May 29Arrivederci Firenze, Benvenuti Civitavecchia

Raining this morning. Appropriate, since the beginning of our trip was pretty rainy as well.

There was a sciopero - a national railroad strike- that affected many trains. The dates for the strikes are posted, and there are trains that are guaranteed to run- luckily ours was one. The whole thing sort of boggles mind and logic, but...

We survived what was not supposed to be a stressful day. Tried booking taxi to the train 7- count'em SEVEN times on different apps before finally getting a 73 Euro Uber to take us 3 km (@15 minutes) to the station.

The board listing departures - including our train to Rome- didn't give us the track number until it was just about time to leave - and no space for the luggage on the train. The steward had us put it in the vestibule so they could move the trolley through the aisle.

In Rome, there was no info posted anywhere for the local train to Civitavecchia- I ended up asking anyone with a Trenitalia logo anywhere on their person. First guy said to go to the end, turn left, and keep going. Reinforced by another guy after we'd been walking quite awhile. Then I stopped at another entrance along the way. I asked for the track number. He said 27. Kept walking, (to be fair, the first guy was correct) with departure time rapidly approaching. Got to the track and got a seat on the platform (in short supply) and... Waited. And waited. Finally the train arrived - at Track 28, which luckily shared a platform with 27. This was all 2nd class, but not crowded- left the bags in the vestibule area, and W kept an eye on them. As I was checking schedules, I noticed that the train after ours was cancelled.

We ended up with a 40 Euro taxi from the train station to the hotel. Checked in and started to chill.

We're staying at the Tenuta dell'Argento - the place where Greg & Megan found themselves quarantined several years ago. It's a very rural, bucolic area... EXCEPT - there are 2 large groups of young girls who are staying here for the national Gymnastics. They are very, um, energetic and vocal.

There was most definitely wine with dinner. The server chose for us after I gave him a price range. It was very tasty. We shared a Burrata and prosciutto. I had cacio e pepe- indescribably delicious, and W had tagliatelle with ragu.

The girls were energetic and vocal until they were corralled about midnight.Read more