20 east

We left San Gimignano at eight Wednesday evening and drove without a serious stop until we got home yesterday evening. The journey was circa 1,800 km and took 23 hrs, of which 19 were driving and the rest trying to drink enough coffee to stay awake and eating eggs for breakfast somewhere halfway up Germany. It is strange, because of the surreal nature of such a trip that you have vague recollections of things that happened, like in a dream. The petrol station in Innsbruck at 03:30 where there was the tattoo-guy, the drunk woman and the equally drunk other guy (who might have just finished his shift?) that kept finding presents to give to Zosia, a biro, a kids games book…. Did that really happen?

In total we’ve driven 4,650 km since we left home and I shouldn’t really go on about it AGAIN but I will – Polish roads are a disgrace! The entire trip through Austria, Czech, Italy and Germany we have enjoyed driving on good roads. There have been trucks of course but they were not in our way, for the most part. There was traffic, but it didn’t hold us up for long. There were poor road surfaces but only on 2% of the roads and nowhere near as bad as here in Poland. There were roadworks, but when you have 6 lanes or more to play with they do not hold you up for long. With the natural exception of small local roads through Tuscan countryside and such-like, we’ve been able to drive everywhere at between 100 and 180 km/h depending on how we felt, road conditions have not dictated our speed or ease of travel.

Route was roughly – San Gimignano, Florence, Milan, Verona, Brenner/Innsbruck, Munich, Nuremberg, Leipzig, Berlin, Poznan, Warsaw.

The last part of our journey home was from Berlin to Warsaw. Frankly, we should have committed mass suicide and died in Frankfurt Oder. The pathetic excuse for a highway that lies somewhere between those points is what the Italians would call an “SS”, local speedway used for getting to the shops and back, NOT an international highway to get from one city to another. Two lanes? Who builds a new highway with only two lanes in each direction, other than the Poles of course? 50% of it with one lane closed for roadworks, the other 50% with trucks overtaking each other. And they had the bloody cheek to charge us tolls for it, three times 11PLN. When are they going to realise how third-world Poland looks in this regard? Berlin to Warsaw should take half the time it took us.

It is easy to become desensitised to the conditions on Polish roads but a trip like this really opens your eyes. I propose the entire Polish government be taken on a driving holiday around nearby Europe, including other ex-Communist places such as Czech, just so they can’t use that as an excuse.

If anyone is thinking of a similar drive by advice is to go via Vienna and Cieszyn, not via Berlin. Everything was pointing to the Berlin route being best – sat-nav, Google maps, many people we talked to but that journey from Berlin to Warsaw is as bad if not worse than coming all the way up Poland from Cieszyn so why bother driving all the way up Germany only to face that crap on the last leg!

Anyway, we’re back and it is very good to be back home and back in Poland (despite road comments!). The lush, unspoilt, Polish countryside is a joy to behold after so long away, as are the sensible Polish prices for food, drink and groceries.

A photo gallery and some further posts will follow when I have time, possibly starting this weekend.

The statue of David by Michaelangelo is a bit like Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, not what you’d have at home but something you must see if you’re in town. So we did.

There’s no doubt the real one is better than the others by quite a margin so it is worth visiting the Accademia and paying the €10 each entry fee to see it. I’m surprised, given that one interesting aspect of it is the different facial expression depending on which side you look, that they have it positioned such that it is almost impossible to get a good view of the left profile. Apart from that it is well displayed.
He is not well hung because normal to large tools were considered vulgar back then. His hands and head are disproportionately large because he was originally intended to be placed higher up, from where they would have appeared correct. His arm was broken in some Medici fight and his toes were attacked by a loony with a hammer, but he doesn’t seem to mind all that.

I tried to take a picture with the good camera but the museum police told me it was not allowed. I asked why and she said “State Law!”, so I took a couple with the Blackberry while hiding in a rubbish bin…

Wasn’t the only time I broke the law today either. We didn’t pay for the long bus journey back to the car – couldn’t work out how to buy a ticket. Oh, okay, while we’re at it I also rode the vaporetto in Venice for half a day before validating the €80+ 48hr passes and we broke the speed limit on the highways a few times. Go on, arrest me!

Here are two illegal pictures of David and one legal one. For some reason I didn’t get a Bbry picture of the fake one in the square. I did get some good ones with the Nikon though so you’ll have to wait for the gallery.

A very long and tiring day today but a good one.

The guide book starts with “Florence in two days” and goes up to “Florence in a week” so doing it in half a day was always going to be a challenge! We had already reserved tickets for the Uffizi so it was just a question of what else we could manage to fit in. In the end it was only the inside of the cathedral that we couldn’t do because it closed at five o’clock.

We did all the Davids. The real one in the Accademia, the fake one in the main square and the metal one in Piazzale Michelangiolo where we parked the car. Next post has the David details.

We did the duomo from the outside and the bronze baptistry doors opposite. We did Ponte Vecchio. We did Uffizi. We did everything in between all of those plus a few other bits while trying to find a bus back to the car.

In terms of refreshment we had a €24 drink stop, a €15 ice-lolly stop and that was it.

We then headed out and stopped in San Gimignano for a €100 late dinner, which was superb and to pick up six bottles of the locally produced white wine, Vernaccia at €6 a pop.

Now back at the ranch and ready for another hot night’s sleep. Tomorrow we are going nowhere and doing nothing, thank goodness!

We managed the planned towns today – Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino and Siena. All have one characteristic in common, traffic restricted in centre so you have to park and walk. Then you find you’re dodging cars and bikes in the walking streets the whole time. Bit annoying really.

I found Siena a big disappointment, nice square, very nice cathedral, forget the rest. Tried to find restaurant away from main square, couldn’t find one so got ripped off for crappy pizza. Shops nothing special. Oppressive streets. Frankly, I wouldn’t bother.

Pienza was the nicest place, rather surprisingly. Compact, cute and stinking of yummy cheese (for which the town is renowned). Pius 2, or his architect, did a pretty good job. Although I’d love to have brought some home, the thought of a cheesy car for the next few days put me off.

Next best was Montepulciano although there seemed to be no streets with less than an Everestian incline. Montalcino didn’t get much time as people were tired and sleepy so I just did a rapid solo walk and then we left.

Both the Monts are famous for their wines, Nobile and Brunello, and there are small vineyards all around. I bought some of each for a Tuscan evening or two back home. Average price for a decent bottle was €20.

Strange climate here, although it gets up to 35C during the day it is more uncomfortable when the sun goes down. Humidity increases and the breeze dies down. Hard to sleep in such weather, even with a fan blowing

Plans for next two days on hold awaiting a test of family ’sentiment’ tomorrow morning. I think we are all a bit tired but Florence looms like a great aunt who really must be visited.

Bit lazy with the Blackberry photos today, sorry!

Trying to think of categories for the “Grand Tour awards” and would appreciate any suggestions!?

I’ve got things like – best hotel, best view, best meal, best attraction, best city, nicest person/people, etc but would be happy to include any requests.

Also, thanks for the comments. I am reading them all but, as explained at the beginning, I can’t respond from the Blackberry and have only briefly touched two computers the whole time we’ve been away.