Today was about a long train ride and arriving in a city so totally different to the one we had just left it was hard to believe. This elegant, gentile lady of a city hits you as soon as you get off the train. The chaos of humanity had gone and in it’s place was an aura of calm, expensive shops and tourists. So we walked the km or so to our hotel (sort of hotel, sort of B&B without the breakfast). It is a real come down from our plush hotel in Naples. It is very basic and very shabby. We changed our booking a couple of days ago to allow us to have a room each which I think was a really good move. Gives us both a break from too much ‘closeness’ i.e. away from each other’s snoring etc, etc. So that is a good thing but my room is very dingy, dull lighting and a smell of mothballs. For all that whinging it is quite adequate and will do nicely. It’s in a good position on the ‘other’ side of the river away from the tourist hoards but within walking distance to everything. It has trendy wine bars and restaurants but again not for the tourists.
We dropped our bags and headed off on a little Pasagiatta to get a feel for the city and eyeball Piazza Signoria and the Duomo. Then back for a glass of wine before going to find somewhere to eat. The main annoying thing for me, who relies so heavily on my ‘equipment’ is that there is no WiFi in the room and you have to sit in a drafty corridor to connect to a very shaky WiFi. Oh well!!
More from Firenze tomorrow.