The Autostrade Incident

Anyway, I also spend a fair bit of time in my living room and in my dining (map) room.

Okay, back to the Autostrade. Now with una macchina (a car), I've opeded up a whole new world of things to learn: road signs, parking regulations, the car itself (it's a Smart Car - manual transmission but no clutch!), and toll booths. By the way, the "smart" car has an automatic mode which attempts to shift for you at the worst possible moment.

So, I went and picked up my niece Dana and her friend Megan in Pisa and all went well. On the return, we took the Autostrade (a super highway with tolls) from Pisa back to Figline Valdarno. Another aside: Valdarno is actually Val D'Arno which is Valle di Arno (the river valley of the Arno. Both Florence and Pisa are on the Arno as well). I can't believe how long it took me to see that one!

Okay, we're exiting the Autostrade and the toll machine (la macchina pedaggio) takes my ticket and then splits it back to me. Hmmm. I try again. Same result. All possible orientations. No luck. (Cars behind beeping now).

So, I attempt to read all the Italian on the machine.... la fessura biglietti irregolari - something for irregular tickets. Right. In it goes. Well, the machine took it, but then nothing. The gate was determined not to rise. Ah, a red help (aiutare) button. I push it.
Toll MachineLots of italiano rapido!
Marco: Ahh, parli inglese?
Toll MachineLots more italiano rapido!
Cars behindFrantic horn beeping, blood pressures rising.
Marco: Parlo poco italiano. Questo macchina non legge la bicicletta. No, errr, il biglietto. (the ticket, not the bicicle).
Toll MachineLots more italiano rapido certainly with cursing!
The machine whurred, printed out a new ticket and the gate opened. I grabbed the new ticket and sped off happy to be on my way and away from the angry drivers behind me.

I looked a the ticket when I got home. Yup. No ticket. Maximum fare: 37.60 euro. Pay within 15 days or another fine will occur The toll should have been 5 euro. Damn.

Not to give up so easily (the ticket has the car license number on it, so I knew the rental company would be charging my visa), I decided to go set things right. So, I wrote out (with much help from my dizionario) a long explanation of what happened, packed it up with the ticket and headed out for a morning bike ride that would include a stop at the Autostrade station. Anyone see the problem here? Marco on la bicicletta heading for the superhighway toll booth...

So, this is where I got lost on the way (deciding to take back roads) and did the extra big climb, so I was nice and sweaty when I arrived.

It was actually quite easy biking up to the exit tolls and there was a station on the left. I headed for that. Closed for repairs. No officials present! Damn. Okay, not deterred, I walked out to the manned toll booths (across 6 lanes of unmanned toll booths - in biking shoes. Okay, so I'm stubborn. I knocked on the door when there was a lull in traffic. There were two guys inside. Of course, neither one speaks English, but I proudly give one of them my note. He read it. We have a conversation (he was quite nice) where I learn that the exact toll is 5.80e and I can only pay it at a Pointe Blu (nearest one is Florence). I asked if I could mail it in. Nope. Only Pointe Blu. Okay. Next time I go to Firenze...!

P.S. Rick Steves words on driving in Italy.
Driving in Italy is frightening - a vdieo game for keeps and you only get one quarter.