Socks Kick Back....

Wednesday 24, September: Thought the best way to recover from the crowds of Florence was to head up the hill to the little town of Fiesole....someone forgot to tell us the it really is just a wide spot in an autostrada type freeway. There were so many cars! Going to where we never really figured out but wow, a lot of cars! We did the 1.3 k walk around the outskirts of town and saw an amazing view of Florence, the Etruscan walls and the Roman ruins (yes, almost every town has some ruins!!). We discovered that the restaurant that we had hiked up to eat at actually isn't in Fiesole (shame on you Samantha Brown!!) so, we ate lunch with the locals ( I had tripe again...yum!) at a little place in town.

Thursday 25, September: Trouble with the internet sent us back to Florence earlier than expected. The bus ride down from Fiesole is crowded and not all that much fun! We went straight to the "Internet Train"...ok so we asked a lot people in order to find it (shame on you Rick Steves)...we prefer to think of this as getting to know the local people and practising our Italian. While on the internet, I discovered there was a yarn shop only one block away...of course, chuiso for lunch, but we returned! I bought some wonderful yarn, Karyn get the Twinkle books ready!! The women at the yarn shop were really nice, but didn't speak much english so I had a lot of fun discussing the yarn and some of the displays....Chris, when I get back I have the pattern (in my head...ok that is scary!) for a really cute crochet thing that even I can make! While we were waiting for the yarn shop to open, we went to the museo...but not just any museo, the Salvatore Ferragamo museum!!It was either view Michelangelo's David, or the shoes...such is married life, we saw the shoes! When we were finished Jim said...I enjoyed that, I'm not supposed to enjoy a shoe museum!! Again we ate with the locals at a small pizzeria (walls were covered in naked art...not that Jim noticed)...the pizza was great. Shopped until Jim dropped and then we headed back to the comfort of the Bencistà.

Friday 26, September: Happy Birthday Pam! We continue the search for Trattoria Le Cave Di Maiano. It turns out it is not the 1k hike up to Fiesole, but rather a 1k hike in the opposite direction to Maiano. Maiano is a really little town; really just a three way intersection (three very busy streets though!! Watch out!). At long last, Le Cave!! Started with the Penne with rabbit ragu...sorry Buggs...but it was tasty! Then came the big Ta-Da...what we had been waiting for.....the Bistecca Fiorentina, all one kilogram of it! And as you drug dealers know...that's a lot! Sadly, we ate it all....with a nice Chianti! We went to the only other building in town, a gelateria, but it was closed...not so happy birthday Pam! Thought about taking the long hike around the back of Fiesole, but decided against it. We opted to just hike 1k back up the hill and were satisfied we didn't roll back down.

Socks Step Into Culture....

Monday 22, September: We had our morning cappucino, sans our favorite cake...we were too early. Went to the Salumeria/formaggoria and the paneforia and got bread and cheese and meat for the road. Caught the (right) train and headed for Fiesole. After getting chased out of the first class section (oops...) we settled in for an uneventful ride. When we arrived at the Pensione Bencista, we had a wonderful lunch alfresco, overlooking Florence.










Tuesday 23, September: Feeling very confident after yesterday's travels we headed into Florence for a day of culture. We had reservations for the Ufizzi gallery. It was amazing, even with all the people it was so worth going to see. As Elaine Benes would say "ooooh the Botticelli's!!!", except these weren't shoes they were paintings! We had lunch at ZA ZA's...thanks Cindy! Heading back to the quiet, calmness of Fiesole!

Socks Are Washed....

Thursday 18, September: Jim doesn't even know what to say about this day! We trudged several blocks, up and down several sets of stairs to locate the "Self-Serve Laundry"...the one that ended up being located in the alley right next door to our hotel. With help from the nice Italian lady with all the change we started a load of wash and pulled up a chair...so far, so good. Four hours later we took our wet jeans up to our room to dry! End of day!


Friday 19, September: It is really raining, hmm.... it would be a great day to stay in and do wash...oh, that's right we already did that!! We grabbed ponchos and a train and headed to La Spezia....where there just happens to be a knitting store, very little else, but a knitting store! We found the knit store (with the help of three Italian men!!!) and 11 skeins later we set out to find the covered market and the weekly outdoor market. It was really fun despite the rain! When in Rome...we noticed all the La Spezia women carrying these zip-up rain bags and 1.40 euro later...we have one too (really good for keeping yarn dry!!)! During lunch, the rain cleared so we set out for the harbor and ended up taking a boat to Portovenere. Porovenere is the poor man's Portofino, so we were right at home. Just before reaching Portovenere we saw the most beautiful house...perfect for us. Now we just need to figure out the name of the town (tough to contact a realtor if you don't know the name of where you want to buy)!! Portovenere was beautiful and we had an amazing boat ride back home.

Saturday 20, September: One week anniversary!!! Jim is still trying to contact his attorney...where is Giacomo Simonelli when you need him? We had boxed up stuff and headed to the post office to mail them home. Let's just say, post office employees here are much the same as those in the states (no offense Elaine). The gentleman that helped us looked and acted exactly like Medavoy from NYPD Blue...what we really needed was Cliffy from Cheers....someone a little less by the book. Oh the mistakes we made...let's just say 2 hours and 140 euros later the packages are on their way...we hope! Had an espresso to calm ourselves and headed to Monterosso for....get ready for this...the annual Sagra delle Acciughe (the Anchovy Fesitval !) It was great! Acciughe everywhere! We met up with Berny (an Italian who lives here, near the Cinque Terre and I contacted through Ravelry). She had a yarn and knitting booth at the festival. She was wonderful and we made a new friend. She gave me some hand-dyed yarn and Jim a hand knitted, purple acciuga. We ate (too much!) at the fesitval and then took the boat back to Vernazza. Soon after returning the 5 o'clock church bells sounded, but this time they played an entire song...I think in celebration of our wedding one week earlier...to the minute.