Will Around the World

Arriving in Florence in the afternoon, we first got acquainted with the city not by walking through it, but away from it, to hills across the river that afford a panoramic view. Our hour-long walk took us past some gated estates, easily worth fortunes. This place reminded me of exclusive quasi-rural communities in the Bay Area like Hillsborough or Palo Alto, but here, being only ten minutes away from the city center, it was even more impressive.

Street in Oltrarno, across the Arno River

We got good views from the Church of San Miniato and, of all places, a parking lot named Piazzale Michelangelo. At the latter, we encountered a tour group of twenty-somethings from America. They were dressed like they were going clubbing, even though it was not yet sunset. Curious, I asked one of them what all this was; she pointed to a tour bus tattooed with the name WWW.CONTIKI.COM. Con Tiki, it turns out, is a tour company specializing in vacation packages for young people, primarily singles. Sure enough, after the Con Tikists took their group photo, the girl that I spoke to walked back to the bus with some guy and let him put his arm around her. Con Tiki seems like a good bet for people who have money to spend, want new experiences, but at the same time would rather avoid surprises.

From left: Ponte Vecchio, Campanile, Duomo, Basilica di Santa Croce

Nice afternoon for a drink

I thought the crowds in Rome were bad, but I would take those in a heartbeat compared to what I had to deal with in Florence. Florence is tiny, and yet there were more visitors there than any other place on the trip. The result was that, no matter where I went, I met mobs of tourists. A good example is the restaurant Tim and I patronized that night. Called La Casalinga, it was recommended in the 2003 Let's Go guide for its authentic Tuscan cuisine, and since it was located on the opposite side of the river from the city center, it seemed that it could be an undiscovered secret. How naïve I was — it turned out that every table was full, and I heard Italian spoken at only one of them. For this reason, likely, La Casalinga was removed from the 2004 guide.

Two common sights

The food in Florence wasn't, in my opinion, quite as good as in Rome, but it was certainly pricier. Gelaterias are ubiquitous. I tried a gelato — it was creamy, more like American ice cream than the gelatos in Naples (whose consistency resembles packed ice).

# posted by billklee @ 15:10