The plan was to pick up our rental car at the Roma Termini train station through Hertz. We arrive at the station, make our way to the Hertz desk, and proceed to stand in line for an hour. When we finally step up to the desk, the woman says, "No more automatica, you drive manual?" Lee & I looked at each other with mild terror and say, "No!" The woman says then that she has a SMART CAR that's an automatic and we laugh, knowing there's no way our huge suitcases and other bags would fit in a Smart car. We tell the woman no again, and she says OK, she'll try to find another automatic. She types away industriously and we think we're in the clear. She swipes my card and gives me the paperwork and we're good to go. I ask her, just to make sure, "Not a Smart car, correct?" She looks at me in surprise and says yes, it's a Smart car! Oh boy. Turns out, Hertz cannot give us a car, so we get our refund and step next door to Avis, where there is no wait, and get an Audi A1 - automatic - for CHEAPER! How fun is that? The bad part is that the car is at the Avis lot INSIDE THE CITY. We had a bit of a time making our way out of Rome, but, once I put myself in the mindset of a Roman driver, all went well.
After some trouble with the Garmin, we finally headed in the direction we wanted and found Roman aqueducts out in the middle of a field.
Nice rental, eh? I want one.
Part of our itinerary, and a big reason to rent the car in Rome, was to drive over to the Mediterranean. We finally made it and it was spectacular. Lee wanted to go down to the beach to actually put her feet in the water, but the beach was not the best and the water was too rough. We walked out on what must have been some kind of boat slip or dry dock, so that was nice.
Along the way into Tuscany, we stopped at an old abbey, which is now just ruins. San Galgano is beautiful, especially in the late afternoon light after the rain. We weren't able to go inside, but just looking at it from the outside was nice enough.
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