So, I had an absolute blast with my mom when she cam to visit. After our crazy yet amazing weekend in Paris, we had about a week to just relax a little more and explore Florence and the surrounding areas. I had classes all week long, so I just showed her around the city in the mornings and evenings when I was free. And on Wednesday, when Katy and I both had a full day of classes, our moms went to Rome for the day. They left on a very early train and got the whirlwind tour of Rome from another big red tour bus, saw the most important things and then came back late that same day. Other than that, most of the time during that week was just spent looking around Florence, shopping and checking out the local tourist spots - until the next weekend. The last weekend my mom was here, she and I took a train to Pisa, saw the tower and then headed off to the airport to rent a car - that's right, I said rent a car, in Italy. If that sounds crazy, that's because it was, but it was also SO fun. Here's the thing. There is a chef at the restaurant I work at back home (Turkey Red) who grew up in Florence and told me that his mother still lives in the area, in the Tuscan countryside and that I HAD to go visit her. So we figured what better time then when I was with MY mom. We got the directions from Franco, the son, on how to find Slyivia, the mother, and then we were off.
Keys in our hand our first task was to find our car: A Fiat Panda, not the smallest car I've seen in Europe yet, but still, pretty tiny compared to what we were used to from back home. Here's a couple of photos of our little vehicle for the weekend. Not to shabby, huh?
Things went surprisingly well, considering we were driving a new car in a new country... the only minor problem was when we needed to back up to turn around and we couldn't figure out the reverse... so we just opened the doors, got out and walked the car backwards until we were facing the right way. No big deal. Not soon after this, we discovered that the reverse only engages after pulling up on the knob below the gearshift... good to know!
Before we knew it, we were off, listening to the Italian radio, cruising our way on down to Livorno, where we were going to stay for the evening. Livorno was wonderful, a nice city right on the water with the port right there nearby the city center. We stayed at a nice little hotel called Hotel Grand Duca and had a great view of the port and all the boats in the water. Here's mom standing outside our hotel by the statue. I took this photo from our window of our room.
Like I said, Livorno was a really nice place, and it was nice to just walk along the water on all the paths with the trees and greenery. There were people out everywhere running and walking. We saw lots of strollers and little children playing and rollerskating too, which was nice, since I don't see a lot of that back in Florence.
We also found this really great shop called a Yogurteria, which basically means they sell frozen yogurt with all kind of toppings, SO delicious. Don't get me wrong, I really like this whole Italian gelato thing here in Italy, but some nice frozen yogurt was actually a nice little break from all the gelato I've been eating here. I, of course put chocolate on my yogurt, along with some of these strange wanna be M&M type candies - YUM.
So the next morning, Saturday morning, we got up early, had breakfast at the hotel and hopped into out little car and found the road to Cecina. This was the little town about 50 kilometers away from Livorno, where were going to attempt to find Slyvia AKA "the mother" The road we were on took us right along the coast, and even though the weather was stormy with thunder and lighting, it was still a beautiful sight. At one point along the drive it started to hail on us, which was kind of fun. I think it was then that I mentioned to mom that I was happy that we didn't end up renting a little smart car like we had joked about because at that point of the storm I would not have felt very safe!
We made it into Cecina rather early around 11 or so, which was nice, considering we knew we'd be needing a fair amount of time to find this little old lady's house and have some time to visit before having to turn around and drive back to Pisa to return our rental car before 4PM. So, with only her home address in hand, we began our search. About and hour later and with nearly four different sets of directions given to us by four different Italians, we finally found her building. We buzzed her door and thankfully she was home and let us into the building. As we rounded up the last set of stairs leading to her apartment, however, we saw her peeking out her door, and as soon as she saw us, and realized she didn't know who we were, she slammed the door in our faces. Thankfully we were able to shout to her before she shut the door, that we were friends of her son Franco, we were the ones coming from Alaska, and was she Franco's mother. Slowly, she eased the door back open and once she figured out who we were, she graciously let us inside. Let me just say, Sylvia was one of the sweetest little old ladies I have ever met. Unfortunately, she had just recently taken a fall and had broken her shoulder so was rather out of commission, to say the least. Even still though, she was so hospitable and insisted on knowing what she could do for us! Can you believe that, we were the ones who showed up completely uninvited just to visit and she's still asking if she can do anything for us, like if we were hungry and could she make us a sandwich or anything, what a dear! So we had a really nice visit with Sylvia for about an hour or so before we had to get going so as to not be late getting back into Pisa. I think she really enjoyed having someone to visit with and share some her life stories with. All in all, I think that my mom and I were both really glad that we decided to take the trip and look so long and hard to find her.
It was a wonderful weekend get-away and a great time spent with my mom. Made me realize how special mothers are, I know I'm so truly blessed and grateful for my mom. Love you mom! Thanks for a great week, weekend and road trip - and thanks too for never getting upset with your very inadequate co-pilot and map-girl... I'll take a road trip with you any day, mom!
Here's a photo of Sylvia and I in her apartment right before we left! I'll never forget her sweet face and all the great stories she told us. Franco, you have a very wonderful mother!
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