Picking up the car

Okey dokey - it's not just Sundays in Italy where things come to a standstill, villages look like ghost towns and people seem to vanish altogether.  Mondays, it would seem, are pretty much the same.

Not wanting to hire a car from Rome and face the traffic, the gears, the navigation and the other side of the road all in one hit we opted for a pick-up point about 1 hour north of Rome in a small town called Orte.

Our trip back to Rome from Tivoli started off late - 12 minutes late to be precise.  Which in itself was not such a big deal, only problem was we had a connection to make at the Rome station and had 12 minutes to do it.  Grrr.  We did manage to make up 4 minutes en route but despite a mad scramble at the other end, missed the connection.  Grrr!

Again it wasn't too big a problem as train tickets are valid for travel any time within a 2 month period provided the start and end destination remain the same.  So, instead of the speedy 30 minute connecting train from Rome to Orte, we jumped on the regional clod hopper with dodgy air conditioning that groaned along, stopped everywhere and took three times as long.

Still - hurdle number one was over - we had arrived in Orte.  I knew the Avis office was closed between 12 and 3pm so we had oodles of time to make our way to the street, irritatingly no street number was given.  This should be easy - we'll just jump on a bus, or perhaps even catch a taxi.

Now - this is where the Monday ghost town, vanishing humans comes into play.  Where was the bus? Where were the people? There was a taxi rank, but no sign of a taxi.  We could tell by the satnav that the street was about 6km walk away, but in the stinky midday heat this was not an option.  So, as you do in such situations, we sat under a tree.

And here our luck began to change.  Off I went for a brief wander, just to confirm that yes indeed Orte was in fact a ghost town with no inhabitants whatsoever when I heard voices, Australian voices!  Stuff the heat - I practically sprinted in pursuit.

Enter Neil and Vicki - two lovely Melburnians who were nearing the end of their 4 month European odyssey.  We chatted and chatted and heard a few horror stories about driving, mainly in Spain thank goodness.

Our rescuers - Neil and Vicky

Anyway - to cut a long story short, Neil and Vicky very kindly ferried us and all our luggage to the Avis office, which took not one but two trips!  Finding the office itself was a challenge.  It was located in some back alley, in a shut up mechanics shop.  No number, no sign, nothing.

We were there early, Neil and Vicky waited to make sure we were all set and at 3pm the office opened.  One hour of paper-work later and we had the car, a white Peugeot 208.  After a few gutter-hugging bunny-hops around the deserted streets of Orte off we whizzed to our destination - 40kms north to Orvieto.

Phew!