Writing retreat in tuscany

 Sounds so glamorous.  I arrived 2 days ago, driving south from zurich (IN SWITZERLAND), zig zagging through construction on the highway, detours and my own curiosity, passing Lake Como, Spezia and driving,maybe through Milan.  The signs reminded me of when I was young and backpacking and in love and traveling and on vacation from shitty jobs and traveling.  (The jobs weren't shitty, I was shitty in them).  (Just in case anyone from those jobs is reading and thinks "Well, Becky, job x wasn't all that bad, and you did get to work on that one fun project" and stomps off in a huff, disgusted with me).   

Anyway, enough naval gazing, I arrived, late (of course!) and it's raining like in the movieMagnolia.  (Does that movie hold up? People really liked it but i thought it was kind of over the top but i did love the aimee mann soundtrack and always wondered, what was thanksgiving like with aimee Mann, her Penn husband, Sean Penn and princess butter cup?)

And then, I see, a freaking porcupine.  And it's not just relaxing, it's scooting it's shot up with quills ass along the curvy single lane road, and the lights on my little pile of tin is torturing it, she's running away from the actual headlights, but keeps running into the heat of them.  And it's soaking wet and these thoughts come to my mind (does magnolia hold up, where do porcupines sleep and this is fun navigating these roads but one wrong turn and i could DIE).  

After 20 minutes of slow driving and turning, i get close to the house, and the hosts of the retreat (Tizi and Adrien) meet me in the pouring rain, the lady, Tizi, jumps in my car, holds my pizza and guides me to parking. Along the short distance (100 meters at most, to use the european measurement system, ahem), the frogs come and I think IT IS MAGNOLIA! THE FROGS were the BEST part of the movie!  We park, and I'd already pre-sorted my 'bring in gear' (Jammies, toothbrush, meds and clean underwear for the next day) and we ran in leaving the tin car to sit overnight.  I checked in, and crashed.  I don't want an orientation, I don't want the wifi I just want to get to bed.

The next day, yesterday, it was still raining so I poked around the house a bit (OH MY GOD IT'S AMAZING, everything you imagin a house in tuscany to be, wood beams, red tile floors, wood trim windows withy marlbe ledges, plaster walls, no tv, a true dream) and read the red visitor guide until Tizi and Adrien pop in, offiically check me in (I still owe them 5 Euro) and we retrieve my suitcase. I decide with the rain, i ought to just go on an adventure. So, I pick Lucca as that sounds promising and if it's like Akron, it will still be an interesting Akron to me.

As I drive back down, I don't see the porcupine, but i do see all the signs i buzzed by the night before "Casa blah" and "Lucca rafting" with a bus nearby, "Agricultura Tourista" and drive through hamlets with houses

all connected and the doors are RIGHT at the edge of the road.  At one point you cross a bridge and I think "someone should really be preserving this bridge and i shouldn't be allowed to drive over it with a tin car" (but who am I to be guiding the city planning principles of the hamlet in this part of tuscany?)

It's beautiful, of couse, in all the ways you expect: some beat up buildings, a stone bridge that arches but the arch 3/4 of the way across the river vs in the middle (Flooding?  my questioner brain starts to operate), but not many people.  Some industry in the middle (light manufacturing and seemingly gas works) and then I'm in lucca.  

More to come: I gotta extend this trip some more....