Three Great Italian Cities
Firenza Via Assisi
Monday 21 May
Left at 8am to head toward Florence with a stop off at Assisi. Road trip uneventful. Stopped at a nice roadside café near Todi and had an arancia rossa each. Not cold, but it was good! Showed Debra the photo I had of Anna, our first TD. Apparently, Anna had lost a lot of weight. Debra was trying to find a photo she had of Anna in her new slender form but wi-fi too patchy. She said she would try later in the bus – sorry, coach!
Later: When we were in Assisi Debra said guess where Anna will be tonight? – Florence! But she’s taking her group to another place for dinner.
Assisi was just as nice as previous visits. Love the frescoes in the Basilica. We had free time for lunch and a wander from 12 – 2pm. Found a nice wee place and had due panini which the attendant toasted (yum) and due succo Arancia – delicious but not rossa.
We wandered down toward the coach park. Stopped at the shop I had bought my little owl last time. Found a really nice bigger one – for our granddaughter we first thought, but then decided it may get broken so this would be another owl for us! We’ll try and find her a soft cuddly one somewhere?!
On the trip up to Florence our coach was stopped by the Polizia at a tollgate area, and they did a random check on Fabio’s driving records. Apparently the coach has the facility to record all activity – driving, stops, times etc and they check over the print out of the past month! We were there for about 25 minutes.
I had an urgent need for a 'loo' – a touch of tummy ‘bug’? but there were no toilets there. It wasn’t until we got to the place where Debra had to get the permit for taking the coach into Florence, that she pointed out the toilet block. Me and another woman took advantage. No loo paper but I had tissues in my pocket. Water, but no means to dry hands, so I flapped them on the way back to the coach. Felt a lot better!
On the way to the Hotel we saw an accident. Quite a large tree branch had fallen on the front of another coach going in the opposite direction. Apparently driver OK but it would have been quite a shock! Later we heard that a passenger in a front seat was in hospital, so accident was more serious than we first thought.
Our coach could not park directly in front of the Hotel, but around the corner. We then had to walk back around to the Hotel doors in spitting rain. As we passed Debra she said “Look who’s here!” and there was a new, slender Anna!! We both got and gave big hugs. It was great that she remembered us as much as we remembered her and she had to go out of her way to meet us at our bus stop! We really have had great TD’s.
Had a quick turn-around as we were going to an Optional Dinner out in the countryside. The owner has his own vineyard and olive oil. ‘Libero’ was his name and product brand. The chianti was the best I had tasted. Food was plentiful and good – antipasti, 2 pastas, and dolce. We sat with Canadians Charles and Marilyn from Nova Scotia and I had a very interesting talk with her. She’s an artist. Eddie & Charles also got on well together and the evening ended far too soon.
On the way home music and lights turned our coach into a ‘party bus’. Songs like YMCA, Queen’s Rhapsody plus some Bruno Mars and Everyone’s favourite – Elvis! At one stage when we were singing & waving our arms in the air, Fabio drove several times around a round-about. Later, at another one people shouted “Go round again!” So he did!! A fantastic night.
22 May – Florence @ 8:50pm
Eventful day – yes, another one! Slower start as some people went to see “David” first thing. We had showers then went down for Breakfast in the basement. Nice though.
At 9:00am the rest of the group gathered in the Lobby. Raining! So Eddie scooted back to our room for our raincoats. He realized it may not stay wet so brought his backpack too so we could pack them away when not needed – which is precisely what happened, so good thinking on his part.
Had a chat as we walked along with Brandon, young man with his parents and sister. He got ‘lost’ when we were touring the Vatican and his mother got quite upset. He has mild Asperger’s but he loves and knows all the old films and he’s only around 18-19 years old. Audrey Hepburn is his favourite actor and he loves the movie ‘Roman Holiday’. I told him I had just seen it on our flight over and agreed it was a good movie. He then went on to other movies – some of which I had seen, some not. He was very knowledgeable about each one – Directors, actors etc. Conversation had to stop when we reached the Duomo. 
Debra passed us over to Rosa, local guide, who took us to Piazza Della Signoria, then a walk passed the Uffizi to the Arno River where we saw the Ponte Vecchio.
The we retraced our steps and onto the Piazza Santa Croce – my favourite church and square. Saw and took photos of Dante this time as I did not realise he was here in when we came in 2010.
We then met up with Debra again who took us to a Gold & Silver Smith. Very interesting jewellery but nothing that made me say “Let’s buy it!”
The it was on to the Leather factory shop Perruzzi– the same one we had visited with Anna in 2010. Another fun demonstrator. Afterwards I was casually looking at burnished gold coloured jacket and the salesman got me to try it on a fantastic fit and I loved the paisley lining. Eddie said if I really liked it we could buy it as an early Birthday present. So we did! The sleeves were a little too long so they said they would alter them today and deliver to Hotel tonight for free. Good one!
