Hey Y'all:
Happy Spring!
Are you glad winter is over? I am. Atlanta was cold and wet for a long time. So cold and wet, from now on I'm getting the heck out of here, January - March.
Jeff and I kicked off spring with an Italian adventure.
About two years ago we purchased a trip to Manciano, Italy through an auction event. For a long time, we weren't sure if we'd go or not. Been there done that sort of thing. Ultimately, we decided there is more to Italy than what we'd already seen, Milan and Venice. And we're most certainly not getting any younger. So we went...
Manciano is about two hours from Rome. Rather than hire a driver we decided to rent a car. In part because we planned to visit Michaelangelo's David sculpture in Florence (three hours north of Manciano).
Our villa was fab. (2,000 sq. ft.), cozy, and oh-so Italian. The front door put us immediately (and I mean immediately) onto a quaint road.
If someone was walking by you'd have to wait for them to pass before stepping out. The roads lead to charming restaurants and neighborhoods that were as (more maybe) interesting as museums.
When we first arrived we opened all of the huge, outdoor shutters in the back that covered french doors and windows (five). The wind was blowing and the shutters kept slamming back onto the doors and windows. For sure, the neighbors knew we had arrived. Windy breeze, bam, BAM, bam, windy breeze, BAM, bam. I can still hear them. BAM!
The biblical story of David in and of itself is inspiring but, oh my, the statue of David in Florence is visual ecstasy. As close to perfection as one can imagine.
Being in Michaelangelo's midst of artistic genious was worth driving an extra six hours to see.
--Even if it meant narrowly escaping a scam disaster.--
Yep. Jeff and I almost got railroaded on our way out of Florence.
As we headed out of town, Jeff was driving the front end. We were minding our own business in the right-hand lane when out-of-no-where in the left lane comes a black, Audi hatchback blazing by like a bat out of hell. After they passed, they abruptly slowed and got in front of us causing us to then pass them.
Two men were in the car. They honked their horn as we passed them and then they proceeded to get right up beside us.
The driver had his window down. He was facing us, and his hands were oddly in the the air. He was attempting something but it happened so quickly I had no idea what he was doing.
I thought he had a gun because where I live if something similar happens there's a decent chance a gun will appear. Gun or no gun, the driver's hands were outside of the window in an alarming fashion.
We heard something hit the passenger side of our car (the driver threw a rock).
After the rock hit us, the Audi immediately pulled over on the side of the road. Apparently, they thought we would also pull over. Umm, where we live, if such an incident occurs one does not pull over to have a chat with the perpetrator.
Just ahead of us (thank God!) was an exit with a gas station that was relatively active. This was a blessing because there aren't a lot of gas stations or any other place to stop along the way.
We pulled into the gas station and the bandits pulled in right behind us. My heart was pounding. I truly thought I could have a heart attack.
We were worried but there were people around. So, not that worried.
The guy in the passenger seat walked up to my side of the car. He had a gangsta-style ball cap on.
I rolled down the wondow. The guy looked at me and said: "You hit me. Ma English no good, ahh, you hit me, you hear da boom? Da boom?" He pointed to our rearview mirror insinuating that we side-swiped him.
"No, we didn't" I said.
At this point, he is already appearing to back down. Jeff leaned over and said "I saw you throw a rock at us! I saw you do it!!" ...duh...
The bandit went back to his car and they pulled up to Jeff's side. The wanna-be gangstas continued hustlin' for money. Ultimately, Jeff motioned his hand and told them to "go, go, get out of here".
They left the gas station.
The scammers figured out quickly that we weren't afraid of them (well, maybe a little) but no way were we going to hand over money.
Turns out, the scam they tried to pull off is relatively common. A quick google search brought up articles on Wing Mirror Scams in Italy.
The scammer's eratic driving could indeed have caused a lot of harm but their blatant rock-throwing tactic, assumption that we'd pull over after it, and subsequent accusation of impact was/is utter ridiculousness.
Who would hand over a penny for such nonesense?
Granted, I may have paid a couple euros for a selfie with the cartoon-like characters but nothing beyond that.
The whole ordeal ended up being laughable, hysterical.
Manciano, Florence and Rome are beautiful and were fabulous to visit. But the wing-mirror scam that local delinquents tried to perpetrate on us dominates our memory.
It's nice to be back in ATL.
Happy Spring, everyone.
Thank you for reading!
Love, Shelley
P.S. We're pretty sure that we found "the" Maserati!! More to come when confirmed.
