Firenze Bound 01/04/20 Day 11

By this time extreme fatigue had set in and we acknowledged that we must face reality; we will not see every picturesque aspect of every city.

There are no rules about how many experiences travelers must encounter to deem their trip successful. In fact, just getting on a plane and leaving our cities to gain global perspective is plenty noble. Everything after landing successfully is a bonus.

As a group we decided to skip another day of walking Rome and headed to the train station hours ahead of our scheduled train.

Travel Tip: Some train stations are bleak and solely utilitarian, as the ones we used in Greece, or the commuter train to Pompeii.

Other trains leaving from Metropolitan areas are similar to high end malls or International airport terminals.

 

You will either be thanking a bread maker for his donut-like pastries and eating on the train, or you will be eating like a king and adding to your shopping while waiting for your train.

We spent two hours in the train station enjoying being together on our way to yet another Italian destination.

The train seemed fairly empty until we stopped down track and picked up an entire Rugby team that took up the rest of our car and another. It seemed fitting to be among these giants, having come from Rome where all the structures are massive.

An hour and a half later we arrived in Florence/Firenze. We have now railed through two-thirds of Italy, reminding us of how small this country is compared to the United States.

Being that our hotel, Hotel Berchielli, is close to the Ponte Vecchio, our taxi driver seemed like a hero navigating through the throngs of tourists. He was also notably the first honest Italian taxi driver we have encountered since arriving in this country.

In many of the other countries the taxi drivers also serve as additional tour guides and they enjoy conversation. This is not the case in Italy. Expect the ride to be quiet. James has pulled very little conversation out of our drivers. Most do not seem to speak English.

Once checked in, our self-guided exploring began. Always alone and then with a guide. When you wander cities without context you begin raising questions that leads to hearing the guide better the next day. We asked ourselves,"Why does Florence feel so completely different than the other Italian cities we have been to already? What makes Florence a great place for artists and designers of high end fashion? Is this shopping district essential to Florence?"

We pondered our questions throughout dinner. In Italy the wine drinking age is 16. When Madeline traveled to Europe with The Ambassadors of Music Southern California, she was allowed to have a glass of wine with each meal, and in Germany, a glass of beer. Although we do not drink much alcohol or keep much in the house, it has been a pleasure to share wine with her in Italy.

All along the trip we have tried explaining to our kids that a meal in many countries is a social experience rather than a means for satiating our appetites. In Kalabaka (city around Meteora) in Greece, our taxi driver explained the Greek way of eating out as follows: A group of four go out to coffee and argue over where to eat for dinner, maybe narrowing it down to four places, none of which they end up at. They get a table for six and order for eight and stay for three hours.

Until Florence, this concept was beyond the kids mostly because by the time we get to dinner we are tired and hungry.

By the time our first meal was over we had outlasted the tourists and walked back to our hotel in the fog laughing about our dinner antics and reliving inside jokes from our trip so far.

Boys: "That was fun!"

Madeline: ""That's because it was about socializing."

Me: "See it's not just about the food."

Madeline: "Yeah, of course, this food was terrible but we still had a great time."

The rest of us laughed that she admitted something about dinner nobody else seemed willing to share. True enough, not every meal will be worth writing home about.