Motor Supply Co. Bistro Blog

Things have been a bit touch and go for the past few days. We had a bit of drama getting out of town. And it turns out that Internet access is not as universal as we believed. . . .

About getting out of France. We had made reservations for a private sleeper car on Rail Italia. We envisioned a romantic trip, punctuated by a bottle of wine, cheese, sausage, and bread carted from a Parisian bakery. We would arrive in Italy refreshed, showered, and in good humor.

As we climbed onto the train, tickets in hand, I inched my way toward our cabin. Why was there a man already in my cabin? We both gave each other a look, meaning "You are obviously a giant asshole and not meant to be here." Alas, this was not the case. It turns out we were both in the right place. The train company overbooked the train and we were being jilted out of a private sleeper c ar and into a shared "couchette" compartment. We wil get our money back. Oh yes, we will.

We spent one awkward night with a middle-aged French couple--Isabelle and Phillip. Isabelle did not speak English. Phillipe did, and he expressed regret that such a "young charming couple" should have  their romantic night on a train ruined by old French people.

Melissa and I spent most of the night in the lounge car drinking a bottle of wine we brought and laughing at the Italian train stewards, who were eating a great meal of melon, bread, cheese, salami, and sliced fennel.

But we're here in Italy now. We have a bunch of pictures to upload tomorrow, now that we've secured Internet access. Stay tuned for more, including some cool pics of the house where we're staying and what I made for dinner tonight.