Firenze, etc...

We met Uncle Rob and Theo at Roma Termini yesterday evening, but it was close. The plan was to meet at the "Nestea" sign, but when we arrived at the station, there were dozens of them (about every 30 feet) . We picked the most centrally located one and waited. ... and waited. Rob and Theo were supposed to arrive between 1:30 and 2:00. At 2:30, we decided to give them 10 more minutes and then move on. Five minutes later we saw Uncle Rob running towards us with his suitcase in tow. Apparently they were driving into rome from Piedimonte Matese and had missed an exit.

After we said our hellos we found a ristorante in the area and sat down for a late lunch. In Italy most of the restaurants close in the afternoon and then open up again in the evening. We happened to catch this particular one just as it was closing. They were happy to take us, but steered us toward certain items on the menu -- Uncle Rob and I had Gnochi, Joey and Theo had pizza.

After dinner Joey and I caught the 5:14 train to Florence. After disembarking one stop early in error (and jumping back on the train at the last minute) we arrived in Florence around 9:00 pm.

Hotel Cestelli:


We are staying at the hotel "Cestelli" in florence. It's probably the coolest hotel i've ever stayed in. When we arrived Alessio and Asumi (the proprietors) were waiting for us. The hotel is on the second story of a two story building and were a little apprehensive when we entered the stairwell on the first floor and were overcome by a rotten egg smell. But the hotel itself was a whole different story. It's very small - only 8 rooms and has the feel of a house more than a hotel (actually Alessio and Asumi live in an adjoining flat). There were lots of candles and incense burning in the hallway, and soft classical music coming from a back room. The rooms are huge and each one is decorated independently - ours has a huge armoir, a couple sitting chairs and a screen to dress behind.

Shortly after we arrived Alessio sat us down for what I can only discribe as a 'briefing'. He brought a map and a list of restarants and bars that he and asumi frequented. He then pulled out a pen and marked the locations of each restaurant and gave a little history about each one. He also highlighted the streets frequented by tourists so that we could avoid them if we wanted and pointed out a few good walking routes.

After checking in Joey and I went out and found a little (very touristy) cafe in a piazza and had a late dinner and a couple bottles of wine. We went back to the hotel around 1:30 am and played a couple games of chess (we split.. the trip tally so far is Rob:4 Joey:2 Draw: 1).

We woke up late this morning and when I returned the after hours key to Alessio, he asked that in the future we try to be more quiet when entering late (we didn't realize it but apparently we were noisy -- we are pretty rowdy chess players).

Today we wandered around the city for most of the day and took pictures. We ate a lunch at Antico Ristoro Di' Cambi, which Alessio told us was 'legendary' for its "Bistecca Alla Fiorentina". Fore those note familiar with the Bistecca Fiorentina, it's a (at least) three inch thick T-Bone that is barely cooked. Joey and I split a steak and a litre of Vino Rosso De La Casa (house red). For dessert we had the waitress reccommend something -- we ended up having two chocolate dishes. One was ice cream based with lots of chocolate, the other one was kind of like a brownie (also with lots of chocolate). Both were REALLY good.

The before and after:


After lunch we continued our exploration which brings us up to the present.