Arrivederci Firenze

Our trip from Firenze to Alessandria took us through some high-ish mountains with some glimpses of the sea.  A traffic jam going around Genoa turned out to be due to the location of a pit stop gas station off the auto-route at a bad location.  We were stopped in a tunnel but not actually for very long, perhaps 15 min or so.



Here is our hotel outside of Alessandria. It's an old farm-house redone near a golf course.  Unfortunately, JI didn't realize that Expedia defaulted to the month in which the reservation was
made, hence we had a reservation for July 29-30, rather than Aug 29-30, so we arrived without a reservation.  BUT all was well and we got a room, though were charged a penalty of a night's cost from the 'no-show' in July.




The area here is very flat but feels comfortable, including the various cement factories and gravel pits that are in the area.






Went in to Alessandria for a bite to eat.  It's far from displaying the splendours that we've seen elsewhere but there are a few charming buildings.





The main goal here was to pay the Lucca parking ticket which we were told could be paid in any bank or post office.  There are tons of banks in downtown Alessandria -- in fact it seems like that's all there is.  Interesting to enter one.  You go person by person through a plexiglass vertical cylinder and give a fingerprint in order just to get in.  The process is repeated when you leave.  The bank staff were very helpful, but directed us instead to the post office which wasn't far.  Here's what the post office looks like.



Much ado followed while first a clerk was found who could speak French with us.  Again very helpful, but lots of paperwork it seemed for a simple parking ticket.  Richard's passport was also handed over in the process.  All, finally, went well, and as the clerk handed us the receipt of payment, he looked us ominously and said, "conservez bien".   We are not sure if we will actually escape from Italy in the end ...