Train Ride to Tuscany

"My heart is warm with the friends I make,

And better friends I'll not be knowing,

Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,

No matter where it's going."

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Set our alarms early Saturday morning, but still had to scurry around our pretty Rome VRBO, preparing for our departure for Tuscany and our coming weeks at Chiarentana's "Sassaia" farmhouse!

When we arrived at Rome's Tiburtina Station, it took us two kiosks, four credit cards and some cash before succeeding at printing our three train tickets to Chiusi-Chianciano Terme. After that slightly stressful experience, all went very smoothly!  Our train was sitting on the track awaiting us: Clean, comfortable, uncrowded.  Paula and Mary settled into two seats and I into a seat across the aisle from them ... and then Paula smiled her big, beautiful smile and announced, "This is the first time I've ever been on a train!"

Lunch at Trattoria Porsenna in Chiusi
with Skinner Group!

After stopping at five small Italian towns, we pulled into the Chiusi station right on time and were surprised to see the station had been completely renovated since our 2015 trip. The "scary" elevator that I'd warned Paula and Mary about was no longer scary!  We walked down the street to a little restaurant where we'd eaten in 2015 ... and were delighted to find the Skinners & Beaulieus there.  We had great fun sharing stories from their time in Cinque Terre and our time in Rome. After lunch, we met Jesus and Gladys as they arrived on a 3 pm train from Venice.  We walked to Aesse Car Rental, across from the train station, where Sara took great care of us, showed us how to program the (wonderful) built-in GPS's and sent us on our way to Chiarentana.  

"Strada biana" (white road) ... leading to Sassaia
(the ever-present Mount Amiata in the distance!)

Paula is a fabulous driver ... Mary and I are delighted that she's offered to drive us around Tuscany!  With the help of written instructions and the GPS, she found her way to La Foce and Chiarentana with no problems as all!  We met Chiarentana's lovely rental manager, Lorena, who's been so helpful to me in planning our Spring 2018 adventure.  Then on to Sassaia, our home in Southern Tuscany!  Sassaia is a GREAT house, nestled on a beautiful treed site, comfortable & nicely furnished, with an amazingly well-equipped kitchen and a beautiful, long wooden dining table that seats 14 guests!

At 7:30 pm, all of our Week One guests, plus other friends staying in Chiarentana's one-bedroom apartment called "Bersagliere," met for our Welcome Dinner in the Chiarentana dining room.  The 13 of us sat at a lovely long table and enjoyed a delicious meal of bruschetta, pasta with artichokes and pecorino cheese, salad with arugula, bresaola and Parmesan, panna cotta with berry sauce.  During the dinner, Donata Origio, daughter of Iris and Antoniowho purchased La Foce in the 1920's, stopped by to introduce herself and welcome us.  It was a delightful evening and we are all feeling so happy to be here in this beautiful place. 

On the way back to Sassaia, Paula and I were riding with Jesus & Gladys in his brand new rental car, a standard (!) shift BMW ... very comfy, but bumpy on La Foce's white roads.  We were chatting away happily when Paula mentioned that she didn't think it should be taking us so long to return to Sassaia. It was pitch dark and all we could see were trees and huge fields flanking the very rough, bumpy roads.  We turned around to try another route but soon (well, after about 30 minutes) realized that we were hopelessly LOST!  But, the story has a happy ending:  Mary, back at the house and getting worried about her travel buddies, WhatsApp'd Paula who responded with a request that someone come out to the end of the Sassaia road and shine their headlights for us to see. Luckily, Hank and Caroline, our brand new friends from Dallas, were still up and offered to join Mary in a search party!  Soon we were all reunited, gazing up at the beautiful starry sky above us ... and happy to be heading to bed!

Twin room Paula & I will share for Weeks 1 & 2