and we got a decent sleep.

Lucca

It was an ugly 45K ride into Lucca. One ugly industrial town after another. It was flat, though.

We had a corner room with windows on both sides and a ceiling fan. Even though it was in the 40’s, it was always pleasant in the room even though there is not air conditioning. The owners, a brother and sister team, are really nice and helpful. The room was big and nicely done up. Lucca is a really nice town. It’s just the right size. Everybody rides their bikes and so we kept riding ours everywhere. It was a great way to see the town. Here’s the main cathedral taken from outside our hotel.

You can ride around the walls on your bike. Note the trees growing out of the top of the tower. This tower is somewhat easier to climb than the tower in San Gimi as most of the stairs are not see through. It has kind of a homey feel up top with the trees and all.

Return to Pisa

The last ride was an easy 25K. As you approach Pisa, there is a very large hill, and then lo and behold the one and only tunnel we encountered our whole trip.

That’s it. We were soon back at the Hotel Victoria with the beautiful girls and the same room but now with air-conditioning that didn’t work and our bottles of wine waiting for us and our bikes to take apart and our meal at Beny’s.

Beny’s was a great way to end the trip. It was everything that was wonderful about Italy. People, food, and wine. Then throw in the beautiful countryside. Traveling by bicycle had so many benefits. We got to see the country at our own pace. The hard trips made the reward at the end only more worthwhile. The few small disasters we had only let us further in to the underlying goodwill of the Italians. We love this place.

The cab ride to the airport was interesting. I think we got the same beautiful girl at the desk who had sent us north when the town was south. She didn’t understand exactly how many bags we had- two bike bags, a huge hockey bag now stoked with a dozen bottles of wine, a large backpack, and two carry-on backpacks. We managed to fit everything into a Mercedes sedan except for Paula who hiked out to the #3 bus while I dealt with the baggage.

We had about a four-hour wait at the airport, but it’s a little more civilized than Canada. You could buy a bottle of wine at the gift shop, get glasses at the bar and drink it on the terrace.

Not much else to say except that this has been the best experience of our lives.