Up early this morning since we had a train to catch! We were super paranoid we'd miss it, so we were at breakfast before it really even opened. We wanted one last yummy pastry before we left Rome. And finished our check out process where the receptionist checked our cash about 9 times before she printed my receipt. I'd like to say that's an overstatement, but it's really not. She counted, recounted, recounted, ran the bills through an electronic counter, recounted, ran it through again....you get the point. I don't know why it was so difficult, but whatevs.
Used the damn elevator this time to get our luggage down. Of course, going DOWN the steps wouldn't have been too bad, but I still wasn't going to do it. lol We all 3 couldn't fit in the elevator with our luggage, so we had to make a couple trips. Fortunately, the train station was close, but with Roman streets and feisty Roman drivers, it was a bit difficult dodging in and out of all the people and attempting to cross the street. I also beat the crap out of my suitcase wheels rolling over all the uneven streets. I got a good bicep workout though!
Platform 9-3/4? (Another Harry Potter reference...damn, we're nerds.)
Our train.
Heyyyyyy
We didn't have to wait too long until our train was assigned a platform either, which was nice. When we got up to the doors, a few guys were there to help us load our bags onto the train's luggage rack and even followed us to our seats to help out with our carry-ons. I didn't really need any help with my carry-on, but it was nice they were there for our suitcases. Oh, wait, no it wasn't nice they were there. They demanded a tip in exchange for their services. What? We had sat down and one guy said "money?" Brenda said "For what?" They seemed offended that we weren't tipping them for putting our bags on. So, we gave them each a coin or so to shut them up, but they still wouldn't go away. Brenda finally lost her cool and said "I paid you, go away!" Come to find out, they didn't work for the damn train. Lesson learned.
I was starting to feel an allergy attack coming, so I tried to nap most of the way there. I sat next to a couple who said only about 4 words the entire trip. Brenda and Nikki were on the other side of the aisle and sat next to a girl and her mom who were from Texas. They were nice, but pretty chatty. But since I couldn't hear half of what they were saying due to the train noise, I just sat back and tried to enjoy the countryside. Bad idea. We kept going in and out of tunnels, so I didn't really get to see much. Oh well, time for a nap! Damn, not a good nap since my ears were constantly popping. WTF
Wooooo! Train!
Nikki's super excited!
Yay for trains!
We made it to Florence in under two hours and when we deboarded the train, I took a look at the map to see our situation. Our hotel looked fairly close, so we opted to walk it instead of paying for a cab. That was a great idea since Florence is even more walkable than Rome, although it was tiring at the time. There were still cars and motorinos, especially near the train station, but it seemed quieter than Rome did. I didn't have a super-detailed map, but I was able to get us to our hotel with no problems. We did end up walking right through a street market, and that was a bit awkward with us weaving our big suitcases in and out of people. I should have tried backpacking through Italy instead. ;-)
Checking in.
Our hotel was Il Guelfo Bianco and we had somewhat of an in with this hotel as well. Bear with me, it's a bit convoluted. Nikki's boyfriend Brendan has a cousin Tommy who studied abroad in Florence. While there he met Daniele (it's a guy and it's pronounded Dawn-yell-ay) and became good friends with him. When Brendan went to visit Tommy, he met Daniele and they all became friends. Daniele works at the hotel and upon hearing Brendan's girlfriend was visiting, he booked us a sweet room. A seriously sweet room. We arrived at the hotel and gave them our name and immediately Antonella, the receptionist at the time, knew who we were and that they were to take extra care of us for Daniele. Wow! We headed up to our room and were blown away when we opened the door.
You could have fit our Rome room in this one twice. It was ENORMOUS! Two twin beds next to each other on one side, along with a desk, fridge and TV, and two pull out chairs on the other side of a divide. The windows were huge and offered a great view of the street below. Holy crap, you can fit 8 people in the shower! No joke, it was amazing. We just couldn't stop pinching ourselves at how nice this hotel was. Not to mention it was cheaper than our Rome hotel. I hope this Daniele guy is as cool as his hotel!
Look how big this room is!
Nice big windows.
Unfortunately for Brenda, she got stuck with the pull out chair. And it was the most uncomfortable damn thing to sleep on. :(
I think this closet was bigger than the bathroom in Rome.
Shower = Awesome
Another bidet. This time with a bar of soap sitting on it........
The view down our street.
We settled in quickly, but since it wasn't raining, we wanted to get out and get walking as much as possible. Florence was calling for more rain than Rome, and we needed to take advantage of the clear skies. But first? Lunch! The hotel is connected to a restaurant called Il Desco and we were just looking for a quick and easy lunch. We all tried our first paninis, and shocker, I got a ham and buffalo mozzarella panini. It was actually prosciutto instead of ham, but still very good. The bread was a bit crunchier than I would have liked...it kind of gouged the hell out of the inside of my mouth every time I would take a bite. We also each got a crostini and I did the fresh tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella one. Basically it was just a large piece of bruschetta (be sure to pronounce brew-sketta, NOT brew-shetta, or Brenda and the entire Italian population will castrate you.) Fresh mozzarella has changed my life. I don't think I'll ever be able to get a package of Kraft mozz ever again.
