Saturday in Florence

It's Sunday in Siena and it's overcast, wet and dreary. But it's Italy and life is after all, full of tradeoffs.

It's half past eight and the hotel lobby here at the Arcobaleno is just starting to pick up traffic. Last night we turned our clocks forward here in italy (and in Europe as well of course), that, combined with the lousy weather, is keeping plenty of the guests hiding in their rooms waiting to see if the day gets any better before they make a commitment one way or the other.

We have no such luxury today, and after we check out this morning we have to get on the road and head north to Piemonte and a B & B just outside of Barbaresco.

Yesterday was overcast with a promise of precipitation constantly hovering around the edges all day long (a promise that was fulfilled late in the afternoon). We took our time in the morning, lingering over not one but two coffees before hopping in the car and driving north to Florence to see Warren and Gladys.

For those of you who are new to the blog, Gladys is the sister of Susan's aunt and she and her husband have lived in Florence for nearly a dozen years now (before that they lived in Germany for many years). We had gotten to know them well before we left Florence last year and hoped to see them once more before we left for the US. And so there we went.

The drive was fast and smooth up the SS2, at least until we got into the suburbs of Florence. There are some new traffic patterns if you're coming into the city from the south, but the signage was good and we found our way to the Piazzale Michelangelo. This beautiful spot overlooking Florence is a great place to park your car -- you run no risk of getting a ticket by inadvertently driving into the city center nor do you have to deal with the ever-present traffic snarls which await all drivers daring to think they can just come into Florence willy-nilly and park anywhere.

Although this was just early spring, it was still Saturday and there were few parking spots left. But we found one and were soon on our way.

After skirting the wedding party overlooking the city and the movie crew setting up in the small garden, Susie and I were trekking down the hill toward the Ponte Vecchio, past the cops on horses and strolling down very familiar streets toward our old apartment on via dei Servi.


We stopped and had a coffee at our old hangout, the OK Bar, popped into the Osteria around the corner to say hi to Massimo and his wife Marta and then walked over to say hi to Michele and Andrea at their chocolate shop near Santa Croce.

After saying ciao to Michele -- one of Susie's favorite instructors at Apicius last year (just last year?) -- we walked over to Warren and Gladys's apartment.

Glady's fixed a superb lunch (as usual) and we spent the next several hours catching up on our various travels -- W & G just do not seem to be able to stop traveling the world. We also met their granddaughter and her friend from New York who are both staying with W & G.

It was hard to say goodbye, not knowing when we will see them again. But that's the way travel works it seems, and if it's one thing we have learned on the road so far it's you don't say "good-bye" but until we see you again. . .

Wish you were here,

Steve