Life sometimes presents you with moments that give you a glimpse to an alternate way of doing things. Where you experience a sort of epiphany, a revelation, that leads you to say -- aha! maybe I should change, abandon this way of doing things.
Well, I had that sort of epiphany while driving, and attempting to go from point A to point B in Florence, Italy. Now, here in the U.S. I'm used to straightforward traffic directions, streets run in a kind of criss-cross pattern -- north - south and east - west, easy to follow easy to navigate. To my dismay, I found that this was not the case in Florence. No, here you had so many detours and roundabouts, and streets that ended abruptly, or prohibited you from making either a left or right turn -- that the simple act of returning a rental car, became an ordeal -- making me swear off driving there for ever!
What should have been a ten-minute drive, because of all the weird traffic laws of Florence, took us about an hour -- and much consulting of maps and asking for directions from people, as we kept getting lost. When we thought we could turn someplace--nope! it was illegal. We finally had to stop and park the car, and call the rental agency--which was near the main train station--and ask them to please tell us how in the world we could get there.
The directions the man gave us were worthy of an expedition and relied on this or that landmark. When we finally found the confounded car rental place, it felt like we had won a marathon. I asked the gentleman there -- if there was an easier way to navigate Florence, and he replied that -- yeah, either by foot or public transport would save you the aggravation. Which is something that next time we visit we will certainly do!
