September 16, 2013
Florence/Fiesole
We took the high speed train from Venice to Florence. We were going 155 mph at times. Our first class ticket got us drinks, snacks, and a newspaper. Cool. (All rail passes are first class in case you were thinking the Larsens were getting uppity.). We are staying in Fiesole, a small hill town that overlooks Florence.
Our hotel is on top of a steep hill in Fiesole, which overlooks Florence. I thought I would die climbing up to it. Good training for Amalfi, I guess. The room is a little disappointing because they didn't provide any chairs to sit in. However, the views out our windows are stunning. Fiesole has some neat ancient baths and a stadium.
So, with no place to sit in our room, we took our wine down to the lounge/breakfast area which is one floor lower than reception but still somewhat visible to the desk clerk. I grabbed two wine glasses from the bar and we settled in on a couch. I was dreading making the climb down into town and back for dinner so we bought a tuna sandwich out of the vending machine. So now we have a picnic in the lounge.
Enter Mussolini
The desk clerk, aka Mussolini, came downstairs and was unhappy with what he saw. He also wanted to know where the wine glasses came from. A customer came in so he went back upstairs. Larsen turned on the TV and he rushed back down and told him to shut it off because it could be heard at reception. When we were finished with our dinner, I took the wine glasses back and put them in the sink. "What are you doing back there?. He wants to know. "You need to ask me!" Whatever. Then the little turd called our room at 10:00 pm and woke us up to ask what time we would be checking out. Grrrrrrrrr.
On a positive note: Dinner, including two bottles of wine, cost $13.80
Update: The little psychopath did it again! He called at 10:30 pm the next night to ask what tme we would be checking out. I hung up on him and he called back twice more!
We are encountering fewer English speakers as we go. I thought prego meant "you're welcome" and it does. It also means a lot of other things depending on your tone of voice and accompanying gestures. Can I help you?, yes, sure, help yourself, and much more.
A flash mob in Florence
I don't care how big a deal you were in life, a pigeon on your head just makes you look ridiculous. Cosimo Medici.
The Problem Child
Everybody has one. We're fortunate that ours is of the four legged variety. Rose reports that Bogey and Sweet Pea have settled in, though not without incident. Apparently Bogey slapped up Rose's four pound dog Lilly. Sweet Pea would like to play with her but can't quite figure out what this would look like. Meanwhile, Rose is feeding them chicken breast for dinner. They might not want to come home. Here they are sitting at Rosé's table waiting for chicken.
Buscapades
We had a 9:00 am ticket to see the David at the Accedamia. We were only two hours late because we didn't get off at the correct stop. Then we got on another bus that was going the wrong way. The good news is that we saw a lot more of Florence than we would have. And that's all the lemonade I can squeeze out of that fiasco. We had a "skip the line" ticket. That needs to be clarified. First we stood in line to exchange our voucher for real tickets. Then we stood in another line to get in the Accedamia. Then another line to get through airport type security. I'm running out of "line" credits with Larsen and he doesn't even know about the Duomo yet.
If It Looks Too Good To True.......
Next we went to the Duomo Museum. We bought a combo ticket that would, in addition to the Museum, also get us into the Duomo and the Baptistry. Larsen is standing behind me sighing and grossing about how he's not going to stand in line. We came out of the museum and did a double take. There was no line to get into the Duomo! Alrighty then! So we trip on up the stairs, through the turnstile, and into what looks like a narrow flight of stone stairs. We're about two flights up when we figure it out. We are climbing to the top of the bell tower. It's over 414 steps. Let me do the math for you.......40 flights of stairs. Hell no! We turn around and start heading down. We were like salmon on a fish ladder. Excuse me, pardon me, so sorry. We made it back to the bottom and slipped under the turnstile. We looked to our left and sure enough.....the line to the Duomo is at least two blocks long. We just kept on walking.
Larsen is starting to get into the red wine; thanks to Ed and Charlie for the recommendations. Not that he wouldn't go back to vodka in a heartbeat if he could just get some ice!
A nice dinner our last night in Florence.
Off to Castellina in the morning. Larsen is excited about driving a stick shift in Florence!