Today my friend & I ventured towards the south of where we live in Trento. And by south, I mean waaaaaaaaay south. We had been planning this trip for a few weeks and it was finally happening!!
With our fascination with Florence driving us through the last three tumultuous weeks we already reached our goal in a sense, since we made it to today. The weather did not feel the same though, but we prayed that we could change the impending rain with our hopes and dreams of Florence.
We decided to start our day with a visit to our favorite cafe, hence known as a trip to heaven. With a sense of satisfaction, we left after a croissant each.
We traversed about 250 kms in five hours or so. The sun played hide and seek to keep us on our toes I assume... We did not know exactly where the bus stop was where we reached the city from the highway and thus waited patiently for the announcement from the driver (usually about 5 minutes before arrival). Suddenly, a "Firenze!" (Italian for Florence) wakes us up from our daze/nap. We have stopped so we pack our things quickly and then hear a "Schnell, schnell, tardi!" (Faster, faster, we're late!). The driver almost chased us out of the bus running (I didn't know we could run through a bus...) while my friend bid him farewell with "Ciao". I did not have the courage to do that considering he was clearly an angry German (Schnell is a German word while tardi is Italian). We reached Florence a little late to our chagrin (20 minutes or so) but we didn't mind it too much since the sun was still out (thank you Daylight Savings!).
Now, I am extremely happy that I live in Italy since I can use my mobile data to guide my journey without qualms. The first image of Florence did not excite me at all to be honest, there was no way to tell that we were in the land of dreams. Our hopes would not be dampened though. We walked to the city center and encountered construction everywhere, including the tram lines. Not very picturesque but I cannot blame them, they are (hopefully) trying to better the city.
We stop at a McDonalds just as we were feeling peckish and order 2 cheese burgers for 1.40 EUR each (this is useful information, remember it). After a little rest (sitting in a bus for a few hours is strangely tiring), we decide to actually look around and observe the city and its people. We realise how many tourists are present, for every Italian, there is at least one tourist if not more. It feels like that when you hear more English speakers than Italian.
The city is filled with unique, tall, old and towering building that look down on you. The stones are probably filled with a history we'll never find out about. It is a curious thing, to know, yet not to know, as well as to understand, yet not understand.
We reach the bridge near Ponte Vecchio (Literally 'old bridge') and are branded with an image of the world in those days when people thought of building houses on bridges. I personally would not mind but my friend disagreed, she would not want a river flowing under her house. We spent some time there taking photos and being silly when we realised that it was already 6 PM! We had planned our trip based around the places we could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner (original right? You'll understand once you've eaten at a pasticceria, an Italian bakery). We made our way to a restaurant called La Bussola, a place well known for its lasagna. We miss lasagna in Trento, but that story is for another time.
We reached the restaurant and came to the realisation that the prices could be far above our budget (after entering and placing our eyes 'fine dining' atmosphere). Menus are usually placed outside restaurants to assist or tempt potential customers into the establishment. However, we conveniently forgot to check this before we entered...
We were pleasantly surprised at the friendly waiters as well as the prices of our favorite dishes. We both ordered lasagna and were met with a divine bechamel sauce (the white sauce). The presentation of the dish brought us closer to a flavour filled dream. We ended up spending more than two hours here as the atmosphere and music was to our liking. After talking for some time and deciding when to take the bus to our hostel, we realised that we forgot to buy toothpaste and thus decided to leave. Just as we finished paying and got up to leave, the waiter happened to notice a receipt of the floor. He picked it up thinking that it is our bill. He looked at it and sighed. He then crumpled the receipt and turned to us saying "Mcdonalds รจ basta!" (No more Mcdonalds!). We left with red faces.
We calmed ourselves of our shame with the tranquility of the flowing river when we are interrupted by the following scene.
We left the riverside and made our way to the bus stop, we saw the life of the people of Florence in the late hours after sunset. Streets filled with leather goods (a city famous for its leather work) & restaurants with food from all over the world! I was surprised that American was a cuisine as well. No offense to Americans though!
