July 23 Saturday – Florence – “The Market”
Okay people, I am finally having the time to update this blog. I am currently writing this on Tuesday 11:30a.m. 7/26/2011, sitting in Italian traffic on the autostrada (major toll highway). So far 8 Italians have gotten out of their cars to converse with one another. We finally turned off our little VW Polo. Cute car but not sold in the USA. Get about 51 mpg or liter or whatever.
Anyway, I am just waiting for someone to bring out the wine and cheese so we can get to know one another.
We do not have wine and cheese but have coffee and chocolate cookies and Bekah just shoved one cookie in my mouth. Oh boy, now we are moving. I swear European tractor trailers dwarf ours – maybe I am just used to being in an SUV. I keep asking dumb geography questions and Bekah said I need to go back to geography class!
Now back to our adventures in Florence, Italy and the street market. WOW! Not like a craft fair AT ALL but I did get Christmas shopping done except for a few more things for my “boys” from Germany and Switzerland. We really did not haggle as much as we could have but still got some great deals and finished off the shopping spree with a restaurant recommendation from our “bible”; Rick Steves’ ‘Best of Europe’ book. Bekah forgot it when she left for Belgium and I started reading it on the way over and we have carried it with us every day. Since we could not find the restaurant and were trying to figure out which direction to go, Bekah overheard two ladies across the street speaking English so we asked them if they knew where this restaurant was. Turns out they were from California and trying to meet the rest of their “women’s tour group” who were already there. So off we went to Trattorio “da Giorgio as recommended by Steve and were not disappointed. Since I am used to the Italian Restaurants in St. Louis I picked something close to what I could have there. I was not disappointed with the ravioli in meat sauce with a side of cooked spinach and of course cheesecake. It was not like our STL cheesecake but still good. One other thing I cannot get used to is their idea of coffee. They have espresso in tiny cups and I like my Seattle’s Best in a large mug!
I may not have walked as much as I should have in preparing for the “hoofin’” I expected to do in Europe but so far I think I’m doing pretty well keeping up with Bekah since she has walked or taken public transportation everywhere here. There has been one exception to that and will expand upon that when I get to Monday July 25, 2011.
Okay, traffic update – we have gone through 31 tunnels so far and still in Italy. Beautiful countryside but Italian drivers >>> let’s just say they are NOT our favorite people.
July 24, 2011 Sunday
Today was supposed to be the Vatican but it is raining and Basilica and the Sistine Chapel were closed then. So plan B was to go to the beach in Livorno but as I said it was raining and we met a new friend at breakfast, Allison from NYC and said the beaches there are NOT like in the states with sand but sharp rocks. Nix the beach! So we decided to go shopping and Allison knew about a great leather glove shop on the recommendation from a friend. Since we have a rental car and did not want to walk we drove over there. She was not kidding! The lady there was most helpful even though Allison and I speak NO Italian, but Bekah was able to communicate with her and get across what we were looking for – somewhat. This was a tiny little shop as are many shops in Europe but what made this ‘glove shop’ amazing was the intense colors of the gloves. They were all lamb skin “BAAA”!!!!! ….sorry – had to add a bit of animal humor into this story. So you had the choice of unlined gloves or lined with cashmere and with or without a bunny fur cuff. Allison purchased and was on her way to a “Pisa tour” leaving us to choose our gloves. Frankly I am used to going to Sam’s and picking out the pair that fits reasonably well and won’t show all the winter snow and slush stains and is washable. I have never been to a “glove” store. This is the type of store I think my parent’s generation probably patronized. So 3 pairs later we walk out of the store and realized we are seriously hungry and stop at the first outdoor seating eatery. Big mistake! Bekah order a pesto pasta (was cold and noodles barely cooked) and my Veggie Pizza warm and not cut and the beer we had (no wine available – let me see – we are in Italy – they make wine, sell wine and we pick a place that does not serve it ---damn!) Let us also say Italians don’t do beer at all and should stay out of the business! While I am on a rant about this place – I think it was called Café Mediterranean, IS NOT some place to patronize. Poor service, never asked if you were happy with your meal, needed anything and to add insult to injury I had to ask for the bill to pay and scoot out of there. We had figured to bill to be 24.50 Euro and it comes back at 26.50 Euro - 1 Euro each to sit down to be served. Our server (if you wish to call him that) waited for a tip --- When hell freezes over.
As I write this we are still on the autostrada and just paid & passed a toll booth.
We did some sightseeing and started looking for our car. Well, let’s just say it took ‘quite’ a while to find it and walked through some very questionable streets. Me praying – Lord protect us and guide our feet to the car. Italy does not believe in street signs as we do in the states. It took us a while to realize that the street names are on the side of the buildings and you cannot always see what street you are on until you passed it up. Building addresses are also interesting as they have ‘red’ and ‘blue’ numbers, same side of building – so even if you have an address you are not always exactly sure where the heck you are.
Side note – for those living in the states - If you think drivers are rude where you live try driving in Italy. No concept of the use of blinkers, rarely give any warning that they are coming into your lane and just expect you “to move your bum over” and that includes the tractor trailers!
On Sunday we decided to visit Roma on Monday since that would be our only opportunity.
Only one minor problem – we need a room for the night! We have a reservation for Niederhorn starting Wednesday and today is Tuesday.
July 25, 2011 Monday
Yesterday we left later than we wanted for Roma but visited with Allison one more time in the restaurant and exchanged info to info to keep in touch. We arrived in Roma without incident (Italian drivers aside) and parked the car. We took the subway to Vatican City (about 2 miles across town) and was immediately hustled for a tour. Since it was near 2 pm and the last tour was at 4pm and we had no clue where to start we took the tour and there ended up being only about 10 people in our group and we had a wonderful guide.
A teeny tiny young woman who not only knew all there was about all the sights we saw but you could regal our tour group with different side stories in history that played a part in the making of the Catholic Mecca. I will fill you all in more about our getting close to Switzerland - first tunnel and computer is out of juice. Bye bye!
Had 19 tunnels after the big break...one was 10.56miles long and in general had 8 LONG tunnels.
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