* Bad News: Getting there *
Suitcase
At Ben Gurion Airport the line to the security is moving slowly. As I drag my suitcase it becomes apparent that its movement is laborous, its bearing tilted...
I take a closer look and here it is, or rather, here it is NOT. One of the wheels is not there. A closer inspection reveals the wheel ---it is there, but inside of the suitcase's frame. The contruption on the outside that had held it in place is missing. Lost. Probably on the train. And the axis is pushed into the frame, and the wheel is inside... Sounds like the end of the suitcase.
On the plane
Alitalia's stewardess passes the trays with dinner around. I say that ours should have been be kosher. You didn't order kosher, she says with such conviction, that I believe her more that I believe my own memory.
Anyway, everything is kosher, she adds. Because that was from an Israeli caterer. Right. We are not convinced, so we pass on food.
Arriving in Rome
We arrive in Rome. The plane is standing in the middle of the field. The mobile staircase is pushed toward the plane. The door opens. The missing wheel of the suitcase does not matter anymore. Got to pick up and carry your luggage down the steps. Nice. Then have to drag it into the crowded bus that takes you to the terminal. So last century, it is not even funny.
At the Rome airport
-Yes, you can make your connection just fine. Head to gate B28.
And we head. And we track, and we huff and puff, and we do the NYC thing of moving really fast, weaving between those who moves slower, and we are covering extremely large distances. We sweat, but we succeed. We are at the gate B28, and it is the boarding time. Alas , there is a delay. We were supposed to arrive at 11pm and a woman is supposed to be waiting for us in the apartment in Florence.
I ask the airline's person to let me use their phone to call the woman. They are not allowed to let passengers use the phones. No place to buy a sim card. Our phone has an Israeli sim card in. Finally a young woman in Alitalia uniform pulls out her own phone and tries to call the woman in the apartment. There is no answer. I ask her to call the owner of the apartment. She does. She explains the owner that the plane would be delayed by up to two hours. He says that he would contact the woman at the apartment. I thank the young woman in Alitalia uniform. She smiles. We wait. And wait. Finally it is boarding. Again the missing wheel does not matter. Pick up and carry your suitcase onto a crowded bus, off the crowded bus, then up the movable flight of steps into the aircraft. Then a short flight to Florence.
At the Florence Airport
We arrive. We wait. The movable stairs are pushed to the aircraft. The door is open. But there is no bus... The flight attendant is calling on the phone. The passengers are getting angrier. We can see the terminal. It is really close. One very angry man is yelling out Italian curses and demands that he is allowed to disembark and walk to the terminal. It is against the rules, the stewardess tells him. He tries to push her aside. At that moment the bus arrives. And again the missing wheel does not matter. Pick up and carry your suitcase down the movable stairway, then onto the crowded bus, then off the crowded bus. We walk through the terminal and proceed to the taxi stand.
Florence
The taxi takes us to the apartment. We push the button of the buzzer. Then push it again. We push it repeatedly. Nothing. A woman appears from around the conner of the street. It is 2 am. She approaches us. She was waiting in the car, saw it when a taxi pulled in and came. She lets us in the apartment. We have arrived.
* Good News: Being there. Tuscany *
Firenze
Views from Piazzale Michelangelo, a famous square with a magnificent panoramic view of Florence.
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Lucca
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Mura di Lucca are thick 16th century walls that surround this beautiful Tuscan town. The top of the wall is actualy a narrow shady circular park, with mature trees and one wonderful wide alley for walkers and bicyclists. |
| Here is the bronze statue of Giacomo Puccini, the famous citizen of Lucca. His house where Puccini spent his childhood is on the same Piazza. Alas, it has been in a state of disrepair since the family is in perpetual disagreement with the city regarding the repairs. As a result, the house is not open to opera lovers who would like to see the piano on which Giacomo Puccini composed Turandot... |
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The Torre Guinigi (the Guinigi family Tower) is crowned by oak trees to symbolise rebirth. It is built in brick and is decorated by coats of arms, cornices and plaques. |
| What used to be a Roman amphitheater of the second century B.C. is now Piazza del Mercato or a Market Place. It is a lovely oval area surroundewd by medieval houses hosting restaurants and shops on the ground level. |
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Siena - Reflections and City Lamps
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Cortona
Cortona, Tuscany, is perched on the hill. It is almost on the border between Tuscany and Umbria, about 100km from Florence.
We are staying on Oasi Neumann Hotel, formerly a monastery.
The garden is on the side of the building, and it is terraced down from a tall wall in the back toward a short wall in front. A small fountain, terracotta planters with flowers, benches, and a tree lined alley are in the shady area of the upper terrace, In the area under the sun are tables and chairs, Right bellow is a formal garden, geometric and manicured, with another fountain. It would have been perfectly symmetric if not for the two mischievous magnolia trees: the one on the left is of a proper conic shape, while the one on the right side is such a free spirit, with its branches going every which way...
To get to the door in the tall back wall one has to climb steps. Once there, walk out, and you are on the narrow road with tall walls on both sides. You shut the door behind. When you return, the buzz of the pushed button will alert the reception desk of your arrival, and they would let you in..
Peaceful and tranquil road is climbing up, taking you to the town of Cortona. Two peaceful and tranquil roads actually, one from Il Palazzone runs above the road from Oasi...
Sabra cacti, yellow flowers, red poppies grow in the grass on both sides of the road, and on the crevices of the stone walls that are on both sides of the road. Then the walls end, and the view of the valley below and the mountains afar opens. You have come to the town as the road sign CORTONA lets you know that you've arrived. It is a street now, with houses on both sides, a narrow street, if a bus is passing by, or a car maneuvering around a parked vehicle, it is a good idea to stay rather close to the walls of the houses.
Wednesday June 15 we watched total lunar eclipse first from Piazza Garibaldi, then as we were walking toward Oasi, then from the window of our room in Oasi. This was one of the darkest eclipses this century.
Lower terraces have a pergola, rows of fruit trees, and the lowest level is grass and old stone benches next to the low wall overlooking the valley, the mountains afar. The wind is cool and gentle, no one is around, Birds are chirping and cars add their noise which is , thankfully, muted, as the cars are rather far.
Follow the road with tall walls and it will take you to a private road to Il Pallazzone, with its tower, large rooms, frescoes on the walls, tall wooden ceilings, some with rows of intricately carved circular shapes, old leather-upholstered chairs, old furniture, a covered well in a handsome courtyard, formal rose garden, lots of olive trees.
The Palazzone was given as a gift to the University of Pisa and is used for conferences, seminars, summer schools.
The street takes you to Piazza Garibaldi with a stature in the center and a semicircular balcony-like
side overlooking the valley. Here under mature trees in pleasant shade, one gazes at the farm land punctuated by cypress trees, terracotta roofs of houses, an old church with a paraboloid for a cupola, an occasional swimming pool glistering on the sun. Mountains along the horizon line on the left and in the center. A blue surface of the visible part of Lake Trazimeno (which is already in Umbria) is on the right, the invisible part is hidden behind a close by mountain.
Via Nazionale starts off of the Piazza Garibaldi and is lively, with shops, art galleries, cafes, and small restaurants on both sides. All streets going to the right or to the left are very steep, many--- with steps.
The ones on the right go sharply up, those on the left run sharply down.
Bad News: Getting Back
Cortona
Cortona railroad station is empty. Two old metal boxes on the wall are to be used for buying tickets. The one we chose let us select the point of departure (Camucia-Cortona), the destination (Florence), the class (second), the number of passengers (two). Then it took our money (coins in the slot for coins, and bills in the slot for bills) and lazily dropped first – the tickets and a bit later- the change into the same compartment. We collected our two tickets and change. The tickets looked very strange. Actually, they were blank, as if nothing was printed on them. And nothing was!. No one to ask either. The tickets have to be validated by being stamped in one of the yellow boxes on the platform. We did that and rode that express train for one hour and 15 minutes, and since no one came to check the tickets, we safely arrived in Florence.
Florence Airport
Florence airport looks and feels shabby, but so what? It is true, you get to spend some time there because the seat assignment is done by the ticketing when the boarding pass is issued. Also a small suitcase that you planned to take on board is weighted and if it weights more that 8 kilo, you must check it in. That means some re-packing right there to pull out the things that should stay with you.
