Laura & Justin Arrive in Firenze... We Love Italy!

  Florence, Italy
Thursday, September 13, 2007

Finished with the beautiful but extremely crowded Italian city of Venezia, Laura and I checked out of our hotel around 11am and started the long haul back to Venezia Santa Lucia Train Station.  Rather than stuff ourselves into a Vaporetti with what feels like about a thousand other sweaty, annoying human beings, we opted for the 35 minute walk while we wheeled our luggage behind us and through the masses.  When we arrived at the station, I realized that I had mistakenly assumed that our train left at 1:38pm.  Instead, it left at 2:38pm.  That meant that we had about three hours to kill at a train station.  Oh boy.  What fun.
     We made the best out of our long wait by eating lunch at the little cafeteria and munching down an ice cream (of course).  The cafeteria setup was a little strange.  They had an oval counter with paninis and sandwiches on one side, and a self-serve pasta/salad bar on the other side.  If you got food from the pasta/salad side, you could sit in the cafeteria.  If you got a panini or a slice of pizza, you had to stand at these tables on the opposite side of the room or go somewhere else.  That wasn't the thing that made it weird.  The weird part was that there was no sign telling people that they couldn't sit in the cafeteria if they didn't get a pasta or salad dish.  Instead, they had one guy running up to people as they sat down and yelling at them.  It was quite comical.  One simple little sign could have fixed the entire problem.

Trains At Venice Saint Luzia Station

     After food, pacing and people watching, our train finally left.  We had two lovely window seats on what would end up being the nicest train we had been on yet.  This one was run by Eurostar Italia... and First Class was super nice.

Our Eurostar Italia Train To Florence

We felt like semi-royalty as we rolled through north-central Italy, heading towards the Tuscan area and finally to Firenze.  About two hours into the three hour train ride we struck up a conversation with the couple across the aisle from us.  Turns out they had been traveling about as long as we had and had even gone to a few of the same places.  Their names were Dean and Jessica.  Dean was from Los Angeles and worked as a cinematographer on commercial sets and motorcycle videos.  His wife Jessica was originally from Montreal, Quebec, and she worked as an art director for television/movie sets.  They were a friendly little couple.  Jessica and I had the same bag from R.E.I. which was fairly exciting.  Dean had the right idea; he brought a bottle of wine on the train for them to share.  Might be a good idea for the trip from Firenze to Roma.  Maybe not.  If I killed a bottle of wine on a two hour train ride I would probably pass out and then Laura would by forced to drag my limp body through the train station.
     Firenze has quite a different feel to it than Venice.  First off, there are cars.  Second off, due to Venezia being on an island, it really had that island feel to it.  Firenze feels like we are back in a concrete jungle.

Firenze From Roof Terrace

  A really, really beautiful concrete jungle.  As we rode in the taxi over to our hotel near Ponte Vecchio, we realized that we would not be escaping the crowds anytime soon.  Florence is just as crowded as Venice, if not more.  I was blown away by the grace with which our cab driver dodged all the bumbling fools who were just waltzing around in the street as if they owned the thing.  After a wild ten-minute car ride we arrived at Hotel La Scaletta. .
     I found the hotel from Rick Steves.  It was part of his description that sold me on the place, "...ramshackle and brimming with character...".  I was sold.  He was dead on.  The place is tucked away on a side street, through an arch in a building, up some stairs and on the third floor that you have to get to by either climbing 94 back-breaking stairs or taking a tiny little elevator.  Our room is beautiful.  It has a king size bed and a little twin bed, two huge windows opening up to a view of some either buildings with flowers and other plants, a giant bathroom with a bathtub (finally), and two channels in English.  We were in heaven, but that wasn't the best part.  The hotel also has two roof terraces, one with a bar and the other without, both with beautiful views of Florence.

Great ItalianBeer. Sunglasses. Hotel Key

While we got settled in, I went down to the bar and ordered an Italian beer from the friendly bartender, Rafael.  It was smooth as silk.  I sat back in the chair, took in the views of the city and downed the refreshing brewskie.  Sometimes, life just feels really, really good.
     Around 9pm we went out in search of dinner.  After the usual wanderings and staring at confusing menu's we finally settled on a little dive called Ristorante Bibo.  It was decent.  More of a good atmosphere rather than good food.  Our table was on a section of their rickety wood floor that was not very stable, and every time the waiters would walk by our table would rock back and forth as if there was an earthquake, nearly spilling our drinks.  I drank a half liter of wine and ate one of my favorite Italian meals, Chicken Cacciatore (Pollo Alla Cacciatora).  I discovered that an Italy they don't serve it with any type of pasta.  Not what I was expecting.  Laura had some yummy Gnocchi that I wish I would've had.  I always wish I would've gotten what she did.  That happened over and over again with desserts in Switzerland.  I would order what she had the night before, and then she would get something new and I would try it and wish that I had ordered that instead.  She's so good at finding the best desserts.

A View Of Florence At Night From Roof Terrace

  After dinner we walked back to our happy little hotel, took in some night views of the terrace and made our way back down to the room to get ready for sleepy time.  I couldn't help myself, but I had to go back out to the bar and have another glass of wine while Laura took a bath.  Friendly Rafael poured me a glass of the house red, which I promptly downed.  Walking up to the bar to return the glass and then head to bed feeling absolutely wonderful, Rafael made the mistake of offering me a free drink, which of course I couldn't say no to.  He gave me a shot of this stuff called "Grappa", which is basically the leftovers from wine-making.  Expensive leftovers.

Justin On Roof Terrace

  He informed me that a bottle costs about as much as a really, really nice bottle of wine.  It was pretty damn strong.  And delicious.  I stumbled back to the room and got ready for bed... pretty much passing out once I hit the mattress.  Tomorrow we have a date with the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia, home of Michaelangelo's "David".

Laura In Firenze