Travel, trains and Lucca

Today was the day after about 10 years of travel and who knows how much distance, my suitcase was replaced with a new one, as the wheels had fallen off. Now both Katie and I have new cases. Her case was purchased before we left, and my new one was purchased on our last day in Florence. We thought the Green and Gold fit us two Aussie travellers. 

I use the app for train details and platform numbers. Trains are a great way to get around Italy, and in the past, we have found them a little frustrating, but we have learnt the Italian way and little tricks that make it less stressful for us. We consistently arrive at least 30 minutes before departure, with prepurchased tickets if possible (now I use the TrenItalia App and don't use a ticket machine). Often in stations like Florence, there can be 16 platforms or more. The departures board will only have the next 15 departures listed, leaving us to rush when it finally comes up to the platform. However, with the app, I can search for our train, get details of the platform for departure and be ready when it pulls in before the crowd rush.

Watch each other and watch the crowd. It is tricky to explain, but over time we are always on the lookout in these places. It is hectic and crowded, and without each other looking out, we could fall victim to petty crime.

This morning as we got into the station, I saw two tourists dash past us, and as they did, the man dropped his ticket. In my mind, one of the worst things that could happen is to lose your ticket. Anyway, in the blink of an eye, I picked it up, told Katie to watch our bags and ran across the floor (they were moving fast) and gave the man his ticket. I could tell they were in a rush. They quickly said thanks, and my good deed for the day was done. 

Our train ride to Lucca was uneventful, but it is incredible how I could perform a video call to family back home on a moving train. Only a few years ago, this was not possible. (well-done mum, your digital skills are getting better)

Lucca is a walled city, one of the reasons we came here. 

The afternoon was spent walking around and also having pizza by the slice. 

After some more walking, we went to a bar with some Beer, a spritz, cheese and salami. It felt like we were on a late autumn day, not the middle of winter. 

 

As it had been a busy week, we returned to our apartment and had a siesta and watched some English-language television.

Tomorrow, who knows!

Come dine with me

This morning we bid a fond farewell to Stefano, Rosalinda and Virginia as we departed La Maesta for Florence. Our farewell will only be short, as the family will visit us for lunch while we are in Florence for five days. The transiting days between cities/towns are frustrating. Generally, there's something that doesn't go quite to plan, or you get stuck in a queue or delayed etc. Today, our train from Arezzo to Florence was full. Instead of cramming into a packed carriage, we opted to stay out in the portico area with our suitcases. There was a little seat pulled out from the wall that I sat on the entire 55-minute trip, and Shannon stood most of the way. Shannon navigated us to our apartment, which is lovely, and then headed out for a stroll around the city. 

Florence is busy. This will be a combination of New Year's Eve weekend and people's ability to get back out and travel again, even in Winter. Florence is as beautiful as I remembered it. Like towns in Tuscany, Christmas decorations and lights adorn streets and doorways. 

 

Being a larger city, we were suddenly surrounded by a mix of languages. After a week of being surrounded by Italian, it seemed strange to hear conversations around us in English. We enjoyed a toasted panini for lunch and stopped in at our favourite little Irish pub in the main piazza for a drink.

Back to the apartment to do some laundry (our apartment has a washer and dryer) and to relax for the afternoon, as tonight, we had a special dinner to look forward to.

In early November, we booked dinner for tonight at Ora D'aria, a Michelin-star restaurant in the heart of the city. This meal was possible due to the generosity and kindness of my Geelong High colleagues and friends who gifted me dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant for my 40th birthday. We booked well in advance after finding this particular place to be sure to get a table during the holiday period. I know my description of this meal can't do it justice, but I will try. Ora d'aria has three set menus to choose from - past, present and future. Past is a traditional Tuscan menu and contains meat, the present menu was a vegetarian option, and the future was a seafood menu. Shannon and I both chose the past, paired with wine.

While I had read a little about the restaurant and chef, nothing could have prepared me for what we found inside. We were greeted by a lovely waitress who took my coat and led us inside. The dining room was small but elegant. The tables were draped in white linen to match the glossy white chairs that swivelled. The ceiling was painted gold and blue. On one side of the room was the kitchen. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors stood directly behind our table so we could view that master at work! The door was automatic, so we could smell all the delicious things each time it opened! We started our meal with an aperitivo which included snacks - olives and tasty treats. 