Yummmmmm!!!
Grabbed our new map of Florence and set out to go to the Ponte Vecchio. On our way, we passed Il Duomo, and this place was simply magnificent. Il Duomo is technically just the Italian way to say dome, but the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is so schmancy pants that everyone knows they're talking about that when they say Duomo. Like most historic things in Italy, it just popped up out of nowhere when we turned a corner. We spent some time walking around and getting an eye full of the intense detail throughout the facade. Wow. We were planning on climbing the dome at some point, but figured we'd wait until Wednesday when the weather wouldn't be as cooperating.
Il Duomo!
Random people. It was impossible to get a photo of the doors without someone standing there getting their own photos.
The bell tower.
Across from the Duomo is the Baptistery of Florence. It's considered one of the oldest buildings in Florence. We didn't go in here either, mainly because it charged a fee, but also because the main artwork was on the 3 famous doors. Gorgeous. They are considered some of the most important artistic works in all of Tuscany (the region where Florence is).
What's behind Door #2?
On we pressed to the PV, and passed by the Palazzo Vecchio, the city's town hall, and the statue park, Loggia dei Lanzi, adjoining it. We got to see one of many "fake" David's scattered throughout Florence. Michelangelo's real David is in the Accademia Gallery, and we hadn't decided if we were going to pay to get in or not yet. We were already planning on hitting the Uffizi Gallery to see Botticelli's Venus, so we'd just have to see about our time and fund situation.
Palazzo Vecchio
Fake David on the left and Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus on the right.
Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa
Giambologna's The Rape of the Sabine Women
The Ponte Vecchio was very close and we opted to stop into a gelateria to get some tasty treats before we headed across. I pointed at a cup (instead of the cone) and told her which I wanted: frutti di bosco and manderino. The frutti di bosco is a tasty concoction of mixed fruit and chocolate chunks. Delicioso! The manderino, or orange, tasted like perfume. It was not good. We all 3 got our gelatos and then stepped inside the store to pay. I only had a 20 Euro bill on me, so I handed her that to pay with. She gave me a 5 Euro bill and 3 Euro worth of coins back. I started at her blankly and said "Oh, I gave you a 20." She said "I know, it was 12 Euro" and pointed at the price chart subtly hiding behind her.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This cup of ice cream cost me around $17!!! Brenda and Nikki stared at her speechless until Nikki tried to return it. The lady glared at her and said "It's already mixed." I noticed the smaller cups hiding conveniently behind the bigger ones, giving onlookers the illusion that she only served one size. Grrrrr
Hell, I had already paid at this point and eaten part of it, so there wasn't much I could do. They opted to pay for theirs, but we all spent the next 10 minutes very vocally trashing the dirty bit behind the counter. I guess it's shame on us for not paying better attention to the prices, but what can you do? Sure, I was mad, but I ate nearly all of it anyways. Had the orange not tasted like I was drinking straight Chanel No. 5, I would have eaten all of it. Again, lesson learned!
We headed across the Ponte Vecchio at this point still sensitive about our gelato adventure. It's a famous stretch of shops along the bridge that crosses the Arno River. Shop keepers used to sell their wares in the front and sleep in the back, the sections that overhang the river below. Um, hopefully they're well reinforced! I knew that it was well-known for jewelry here, but I was thinking there would be other types of shops. Nope, all jewelry. And all very pricey jewelry. There were some things that caught my eye, but not much I seriously felt like forking over cash for. I'm not a big jewelry person to begin with, and definitely not a schmance jewelry person, so I wasn't too disappointed. I think Brenda was though. She was really looking forward to bringing back some sort of authentic Italian jewelry. Bummer. :(
Shops along the Ponte Vecchio.
Some were closed and they looked like suitcases or trunks.
View down river from PV.
Arno River.
Ponte Vecchio from further down river.
Those "back room" parts seem to hanging a bit precariously over the water!
Legend has it that if you go to Florence with your pookiebear you should add a lock to one of the chains along the river edge. If you do, you will be together forever. It's apparently illegal, but tell that to the hundreds of people who put their locks on it!
Nikki was all about the Italian leather and was looking forward to a buttery-soft purchase. She had read about a leather school close by, so we headed in that direction. We couldn't find the leather school, but we did run into Santa Croce, a church where Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo are all buried, just to name a few. Nikki wasn't interested in the church, but she was definitely interested in the dozens of leather shops around it. So, Brenda and I headed into the church while Nikki did some shopping.
Santa Croce
All of these churches have some enormous pretty doors.
Brrrrrrrrr!!!
Unfortunately the altar area was getting a major face lift.
Lots of beautiful intricate stained glass windows.
The ceiling is actually wood, but it's very intricately painted.
Galileo's tomb.
Inspiration for the Statue of Liberty.
Michelangelo's tomb. Brenda commented that she wanted something similar at her passing. That seems feasible, right?
Dante Aligheri - not his actual burial site, but just a shrine to him.
Machiavelli's tomb.
