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pat--it is karen who keeps the notes...i am trying just to hit the highlights unlike my asia reports...
food was not bad this time...unlike CH?? |
I'm looking forward to savoring every word of your trip report. I only read down to the part where you picked up your car and mentioned that you may never rent from Auto Europe again. I skipped down post this to iterate that AE is a <i>broker</i>, not a car rental agency. Your rental was probably with Avis, Hertz, or AutoEuropa, which are rental agencies that AE uses. Suggest you use AE's 800 number to tell them about your problem in Nice.
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This is amazing, like others I can almost smell the fresh bread! How we would love to get to some of these places, that hotel for E 175 in Monaco actualy doesn't seem too over the top at all for a view in such a place, surprised could get a place for that. The village sounded ideal, I always get 'scared' about the prices but that set meal for E 23 per person, hang on.. B 1,128 -sounds real good value., I could live with that !
How much was the car? |
Sounds like a wonderful, relaxing vacation in an idyllic setting, and I'm wanting one of those apricot tarts.
I too was wondering about the AutoEurope story, since I don't believe AutoEurope has offices in Europe. It arranges car rentals from many different agencies, and it is those companies that would have the office, the lines, and the cars for you. |
betsy---you are correct....the rental car firm is Europcar, not autoeurope.....i in fact used gemut here in usa as the agent, who in turn used auto europe as an agent....i see this more clearly now that i have looked at my paper work again....
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Ah, Italy at last. Can't wait for more. Keep it coming.
We have rented from Auto Europe in the "early" years of our Europe travel (mid 80's) but have switched to Avis and have had good results with them. They have our loyalty both in Europe and the US when we need to rent. Carol |
james...the car as it stands just now was 384.39 Euros plus my 145.87 euro deposit....the original figure quoted to me was 477.20 Euros, plus minor taxes of about 97 euros....that's about $735...good price for a medium sized wagon for a week---actually a large wagon by european standards...
the villefranche hotel, while not expensive, was not cheap. it was trully a 3 star except for its location...i would highly recommend it to anyone...of course nothing of quality in france is cheap...not like thailand james!!! |
So far, so good Bob. With your usual excellent attention to detail, I am experiencing the joys of your trip vicariously. However, I am pretending that you are the one doing the driving! 8-) If I wasn't spending 2-1/2 weeks every year in Asia or if I was even semi-retired, I could see doing this often. I look forward to hearing about Italy.
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saturday, may 6....
we got up about 8 and headed downstairs for a lovely buffet in the glass enclosed restaurant which overlooks the harbor... after breakfast we take another walk through the village, taking tons of pictures as it is very attractive...nothing was opening until 10 so we decided to move on... we packed up the car, paid the little bill (hotel was pre-paid) and headed for Nice to drop the kids off...as there is massive construction going on in the middle of nice we got a bit lost and even "natalie" (our nick name for the car's GPS system) had some trouble....eventually we found the one way street to the front door of the Le Meredien Hotel where the kids would spend their final nite before taking the delta flight the next morning from Nice directly to JFK... we said our good-byes and we were off for the nice airport to return the car... the car was checked in quickly...i was not given a receipt of any kind or a final bill so i had to go inside...the line this morning for new renters was even longer than what i had experienced the week before... there was no line at the return desk...the young man who assisted me identified himself as the Europcar manager (please note the change in car rental company name from my earlier report above....) now was my chance to vent a little...he presented me with a final bill, but it was about 100E more than i expected, even after i added in the addtional "location" charges...he claimed i had an 8 day rental....saturday to saturday is not 8 days!!....pick-up at 3PM and return at 11AM....we went round and round with this.... i took the opportunity to express to him, calmly, my irratation with the 2 hour initial wait...he was uninterested and claimed that people often wait 3-4 hours...What??? i told him i did not think it was good customer service if you were not greeted by the rep upon arrival in any way....that the staff was disinterested in the rental process and more importantly that they walk away from the transaction frequently during the process and start conversations with co-workers laughing and joking around and that during the paper work process that they frequently talk amongst themselves...his reply was "what can you do"....my reply: "fire them"....of course this was just after the much reported fracus in france about being able to do just this and job security...no wonder they are in such a mess.... in any case, he agreed to reduce the bill by about 30 E...i gave up and walked away deciding that i would deal with it at home, which i will do in the next few days... bottom line: europcar must have very low prices...all the other car companies had very small lines...but europcar has poor service and a very poor attitude, at least in the Nice Airport location....i have rented from them many times in the past and never had a real problem... i should note that i always charge and guarantee my car rentals using an american express card...i do this because in the past i have had billing problems with rental companies and amex does the best at resolving them...rarely have we had any travel related issues, except for car rental companies...it is the one bugaboo in travelling i find... in any case, shortly after my interview with the manager sandy and chris arrived to pick us up and we were off to italy... it was about noon, which was our plan as the drive was to be about 5 hours to Tuscany... we jumped on the autostrada not far from the airport and were on our way...our luggage had been left in collobrieres with sandy and chris so we were all set to move on except for loading our one overnite bag... all went well with the drive, save the huge expense of the autostrada....tolls exceeded $35 for this 5 hour drive...HUGE!, but we knew and expected that... chris had a new portable GPS, which we used, plus the written directions i had brought... we were running a bit late for our arrival so we telephoned ahead to warn our hosts... a note about the place and how we found it... for our 60th birthdays, two years ago, karen and I spent 10 days in venice and florence...in florence we stayed at the Dei Mori bed and breakfast hotel, smack dab in the center of florence...a fabulous location....the two guys, danny and peter, who own it were most hospitable....they mentioned that they have a country house east of florence which has a lovely apartment which they rent..... |