After paying a ridiculous amount, 2.90 EUR each for a tube of toothpaste and a brush (peer pressure I tell you), we reached the bus stop. Since the next day was a holiday (Festivo) in Italy we were unsure of the bus timings and how often the buses would run. In Trento, the change of bus timings came to our notice with the help of a laminated paper attached to the 'bus stop' sign. Since it was missing here, we asked around but with the amount of tourists clearly outweighing the Italians...
We decided to ask the driver of the bus instead, the frequency of buses here is definitely not as less as we expected thankfully. We reached the last stop (fermata) of the bus on this line (yes, our hostel was very far) and realised that we were lost. We had the map but Google mentioned a road that was not present physically. Since it was the last stop, the bus driver usually used the time in between runs to catch a break. The kindness of the people here always astounds me. He actually got off his bus to ask us where we were going and if he could guide us. We were very appreciative as he and another stranger guided us to our destination.
The entrance to the hostel (ostello) was very suspicious. <picture>. We knew that we were supposed to go up a hill but we felt like we were entering a zoo with the forest around us, with a chance of viewing the odd leopard...
The noise from our trolley probably kept all the animals away though.
We reached the villa to find that our booking was not in their database. My friend thankfully had the foresight to print out our booking and they were able to retrieve our booking (maybe we shouldn't have paid and then it would have been free though...). I had read some reviews of this hostel and thus brought a towel, slippers and even pillow cases (better safe than sorry right?). My friend did suggest that we bring bedsheets as well but we sadly did not have enough space in our trolley.
Thankfully all was not so unwell as the sheets and pillows cases were clean (visibly anyway). One thing I really like about the concept of hostels is the fact that you can meet people from all over the world who are usually just passing through. It is a wonderful feeling to meet people from somewhere you have never been to. It feels mysterious in a way. As I was brushing my teeth in the common bathroom, I met a girl from the United States. She is the first person I have met who is from Washington DC. We had a pleasant conversation about the city and she told me that she would be going to a place called Crema. I had never heard of such a place (I should have since Crema means 'cream', and you know how I feel about cream in bakeries) and my interest was piqued. She inspired me to watch a movie called "Call my by your name", which was based in Crema. Thank you dear stranger, I shall do so at the earliest!
With our fascination with Florence driving us through the last three tumultuous weeks we already reached our goal in a sense, since we made it to today. The weather did not feel the same though, but we prayed that we could change the impending rain with our hopes and dreams of Florence.
We decided to start our day with a visit to our favorite cafe, hence known as a trip to heaven. With a sense of satisfaction, we left after a croissant each.
 |
| The pistachio one is divine! |
 |
| Giant Pringles on our stopover to Florence |
Now, I am extremely happy that I live in Italy since I can use my mobile data to guide my journey without qualms. The first image of Florence did not excite me at all to be honest, there was no way to tell that we were in the land of dreams. Our hopes would not be dampened though. We walked to the city center and encountered construction everywhere, including the tram lines. Not very picturesque but I cannot blame them, they are (hopefully) trying to better the city.
 |
| This is what our map of Florence looked like before we left Trento |
We stop at a McDonalds just as we were feeling peckish and order 2 cheese burgers for 1.40 EUR each (this is useful information, remember it). After a little rest (sitting in a bus for a few hours is strangely tiring), we decide to actually look around and observe the city and its people. We realise how many tourists are present, for every Italian, there is at least one tourist if not more. It feels like that when you hear more English speakers than Italian.
The city is filled with unique, tall, old and towering building that look down on you. The stones are probably filled with a history we'll never find out about. It is a curious thing, to know, yet not to know, as well as to understand, yet not understand.
 |
| Ponte Vecchio (it took a while before they understood how to build it so it wouldn't wash away) |
We reach the bridge near Ponte Vecchio (Literally 'old bridge') and are branded with an image of the world in those days when people thought of building houses on bridges. I personally would not mind but my friend disagreed, she would not want a river flowing under her house. We spent some time there taking photos and being silly when we realised that it was already 6 PM! We had planned our trip based around the places we could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner (original right? You'll understand once you've eaten at a pasticceria, an Italian bakery). We made our way to a restaurant called La Bussola, a place well known for its lasagna. We miss lasagna in Trento, but that story is for another time.
 |
| Mmmmmm Lasagna! |
We reached the restaurant and came to the realisation that the prices could be far above our budget (after entering and placing our eyes 'fine dining' atmosphere). Menus are usually placed outside restaurants to assist or tempt potential customers into the establishment. However, we conveniently forgot to check this before we entered...
