Oh, boy,
Hi, everyone.
Susan and I arrived in Montepulciano yesterday. Thank God, we had arranged for a taxi pick-up from the train station in Chiusi, as we had a 25 km. ride with an ? Excellent? Taxi driver from the station to our meeting point in Montepulciano. (I say that with question marks, as the way he negotiated some of the curves made our hair stand on end!) We could not have done this on our own. Now we will get the bus schedule and be able to travel to Siena ( the closest big city) on the weekend, if we want.
This hill town is beautiful. We are so happy to be here. We have a 2 bedroom apartment near the school, near the city center, but tucked just a couple streets off the Corso, so it is quiet at night. Imagine our surprise when the landlady showed us the apartment, to find it has a lovely terrazza off the second bedroom, where we have a great view of the Tuscan valley below the city.
We found a supermarket not too far away, maybe one km., However, once we bought our groceries, it was the same walk, uphill, to the apartment. We bought just enough to have dinner and food for breakfasts, and then on the way back, had to choose from the myriad wine shops, to get a bottle of Rosso di Montepulciano to go with our dinner.
By the way, our wine cost [euro]6..and it is very good. Another BTW, the best white wine served and sold here is Vernaccia di San Gimingnano. As most of you know, San Gimingnano is another hill town, west of Siena, and not to far from here, as the crow flies, but to get there, we would have to go by bus to Siena, and another bus to San Gimingnano.
Today we took a walk through the old town, just to get our bearings. We will start our classes tomorrow, but attend an orientation there at 7:00 p.m. tonight. The school is only 100 meters from our apartment.
As for the language school, and learning Italian…..I hope we made the right decision. I wanted a school where we would be forced to speak Italian. In that respect, we made the right choice. Very few of the locals, even the young people, speak English, and what they speak is directed to tourists. We WILL speak Italian at the end of 4 weeks, or die trying. Fortunately, I know enough Italian to get us food and drink!
If nothing else, my legs will be stronger, I may lose a few pounds, as all our walking is either uphill or downhill, and miles of it.
There are 6 or 8 churches in this town, and they all have bell towers, and most ring on the hour. But they do stop at night, and resume at 0700, except our little guy that is one hour fast…he starts at 0600. That’s OK. Starting tomorrow, we have to get up early, anyway, to go to school.
I have my school supplies: notebook, pens, pencils, erasers. My dictionary is on my computer. Susan suggested that I put a bottle of wine into my backpack, as I always speak better Italian after a glass or two of wine. Hmmm.
So I will say, Arriverderci for now. I will write again after we have our first class.
Ciao for now,
Dolly
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