Bed and .... Breakfast?

I think we're spoiled by the really nice breakfast we had in Rome. Because this Bed & Breakfast in Florence we're staying at is not up to snuff in terms of breakfast. Though I think our standards are too high. They didn't have the cheese spread! I want the cheese spread! With jam! (says Cynthia)

Daniel says:

I could tell at once that breakfast would border on abysmal when Cynthia plucked a piece of bread from the basket-and it came plastic-wrapped. The owner was, however, very keen on her supply of peanut butter.

Back to Cynthia

However, the awesome people here and the place itself make up for the lack of cheese spread. The owner of this B&B knows all the best and cheapest places to eat in town (though we didn't do too bad ourselves - more about this later), and I met two singer-songwriters here - Susan Crowe and Cindy Church from Canada. We exchanged music and contact info.

And the actual B&B location is great - right in the heart of Florence. The river is a couple blocks down, L'Academie (where David is) is a 10 minute walk away (we took 15 minute because we got lost), and there are great eateries right around the corner. We're located right next to a castle, and have a private rooftop terrace that overlooks part of the city. And it's clean. And pretty. The only thing is that it is COLD at night (and after a shower - the hairdryer double as a heater), but there are plenty of warm heavy blankets.

So, what have we been up to?

We got into Rome on Sunday morning (REALLY early) and found wireless at the airport, whereupon we found our hotel location online (the Domus Romana), and made our way to the train to take us to the main terminal (Roma Termini) in Rome.

From there, we crammed (and I do mean crammed) onto a subway that took us two stops down, where we found the street our hotel was on. The hotel address was Number 113. When we looked, however, #113 was a closed down photo shop. What the heck?

Turns out the hotel is hidden into a little alcove next to the photo shop. Whew.

AND, they had given us the Matrimonial Suite. So we had a suite with 4 rooms - one bedroom, one living room with a pull-out sofa bed, a room with a refrigerator and a chair in it (yes, we were confused too), and the bathroom. Nice.

After finding some food, we conked out for a few hours, then managed to pull ourselves up and walk around the city. We went to the Fontane di Trevi and the Pantheon, then found a little pizza place to eat. Gelatto was in there somewhere too.

Because Daniel's in the middle of a huge project that needs to get our this week, one of the goals each day was to find a hot spot so we could sit and Daniel could work for a few hours, while I finish a Jeffrey Archer book (Prisoner of Birth) - it's really heavy and we wanted to leave it somewhere rather than lugging it around. (I just finished it last night)

Day 2 of Rome was busy. We got up really early (still a tiny bit jetlagged - and don't forget Daniel had just gotten back from Singapore the day before we left) to go to the Colosseum. Tickets were somehow free that day! But en route, we stopped by a random cathedral, and a random university. My shoes squeaked so loud on the floor of the cathedral that Daniel would look pointely at me every few seconds, and quietly go 'shhhhh!'

Then off to the Vatican. We saw the Sistine Chapel - though everyone seemed to be getting really confused as to where the actual chapel was - we must have walked two miles inside the Musei Vaticani to get to the Chapel. And fought our way through mills of tour groups and elementary school field trips. Which made me think of how lucky Italian kids are to have cool field trips like this.

And after a really crappy roadside tourist lunch (the reason this was worth it was because it seemed to have been located in the only hotspot in the Vatican, but totally worth it), we went to see St. Peter's. Very impressive. But here is where it gets mildly absurd. We wanted to get up to the cupola (at the top of the basilica). And we were all game for climbing. But, I guess, to get a quick buck off the tourists, they had closed their option of 5€ per person, and rather were charging 7€ for everyone to use the elevator. We had exactly 13.50€.

We joined the 4th graders in their tour of the tomb of the popes instead. That was free.

En route walking back from the Vatican, we stopped by this nice plaza for dinner, during which we wrote that last blog (or I did, while D snoozed). Oh, and I also started an interesting experiment on how couples hold hands (ie: boy's hand in front of girl's or behind?). So far the count is 39 male in front of female, 7 female in front of male. This leads to all sorts of psychological and sociological theories that I won't elaborate on here.

The next day (yesterday), we hopped on a train to Florence.

I love Florence. I like it so much better than Rome. Juliana had mentioned that Venice is such a tourist trap (which is why we are reducing our stay in Venice from two nights to 3 hours), but Rome really felt that way.

Climbing up to our room is a hike. It's about 100 steps (I think?) with steep stairs. But the B&B is worth it. And we had a nice lunch at this restaurant where they used old pews for seats, and we gave an alpaca to the couple sitting next to us. They were amused we were taking picture with them.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to see David (truly amazing in person). The B&B owner got us reservations, so we didn't have to wait in that line that wrapped around the block. We also caught an interesting conversation:

1: David is the image of the most perfect man.
2: Look at those perfect toes.
3: Yea, I want to touch them.
1: I want to touch his hand.
2: Look at his veins.

etc.

We found it amusing that none of them mentioned the most obvious part an overhormonized girl would want to touch......

Anyway. The B&B has wireless, which is the best discovery yet! We spent a few hours quietly in the B&B working and reading, and went out to dinner at this nice little trattoria.

We'r finding that people eat a lot here. The menu is as such:

Appetizer - usually what we'd think of it, but lighter.
First Course - pasta
Second Course - meat
And they'd finish with a dessert or coffee.

We split everything. So much food!

This morning, Daniel apparently spent two hours trying to wake me up. Then after breakfast, we took a long walk to a lookout point across the river, and walked to the other side of Florence, where there wer VERY few tourists. Found a little guitar shop where I got to play a Breedlove Atlas, which was selling for about 1,800€ - way too much for an Atlas. But it was fun. We gave them an alpaca as a thank you for letting us play.

Then we found this tiny restaurant where no one spoke English, and it clearly was not a tourist trap. The food was authentic and good, and for MUCH less than we had been paying.

Which leads me to say.... how perfectly horrible the conversion rate is right now.

Ok, Daniel is taking a nap, and I should relinquish this computer to someone else. Venice tomorrow, but only for a few hours before we head to Croatia and Slovenia!