20091230 – Naples to Florence

We woke up and left Florence today. We had seats on an 8:30 train to the Firenze Rifredi station. This wasn’t supposed to be much of a problem, but it did create a minor annoyance when we arrived. The train trip itself was pretty good. I downloaded the Godfather Part 1 the night before, and Jeremy and I watched it to get in the mood for Sicily. When we arrived at the Rifredi station, we thought that it would be easy to get on a bus or the metro to get to the main train station: Santa Maria Novella. This was not the case. We asked 3 or 4 people for help before we found a group of Italian tourists who had the same problem as us. They spoke some English, and were ultimately able to tell us that we had to buy tickets to go to the main station via another train. Happily, this was not that expensive. We had originally purchased these tickets because they were about 80 Euros less (combined) than tickets to the main station. The tickets from Rifredi to S.M.N. were only 2.20!

When we arrived at the main station, we were eventually able to scrounge up a bus map and a city map. We had directions to the Losanna Hotel, supplied by the booking agency and the hotel. We hopped on the mentioned bus, only to be informed by a person riding the bus that it didn’t go anywhere near where we wanted to be. We got off at the next stop and happily found out that we were basically near the hotel.

The bus system here is very confusing. Happily, we don’t really need to use it. But I would like to figure it out before we leave.

We were greeted at the check-in desk by an elderly woman who spoke very little English. She showed us to the room and also informed us that some of the things we had expected: breakfast, a fridge, a kitchen, etc. would not be available to us. Then, 30 minutes after our initial settling in, she came back to the room and handed us the phone. It seems that the hotel is now charging 55 Euros per night and they wanted us to pay that, instead of the 45 Euros we had booked the room at. Jeremy talked on the phone for about 10 minutes and eventually settled things. Still, this is not the kind of service I expect in a civilized location.

We made full use of the phone in the next hour, making some plans for Pisa, Mt. Etna, and also calling around to see what museums would be open on New Years day. It seems that everything is closed.

Then we headed out for dinner. Although we had been told that Florence would be cheaper than Rome, things are still not cheap. I really want a good plate of Pasta, but the prices are ridiculous. We decided to eat at this nice looking Café called “Caffe Verdi.” The prices were right, 6 Euros for a plate of spaghetti, and we thought it might be promising. The food was rubbish. Jeremy saw everything, but I didn’t know. I just didn’t know. They pulled our pasta dishes out of the freezer and microwaved them! They were TV DINNERS! And they were terrible.

Back at the room, I dined on some of the bread and cheese I purchased at the supermarket. We watched Dexter and then went to bed. Tomorrow, we see the David.