We ended the summer of 2024 with two weeks in Italy and Croatia. It was a memorable trip in ways beyond what I can count here – including especially the moment when we missed the right exit off a traffic circle south of Florence and the Google woman took our rented Fiat on a goose chase up a hill into an ancient Tuscan village down a cobblestone alleyway so narrow that we had to fold down the rear view mirrors to fit through. At the top of the alley we met two young Italian men, whose truck had broken down headed in the opposite direction – and now we were both stuck. The Google woman sent them on the same route and they broke their clutch trying to get out. A local Florentine man with infinite Italian patience figured how to get us out of the bind. I fear, however the truck may have needed to be repaired onsite, and that the young men spent the night there. I am told by ranking persons in our household that I shall never again be allowed to rent a car and road trip across Italy.
