Thu Oct 13

Our last day in Roselle. We awoke to heavy, dark grey skies and a promise of rain but despite the weather we wanted to see a few more things in the area. The national park of the Maremma is in this area and we have driven by but never actually gone into the park which extends from a few miles inland to the Mediterranean. It's about 20 km in length and there are only a couple of roads that pass through parts of it. Off we went and the rain began and became heavier and heavier but we forged ahead….a perfect day to go to the beach.

We made it, we saw it, we turned around and tried to get out only to find a mysterious parking regulation that wanted money but was completely unclear how much or how to pay. I flagged down a passing car as I stood outside with my umbrella and they were equally as confused but between us, we found a "cassa" (payment place) behind a faded awning that said "cassa." More confusion….it turned out that on entering, the license plate of your car is recorded. When ready to leave, you enter your license plate number, it tells you how much you owe and when you reach the barricade, it reads your license plate again and knows you have paid. An ingenious system but it would have been helpful to actually SEE some information about it.

Next we decided to drive north to an area we hadn't visited, to a town call Roccastrada not too terribly far away. We arrived at a town that from a distance was one of those charming looking hill towns with a tall tower but significantly less charming as we drove into it. It was lunchtime, we were damp and hungry and looking forward to a nice meal in a warm place. We found a parking place….not particularly convenient to the town which had tiny narrow streets that looked dangerous to try to navigate….gathered our umbrellas (raining enough that even Dick conceded to using an umbrella) and walked into the narrow streets that may have had charm under better circumstances. We saw a couple closed restaurants, wandered some more, finally found the one human being stupid enough to be walking about in the rain and asked for a recommendation of a restaurant. He recommended the two that were closed, there were no others. Back in the car we gave  up and headed home all set for a meal at our neighborhood restaurant, La Parolaccia.  And…….it was closed. Another local place….closed. Another….full. We drove all over Grosseto and never saw a restaurant! We finally ended up at a place we had noticed before that seemed to always have a full parking lot…a combination bar, restaurant and it also had rooms. It was a very strange environment, possibly sort of a truck stop for local workers.  There may have been a couple "working girls" as customers, the clientele was distinctly working class, the service was curt, the food adequate but a less than stellar last lunch in Grosseto.

Came home, packed, dinnered in (such as it was.) At least there was wine.