Aug 31 - the end

... of August that is ... passed without a whimper.

We drove to Florence (the easy part) and then in Florence (the hard part). Our hotel is in the historic district which is supposed to be restricted access. Nevertheless, we drove in and found ourselves on increasingly narrowing roads, driving with the pedestrians and ultimately going the wrong way on a road that was one car wide with an approaching car that just happened to be the polizia ... yikes ! But officer, we were just following our NAV ! A pedestrian directed us backwards and we drove down the next road, the police care just ignored us and went on his way, slowly through the crowds.

Winding round and round, we eventually stopped in a square (piazza) and Sandy went on foot trying to find the hotel that had to be fairly close. There was also the entrance to a car park there, or so it seemed, but I didn't want to head down only to find that we shouldn't be there. She came back in a bit and said that we were close (by then I knew that playing with google.maps) and we should park (which we did) and walk.

Walk down this way and turn right ... we did ... no go. Back and forth, dragging suitcases (luckily they have wheels) and eventually found the street and the hotel, confusing at first because the hotel had two names on its marquee and the obvious one was not ours. That sorted out, we went in, checked in and went to our room which is huge, well appointed, with an elevator, great A/C, we're liking it !

The streets in this area are very wide but are completely taken up with shop carts that fold up / go away at night. It stretches that way for a couple of blocks in each direction, so there's no way to actually drive here during the day. Around 8pm they close up, move out disappear for the night and then we're told that 12 hours later they're setting up again. I'll post some pics eventually but it's truly amazing.

These mobile shops are sometimes attached (not literally) to shops along the road and sometimes not. Leather goods range from jackets to bags; jewelry and bangles, shirts, do-dads ... it's all upscale stuff. At a distance it reminds you of a crowded flea market but it's not.

We were here in time for lunch, so that was the first order of business. The waitress talked Sandy into the half-bottle of white wine, since it wasn't much more expensive than a glass. Eating and drinking here could be a full-time occupation ! We had a wonderful lunch and then an equally wonderful dinner. Breakfast is just about due ...

The wine is easy going. One night it was a Rhone, next night a Volpolicella, last night just the house wine. Inexpensive and good drinking all of them. We also have wine stashed in the car that we're not getting to ! The menus are extensive, from the appetizers to the salads to the pastas. We don't really need to order meat or fish main courses since the starters are large, the salads are filling and there's always bread. Last night, for instance, Sandy had a salad and the sage and something ravioli and was full. The salad had mozzarella balls, quarter tomatoes etc. etc. They don't dress the salads, instead putting good olive oil and balsamic on the table. I had ... what did I have ... oh yes, the Tuscan antipasto which in this case consisted of thinly sliced proscuitto (sp?) and salami and some stuffed cherry peppers, plus their pasta marinara (not quite correctly named or translated, it was a seafood pasta).

Today we'll see the sights, whatever they are. Tomorrow we head to Bolsena, which was on the Miglia route.

Onward !