11:07 AM Firenze à ROMA
Finally found a decent Internet kiosk instead of the one at the hotel that was the pits!!! Our story continues as:
… Panting heavily, Illy’s hands close around Chucks throat, murmuring “You Made Me Run 4 city blocks, dragging this baggage through traffic, dodging Kamakazie scooters, For a Train That Doesn’t Leave for 30 MINUTES?!?!?!?”…
But again dear hearts, we are ahead of ourselves....
Wednesday night after the NOWAT Journals, and before she gnawed my arm off, we wandered
over for dinner a couple of blocks off the Piazza della Republica at the Fabulous 5 Amici’s (of which there are only 4 - one was thrown into the Arno river according to rumor) The food was ECELENTE!! And the service Super. We found that they also have 4 other places scattered around Firenze, no wonder... it truly was Wonderful.
Then, a leisurely walk back to the hotel, dodging the Nigerian street
vendors that appear to only come out at night, (Illy gets a kick out of watching them dodge and hide from the Polizia when they come down the street). Illy went ahead to take some cold medication and I stopped in the Delightful cafe next to the hotel to bring up dessert and cafe. (Ann, does Illy code this as sick time for getting the cold in Italy?)
Thursday Morning. After a quick packing job for Roma, we set out to finish our goodbye to Firenze with a stop at the Baptistery of San Giovanni... (Elyse...ya see... they even named a baptistery after our favorite boy!!!) Of course it does not open until 12.30... Soooooo, off to the flea market... ooops... Gran Mercato at Piazza d’IL Porcellino, to look for leather and silk (yeah Rene’, what is it with the leather fetish they have?)
Il Porcellino is a large Brass pig where you put a coin on his tongue and let it fall through the grate below, then rub his nose for good luck. The number of times it takes to fall from his tongue and actually go through the grate is how many years it will take to return to Firenze.
Great news… Chuck will be back next year!!! Which is OK ‘cause… Chuckie LOVES Firenze....
Illy on the other hand may take a little longer (2 years...according to the Pig… Christina, will you be ready by then???... The cute boy at the cafeteria at Il Porcellino promises to wait!!!).
We then wandered over to find the Straw Tower, so named because, once as a women’s prison during the Renaissance, all they had to sleep on was straw. There is also a story told by an Art
Graduate from USC at Berkley turned Italian tour guide, engaged to a cute Florentine, (Christina There IS hope!!) about the wife of a previous owner who was buried alive by mistake. When she woke up and climbed out of the tomb, the only one she could convince that she was not a ghost was her former true love (not her Husband or father, who had sent her away.) The Clergy decided that since neither her husband nor father would recognize her and since she had been already declared dead, she was free to marry her first true love... (All together now... AAAWWWWWWWWWW) and they lived happily ever after. Legend had it that after that, anyone buried in Firenze had little bells put in their hands just in case...
The Guide swears it’s true but after hearing several other guides at the same site who did not recall the story.... one wonders.
Off to the Fruti Vendolo for Wine, Cheese, Olives and Bread for the Train to Roma.
A Quick stop at the now opened Baptistery of San Giovanni, one last stroll around the area for a quick pannini at the Rose Cafe in the Piazza di Unita Italiana and then a race back to the hotel for the luggage.... culminating with the mad dash to the Stazione Santa Maria Novella and Illy’s hands wrapped around my throat (Rather Tightly I might add), just a tad bit upset that we raced to a train that was late.
A lemon Gellato calmed her down until she learned the train was 45 minutes late from Milano. We boarded the train and she promptly fell asleep (the cold was really getting a grip on her now) so I drank the wine my self!! (Not really... saving it and the olives for Sunset in Positano on Sunday)
Upon arrival in Roma... now 1½ hours late, the now very refreshed and ever vigilant Illy notices that the cab we jumped into had no meter. The guy tried to hustle us for £50,000 ($25.00) for what turned out to be a £9,300 ($4.80) ride to the hotel.
“Firme Qui”
I shouted as he came to a screeching halt and we sprang from the cab to dig our luggage out of the back and find a REAL Radio cab. (Of course you know she had to remind me “I’m Always Saving you Money, Honey!!”)
And of course in his excitement, Chuck gives the real cab Driver the wrong address in Italian and we had to do one of Illy’s famous U-turns to get back to the hotel
5 minutes from the Train Station. We are already 2 hours late and missed meeting up with the Italian Waiter [that Chuck Met Online who was looking for a job in America] who was to be our partial guide for a few days, so we did a quick change and set out to find his restaurant The Gran Cafe Roma on Via Veneto 6-8 blocks away.
After walking past it one way and then the other.... some one pointed out... “Eccola Qui” (There it is right in front of you) and now after a 8-10 block trek, we collapsed for a cafecito, only to find that:
“Gabriele no sta qui oggi, veni Domani!”
(He was off!!) So we had a quick pasta, a carafe of wine (to doctor Illy’s cold… of course) a cafe and dessert (the place wasn’t all that great.... Where were the 5 Amici’s when your really needed them!?!).
We’ll catch up with Gabriele later.
A slow trek back to the hotel and while Illy slept I tried to work on the cheesy Internet set up at the hotel...
After finding it rebooted every 5 or 6 minutes and would not find the Yahoo website half of the time, I decided to wait until today to find this delightful little internet kiosk across from St Peter’s Cathedral after an exhausting Roman monument tour... Which is the subject of tomorrow’s journal...
Illy is tired, and we had to write this twice. The first version got totally erased as I finger flopped on this European keyboard with the strange key placements.
Ciao 4 Now....
From the not so nimble fingered Chuck and the Droopy Eyed Cuban Lady.
