Serenity Now

We left Firenze this morning on the 11:15 train bound for Siena (a two hour trip). Our hotel, the Borgo Grandie, is a short (albeit UPHILL) walk from the train station. I mentioned in an earlier post that the Hotel Cestelli was the coolest hotel I've ever stayed in... I think the Borgo Grandaie is better. While hotel Cestelli is appealing for its cloistered charm, the Borgo Grandaie's drawing point is it's peacefullness. The hotel is situated on a large tract of land overlooking the city and the grounds contain a salt water swimming pool, a wine bar, and a grove of olive trees.

Our room shares a common dining area with one other room and we have a private veranda with a table and shares that look out over the city.

our veranda:

After we arrived we unpacked and walked to the huge super market at the bottom of the hill to pick up some food for lunch. When i say huge supermarket i mean HUGE. It is on two floors with an extensive produce, bakery, and butcher area. One interesting thing - there are plastic gloves by the produce with a sign that asks customers to please put on the gloves before handling the produce. Maybe we something we should adopt in the states.

For lunch we bought tomatoes, fresh mozzerlla, basil, bread, oranges, and wine. We came back to the hotel and the woman at the front desk gave us some dishes and wine glasses, and a cutting board from the hotel kitchen. No offense to our Florida readers, but the oranges here are better than anything I've ever had in the U.S.






Joey: Looking out onto the veranda from our room.

















After we ate we wandered around the grounds with our wine and took a few pictures. Here's a sample: