We arrived in Florence on monday afternoon. While they may not know how to do train tickets, their railroad stations are a rolling dream. We had wisely decided to take a cab to the apt instead of walking. We were absolutely astounded by the location when we arrived - we truly couldn't have been in a better location; one block in front was the plaza signoria, diagonally was the uffizi and three blocks over was the ponte vecchio. We were located on the second floor, but they were wide steps with a landing. The apt had a comfortable living room, kitchen you could actually cook in, old washing machine that worked, a really comfortable king bed and ac! Truly, I would recommend this apt to anyone because of the location alone. It had its quirks, i.e. you couldn't use the microwave and ac at the same time without blowing a fuse, but it really was great. It's also Italy. Cham and I had a great discussion on whether Americans are spoiled and what conveniences would you give up. Would you want to settle for that being the new norm? Very thought provoking. We are in a small trattoria near the apt. We were seated next to a Chinese couple, Peter was first generation from SF and Sunny Was from Mainland China. I think Peter is an entrepreneur with several businesses overseas, but Sunny is a wine distributor. As we learned in Bordeaux and also knew before the trip, the Chinese are big into wine. However, now it's trickling down from the millionaires to the middle class and those are Sunny's clients. ( I need to do a disclaimer, I'm writing this on my iPad and there's. o way to go back and make corrections after its reached a certain point. I'm sorry for the misspelled words and awkward phrases but I've no way to clean it up). It was so interesting to learn about the corrupt govt officials, 500 families who control China and the emerging middle class. We hope we will be able to remain in contact with this very interesting couple.
Before our dinners the first night we walked to Conan's, the Italian grocery store and it was like entering a huge reasonably priced deli - absolutely wonderful. It's located across the ponte vecchio. Nothing like passing exquisite jewelry while on the way to buy groceries. We went to store everyday and it was definitely a treat for me to window shop.
The first day we looked for a wifi spot because it was down in the apt. and we needed to take care of some administrative things. After that, we walked the city; what a treat! The weather has been absolutely exquisite. While I was waiting for Cham at the loggia at the piazza signoria, I knew I was truly blessed when a pigeon pooped on my skirt! The cheeky thing then landed in front of me and winked. What can you do but laugh? Cham found a place which had discounted tours so we booked a Chianti dinner that evening outside of town. Six of us took a van to the outskirts of town to a lovely villa. There was a delightful young couple from Manchester, Eng celebrating their first anniversary and, get this a gentleman who owns cemeteries and funeral homes in Louisana, Texas, and Penn and his god son. Bob worked at Forest Hill in Lynchburg in the 80's and lived near the mall! Truly, all roads lead to Lynchburg 😉. I will be the first to confess I'm not a big Chianti fan so it was a good learning experience for me. The Chianti region found themselves very much in the same situation as the Rhone wine industry, a lot of production at low prices and wine that became very disrespected. They developed stringent industry rules and the Chianti Classico has turned their reputation around. I also think they need to thank the super Tuscan wines which gave the area some legitimacy. it was a lovely evening of good wine and food and new friends.
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