La Bestia

Meet La Bestia ("the Beast"), our 9-passenger (or 6-passenger + 6-bicycle) transport during our week in Tuscany. La Bestia highlights...

* At the Sixt rental car counter, the attendant gave the keys to Craig, shook his hand, and said, "Good luck, my friend"

* The first drive up the gravel/flagstone "road" (trail?) up to La Magnolia, our villa just outside Cortona - we had to pull in the sideview mirrors each time we made the trip

* While putting La Bestia into reverse near Casteligione del Lago, the transmission broke... I spent a few frantic minutes in a tanning salon trying to get the owner (who spoke no English and told me in Italian that I should have learned the language before coming to Italy) to help me call the rental agency... just when I finally got on the phone with an English speaking person, Karen popped into the salon to tell me Tom had fixed the transmission

* Upon entering the Bologna area with the gas tank nearly empty, we learned that all of Italy was hit with a gas strike, something about the service stations wanting to be able to sell at a higher government-set price... thankfully we made it back to the rental car return without having to push the beast

Ah, La Bestia, we'll miss you...