Today in Italy it is "All Saints Day" therefore a holiday. Some things are closed but luckily and unknowingly my friend Andrea and I planned to go to San Gimignano (near Sienna, out in the country side of Tuscany). Lovely day, we climb the tallest tower and take our scenic pictures. We wind up and down, in and out of little cobblestone alleyways and shops. We stuff our faces with salami, pizza, chocolate, gelati (yumm)(there was an orange in there somewhere Mom! I can see you cringing now)- and are perfectly timed to catch our bus home. Good Day!- But wait we are on a holiday so that bus doesn't actually come, and the next one isnt for another 2.5 hours!
What have I learned in Europe? When in doubt hitch-hike.... We know that if we can get to Poggibonsi by 4:25 we can then catch a bus to Florence instead of waiting in San Gimignano until 5:45.
Finally out of "tourist everywhere" zone, we are on a narrow country road where the psycho Italian drivers fly past you on thin curves at speeds you don't mess around with! There are no "shoulders" here. We have walked about 1.5 Km and this car comes Screaming past us! I think maybe only one of us even had the thumb out because we were both just trying not to get hit. We looked at eachother wide eyed and said "holy S#i@!", and just started walking again. As we faced back forward we see that this bat out of hell is going to be our ride:). SHE comes to a screaching halt about 100meters forward, slams it into reverse and starts backing up towards us at about the same speed which she just past, while cars are approaching from behind... :)This is about to = Paige Sandwich!
When hitch-hiking you aren't choosy.., so we hop in, say "Poggibonsi", she nods, says "solo italien" (she only speaks Italian) and then cranks up the stereo full blast and off we go! My head is plastered to the head-rest. I am not kidding you, my heart was in my throat a few times. She would hover about 2feet (realistically) behind the car infront and when there was maybe a chance she could pass, she would whip it out, fly forward and screach jerkingly back in between the next car. There were a few times when she (we) were on the middle deviding line between both lanes of trafic,not in a lane with cars on both sides.... I couldn't even look at Andrea because I knew I would bust out laughing and that was not going to get us where we needed to go! Needless to say we got there in PLENTY of time and when we got out of the car we looked at eachother and just busted out in histerical laughter. Mostly out of fear- nervous laughs- but we knew we were now okay. She seemed like such and unlikely sole to pick us up, and we decided she wasn't in a hurry, that is just how she drives. She took us directly to the bus station which couldn't have been in her original plan of route, didn't say a word when we said "gratsi" and "caio". Just a slight smile and off she flew! Sweet, thank you. We still had 20 minutes to spare!
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