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FLORENCE Part One |
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A pall drops over our arrival in Florence as Uli lost his wallet -- cash, credit cards, driver's license, passport (!!)... everything. More later....
Fri May 9, 10:34am I'm sitting in the German consulate with Uli. It took us about an hour and a half to find a passport photo kiosk. We finally went back to the rail station. The machine operator was working on it, but he allowed Uli access and we got personal attention. Since Uli smiled in the photo the man said he should do it over since in officiale documenti smiling isn't allowed. Uli is surprisingly calm about all this. We nearly came to blows just before he lost the wallet, so there may be a silver lining to all of this. However, it seems clear that if Uli hadn't thrown his hissy fit, proclaiming that he would walk no further until we knew how to get to the hostel, none of this would have happened. We arrived in Florence Thursday evening, a day early. Originally I had scheduled us to spend some time in Cinque Terre, but the logistics seemed much too difficult for what would have been a day. Once off the train and out of the central station we had trouble deciding whether to try and find the hostel by walking or by bus. It seemed so easy on the map. [Really, the whole problem stemmed from my complete ignorance of Firenze (Florence). I really couldn't get it into my head that Florence was a big city. All of the pictures I'd seen were from the rooftops up. It didn't really sink in that that friggin' huge cathedral mirrored the surrounding city. Even after seeing the big train station and the crazy hectic streets with its crazy, hectic traffic, I was still like, "Ah, quaint, scenic Tuscany." No, Florence is a big city! There's a reason it was the cultural center of Europe for a good long time.] After walking for 15 minutes with all of our crap on our backs with no clear sense of direction, we found the Duomo, Campanile and Baptistry. It was there that Uli threw a hissy fit, saying he would walk no further. And it was after I decided to walk some more that he grabbed my pack, to which I yelled, "Let go, bitch!" After cooling the hostilities, we
decided to get on a bus. My best
guess is that the wallet was lost while we were standing in the aisle.
We had bought 3-day bus passes at the station and Uli remembered getting
his stamped when we first boarded the bus, then putting it back in his
wallet. Then poof. Composed Su May 11, 10:02pm, waiting for Bus B on the wall of the Arno across from the Uffizi
We got to the cheapest hostel I knew of, the Santa Monaca, and learned that not only were they full but so were all the known hostels. On a Thursday! So I called the one we had RSVPs for the next night, Youth Hostel Firenze 2000, and thank goodness I did. The woman there was just closing the office but she said she could accommodate us if I ran and to call her in case of a problem. It was right at that moment that Uli realized his wallet was missing and he disappeared out the door of the Santa Monaca, leaving his bags lying on the ground in the middle of the lobby. I put them against the wall, wrote down my cell number and left it with the hostel receptionist, hoping Uli would find me. The woman at YHF 2000, Emmannuela, said she'd wait until 9:30pm. Thankfully it was close to the Santa Monaca, so I hoofed it, 40 pound pack and all, calling her on the cell phone at 9:28, just to be sure. When I got in the door I said, "You know how you said to call if there was a problem? My friend lost his passport." I had no idea if he'd be allowed to stay there without identification, but it was okay. Emmannuela was immensely helpful, showing us where the police station and German consulate were on the map and staying with us well after she needed to be there. The cell phone turned out to be a great (if expensive) help, since Uli had so many calls to make -- credit card company, bank, etc. The room I had reserved should have been a 4 bed dorm room for 25 euros a person, but they turned out to only have two of these rooms, and none available for us that night. So we ended up with a 60 euro double, but we had our own bathroom and shower, a rare privilege for backpackers, and one that I appreciated later in the weekend after coming down with a bit of a cold.
After dumping our bags in the room, we went to go find some takeout and discovered a marvelous African place called Cucina Africana. The idea was to get food to eat at the police station, but Uli miscalculated how far it was away from YHF 2000, so we sat down on a park bench, lest the food get cold. We were a block from the Arno, behind a teatro (theater). It was late enough and we were on a less busy street so the moped noise wasn't as bad as the rest of the city center. Our meal consisted of meat of some kind (spezzatini di carne su focaccia), yam with spinach, tomato and egg, a side of spinach and another side of some sort of corn or maize. It was wonderful. After that we went to Il Carabinieri (the police, or at least one branch of police). It wasn't busy and filled with other dumb tourists like I was afraid it would be -- we were the only ones there. The waiting room was much too hot so I sat outside in a courtyard within the station for awhile on a concrete ledge until a policeman told me I wasn't allowed to be there. After the Carabinieri Uli and I split up, and I went back later to the African place where they were just closing -- it was late. I bought two big bottles of Heineken to go. Heineken is a lot better in Europe. Less bitter. I slammed one of the bottles on the five minute walk back to the hostel then retired for the night.