Going through security is casual, Sitting in plastic chairs in a crowded area by the gates is dull and uneventful. That is unless things suddenly become exciting. Like in Your-Flight-to-Rome-Is-Delayed,-And-you-Shall- Miss-Your-Connection Exciting. A young Alitalia woman was fending off the advances of angry passengers. Those who were missing their connection to Istanbul, and those who needed to get to Madrid...
Four were missing their connection to Tel Aviv. Melanie Phillips was there and a young Israeli woman, and the two of us. The Israeli woman was perpetually on the phone with her travel agent and the up-to-date information that she was receiving contradicted the sorry pronouncements of the Alitalia woman. Apparently, there was an ElAl flight from Rome that was scheduled to depart an hour later than the Alitalia flight to Tel Aviv which we were missing. And there were two economy seats available there, in addition to six business class seats. The Alitalia woman denied that there were any free seats on that flight. Her supervisor appeared twice and was very rude. Her responses were aggressive and angry. Providing assistance with rescheduling is against the Alitalia rules. When eventually the plane to Rome took off, the flight attendant explained that the small Florence airport is using small planes, and winds affect their ability to maneuver. Very helpful...
Rome Airport
Of course, the same routine with mobile staircases pushed toward the plane, crowded buses take you to/from the terminals---both in Amerigo Vespucci Airport in Florence and in Leonardo da Vinci Aeroporto in Fuimicino (Rome). Of course, we had missed our connection.
Again a tired and irritated woman in Alitalia uniform took upon herself a myriad of demands in many languages from tired, irritated, and angry passengers while giving incomplete instructions ( which sound more like orders).
We were told to go to the end of terminal 3 and find bus stop 12 and wait there for a bus that would take us to a hotel and make sure to be back to the airport at 7:30 for the 9:30 flight to Tel Aviv. No questions answered. Do as told. It is 11 p.m.
Bus stop 12 is nowhere to be seen. A young Italian woman joins us in our search, and eventually we do get to this stop, and wait there along with a bunch of people who had missed their Alitalia connection.
The hotel is a ten minute drive from the airport, that is at midnight when traffic is very light. It is called Hotel Satelite, and this is how it is spelt, but not how it is pronounced. A rather miserable line to get the key to the room. eventually we are in the room. it tried to look posh, long ago it probably did. now some carpets are torn, the phone doesn't work, the sheets do not feel dry.
That was when it became clear that having the Italian CIM card actually did have some value: An ability to call Alitalia and confirm that we were indeed booked on the morning flight to Tel Aviv, and to find out which terminal to report to in the morning. We were advised to arrive early as the flight was full. And that was what we did. Took the 6:00 am shuttle to the airport, ten minutes later (not much traffic so early in the morning) we arrived at the terminal and spend some time getting to the right ticketing office. After that was waiting time , and of course, our flight was delayed by an hour. But it did take off. More than that, we actually got our kosher meals, which was very helpful as we were running out of food...
Ben Gurion Airport
When we arrived at Ben Gurion the trains to the North were not running anymore, so we took taxi home and arrived 4 hours before Shabbat.
Everything was closed, except for the door of the Moroccan fish retaurant, and the owner gave me three small loaves of bread and refused to take money and apologized that he had already closed everything.
Good thing, we had had in the apartment eggs, and onions, and buckwheat, and a can of olives and frozen ravioli, and yoghurt, and feta, and cottage cheese, and pecorino, so i prepared the Italian style Shabbat meals, and we enjoyed it.
summary
The trip to Italy was great except for the Alitalia experience on the way there and on the way back.
P.S.
Because of the european E.coli scare, fruit and vegetable, our staple food during travel, were out, so I had brought a good supply of cheeses and breads and crackers from Israel, but how "cheesy" can you get? oh well.. in Florence we ate a lot of pasta that i boiled in a little traveling pot of mine. Of course, pasta was served with ... cheese!
P.P.S.
Alitalia messed up our mile credits for Delta Skymiles. We flew Alitalia, the Delta's partner, four times: from Tel Aviv to Rome,from Rome to Florence, from Florence to Rome, and from Rome to Tel Aviv. I got credits for the first three flights but not the fourth while V. got credits for the fourth flight only.