Florence, how beautiful
Trip Start
Apr 25, 2010
1
8
21
Trip End
May 18, 2010
Where I stayed
Hotel Davanzati
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Ok so we get up early and as predicted the Andrew’s English scones won over my gondola ride and that was that. We made our way to the pier to catch the vaperetta but we weren’t too sure which one to catch as I thought there were two train stations in Venice and we needed St Lucia but there wasn’t anything showing that name. So I take my train ticket out of my pocket to double check and sure enough it only says St Lucia, so in the end we have to ask.
Now I have to be honest here and say that my super duper pac safe back pack, which has all these clips to stop pick pocketing, is driving me nuts as it takes me forever to get out my purse or tickets etc. So today I pop the train tickets in my back pocket and then think nope they will get stolen there and transfer them to my front pocket. I never use my jeans pockets for anything and sure enough, when we get to the station and I go to get our tickets, and they have fallen out of my front pocket. This then results in my bursting into tears, after checking everything 100 times. Drew was pissed off with me but then saw how upset I was & changed tack pretty quickly. I can’t believe I lost our tickets, as I was being so careful but had enough of the backpack.
We then queue up in the ticket line and explain, they tell us to go see" Helga the grump” in the information booth, why I don’t know as she just looked at me and said "buy new tickets”. I thought as they took our passports and had our name printed on the tickets that it might amount to something but nope, tough titties.
So another $90 Euros and we have new tickets to Florence...........................crap happens!
Now Drew & I haven’t had much luck with our eye glasses over here. On the train to Venice, the arm of my distance glasses snapped off, rendering them useless but I can still use my sunglasses during the day which helps. Today getting on the train to Florence and Andrew looks down to see one lense missing from his sunglasses- just great now he hasn’t any sunnies for the rest of the trip. Although he does have some daggy transitional ones that he can use as a substitute.
Ok so we board the train, sit in any seat we can find in second class (yes you read it right, Andrew heard that you can get a cheaper upgrade once you are on board) and then discover that everyone has allocated seats. It takes us forever to realise on the ticket, where the seat number was. So we get up and move and find we are in a nice little carriage with barely anyone else. . Oh except for an Italian family who packed a picnic to eat on board and Drew had the unfortunate seat to watch papa eat with his mouth open. Also our seats have a table in front of them and are very good, so we settle in to make it our home for the next 2 hours. Before we know it we have arrived in Florence and it is raining. We have been so lucky with weather so far. We immediately jump in a taxi and arrive at Hotel Davanzati within minutes. We lug our suitcases up the flight of stairs and check in. The hotel reception is very welcoming and we are shown to our room, which is surprisingly large and well laid out. We even have a view of the street, about time.
We pop down to have some lunch at the nearest cafe and for entre we order croutons with pate. It arrives and is disgusting. The pate has been heated, so it's like eating warm livers on toast. I try not to gag but then discover if I scrape it off the bread onto my plate and wait fo it to cool, it is at least edible. I then have asparagus rissotto, which is watery and barely any flavour. Andrew has lasagne and it is a winner. Oh and might I say that Andrew has thrown in the towel for me taking food photos. It is all too embaressing and as much as I tell him my fans are relying on them, the only way I can get away with it, is to pretend I am taking a photo of him instead lol.
We have a brief rest and then hit the streets of Florence, wandering through the fantastic leather market stalls and then heading down to the Ponte Vecchio. The bridge is covered with little shops that are mostly for jewellery. The shops have these wonderful wooden covers for when they aren’t trading. I also notice the padlocks that lovers leave and then throw the key into the river for eternal love. There is also a sign for a $160 euro fine for anyone caught doing this. I think it is totally romantic. We eventually make our way back to our hotel after passing heaps of gelato shops, each one with fantastic presentation. We decide to stop for a coffee and biscuits, although I have Bianchi and receive a bowl of potato chips and we just slip into the people watching. By this stage the rain has stopped.
We settle back in our room for a short while and Andrew begins the afternoon snoring ritual. This time I pull out my iphone and record his thundering snores, as he says I make it up. I am giggling my head off as I am taping it and trying like crazy not to wake him. When he does wake, I sit on him and whack the phone to his ear and make him listen –“ nope it wasn’t him” he declares........................
Now this hotel has happy hour between 6.30pm -7.30pm with free champagne and Chianti with plates of nibbles. We head into the room and they have heaps of candles going with music to give it an atmosphere. We chat to an Indian mother and her adult son who are here on holidays. There are a few American couples but they all tend to keep to themselves. Oh well there loss. We have a pleasant time chatting and then head back to our room so I can work on this blog. Drew is watching the tv in German this time. Why who knows but it’s weird that the can only find German & Italian – oh he just found an English station with Italian subtitles, work that one out?
Tomorrow we have a full day tour called the best of Tuscany, which goes for about 12 hours, so hang in there if you haven’t heard another instalment.
Comments
glad to hear it gets better!
bad luck about your glasses and ticket. Just keep eating your way through Europe. Wait till you get on the boat. Keep blogging Gill you write fantastic stories.
the glasses thingy cracked me up i was visualising Drew with 1 eye glass! Bad luck about the tickets tho !!! Tell me you bought at least one bag or I will consider you not a woman!