Finally found a decent Internet kiosk instead of the one at the hotel that was the pits!!! Our story continues as:
… Panting heavily, Illy’s hands close around Chucks throat, murmuring “You Made Me Run 4 city blocks, dragging this baggage through traffic, dodging Kamakazie scooters, For a Train That Doesn’t Leave for 30 MINUTES?!?!?!?”…
But again dear hearts, we are ahead of ourselves....
Wednesday night after the NOWAT Journals, and before she gnawed my arm off, we wandered
over for dinner a couple of blocks off the Piazza della Republica at the Fabulous 5 Amici’s (of which there are only 4 - one was thrown into the Arno river according to rumor) The food was ECELENTE!! And the service Super. We found that they also have 4 other places scattered around Firenze, no wonder... it truly was Wonderful.Then, a leisurely walk back to the hotel, dodging the Nigerian street
vendors that appear to only come out at night, (Illy gets a kick out of watching them dodge and hide from the Polizia when they come down the street). Illy went ahead to take some cold medication and I stopped in the Delightful cafe next to the hotel to bring up dessert and cafe. (Ann, does Illy code this as sick time for getting the cold in Italy?)Thursday Morning. After a quick packing job for Roma, we set out to finish our goodbye to Firenze with a stop at the Baptistery of San Giovanni... (Elyse...ya see... they even named a baptistery after our favorite boy!!!) Of course it does not open until 12.30... Soooooo, off to the flea market... ooops... Gran Mercato at Piazza d’IL Porcellino, to look for leather and silk (yeah Rene’, what is it with the leather fetish they have?)
Il Porcellino is a large Brass pig where you put a coin on his tongue and let it fall through the grate below, then rub his nose for good luck. The number of times it takes to fall from his tongue and actually go through the grate is how many years it will take to return to Firenze.
Great news… Chuck will be back next year!!! Which is OK ‘cause… Chuckie LOVES Firenze....
Illy on the other hand may take a little longer (2 years...according to the Pig… Christina, will you be ready by then???... The cute boy at the cafeteria at Il Porcellino promises to wait!!!).
We then wandered over to find the Straw Tower, so named because, once as a women’s prison during the Renaissance, all they had to sleep on was straw. There is also a story told by an Art
Graduate from USC at Berkley turned Italian tour guide, engaged to a cute Florentine, (Christina There IS hope!!) about the wife of a previous owner who was buried alive by mistake. When she woke up and climbed out of the tomb, the only one she could convince that she was not a ghost was her former true love (not her Husband or father, who had sent her away.) The Clergy decided that since neither her husband nor father would recognize her and since she had been already declared dead, she was free to marry her first true love... (All together now... AAAWWWWWWWWWW) and they lived happily ever after. Legend had it that after that, anyone buried in Firenze had little bells put in their hands just in case...The Guide swears it’s true but after hearing several other guides at the same site who did not recall the story.... one wonders.
Off to the Fruti Vendolo for Wine, Cheese, Olives and Bread for the Train to Roma.
A Quick stop at the now opened Baptistery of San Giovanni, one last stroll around the area for a quick pannini at the Rose Cafe in the Piazza di Unita Italiana and then a race back to the hotel for the luggage.... culminating with the mad dash to the Stazione Santa Maria Novella and Illy’s hands wrapped around my throat (Rather Tightly I might add), just a tad bit upset that we raced to a train that was late.
A lemon Gellato calmed her down until she learned the train was 45 minutes late from Milano. We boarded the train and she promptly fell asleep (the cold was really getting a grip on her now) so I drank the wine my self!! (Not really... saving it and the olives for Sunset in Positano on Sunday)
Upon arrival in Roma... now 1½ hours late, the now very refreshed and ever vigilant Illy notices that the cab we jumped into had no meter. The guy tried to hustle us for £50,000 ($25.00) for what turned out to be a £9,300 ($4.80) ride to the hotel.
“Firme Qui”
I shouted as he came to a screeching halt and we sprang from the cab to dig our luggage out of the back and find a REAL Radio cab. (Of course you know she had to remind me “I’m Always Saving you Money, Honey!!”)
And of course in his excitement, Chuck gives the real cab Driver the wrong address in Italian and we had to do one of Illy’s famous U-turns to get back to the hotel
5 minutes from the Train Station. We are already 2 hours late and missed meeting up with the Italian Waiter [that Chuck Met Online who was looking for a job in America] who was to be our partial guide for a few days, so we did a quick change and set out to find his restaurant The Gran Cafe Roma on Via Veneto 6-8 blocks away.
After walking past it one way and then the other.... some one pointed out... “Eccola Qui” (There it is right in front of you) and now after a 8-10 block trek, we collapsed for a cafecito, only to find that:
“Gabriele no sta qui oggi, veni Domani!”
(He was off!!) So we had a quick pasta, a carafe of wine (to doctor Illy’s cold… of course) a cafe and dessert (the place wasn’t all that great.... Where were the 5 Amici’s when your really needed them!?!).
We’ll catch up with Gabriele later.
A slow trek back to the hotel and while Illy slept I tried to work on the cheesy Internet set up at the hotel...
After finding it rebooted every 5 or 6 minutes and would not find the Yahoo website half of the time, I decided to wait until today to find this delightful little internet kiosk across from St Peter’s Cathedral after an exhausting Roman monument tour... Which is the subject of tomorrow’s journal...
Illy is tired, and we had to write this twice. The first version got totally erased as I finger flopped on this European keyboard with the strange key placements.
Ciao 4 Now....
From the not so nimble fingered Chuck and the Droopy Eyed Cuban Lady.
