[Note: This is for a past event]
We took the high speed EuroStar from Rome to Firenza yesterday.
The 90 minutes train ride was interesting; we watched several older
European couples arguing quite passionately about something. They went
on for the most of the train ride until a conductor came by with an
intepreter. We still did not know what it was all about except that
they showed their Romanian passports to the conductors.
We checked in to the Degli Orafi hotel. It is about a hundred feet
from the Vecchio bridge. I blamed it all to the Internet. Before the trip
I checked many Internet sources for hotel and many had reported
about unsavory characters loitering near the hotel. I then remembered
that one of the rooms in the Degli Orafi - which I assumed to be in a
safer neighborhood - was used for the movie °Room with a view" so I
sent them emails and made the reservation. Well, all Firenze hotels
have loitering unsavory characters. Degli Orafi has them across the street!
Degli Orafi is a very nice hotel. We had two rooms and two baths! The decor
is quite amazing. After checking in we walked to the Duomo and were
very impressed with the famous church and its Dome. Everything costs
money in Italy nowadays. We paid to get in to climb the 414 steps
leading to the top of the church. The view was spectacular there to
most of Firenze, 92 meters down.
I had made the Uffizi museum reservations so we did not have to wait
to get into the museum this morning. As we strolled through the two
wings of paintings and statues I was thinking that a PBS DVD of the
Uffizi may not be a bad idea unless one prefers to justle with the
zillions of tourists ooh-aahing about art. By the way,
we now know the difference between tempera and tempura.
Susan did look at the previous email today and claimed complete
innocence. I had provided her with deniability for all the grammatical
and spelling errors.
We will be going to Siena tomorrow and will travel to Cinque Terre a couple
of days later.