We were pleasantly surprised at the friendly waiters as well as the prices of our favorite dishes. We both ordered lasagna and were met with a divine bechamel sauce (the white sauce). The presentation of the dish brought us closer to a flavour filled dream. We ended up spending more than two hours here as the atmosphere and music was to our liking. After talking for some time and deciding when to take the bus to our hostel, we realised that we forgot to buy toothpaste and thus decided to leave. Just as we finished paying and got up to leave, the waiter happened to notice a receipt of the floor. He picked it up thinking that it is our bill. He looked at it and sighed. He then crumpled the receipt and turned to us saying "Mcdonalds รจ basta!" (No more Mcdonalds!). We left with red faces.
 |
| Arno River |
We calmed ourselves of our shame with the tranquility of the flowing river when we are interrupted by the following scene.
We left the riverside and made our way to the bus stop, we saw the life of the people of Florence in the late hours after sunset. Streets filled with leather goods (a city famous for its leather work) & restaurants with food from all over the world! I was surprised that American was a cuisine as well. No offense to Americans though!
After paying a ridiculous amount, 2.90 EUR each for a tube of toothpaste and a brush (peer pressure I tell you), we reached the bus stop. Since the next day was a holiday (Festivo) in Italy we were unsure of the bus timings and how often the buses would run. In Trento, the change of bus timings came to our notice with the help of a laminated paper attached to the 'bus stop' sign. Since it was missing here, we asked around but with the amount of tourists clearly outweighing the Italians...
 |
| Feriale (weekdays) Sabato (saturday) Festivo (Sunday and holidays) |
We decided to ask the driver of the bus instead, the frequency of buses here is definitely not as less as we expected thankfully. We reached the last stop (fermata) of the bus on this line (yes, our hostel was very far) and realised that we were lost. We had the map but Google mentioned a road that was not present physically. Since it was the last stop, the bus driver usually used the time in between runs to catch a break. The kindness of the people here always astounds me. He actually got off his bus to ask us where we were going and if he could guide us. We were very appreciative as he and another stranger guided us to our destination.
The entrance to the hostel (ostello) was very suspicious. <picture>. We knew that we were supposed to go up a hill but we felt like we were entering a zoo with the forest around us, with a chance of viewing the odd leopard...
 |
| Here, kitty, kitty... |
The noise from our trolley probably kept all the animals away though.
We reached the villa to find that our booking was not in their database. My friend thankfully had the foresight to print out our booking and they were able to retrieve our booking (maybe we shouldn't have paid and then it would have been free though...). I had read some reviews of this hostel and thus brought a towel, slippers and even pillow cases (better safe than sorry right?). My friend did suggest that we bring bedsheets as well but we sadly did not have enough space in our trolley.
Thankfully all was not so unwell as the sheets and pillows cases were clean (visibly anyway). One thing I really like about the concept of hostels is the fact that you can meet people from all over the world who are usually just passing through. It is a wonderful feeling to meet people from somewhere you have never been to. It feels mysterious in a way. As I was brushing my teeth in the common bathroom, I met a girl from the United States. She is the first person I have met who is from Washington DC. We had a pleasant conversation about the city and she told me that she would be going to a place called Crema. I had never heard of such a place (I should have since Crema means 'cream', and you know how I feel about cream in bakeries) and my interest was piqued. She inspired me to watch a movie called "Call my by your name", which was based in Crema. Thank you dear stranger, I shall do so at the earliest!
zzzzzzz......one leopard, two leopards.......(--_--).............zzzzzzz
<Do you want to know more? Click here. This was only our first day in Florence, many adventures are yet to be read....>
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