Then, after a toilet break it was free time. Others were going to San Gimignano and our Uffizi Entrance time wasn’t until 3:45pm. We found the wee café Rosa had pointed out on our walk that had nice Tuscan panini with pecorino cheese and ham or salami. It was called Note di Vino, proprietors Lorenzo & Letizia, and was called an Enotecca Wine bar. Very small inside but owner, Lorenzo, was very cheerful and fun and put some good music on. We had a panino each with a glass of prosecco. Delicious. Then for dessert he suggested the biscotti with Vin Santo – again a very good suggestion and very moreish. To finish we asked for caffe Macchiato as I had read it was a good coffee choice. It came in dinky little cups of strong espresso and a little milk. Perfetto way to end our meal. There were only 3 tables inside but as it had stopped raining and getting very sunny he went out and wiped down the outside tables ready for other customers. A couple of Asian-Americans came inside while we were there and when they saw us enjoying the Vin Santo and the coffees they ordered the same! They said they were going to pass by but saw us sitting in there so thought it was worth a try. So we helped Lorenzo to attract customers!!
We then tried to find our way back to the Hotel. We knew it was right beside the Stazione but we came to the opposite side. So we walked through the station and followed the sign to Via Luigi Alamanini which was our Hotel street. When we walked out the other side there was the Hotel right in front of us! Phew. Feet rather tired and sore by now and still raining on and off so we asked the Hotel reception to book us a taxi to go back to the Uffizi at 3:30pm. In losing our way a little we came across a lovely wee piazza and chiesa. Very pretty gardens in front so I took photos. Found out later it was Piazza Maria Novella, so a fortunate ‘wrong turn’. 
Later: I’m glad I saw the paintings and statues we did see in Uffizi, but it was crowded and hot so in the end we left around 6pm – it closes at 6:35pm. The old artworks are certainly something special seen in ‘the flesh’ so to speak. No matter how good photos and/or prints are, they cannot capture the indefinable essence of a great painting.
We wandered back to the piazza and found a nice ristorante where we sat outside – no rain now and it was warm, but with a nice breeze. I had another prosecco with my lamb dinner and Eddie had a chianti which he deemed not as good as last night, but OK. We didn’t have dessert but 2 caffe macchiato again. Just right! Then it was a slow walk back with a little help from google maps and we got back to the Hotel in good time.
I had a blister on the side of my right big toe that I got a couple of days ago. Had a plaster on it for protection but when I took my sock off the plaster came too and also split the blister. Eddie had to swab it then encase it in more plaster. Also, for some reason the middle toe on left foot was all read and swollen. I had not felt it until I saw it, then it started to throb! Mind over matter in reverse? He had to plaster that as well. The walking wounded is what I am! (Update: the toenail later went black) Do not recall knocking it nor being stomped on but with so much happening in crowded places perhaps I just did not notice?
This is a nice Hotel room and the bathroom is roomy with a walk-in shower! I do not like showers over baths. Only one power outlet to use our adaptor but OK. Camera battery died so I left the battery charging and took photos at the gallery with my phone.
23 May – Still in Florence A leisurely morning trying to connect my photos from camera to phone but not working today. Grrrrr!
12:30pm we headed off to Pisa. Choo choo train again – and annoying N. African sales pushers again!
Toni our guide was very good. I had a dud vox (listening device) so I just walked close to her. She told us lots of interesting facts about the building of the 3 edifices, then took us around to a small piazza near the town itself. Very lovely buildings. We then had free time until we had to return to the coach park.
It was now 3:20pm and we hadn’t had lunch. We found a wee pizza place and sat with Marilyn & Charles. Had a nice quatro stagioni pizza – that had artichokes on it!! Plus olives, ham and mushrooms representing the 4 seasons. We had a glass of prosecco with it and caffe macchiato to finish – I could get very used to this styles of dining.
We then strolled back to where we had boarded the choo choo so we could find our coach. There were coaches everywhere! How would we find ours? Next thing, there was our coach pulling up along side us – fabulous Fabio!!
We then had a 45-minute drive to our ‘Be My Guest’ dinner. I thought we might be going to Lucca at first but we kept going and ended up back in Florence! We were supposed to be going to an “Estate”, so surely not in the city?? No -We travelled through and up a hill area to Feisole!! A lovely olive oil plantation with a gorgeous view across the valley. Perfetto! I had always wanted to go to Feisole since we first looked at travel options in Italy, and now I have.
My tummy was still a bit ‘dicky’ so I didn’t each much. (perhaps too good a late lunch??) We sat with a Chinese/American family from Salt Lake City and next to me a young man, Tony, who is travelling with an older woman we presume is his mother. We got into talking about football! He’s a fan too!!
