Some times things just fall into place. Anna and I jumped on the Sunday red eye special from Edinburgh to Rome Ciampino airport with the plan of spending a week in Italy together.
We arrived on time – and headed off to pick up the hire car. When I booked the car, I was given a choice to rent a C-class Merc, for 2 euros a day more than the standard Ford Focus. Given we were planning to drive across the coutry to stay in Ancona in Marche, the small extra cost for a bigger more comfortable car seemed logical. When I presented the lady at the Hertz counter with my booking number, and my gold card, she was highly disappointed that I hadn’t let them know I was a Gold member (as I’d booked through my Hertz account I figured they’d know!) – anyhow, she said that she would give me a present to make up for this. At this point I’m expecting to be given something like a “quality” hertz baseball cap or car freshener. This turned out to be far from the truth as she handed over keys to a brand new S-class Merc – in special edition mafioso black. If I’d only known I could have packed the black suit & tie.
Marche turned out to be a really interesting place to spend a few days. The area is far off the normal tourist path in Italy – but despite this there were a host of interesting things to see and do (or should I say eat!). On Friday we dispatched Anna back to Edinburgh for hockey before heading into Rome to catch up with Ben & Sal.To say Rome in unique is an understatement. I had no idea of the scale of the Roman ruins and sites. Big cities aren’t usually my thing, but a few days in Rome really is a must do.
