Heading North
Here was the plan. We
will visit all of the most northern cities in September when we can expect
sunshine and then save northern Italy for November when it will be raining
everywhere. At the further risk of
jinxing the rest of our trip, the weather forecast for the next 10 days (our
last) is for sunshine and 70 degree temps.
Go figure.
We have arranged for a slightly late check-out this
morning. We have a 1:15 train to
Florence so we won’t check out until 11:30.
We do our usual calorie load at breakfast and bring our pot of coffee
outside to enjoy the courtyard and sunshine.
We get a 5% discount for cash so earlier we attacked the ATMs to pay our
bill. We really enjoyed this place and
would come back here for sure if we returned to Rome. The ladies at the desk try to get us a cab
but we assure them that we are self-sustaining and can make our own way in the
world.
Actually that means that we are whipping out our Uber
app. Some people are touchy about Uber
if they have any relationship to the taxi business, especially in Europe. We think our best bet for having a driver
find us is to move a couple blocks to the river instead of in our little warren
of back streets. Our driver, Marco,
almost finds us but he is across the river on the other side of the pedestrian
only bridge. He does call, we update him
on our location and pretty soon the Audi A6 whips to the curb and off we
go. Marco has bottled water in the back
seat for us, the car is luxurious and we feel like we’re back in the private
driver business again. He is a good
English speaker giving us a guided tour of the sites between us and the Termini
station. He is doing such a good job
that we don’t tell him that we were here yesterday. Easy as can be and we’re at the station
before noon. We love Uber when it works.
We sit down for a beverage at the station and meander out to
the platforms about 12:45. We are on an
Italo train today. They are a relatively
new competitor to the state train system, Trenitalia. They specialize in upscale service and are
using that to steal riders. We booked
seats on their website where the economy fare was 38 euros per person and first
class was 34. Hmmm, let’s think about
this. They must have had a lot of first
class seats left which is OK with us.
There is a rack to store our luggage, outlets for our electronics, big
leather seats, drinks and snacks and a sunny day for our hour and a half ride
north. Much easier than dealing with an
airport.
When we get to Stazione Santa Maria Novella in Florence the
Orient Express is one track over. It is
gorgeous. We peek in the windows and
everything is rich wood and elegant touches.
The staff is lined up on the platform at attention as the riders leave
for their stop in Florence. Maybe
someday, Agatha. John calls our hostess,
Miki, and Mary puts the address into the phone.
It is supposed to be a 7 minute walk to our apartment but we are no
longer fooled by that. We get there
within 15 minutes so we consider that a small victory.
Miki and husband Franco (the apartment owners, about our
age) go over all of the details with us for over an hour in barely perceptible
English. At one point Miki says to Mary,
“oh you don’t speak any Italian but I see your husband does.” That’s what happens when you keep your head
down and just say, “Si si, bene, prego, grazzi.
The apartment is dead center in the middle of everything. It is on a busy street but we’re on the third
floor on the courtyard side so we have no noise. There is a big bedroom and bath with laundry,
2 balconies and combo living room/kitchen.
It is high ceilings and marble floors so very old world Italian. We like it a lot.
When we give Miki and Franco the boot we go out for a first
peek at Florence. We walk down to the
Arno River just as the sun is setting.
There are hundreds of folks lining the river walkway and bridges soaking
in the early evening vibe of the city.
We bounce around a couple blocks and get our first glimpse of the
Palazzo Vecchio, the original homestead if the Medici family who ran Florence,
most of Italy and the Catholic Church for a couple centuries. There are thousands of people out milling
around on this Saturday evening and it feels like Times Square in New York without
the cabs.
It is important that we stop for some groceries since nobody
will be setting up a breakfast buffet for us in the morning. We fill up the backpack and then take turns
carrying it back to the apartment. Along
the way we find all sorts of fun things going on that we have to revisit later
when we know where we’re going and what we’re doing. The reason we have the apartment is that it
will be our final laundry stop. Mary
sorts a few things and throws in the first load.
Another tedious transition day which makes the little Trattoria
Marione right downstairs seem like a good idea.
It was in Rick Steves’ book as well on Miki and Franco’s list and being
50 feet away makes for an unbeatable combination. We get seated in the basement. The place is bigger than we think and filling
up rapidly. They don’t take reservations
so we were lucky to get right in on a Saturday night. We order a Bruschetta Mista which turns out
to be 4 crostini, 2 with the tomato/basil combination and 2 topped with a
chicken liver pate that is pretty good.
John decided to get off the pasta kick and had the roast chicken and
potatoes. The chicken was desert dry but
a nice sauce almost made up for it. Mary
stayed with the pasta with a basic tomato basil combination that was pretty
good.
We’re tired but decide to go for one more walk after
dinner. This time we head away from the
river for a couple blocks, turn a corner and stop dead in our tracks. Right is front of us is the Florence Duomo
that looks like an elephant was deposited in an ant farm. The place is elaborate, busy, colorful and
most of all, huge. We snap a few pictures by streetlight but nothing will do it
justice. We promise to come back in
daylight to get a handle on this thing.
We go back down through Piazza Della Republica where a
permanent carousel is still spinning and make the turn onto Via Della Spada,
our new address. Mary reads for 30
seconds and John watches TV for 30 seconds and that’s all folks.
What did we learn today?
Train travel, ours today and the Orient Express, can be a good way to
get from place to place.
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