We breakfasted then lolled around the room placing our order for our new dishes for upstate and packing. Finally finished all preparations and departed for the glorious Splendido hotel in Portifino for lunch.
We chose it because of its grand reputation (it’s our last meal!) and because our car was loaded with all our worldly travel possessions and we had to park somewhere safe. Glorious, indeed! A beautiful, romantic place set high on a hill overlooking the sea and the little bay of Portifino, with lush gardens (even in this now-chilly weather) and wonderful all-marble bathrooms. We were inundated with service, since, we surmised, the hotel was practically empty; in fact, we shared the large dining room with one couple. Milton started with the house special drink, the Splendido (which was actually a bellini with strawberries instead of peaches) and Wendy and Scott had virgin pina coladas. Then pastas of pesto, spinach ravioli w/pesto, and penne bolognese; all were divine. Entrees were stuffed chicken breasts and grilled foie gras, enjoyed with an Antinori Tuscan wine that was one of the best of the trip. Then desserts of a warm apple tart with cinammon ice cream and a chocolate-mint flavored whipped ice cream concoction that will be in our dreams for a long while. All in all, a meal qualified to have been our last in this gastronomic paradise.
We got into an interesting discussion with the couple (she’s American and in market research, he’s Scottish and does sales for Sun Microsystems) about travel and about her efforts to change the adoption-information laws in the U.S. We then sat in a drawing room and watched CNN to see how the financial markets were doing, and concluded that we could still afford to (barely) pay for this lunch. Then it was off to Milan to rest up before our flight tomorrow.
We’re staying about 10 minutes from the Milan International Airport (unfortunately, it’s about an hour from the other airport out of which Scott has to fly at 7:45am tomorrow) in an old villa (that looks like the Addams’ Family house interpreted by an Italian Count) which has been converted into a businessman’s/travellers hotel. We settled in, capitalized on having uninterrupted aol access for the first time in many days, then went down for a light dinner of some soup and grilled vegetables. We came back upstairs, said our good-byes to Scott, and cried ourselves to sleep. (though with dreams about planning our upcoming round-the-world odyssey)
Things we’ll definitely not be missing: second-world, not-my-fault service, Italian roads/drivers, earthquakes, clockwork church bells outside our window, hearing plumbing function at all hours of the night, spending 30 minutes trying to log on just to send/receive our mail, well-worn mattresses, trying to find a parking place in Siena, and the ubiquitous smoking (as Scott said, there should be a cigarette on this country’s flag).
Things we’ll definitely be missing: see previous journals!