their e mail address at dei mori is:
[email protected] the web-site is: www.bnb.it/deimori you can also google it... the country house is called La Massa... finally we got to the outskirts of florence....dei mori's directions were good from there, although we found them a bit vague in some places and the times misleading...you cross over a mountain or two and the road is full of turns and twists and beautiful views....the house is located outside of Strada in the area of castel san niccolo in the village of vertilli...it took another hour or so to get to the apartment....danny greeted at the gate.... the apartment is wonderful....it was installed in the house about 3 years ago and is quite nice....it consists of a large bedroom (queen bed) and excellent modern bathroom...the living/dining/kitchen area is well appointed and very comfortable and quite large...there is a fireplace and comfortable seating...we had arranged for an extra bedroom (QUEEN) and private bath so that we would each have our own digs....this room is reached by a short walk (50 meters) along the back of the house outside on the tiled deck....perfect and both had full privacy...rental 1100 E per week.... the house is located on the side of a hill, up a long narrow one track road which winds through olive groves and other agricultural areas and crosses a wonderful bridge over a stream....it is just fantastic...the view is off to the rolling hills of east tuscany... there is a small pool adajacent to the house....you are the only guests there and either peter of danny are there or available for questions....they are perfect hosts...the house has wonderful landscaping and a huge deck around the pool and plenty of outside seating... so now a dilemma....who will have the nicer bedroom....danny tosses a coin for us, and chris and sandy get it....we are perfectly happy with our room as well... |
we settle into our rooms and get organized...we head down into the village of strada to visit the grocery shop before it closes to pick up some breakfast items, etc....
danny had suggested that we visit the restorante al vecchio teatro, la fiorentina for dinner....this is a converted theatre and small hotel... it proves to be fantastic....we had a great waiter, who turned out to be mexican....his english was decent... the restaurant was packed....that nite they were offering a special package meal as well as their a la carte menu....i had a la carte and the other partook of the seafood set meal for 25E....well let me tell you this was a fantastic meal...the set meal had more food than you can imagine and it included the bottled water and the wine....all for 25E each... cold seafood antipasto--huge followed by a hot antipasto, which was spicy then a pasta course, black tortelinni with shrimp then a seafood soup...i think there was a salad in there also.... then lemon mousse and coffee i had a country antipasto followed by fresh potatoe pasta and salad... we had at least 3 bottles of wine---what a great meal and wonderful service...back to the house by 10:30 and quick to bed...no chat that nite... more later today |
great report - only one discrepency - having lived in Toulon for six months, I can honestly say it is anything BUT boring - it was the happiest time of my life before hubby. did you take the cable car up the mountain? go to any of the musees?
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Hey Bob,
Really enjoying your Europe trip report...croissants, fresh baguettes, and nice French and Italian wines...what a nice change of pace from Panang chicken and tom yum goong soup and of touring! A relaxing three-generation family trip that sounds idyllic and wonderful...I too look forward to doing such a trip of our own someday and look forward to more of your vivid and interesting report now that you're in Italy!! I can smell the fresh pasta... Terry |
sunday
nice sunny day...we set off for nearby Stia, probably a 20 minute ride...danny has suggested it as a good place for lunch... on the way we stop to see the castela romera, a ancient (1008 AD) ruin on a near-by hill...it is now a private domain, so we are prevented from visiting it...we walk around the property and the two or three residences built there...very lovely setting... stia is a small town at the confleunce of a couple of small rivers...it has an old town square on an incline....we walk into it....there are two fabric/tapestry shops open but we do not go in and a couple of closed galleries and antique furniture shops (high end)... the open air restaurant in the square is quite busy....we inquire about a table for four and are told no....then she says come back at 1:30 so that is fine with us....we walk around the village and take up residence on a bench at the top of the village and wait for our hour to come... we head back to the restaurant...now there are more people waiting and not an empty table....the owner lady says a few more minutes....she says our table is the one with the three motorcycle guys sitting at it...it is clear they have no intention of leaving however....finally they move outside of the canopy area with drinks in hand...perhaps they were given more drinks to get them to move on....we exchange smiles and they are very nice to have moved for us... there are at least 3 big parties going on.... next to us is an extended family of perhpas 15 people probably of 3 generations...we get to know them later... the restaurant name is Trattore Filetto... we sharred two wonderful antipastas: cheese, bread, pates, cured meats, veggies, sausages...delicious danny had suggested that their fresh home made pasta was the treat