Tuesday, May 24, 2011 (Back on Line Again)
Not all rooms are created equal, and you never quite know exactly what you are buying over the Internet. After two weeks of more than adequate hotel existence, we arrived in Sienna where we had reserved our most expensive rental. On entrance to the lobby we were very impressed with the wonderful sunlit dining room and the surrounding garden, which was just as beautiful as advertised. The clerk was very friendly and assisted us to the second floor with our massive suitcases. Everything was setting up nicely for a wonderful stay in Sienna, from where we would embark for daily visits to various places in Tuscany….
Then, the door opened to our room! We walked into a six by six foot space with a spacious, modern bathroom off to the side, a small wooden desk, and two tiny wooden chairs. We immediately bumped into each other and the suitcases, and I almost crushed Aliyah who was stuck behind my behind. (which, as has been noted previously, is close to maximum at this juncture, or is it junk in the trunk, whatever that really means!) Taking up most of the room was a metal spiral staircase going up to a loft, which housed our double bed and a cot for Aliyah. It was nothing more than a high priced crash pad that would have been very suitable for three or four of my buddies and I to crash in during college. Now, I am married to a peanut person and I have a peanut daughter, and I am not exactly the size of Shaquille O’Neal, (at least in height) but we literally could not move or stay in this space at the same time. The worst part for me was the fact that there was nowhere to retreat to; you either had to stay in bed upstairs, or go down to the lobby and sit in the public area.
This was also a Rick Steves’ recommended “gem of a hotel”, so it was filled with a large percentage of Americans. Now, it’s nice to run into Americans occasionally, but when you get stuck in a coagulation of them, it somehow takes you to a different place- maybe Dallas or Chicago, or somewhere like that! We sit differently, communicate differently, and definitely act differently than the European sects, except for the Russians, who, as I have stated prior, are from another planet…. (This trip has convinced me that the Cold War was a very good thing!)
So, after the initial shock and a terse interaction with the manager, who obviously had received negative feedback about the size and misrepresentation of the room description many times prior, we decided to stick it out and make the best of it…. Then, Aliyah lay on her portable bed for the first time and felt two metal bars under her thin foam mattress. Luckily, she is quite light, so we folded a few extra blankets to cushion the mattress better, and it was deemed sleep able, but if anyone at all bigger than Aliyah’s size was given that bed to sleep on, it would have been impossible to do so….
And, so our stay began at Hotel Something or Other on the Southern perimeter of Sienna. Before I leave this subject I would like to tell you that my thrice nightly visits to the bathroom downstairs where adventurous to say the least. A spiral staircase is nothing more than a solution to a problem or a design choice; there is nothing wonderful about navigating one in the dark while half asleep and then climbing back up. I can’t imagine any senior citizen staying in one of these shoebox rooms, and I am too embarrassed to tell you what we paid for each night in Hotel Hell. (Are you happy now that I gave it a name?)
We did embark in our diesel powered, stick shift Peugeot for wonderful drives through Tuscany, sometimes getting a bit lost and not worrying about it too much. I would say that my traveling partners would whole-heartedly agree that the visit to Assisi to visit the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi was our favorite and most profound experience. I even coughed up some beloved euros to have a mass said for my Mother, who recently passed, at the tomb of St. Francis.
The quaint, little medieval town of Assisi will give your mountain climbing leg muscles a good workout like all of the others, but it is very quiet, uncrowded and very beautiful. The tomb of St. Francis has a peaceful vibration. This is the only vibration that I have felt anywhere in Italy. An entire circus of activity goes on in the upper and outer churches and courtyards above the crypt, but the tomb area is quiet.
We sat, prayed, and gave our greetings to St. Francis, who left a legacy of rejecting the preconceived norms of society, his blood ties, and his religion, and taught us, as all enlightened beings have, to work on shifting our focus from the outer, elemental world, to focus on the inner life, our true life, which is resonating within our hearts. He felt the calling of God alone in the quietude of nature, living simply off of what was provided each day in his path. He stands as a beacon of serenity and hope for all who heed to a different calling in life. His example is one which is found in every culture and in every belief system many times over; enlightened men and women who learned to listen to the intimate whisperings from deep within their hearts, which provided them with the correct nourishment needed to find real freedom and contentment. Yeah, St. Francis! (and Sister Claire, from just down the road, was no slouch either!)
So, Tuscany faded into the sunset as we flew down the Autostrada, Italy’s interstate system, toward the home of Romulus and Remus and River Tiber. Ah, but this we will save for another day. It’s time to eat again anyway, so don’t try to block me from my pasta! Ciao to Chow, Alberto Novellio
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