Traveling from Montepulciano to Florence (Firenze) was tricky. We made arrangements with Hertz to drop off the Fiat in Chiusi which is about 20 minutes away from Montepulciano.
One slight problem, though. When we arrived in Chiusi we couldn't find the Hertz. So we called the English line with Hertz and asked for the phone number to Hertz in Chiusi. Just as I was dialing the local number an older Italian man asked me something in Italian with the distinctive word "Hertz" in it. I had no idea what he was asking but at that point any local person talking about Hertz sounded like a good bet to me. I answered "Si" (always answer "Si" or "Prego" when you don't know what an Italian person is saying; you never know what that will get you). He took us out to a Hertz representative who just happened to be dropping a car off for someone right where we were. There was no official Hertz rental office in town, but he was able to receive our car.
We caught the train to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence. A ten minute taxi ride through Florence brought us to our nice hotel (the biggest room we had while in Italy, and warm showers too). After settling in briefly we went out for lunch near the large marble Duomo at the center of historic Florence. At the restaurant I had my second unsuccessful encounter with the metric system. I noticed beef steak Florentine style on the menu..."(for 100gr.) €. 3,90." Not sure what that all meant I decided I would just order it and find out. The waiter looked at me and said, "It is almost one kilogram. Do you know how much a kilo is?" I couldn't remember the conversion so I looked at him and sheepishly said, "No." He was annoyed and told me, "There are 2.2 pounds per kilo. Do you still want the steak?" It was like being quizzed by my old high school chemistry teacher. "Si, prego," I said to him. Minutes later an exceedingly thick steak came out. Minutes after that an equally large bill came out.
And that is the story of how I ordered the tastiest and most expensive steak I have ever eaten in my entire life. You can check out my steak at:
http://www.pepo.it/statiche/index2.asp?idlingua=2
One slight problem, though. When we arrived in Chiusi we couldn't find the Hertz. So we called the English line with Hertz and asked for the phone number to Hertz in Chiusi. Just as I was dialing the local number an older Italian man asked me something in Italian with the distinctive word "Hertz" in it. I had no idea what he was asking but at that point any local person talking about Hertz sounded like a good bet to me. I answered "Si" (always answer "Si" or "Prego" when you don't know what an Italian person is saying; you never know what that will get you). He took us out to a Hertz representative who just happened to be dropping a car off for someone right where we were. There was no official Hertz rental office in town, but he was able to receive our car.
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