I lit a candle for my two grandparents that have passed away.
Holy crap, the inside of the church was freeeeeeeezing!! I could see my breath, and it wasn't even that cold outside. Sheesh! Found the leather school too. It was actually part of the church (for some weird reason) and you couldn't get in unless you paid for the church. It was pretty cool because there were people working on stuff while we were there...doing lots of leathery type stuff. ;-) We didn't stay too long since it was getting close to our rendezvous time. We met back up with Nikki and I purchased a leather souvenir. Just a coaster though, didn't want to break the bank! Some of the purses were so pretty though.
We decided to head back to the hotel so we could get ready for dinner. My allergies were out of control, and I was kind of miserable. We stopped at numerous shops along the way to look at food, etc., but I couldn't pull the trigger to buy anything. I guess I was gun shy after the money I spent on that damn gelato! Brenda did buy a bottle of wine from an adorable man in a shop by our hotel. This would begin our 3-bottle wine night. :)
I headed back to the room to prep for dinner and our contact for our hiking tour the next day called to inform us that the Park was shutting down the trail tomorrow. Because of the rain and slick conditions, it was dangerous to allow people to walk on the trail. We had planned a drive to Pisa, Cinque Terre and Lucca. Cinque Terre was where we would hike along the coast and catch some beautiful scenery. We were pretty bummed because we had been looking forward to the trip, but our guide suggested an alternate plan. We could do the Chianti Wine Tour with Nathalie. She apparently spoke great English, as opposed to our CT guide who supposedly was a little lacking with his Americano. We definitely still wanted to do a tour of some kind, and since this was really our only option, we said yes. Hopefully, it will still be a good day!
The start of the night...
Brendan had recommended a restaurant while we were in Firenze, and Daniele had booked us a reservation at Acqua Al 2 (the 2 is pronounced due-ay). They were known for their blueberry steak, and we were pretty anxious to try it out. We thought we were early for our reservation, but when we got there, the place was jam packed with people. Mostly tourists, but whatever.
We settled in to our tiny table in the corner and started perusing the menu. Um, it's entirely in Italian. A quick flag down of the waiter, (which is not easy in Italy...waiters tend to ignore you), and he informed us he did not have an English version of the menu. He kind of looked at us disapprovingly too. I hadn't been bringing my pocket dictionary since we hadn't really had any difficulties up until now getting around or ordering food. Sooooo, we kind of didn't know what the heck things were. I mean I knew that pomodoro was tomatoes, funghi was mushrooms, and I knew the different kinds of pastas, but I started to sweat a bit. Nikki didn't seem to mind, but Brenda and I kinda went off the deep end. I just couldn't decide what to get. And I couldn't really ask the waiter, since I'd have to ask him what nearly every bloody thing was. I finally just said eff it and settled on something I thought would work for me and hoped for the best - rigatoni alla melanzana.
We all 3 ordered a pasta dish to start the night and opted to all share the blueberry steak. For one, we probably couldn't each finish our own, and two, it would be cheaper this way. We also orderd a bottle of wine (of course!). My pasta came and it was so effing good, I can't even describe it. At first I saw eggplant, and I wasn't thrilled, since I'm not a huge fan of eggplant. But, boy was I wrong. I don't know what they did to it, but it was so tender it nearly melted in my mouth. I could not stop gushing about my food. I also felt like a big tool for freaking out so much. Next came our blueberry steak and I realized that the waiter had taken away my knife when he cleared my pasta plate. So, I made Brenda cut my meat for me. :) The steak was really good. I think we built up the hype a bit too much and felt like it didn't quite live up to our lofty expectations, but it was still damn good. The steak was the perfect balance of medium and rare and was smothered in a blueberry sauce that had just a hint of sweetness. Needless to say, it didn't last long on the plate.
So damn good.
I realize this looks like chocolate cake, but there was no good way to photograph it!
Mmmmm...
Andddd another bottle of wine. We were still having a good time, so we decided to order their assorted dessert platter. Dear sweet baby Jesus, we polished off that plate like we hadn't eaten in weeks. I think we were finished eating everything in less than 5 minutes. Good grief! It was so effing good though.
My favorites were the cheesecake in the lower right and the brownie in the upper left. The fruit tart was also good, but I wasn't a big fan of the tiramisu concoction on the left.
Okay, so my first restaurant freak out ended up being towards the top of my list for food in Italy. I'm such a freakshow. We finally decided it was time to head to the room for some sleep, but not before the silliness began. That's what happens when you drink 3 bottles of wine. :) Back in the hotel room, we thought it would be good fun to use the timer function on my camera to do a photo shoot. Ha! Fun times!! Not to mention drunkenly watching South Park in Italiano!
Nikki complained about us squishing her face (we totally did it on purpose).....
......so we took one wayyyy far away.
I suppose we could have picked a better place than the construction area next to the Duomo, but what can ya do.
This was our Parent Trap-esque photo.
My camera caught a classic moment as our laughter caused the pyramid to break.
Despite my allergies, it was a really great day and great night. Looking forward to our wine tour tomorrow!
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