Things didn’t quite go according to plan today.
We started the day with another jet-lag party. This time helped with our landlady’s excellent crostata alla marmellata that she dropped off as a welcome gift
We headed to Monteriggioni, a 13th-century walled town about 20 minutes away.
You can walk along a section of the battlements. The girls all got excited talking about medieval warfare. Of course I helped fill in the gruesome details.
More battlements
There’s a little armoury museum inside the walls. You know you’ve left Australia when they let children play with a 13th-century (surprisingly sharp) longsword with no supervision.
They also let adults play with a 13th-century longsword with no supervision.
Lances and crossbows and muskets, oh my.
I was trying to work out why there was so much Asassin’s Creed stuff at the gift shop. Here’s why:
Sadly for the kids, the only place open for lunch was a gelateria.
More Game of Thrones vibes
More vibes
Back to the car
Heading to Castellina in Chianti we stumbled past a classic Tuscan cypress-lined driveway
Lots of amazing views
Quick selfie before getting back in the car to head to the new school’s end-of year movie night fundraiser.
20 minutes later I learned two new things: 1: the Mercedes-Benz CLA 200d has run-flat tires instead of a spare. 2: rental care companies are cheap so they use regular tires instead of run-flats.
After about an hour I managed to get through to a human at Avis customer service and booked a tow truck. It was getting dark and cold (about 2 degrees) and we were in the middle of nowhere so Mandi and the girls got a taxi to the school event (good to know you can get a cab on some tiny backroad in Tuscany). I waited another hour for the tow truck.
This isn’t a great photo but I had to document the most terrifying 15 minutes I have ever spent inside a moving vehicle. I now know what it’s like to be in a 5 ton vehicle tailgating a tiny hatchback around blind corners in the dark at 90km/h.
We got to the nearest tire place. Of course, they didn’t have the right tires for the car so the only option was to walk to Avis (which was still open for another 5 minutes), get another car, come back to this car before they closed, swap over all the stuff we had in the boot and leave the keys so Avis could come back and get it in the morning. Then go to the school and pick up Mandi & Co. Time elapsed: 3 hours. We all survived and have a story to tell.