there...we all had ravioli filled with potatoe with a choice of sauces (ragu, tomatoe or pesto)...WOW good local wine as well we finished off with delicious desserts.. near the end of our meal sandy made an ovature to the table next to us...asking what the occasion was...she was told that it was first communion for the twin boys...an exchange pursued and we took some pics of them....wow, did they have a huge meal, course after course and plenty of wine, etc......next the mother of the boys is sharring some of the confirmation cake with each of us: strawberry torte with tons of whipped cream....the best thing chris and i had ever eaten....next the father is offering us champagne....it was delicious... we had toasting back and forth and they really made us part of their family celebration...it made our day and in fact our week....we exchanged cards with the father...he is a contractor/builder with his two brothers who were also there....what a nice family (no english at all was spoken)!! with regret, we left stia....we drove towards Bibbina...we headed down the valley towards Arezzo...upon arrival in the hilltop town of Arezzo we found that the monthly antiques market was just winding down...one of the biggest in italy...sorry to have missed it...we drove right into the center and parked right in front of the main church...what luck....we walked around for a while and looked at shops and antiques....i bought some wonderful cheese at a shop: a fresh pecorino and an aged pecorino with encrusted dried grapes (very sharp and very expensive comparatively)...we were to enjoy both with wine for the rest of the week.... from there we continued along the river valley back towards florence...karen found a wonderful shortcut over the hills (she does this--at least this time it was not a dirt road like usual---it was one step above)...by the time we finished chris was exhausted... we drove right to the theatre hotel in our local village and had pizza for dinner---their sunday nite special...pizza in an elegant dining room---now that is fun and of course good wine, salads and desserts as well... home by 11... more tonight |
I am really enjoying this and looking forward to more!
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Bob,
I, too, am enjoying your report. What a wonderful vacation! Collobrières sounds like a nice base from which to explore the area around St. Tropez. What kinds of pizza did they make from the pizza truck? Any that you particularly recommend? We'll be renting a house in the south of France in September, and my mouth is already watering for a taste of the pizza from the pizza van, a salad, and a nice rosé! Your lunch in Stia sounds wonderful! Isn't it great when you have an opportunity to interact with the people where you are visiting? Can't wait to hear more! |
rhkkmk,
What a wonderful report and the way your wrote it made me feel as though I was there with you!! :) I was interested in your comments regarding your car rental. I also rented a car through Gemut.com who I believe used the broker AutoEurope and we are picking the car at the Avignon TGV from the Europecar counter. Whoo isn't that a doozey to understand!! I'm wondering if we will run into the same problems when we arrive Avignon via train. Thank you for sharing that with us! |
katzan---i think this was unique to nice honestly...france business is in a huge mess i think and young workers are dragging the place down...go ahead with your plans as is...
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marcy...we had a couple of kinds: tomatoe and cheese--plain
mushrooms and artichokes pepperoni and saugages yum, yum, yum |
monday
decided this would be a slow day.... breakfast at 9....we settled up the money with peter as he had arrived from florence the nite before... will go out from the house, but stay fairly local... drove over to montemigiano but thought it a bit boring so moved on to poppi, the largest town locally....we located the restaurant that both peter and danny had suggested for dinner one nite--more on it later... peter had suggested La Toricella for lunch....it is on a hill opposite poppi and you have wonderful views across the valley to poppi....we spent a couple of hours here, sitting on the porch of the house/restaurant/inn and had a fabulous lunch...they also have rooms and we might consider them for a short stop when in this area again... karen did not record what we ate but it was fantastic... after lunch we headed for the large co-op grocery store nearby....we were having dinner in this nite so we needed a few things...chicken was on the menu with lots of wine and veggies... on our way back to the house we stopped at a pharmacy...seems that when i counted out my pills i made a mistake...i am diabetic and was 3 pills short, so i took my bottle to them for verification, hoping that maybe i could get 5 or ten pills....the lady looked at the bottle went to her medecine drawer and pulled out a Merk box with 30 of my pills in it...she gave it to me and charged me 1.95 euro....thats less than $3.00... my co-pay here in the usa for the generic of this drug is $20 for the same amount of pills...no questions asked... when we got back to our village a small street market was just closing up...we stopped and both sandy and karen bought large bags of dried mushrooms to take home....this was sandy's one wish from her trip to italy...in england a small bag of these mushrooms is very expensive and for a fraction of the price she got a huge and i mean huge bag....karen got a medium sized bag....we had some tonight by the way... on to the house... on the way back we passed a retail outlet for clothing that we had noticed before....peter had also mentioned it to us....it is designer clothing at huge savings...much of the merchandise has been used once "on the runways" in milan...savings exceeded 50 %....too high style for us however... this area houses many manufacturing plants for clothing peter had told us... we had cheese and wine on the terrace near to the pool and enjoyed the late afternoon light and breezes... karen prepared a saute chicken dish with mushrooms (cepe or porcini). we had green asparagas, and ravoli stuffed with spicy mushrooms, zuccini, and salad...large quantities of wine were used to wash all of this down....both french and italian wines...for dessert we had strawberries and cream....and of course cafe for some....yum, yum, yum... off to bed at 10:30 |
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