We awoke and breakfasted with Elida. We found the toilet clogged which added a certain amount of excitement. So plunging and packing occupied a good amount of the morning. Guenter arrived from a walk in time to say goodbye. Rather than immediately hit the road we ran up to Panicale for a goodbye cafe.
As we were leaving this flyspeck of a town we ended up taking some unexpectedly flyspeck roads to get to the A1 autostrada, to the point of "that cow track can't possibly be the road" despite the clear indication of the GPS, but it was. Anyway we got to the A1 without too much trouble. We had a remarkably good lunch at a roadside gas station cum restaurant.
The GPS did not steer us wrong and with Nancy adjusting the display, keeping the blue dot visible, and my keeping the blue dot on the blue line we did just fine getting well into Rome where we entered a miles long tunnel where GPS could not operate. Less a tunnel, I think it was the lower level of a multi-level road system as there were frequent exits, but which exit would be ours? We finally emerged well south of our destination but, again, with cooperative GPS operation we managed to get to the rental car drop-off without too many wrong turns.
And so back to Monti for a cafe and rest in the apartment after which dinner in one of our favorite restaurants on the piazza.
After dinner I went for a long walk, taking the Metro to Barberini then walking back past the Triton and Trevi Fountains. Somewhere after this I passed a group of lost Dutch tourists who only wanted to get to a Metro (I've known this feeling) in this Metro-less area of Rome. I had them follow me back and I got them safely to the Cavour station.
no way I would ever drive a car there particularly in the city
ReplyDeleteI've driven all over the country and it really isn't that bad once you understand the rules. The cities are tough, particularly without a GPS; Google Maps didn't really cut it. However a certain willingness to accept getting lost and simply accounting for that in your plan makes it go much more smoothly. Now Paris, Paris is a city I would never drive in.
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