|
|
david
and carol
Our Magnificent
Journey | Chapter 1 | Europe 1999 | London, Paris, Venice, Florence |
|
Woke early, ate quickly at the hotel, and
hurried back to Piazza San Lorenzo to see what we could spend
our money on today. I went back to see Olsi at Roberto's
and negotiated a good price on the leather backpack he had shown
us the previous day. Bought souvenirs and spent a good bit of
the morning there. We saw our new buddy Oscar again and visited
with him for a while, then went back to the hotel to deposit
our loot. |
|
|
Today we had planned on visiting Fiesole,
a beautiful ancient Etruscan and Roman village just a short bus
ride north of Firenze. We walked towards the train station to
hunt for the correct bus. As we stood there confusedly attempting
to decipher the Italian bus schedules, a kindly couple from Great
Britain took pity on us and came over to offer advice. These
lovely people were Bob and Nora Banks, a young couple in their
seventies from Newcastle by way of Glasgow. |
|
 |
|
|
With Bob's help, we were on the right bus
in no time. He cautioned us to punch the tickets a certain way
in the special machine that each bus apparently has. Bob seemed
to be an old hat at all this, so we asked if they minded if we
tagged along. Bob was a character - a vibrant fellow, full of
energy, strong Scottish accent with a lot of British slang -
wonderful music to my ears. As an added bonus, Bob was an avid
history buff, and spent the day educating us about the history
of Italy, the British Isles and the planet in general. |
|
|
Bob was originally from Glasgow, but met his
bride, Nora, while in the Royal Navy, and they settled in Newcastle,
in the north of England, not far from the Scottish border. We
were enthralled with Bob's history lessons, and after the bus
deposited us in hilly Fiesole, we found a small café where
the four of us sat and had cold Italian beer and hot sandwiches
while Bob kept us on the edge of our seats. |
|
|
Fiesole was an ancient Etruscan village, and
we found an old Roman tomb, then wound around to the Roman amphitheater
and baths, dating back to the first century B.C. It was dreamlike,
being in the shade of some Italian olive trees in this postcard-beautiful
Tuscan setting, amongst stones carved by masons almost two thousand
years ago. |
|
 |
|
|
It was very warm, and after spending some
time exploring the ruins, Carol and Nora and I found a restaurant
near the museum where we had water and rested while Bob explored
the museum. After a while we became concerned about our friend
Bob, so I went into the museum to search for him (Nora said she
loses him all the time.) The museum was full of ancient Etruscan
and Roman art, artifacts, tools, urns and a few skeletons. I
saw a skeleton of a Longbord (long beard,) and the panel describing
their lives many, many centuries ago was very interesting. No
sign of Bob, though. We decided to head out of the grounds of
the Roman village to search for Bob, and that was exactly where
we found him. He had explored every inch of the museum. |
|
|
We spent about four hours in Fiesole, exploring
the ruins, listening to Bob enlighten us on the history of it
all, then it was time to board the bus for the trip back down
the "mountain" and into Firenze. It was about a half-hour
ride, and we said sad goodbyes to our British pals and walked
back to the hotel. |
|
|
We showered, dressed and went out in search
of yet another fabulous Florentine trattoria. We found a wonderful
place called Trattoria Angiolino (Via Santo Spirito, 36R) across
the Arno, not far from the Ponte Vecchio, where we enjoyed the
house wine and Carol ordered tagliatelli con pesto and
I had spaghetti with tuna and olives to die for. Around us at
other tables were a young Dutch couple and a Japanese couple
and their twentyish daughter. We all laughed heartily when we
discovered that we all had the exact same camera - in fact I
saw our Canon Elf frequently throughout the trip - must be the
camera du jour. |
|
|
After a scrumptious dinner, we wandered back
across the Arno and once more into our favorite café in
the Piazza della Signoria, where we had wine, olives, cashews
and crackers and a delicious Cuban Cohiba. We happily listened
as an orchestra serenaded us from the stone steps of the Palazzo
Vecchio, under a full moon. Walked through the square, found
a gelato vendor (my favorite was the coconut, but the
chocolate was also exceptional) and then strolled arm-in-arm
back to the Hotel Romagna where we fell into bed and slept with
smiles on our faces. |
|
|
copyright 1998 / david
and carol lehrman / all rights reserved |
|
email david@davidandcarol.com |
|
