We are trapped in Firenze (Florence), but as the chap from the European Breakdown Recovery service said, “I can think of worse places to be stuck”.The staff at Hotel Residence GRIFONE at 20-22 Via Gaetano Pilati, in Firenze have been wonderful. They have treated us more like family than guests. Nothing has been too much trouble, and the original four days at the Hotel were blissful. Equal too but in many ways different than the Hotel Cappana CAO, Brunate-San Maurizio-Via Alle colme-Piazzale C.A.O. Both are first class and both come with lovely people.
For me the real judge of a good hotel is when things go wrong. I suspect that in day to day running, hotel-staff operate, somewhat like ducks. They gracefully glide on the water while they are frantically paddling underneath to provide great service. But when things go wrong, which hotels step up to the mark and support their guests. As we were leaving this morning, I told the staff that we would recommend the hotel and would stay again. I even explained that if we could afford to stay somewhere more expensive in the future, we would decline that opportunity, and stay with them. Now don’t get me wrong, because Hotel Grifone is not a downmarket hotel. Indeed it is quite up market, and given the cost, it came as a nice surprise when the lovely man from Milan booked us in for the next five days while ‘the Beast’ is repaired.
Our Volvo S60 D5 is not termed ‘the Beast’ because of today’s misfortune. No, it is a loving term used by our family because of the engine power and torque. It simply takes off, and is a joy to drive. The Beast brought us to Italy in 2007. Indeed, on that trip we made it further than today’s mishap. In fact some 40 Km further to Siena.
We would have passed by Siena as we headed for Hotel Capital today, and the Italy to Sicily ferry tomorrow. We had a lovely breakfast in Hotel Residence Grifone and bid our farewells. We loaded ‘the Beast’ and twiddled with the Tom-tom. I had planned the scenic route but found that added a further 5 hours to the journey. So we instead opted for the tolls. I suspect that there would have been many tolls south based on our experience so far of Italian toll roads. I reset the Tom-tom for the direct route, and pressed the clutch pedal to drive away. There wasn’t anything there for my left foot to press, but my brain didn’t immediately register the absence of the pedal. Indeed, I moved my foot further to the right and pressed the brake. That is when I looked down to find out who had stolen the pedal.
Sure enough, the pedal was gone. When I eventually found it, it was to say the least, a sorry limp thing of no practical use. I was so glad that we had been good guests. Can you imagine re-entering a hotel if you had upset anyone? Especially when you know that the superb English language skills of the staff would come in handy when trying to communicate with someone from a garage that only spoke Italian.
Thankfully I had arranged European Breakdown Cover through Martins moneysupermarket.com while we were in Wales. And all for an astonishing price of only £59 for a whole year. That’s a come and sort you out, or if we fail, take you and your vehicle back to the lovely Wales service.
That’s also pretty cheap if you ask me. The helpline phone call was seamless. The truck arrived in about an hour and the driver checked the pedal to find it as limp as I had a while earlier. He then spoke to me a lot in Italian. The strange thing is; Pauline knew what he was asking for. Some bolt thingy, that fixes to the front of ‘The Beast’ so that the car could be hauled by a cable onto the low loader. We waved goodbye, not to the Italian chappy, but to our car. And then it was off for some lunch.
A delightful trio of pasta, alcohol cake (I ain’t driving now) and coffee.
European touring important points:
Check out Martins Moneysupermarket.com for great European cover
Bring a kettle and some long life milk as many hotels do not have facilities
Oh and enough cups for your group
Today’s important points were:
Go with your car when they come to collect it
It’s disheartening not knowing where it is (hope it’s ok)
You can’t be upset by what you can’t control
