SO, the good the news is...WE'RE HERE! We are at the Villa. We got here.
The bad news...
Oh, where do I start...
Getting on the plane in Vienna to go to Zurich was a bit of an adventure. The jerk at the counter, despite the fact that the flight was about 25% full and they had made no indication to us when they booked the new flights, INSISTED that we had to check our bags and that they would meet us...IN FLORENCE. After we all threw a fit, he kinda threw it onto the airplane crew. I ran down the gang plank and talked to the lead flight attendant who, when I explained what the issue was and what the guy up at the desk was saying, looked at me and said "Of course that isn't a problem. We aren't full and have plenty of space, get on board."
So, the hotel in Zurich was actually quite nice. We absorbed the diner they comped us, slogged to our beds, I washed my socks in the sink in the bathroom, and then COLLAPSED into bed.
(yep, this is what you have to do when there is no dryer)
You know how they say you don't know what you've got till its gone? Yeah, I missed a hot meal and sleeping horizontally.
We were up bright and early, caught the shuttle to the airport, got through security, and were wandering through the Duty Free when I saw a little stuffed rabbit sitting alone, away from its buddies, at the other end of a display. She looked VERY lonely. And she bribed me with swiss chocolate.
So Fiona has joined our party.
They have these awesome moving walkways that actually go up inclines at the Zurich airport! I may or may not have pretended to be the Silver Surfer...
(OK, so I TOTALLY Silver Surfer-ed it...)
The flight to Florence was pretty cool. We got to fly over the Alps, and before the clouds got too thick we got some amazing views.
We landed in Florence and I have to say I just about wanted to kiss the ground. We went and got the suitcases they made us check in at Zurich...and then that was it. None of our larger suitcases came off the plane. Despite the fact that we had been promised OVER AND OVER that our luggage was tracking with us and would be there when we got off the plane...it turns out they never made it onto the plane...IN LONDON!
GAAAAHHHHH!!
They are getting it on a plane and we should be able to get it tomorrow and we have been instructed to save our receipts for whatever we needed to buy to get through the night.
Trust me, we considered going to Bulgari or some other high-end clothing and toiletry store.
At least we made it to Florence!!
We got the cars and managed to find stuff to get us through the night. We also found a lovely little Pizzeria with WiFi and House Wine. As you can see, Fiona imbibed.
Heading out of Florence, our stupid GPS couldn't find a satellite so it was up to Mel's roaming data to get us out of the city and out onto the A1. We did make it and started winding and rolling through the Umbrian countryside, seeing chicken and sheep and lovely hillside towns, getting ever closer to our destination. When our GPS (which we did finally get working) read less than 4 minutes from our destination, we crested a hill and discovered a large sign in Italian BLOCKING the road that read (basically, in translation) "Road Closed due to disintegration."
HEAD DESK!
After cursing the travel gods and trying to go down a road that was more dirt than road and may or may not have scrapped the underside of our rented car, Mel came to the rescue and found an alternative route that was about 30 minutes, but would HOPEFULLY get us there.
We wound through more country, finally turning back onto the road that our Villa was on, but at the other end, and slowly climbed ever closer...and then there, on our right...
(actually the view of the back)
There, in all its glory, was our destination. In all its early spring glory, with the rolling hills of Umbria out the back door and sofas and beds and hot showers and food.
We made it.
Now we just have to get our wayward luggage. And there was a bit of drama getting some people from Orvieto.
But we are HERE!
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