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Sat, May 26: Gaujac, France to San Miniato, Italy
We woke up early in the morning so we could get an early start for our
long drive. I started out with a terrible eye infection. Yuck. Looked like
conjunctivitis. I also had the bad cough that I and D had. No contacts
today. We were on our way by 5:30am. The kids did not fall asleep right away as
planned. D was not a happy traveller but he did end up with a good nap in
the car eventually. I is easy in the car. He eats, watches videos, reads
books, falls asleep, just looks around, sings. We tried to get to the P1
highway to drive along the coast when we got to Nice but no go. The entire city
was blocked off and dirty besides. So back to the highway. The coastal view from
the highway is also great except you go through lots of tunnels. Best pit stop:
above Monaco! A bit rainy but the kids were able to move about a little bit in
the not so kid friendly restaurant. We could hear a Formula 1 road race going on
down in the city but couldn't quite see it. As we approached Italy, I was
in awe again of yet more beautiful scenery. Little villages tucked in the mountains
or down in the valleys, along the coast or set away. Amazing. We ended up having
to stop more often because D was fussy. We had a great grilled vegetable/panini
sandwich at some roadside rest stop but again completely not kid friendly. I freaks out at the smell there too - sheesh, the baby barf was one thing but the
aversion to bakery smells, what's up with that!?. The next road stop doesn't
even have anyplace to sit. Kids are playing in the gas station parking lot. We
put down a blanket in a grassy area with glass and dog poop surrounding us but
at least D can stretch a little. On the way to the Little House in Italy, we
find a monstrous grocery store in a modern mall outside Pisa. Got food to get us
through the weekend. D is soooo tired and it's a long last 30 minutes.
Finally we make it to CornIo in San Miniato (thanks again to our great
navigator JohnCleese!). It's remote and very much like I expected from the few
photos: up in the hills, the views all around are stunning, especially from the
pool. The house is really interesting but also not kid friendly. We made do fine
though. It's part of a big villa with rooms and apartments for rent with a
restaurant in the middle (next door to us). There's a kitchen/living room as you
enter (next door to the restaurant). Two big bedrooms upstairs (above the
restaurant) and a big bathroom (although alas no bathtub). There's another big
bedroom on the third floor with another 4 beds. It's kitsch and antiquey. Cool.
The restaurant/bar is lively when it's open but I never quite figured out the
hours nor saw an actual menu. Seems like they focused on private parties maybe.
It's hot and we try to get the air conditioner working. The woman in charge -
who also works at the restaurant - presses lots of buttons to get it to work and
declares that she'll call someone else to help. Over the next few days, assorted
people stop by to press the same buttons before it's apparently concluded that
it won't work. This leads to a comical, awkward exchange every time we see the
woman who puts her hands up and says in broken English, 'Airco....No work'.
Ultimately, it worked out fine. It actually was cool after the first few days
anyway and she ended up not charging extra fees that we expected. Running was
tough up here. After the first day, I ended up running on a fairly flat piece of
road between our villa and another one.
| On our way! |
| D checks out the view from our front door! |
| The main room as you enter: kitchen/living room (well a couch actually) area. |
| D actually put his new stair climbing abilities to the test on this big concrete staircase up to the bedrooms - under supervision of course! |
| Please contact me if you know what the heck the deal is with the commode on the right! Our ideas ranged from foot bath to butt bath. You'll soon see what we chose to use it for. |
| Views from around the villa. As with the Provence in France, it was hard to not keep looking out the windows at all the amazing scenery. |
Sun, May 27: Vinci, Italy
A bit of a lost day initially. A rainy day. Didn't sleep well. Too hot and
too many bugs. I and I woke up early. I jumped rope in the entry way outside
while I played in the kitchen. Lots of rain so we decide to look for a museum
and ended up in Vinci (Leonardo's birthplace). A nice village. We went to a museum
with small models of his inventions made up from his drawings. We see a market
down the street as the rain slows down and pick up some pretty looking pies
(unfortunately didn't taste as good as they looked) and
some local wine. There's a communion party going on at the restaurant at the
Little House but we walk around the property after D wakes up from his nap. I and
W go for a swim and I feed
D on a picnic blanket nearby. We
have dinner of fresh green beans and chickpea casserole with rice (from Les Stes
Maries de la Mer, France!). I is conned into eating a big plate of green beans
in exchange for some melon. Yay, something other than peanut butter on rice
cracker for him! We finish the last of our French wine and move onto the ItalI
wine we bought in Vinci. We're all totally wiped and are in bed early!