Fri May 9 In the morning we headed for the Mercati Centrale, a huge enclosed farmer's market that has a daytime outdoor market in the streets surrounding. We bought lunch food for alter inside and met a girl from Baton Rouge, Louisiana at one of the stalls. She had gone to Florence for three months and ended up falling in love with the city and one of its bachelors. She got married to this Florentine and her three month stay has turned into seven years. I asked if her friends back home make fun of her new accent. She perked up at this question, becoming a bit more excitable, and in that way that people thinking of their roots start speaking in their native tongue, she replied that she didn't she had a new accent while speaking in a most fucked-up Southern/Italian twang. After getting the food and withdrawing more money so that Uli could borrow some, we went to the Uffizi gallery but were told we needed to have reservations, which we got for the next day by cell phone. It only took five minutes of Italian opera hold music to reach someone. It was at this point that we learned we were in the right place at the right time. It was Culture Week in Florence, Rome and other cultural centers of Italy. This meant that all the state-sponsored museums and galleries were FREE! This was another of the many examples of our timing being excellent on this trip. It was also at this
point that I realized I was coming down with something. I really wasn't
that upset about it since we were going to be in once case for a number
of days and had our room and bathroom. I was happy to get the sickness
part of the trip out of the way at the beginning. Antibodies, do your
damnedest! So instead of the Uffizi we went to The Accademia and checked out Michaelangelo's David. The Accademia is quite small, but it was still exhausting. The paintings that are supposed to surround the statue are being restored, so instead they had video of the restoration process. How nice. I really do like Michelangelo's style. So expressive, so colorful. I'm not exactly sure what the big deal about David is besides the fact that he's tall and naked. But it was rather nice to see it in person. After, Uli and I
split. He had a big headache and I felt like getting lost on the bus,
which I succeeded in admirably. Totally pooped, I got back to Piazza
Gaddi, near our hostel, and went to the supermercato Uli met me at the hostel and we went up to the Michelangelo stop overlooking the city on the 12/13 bus line for sunset, which was very nice.
He let us off fairly close to where it was -- in a piazza adjacent to the Mercati Centrale -- and we discovered packed place with a big line. We would have had to have waited 45 minutes for a seat outside, but we went for an immediate seat inside, which was very close to the doorway. In May the temperature inside was fine. If it was August I'm not sure we could have dealt. The food was outstanding -- ribollito soup, salmon with rosemary, red pepper and capers. But the service was lousy. It's understandable, I guess, since their food is so good, the prices are very reasonable, they've got great word of mouth and as a result they're swamped with customers. Oh, and the bread was lousy too, but it's a recurring problem as the bread in Italy (at least in the North) is made without salt. It's getting to the point that I won't ask for it anymore. Near the end of
the meal one of the stewardesses tried to take Uli's unfinished plate
away, and he yelled, "No! No! No!" To which the girl said,
"Okay! Okay!" I hid my head in my hands with embarrassment.
He was firm in stating that in Italy you're never supposed to be forced
out of a restaurant. But later he admitted that he may have been too
harsh. (This kind of candor is rare for him).
After dinner we wanted to go to the Uffizi to see if Uli could play his Didge there. Along the way I picked up a coni of incredible ice cream at Mio Bar. And then we got lost. We went west from Piazza Della Repubblica instead of southeast. At one point we thought we got bad directions from a guy who might have been playing with us, but no, we were playing ourselves. The reason for our suspicion was that this guy was standing in a small dark alley for no reason. But in turns out even the shadiest of characters in Tuscany are helpful. We finally arrived at Piazza Della Signoria, which is the statue and fountain-laden area next to the Uffizi and Castle Vecchio. We sat on the steps next to all the statues, near some Florentines who asked if we were Australian due to the didgeridoo that Uli was carrying. Soon after a rent-a-cop came to inform me that my ice cream was not allowed in that area and could I go down the stairs and into the piazza to finish it. For fun, just because I knew they weren't real police, I performed mock hara-kiri with my coni, then walked towards the steps with a bit of the cone left, which got the guard to say, "Ah!" So I stopped with my foot dangling above the step, then ceremoniously ate the last bite and sat down to some applause.
email:
ryan[at]monkeyduck[dot]com
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FLORENCE General info: Useful website: firenze.net
Transport: To avoid getting into a fight with your travel companion or having your shit stolen, know where you're going once you leave the train and ask which bus line to get on. Your hostel will probably be in the Oltrano (across the Arno River). The Arno is a 20 minute walk from the station, and it's a big river that isn't fun to cross over those huge bridges, especially while wearing huge backpacks. There's an information booth outside where some of the buses line up. It's imperative that you get a free bus map there -- very useful. You can buy a 3-day bus pass from one of the newsstands or tabbachi. Keep
in mind that just as there's two exits to the train station, there's
also two bus stops -- one near each exit. As a result you'll have to
ask locals which stops is the stop for you..
Accommodations:
We
stayed at two places in Firenze:
Emmannuela
was very helpful, clean
place, quiet, very good security system,
no curfew, they give you your own key. The one thing is that this isn't
really a hostel -- it's a low cost, no-frills hotel. Don't believe their
reservation service who will tell you that you're staying in a dorm
room for 50 euros for two. More than likely you'll be paying 60 euros
for a double. But you get your own shower!
This place is a real dorm with bunk beds
and a bathroom with a long row of showers. Nice and cheap. I don't remember
getting any breakfast there.
Most people know where this hostel is,
and I believe there's signs for it. If not, it's quite close to the
Santa Maria Carmine church.
Eating
Out: Zigini - described on the menu in Italian as spezzatini di carne su focaccia Yama tre colori - yams with spinach, tomato and egg Lenticia - lentils
Za Za Ribollito - a traditional Tuscan bread soup, which if prepared authentically takes three days. Salmone con rosemarino -- with red pepper and capers
Sasso
Di Dante
It's right next to the side of the Duomo, so we knew it was going to be touristy. The food was just okay.
Mio
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