Church bells on Sunday. I absolutely love stand up breakfast. It is so cheap and delicious, with their nutella and albicocchia cornetti. We get confused trying to buy bread, it always looks expensive on the scale, and then we get charged 80 cents. Tom tries some weird marshmallow goo from the candy store. You can even buy wine here, you can buy wine everywhere!! Apparently liquor licenses work a little different in Italy.
We take Vaparetto 1 to the end of the Grand Canal and it is super packed with photo takers and families. We pass under the rialto as Japanese people in gondolas take pictures. Our camera shows signs of trouble, it won't close or turn off anymore.
We watch a bit of church service in Latin. Weird that they will let you take pictures here. Wander around durosduro and get sick of the endless trinkety shops of masks and jewelry. We buy 1 euro box wine for the train ride, that will be interesting. A group of boy scouts chows down on pastries, getting them all over their faces. Just because it says women on the toilet, doesn't mean it will have a seat cover.
We pass people coming home from their trips as we get lost in back alleys looking for a pizza place. Could it really be here, in this abandoned alley? We turn the corner and there it is, Ae Oche, 85 flavors. The pizza isn't cut, so we must tear our own slices. I asked for a glass of chianti, and I get a half bottle instead, oh well. Does Oche mean ostrich? No, geese. SpiderOch, SuperOch, and other cartoons around the restaurant.
Forgot about the hotel, oops, we check out super late. We drag our heavy bags to the train station, and try and figure out where we are supposed to wait, where we put our baggage, who to give the ticket to, etc. The train is super comfy. They have a dinner cabin, but we won't be needing that. We snack on our gourmet goodies while sitting across from a Minnie Driver look alike.
We arrive in Firenze. The stones in the roads look like our patio, castle stone. A bubbly Italian man checks our passports and then shows us our room. The lights are motion sensor and we have a bidet, Tom is excited. We are so thirsty from the wine and the walk that we have to attack our minibar. Why are king beds always just two twins pushed together?
There are many Americans in Firenze, but they are less annoying. Maybe they are more cultured, couples on their honeymoons, gay couples, art lovers, or perhaps there is just more space. Still it is busy for a Sunday evening with closed restaurants and shops. Motorcycles, vespas, whip by in a flash, so watch out. We stop at Rivoire for super thick cocoa, like syrup, while we eye the Uffizi.
We take lots of night shots of the statues. They are so cool, such detail. The feet look like real feet covered in grey paint, you expect them to come alive. Every angle is a new view of a fantastic scene, such emotion on the faces. I wonder if you can drink out of these fountains, you can in Rome… I decide not to chance it.
Ponte Vecchio reminds us of the Rialto Bridge, only it looks like little houses from the outside, windows lit up in the night against the river. We see many couples kissing and find sets of bike locks with peoples names and dates written on them. It must be some local or tourist secret custom we are unaware of. All the neon signs for hotels and restaurants seem kinda ugly against the otherwise artistic cityscape.
We walk to the duomo, which looks amazingly intimidating at night. It lurks, this gigantic brown dome, behind the towers of the church. Tom says it looks fake, like a paper cutout with all the intricate detail. We circle the dome, getting shots from all angles. Boys play with light up frisbies in the square and one of the few open restaurants pumps "Tu Va Americano". Tom wonders where those Italian seaside towns from Talented Mr. Ripley are.
We window shop gelato and then use the compass to find our way back to the hotel. We try to finish off the box wine, but it never ends. Florence seems alive and artistic, and we can't wait to begin exploring tomorrow. First stop will be the gastronomia across the street for more picnic supplies, must replenish the parma.