Friday and Off to Greve

Friday started out as usual although I took my time finishing my packing and walking down for breakfast because there was a 7:something bus and a 9:something bus - neither of which appealed to me and then the next one wasn't until 12:08.  But finally it was time to bid farewell to my basically pathetic room in Florence and set my sights on Greve in Chianti.  By the way, ever since I came across it, I've pronounced Greve as grieve but have discovered it's pronounced Grev-a (short e sound, gently rolling r's), so I'm trying to say it like that and feeling kind of foolish, but if I say "grieve" people don't know what I'm talking about.

So I get myself down to the bus stop, go in and check again with the man that I'm in the right place and everything's as it should be, and go outside to wait.  There's another woman waiting and, hoping to be reassured, I ask my standard question "Inglese?" meaning do you speak English.  She said no, but then must have felt sorry for me cause she asked "Siena?" and I responded Grev-a and she said something that indicated to me I was in the right place so I indicated to her that I would follow her on.  So here came the bus and it was even about 8 or 10 minutes early, (do you sense a trauma developing?), she gets on, I get on and say timidly to the quite surly looking driver "Grev-a?" and he looks at me with a "god, I hate tourists" look, so I go sit down and off we go.  In a short while I hear the two ladies sitting next to me speaking English and so say something to them and we have a little conversation about where we're going.  They're going to Siena...I'm going to Grev-a.  We talk about that for awhile and are done.  At some point, I notice the sign thing they have on the front of buses and it says where they're going (it was visible inside too) and this one says Sienna Diretta via Pongibonssi which somehow doesn't sound too good.  After not too long we pull into Pongibossi and after a little more discussion we all decide that probably I need to get off and start over.  Which I do.  I go to a tourist information office that is just across the square, find out that I indeed managed to get on the wrong bus, buy a ticket back to Florence hoping to make it back in time to catch the 2:25 bus to Greve which she tells me will, strangely enough, say Greve on the front (duh!)  I DO make it back in time, I DO get on the bus, and by darn, I DO get to Greve!!!  So there - I feel like the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" sometimes.

I met a nice American couple on the Greve bus who were staying in Greve with people they knew.  I need to have some of you people move to foreign lands so I could come visit you!  Anyway, I called my landlady (Guiliana Grassini when I got there as she had instructed me, she came down to get me and we started up into the beautiful, beautiful hills of Chianti country.  In a very short while we are in Montefioralle and she brings me into this apartment, and it was love at first sight.  I had seen pictures on line and so was hopeful it would be all right, but then I had seen pictures of supposedly a room at my hotel in Florence too which turned out to not really tell the whole story.  But this apartment...my oh my.  And there was a bottle of wine waiting on the table, there were nice smelling bags of something in the wardrobe, there were pictures, pillows, little rugs - it was home!  And that's enough - here are pictures...

Entry way - step up into living area

 

Kitchen, eating area - baskets, little tablecloth...

 

Corner cabinet filled with full set of nicely patterned dishes

(a plain set is in kitchen cabinets)

 

Milady's dressing table and huge wardrobe

 

Believe it or not, the late afternoon view from the bedroom

 

And this is the view out the entryway window

So, about all I did after rejoicing, unpacking, having an incredible shower with no billowing shower curtain, and settling in was to wander through the tiny, twisting streets of this little jewel of a village.  My only reservation about Montefioralle would be that the traveler without a car is at a disadvantage - there is nothing in the village except for one restaurant and a bar.  If you wanted to set up housekeeping for a week or so and didn't have a car, it would be tricky getting groceries, etc. up here.  My landlady has said she'd be happy to bring me up the hill any time I feel like walking down, but I'd really hesitate to take advantage of that offer.  My only solution to that problem is for me to move here, buy a place with a couple spare bedrooms to rent out and open a little "essentials" market. But you all need to promise you'd give me your business!

Here are my wandering pictures, all either of the village streets or views from the streets. 

 

 

 

 

Buona sera...