Jane's Tuscany 2016

October 14, Friday, has been a bit frustrating! It started off with Sarah having a restless night whereupon she found me still up around 3:00 AM!! So we had a snack of cheese and crackers then off to bed for both of us with our original plan for today scuttled as Sarah knew she would sleep in and I always can! So upon rousting out this warm, clear morning, we decided to do a trial run to the airport in preparation of Sarah's friend, Phoebe's arrival on the 18th then go over to Poggio a Caiano to see the Medici residence and gardens. Well, we made it to an airport exit with Sarah being comfortable in being able to continue on from there without actually doing it today so we then proceeded on to our next exit. Behold, there was no exit where we wanted to go!! We had a short drive along a mountain side and through several tunnels with very heavy truck traffic before finding an exit at which point we made a U-turn in the toll plaza and saw the same scenery going the opposite direction!! By chance we did get in the general vicinity of where we wanted to be; however, soon it was clear that maps and actual roads don't necessarily match!! We were having difficulty getting Google maps to work on either phone but Sarah's finally came up after we had stopped to ask! By this time, the weather had turned drizzling with increasing wind. We did find Poggio but then missed the villa. It is now raining! We found the villa which we had previously driven by, parked, walked to a bar (like a tiny cafe) for cold ham sandwiches and one shared pastry. In steady rain, up the hill to villa entrance...oh, gardens were closed due to heavy winds! Now it is pouring rain and quite dark so we decide to just go home. Here is the one photo I took there: