Siena, Italia – Firenze, Italia
Travel Day
Started early this morning, about 4:30. Packed my suitcase, ate breakfast, took out the trash and I had had my first cappuccino before Mary even work up at 7:30. She had packed last night so she was pretty much ready to go. Finished up a few other packing things, then we headed off to school.
Often way we stopped at Pasticceria Nannini for our cappuccino and brioche this morning. We have passed it a dozen times, and the woman who checked up into the apartment recommended it. To me it looked like a tourist trap. We sat at a table after picking our brioche; croissant with jam for me, and a bombolone for Mary. A bombolone is a filled doughnut, similar to the German Berliner. Sometimes it is also called a bomba; apparently due to the resemblance to a grenade or old-fashioned bomb. One opinion is that it is in reference to the high calorie content. (i.e., a calorie bomb).
The bombolone may have originated from the Austrian “krapfen”. The bombolone is usually found in the Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia areas of Italy which were once under Austrian rule. One difference between the Austrian version and the Italian version is the use of eggs in the recipe. The Italians do not use eggs, at least not in the Tuscan variety.
Off to school. We cut from class at 10:50, the first natural break. We walked back to the apartment and picked up our suitcases. Unfortunately, the elevator was either down or being serviced. We had to walk up the three floors, and then back down with our suitcases. We then walked up the street to Piazza Giacomo Matteotti where there is a taxi stand and took a taxi down to the train station. While standing out front I purchase tickets for Firenze on the 12:18 direct fast, although still regional train.
One of the first announcements on the train is that tomorrow there will be a train strike. The normal monthly train strike. Oops, we are heading to Torino tomorrow, on the train. A Quick Look at the TrenItalia website revealed that the strike will take place between 21:50 Saturday night and 21:50 Sunday night. We’re good! Our train leaves Firenze at 14:00 and arrives in Torino at 17:00. All before the strike is supposed to take place.
We arrived in Firenze just a little past 13:00 and took a taxi to the hotel. We are staying at the Hotel Torre Guelfa. Grace and I stayed here in 2019. It is a beautiful old hotel in one of the oldest towers in Firenze. The views from the roof top terraces are beautiful
We went to lunch at Totó, a restaurant next door to the hotel. We decided to have a good lunch as we wouldn’t really have time for dinner. Tonight, we are going to a benefit concert at which Serena and her sisters are preforming. The concert is in support of ACISJF, or Associasione Cattolica Internazionale al Servizio della Giovane.
The International Catholic Association for the Service of the Young. They help young women and families get settled here in Italy and, in particular, Firenze.
There was an hour-long presentation, in Italian, which was good for us to listen to. It helps to hear Italian. There were four different speakers. Mary and I understood two of them a little bit, the other two weren’t speaking as clearly. Ok, we maybe got 10% - 15% of the whole speech, but it will improve over time.
The concert was held in the Murate. This is a fifteenth-century monastery that served as a prison from 1883 until 1985. Today the approximately 14,500 m² space is used for many activities. The ground floor has space for commercial, restaurant and recreational activities, meeting places, exhibition spaces, artist residences, public offices and an area dedicated to digital training. On the upper floors, public housing apartments have been created. The concert was held in the Cafè Letteraio.
They served food during the concert part. The food was very good. The music was outstanding. A lot of the songs from our youth. We managed to leave about 21:30 and head back to the hotel. We walked through the restaurant on our way out. It was completely packed, a good indication of how good the food was.
A brisk walk back to the hotel. I went up o the terrace at the top of the hotel and took some photos of the Firenze skyline. It was beautiful, but very cold. Then it was back down to the nice warm bed and good night.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria
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