Cortona #1

  Sergio, the manager of my hotel in Cortona, was waiting at the railway station to greet me off my train from Rome. What a friendly way to begin a trip. When we reached the car park, a beautiful young woman was waiting in the passenger seat of his Alfa Romeo. A pink flower loosely held her long, auburn hair behind one ear and she was holding a bunch of freshly-picked lavender. "Lavender", I declared, exhibiting the full range of my horticultural knowledge in a single word, "how lovely". I thought there would be some sort of explanation for the woman's presence, if not for the lavender, but Sergio offered none and neither did his glamorous friend. He was concentrating on driving like an Italian (at full throttle and with little caution) through the narrow, cobbled streets of old Cortona and she was concentrating on looking like a young Audrey Hepburn, which, now I think about it, were tasks which demanded little effort or concentration from either of them. This is Italy where...

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