Much to our surprise, the head chef, Marco Stabile, greeted us at our table, poured a tasty broth into delicate teacups, and welcomed us to his restaurant. Marco then presented each dish to our table with the wait staff, which was a lovely and rare touch. It is clear that Marco is proud of his food and his restaurant. As he should be - the food was incredible.

We started with an artichoke puree with olive oil and truffle, closely followed by a little dish of poached egg, which sat on a bed of spinach, also paired with black truffle. Next, we had tiny tortellini filled with rabbit, a delicacy I had never experienced before.

The past dish that followed was my favourite of the night - chestnut pappardelle. Are you hungry yet? The fourth course was a beef speciality that had been smoked and boiled, and the meat fell apart. It was served with some roasted vegetables and the smoothest mashed potato I had ever seen. 

This incredible meal was topped off with a delightful baked cheesecake with a sauce that could make angels weep! I cheekily asked the waitress for a jug of it, and she laughed, adding that she pinches some every chance she can get. 

 

I must say this was one of those evenings that I will never, ever forget. I know that some people won't share the same passion for food and the joy that it brings and that's fine. But when we skipped out of that restaurant and strolled through the streets of Florence in the rain, there was magic in the air.

  

High in the hills

Today we decided to take a train ride up into the Harz mountains. The Brocken is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and of Northern Germany, with an elevation of 1141m. We walked from our accommodation to the main train station in Wernigerode this morning at 8 am to get the first train up to Brocken at 8:55. The train is a beautiful old steam train, with restored carriages. We were glad we had decided to get the first train of the day because although it was very busy, we were able to get a seat.

We got on the wrong train.

Departing a city is like departing a friend, staying in places more than a day or two does allow one to learn more, see more and break through the tourist whirlwind.

In the end, we stayed just five nights in Florence and unlike the past, weren't rushed to see 'the sights'.  For me the Pitti Palace was my favourite, it is a gallery, a residence and also a museum. Pitti Palace isn't crowded as it does not have famous works of art like the Uffizi.

Katie's favourite place in Florence, after long deliberation was Uffizi. She said she was able to absorb more of the gallery this time as there were fewer visitors compared to our previous visit in Summer.

We packed our bags last night and had the final additions after showering and dressing this morning.  I keep saying they are getting full, but this time I almost needed to unzip the expander!

From Florence to Rome on the fast train is normally about 1hr and 20 minutes, we got to the station with about 20 minutes to spare and noticed our train had a delay next to it of 5 minutes.

We also noticed on the departures board there was a previous fast train that had a delay of 90 minutes and had not left yet.

As the departure time came closer so did the delay increase on the board. In the end, our train had a delayed departure of 25 min, but before this, we... got on the wrong train.

Watching the departure board you never know what platform your train will be on until a few minutes before it arrives (and then departs). In our case, our train was listed as platform 11.

 Along with around 100 other people, we all went from the main waiting area to platform 11, having our tickets checked as we moved through. We then walked almost the full length of the train and found our carriage 2A, then lifted our bags on and walked through the carriage to find an Italian businessman in our seats. Katie showed him our ticket where in Italian he advised we were on the wrong train!

We got off the train and then found the electronic signs had been changed and our train was in fact on platform 9, not 11. We briskly walked all the way down the platform (as there is no underground to switch platforms) and across to platform 9 where our tickets were checked again.  These trains are long around 400 meters in length.  We walked along the platform but couldn't find a carriage matching ours (2A) we could only find 2B, we asked the ticket man and he advised our carriage, is further along, we were confused as the next carrage was 1.

Anyway we walked in the direction he pointed and passsed carrage 1 to where we found ours (2A) and boarded.  Apparently threre were two trains joined together our train was 1A, 2A, 3A and the other train connectrd to ours was 1B, 2B, 3B.

Apparently, there were announcements of this train change but they were in Italian.

Who would have thought.

In the end, we arrived in Rome about 36 minutes late and then had to battle Roma Termini, the metro and cobblestone streets with bags in tow by the time we got to the hotel we needed some wine.

It's good to be in Rome

KFB16607 SFB16188

Leaving the country, time for the city.

This was another day where we once again surprised ourselves and managed to fit all our belongings and newly purchased souvenirs into our bags.

It was then time for the last espresso in the comfort of Rosalinda's lounge room where we expressed our thanks and discussed Stefano and his trip to Australia in 2019. 😜

In the past week whilst at La Maesta we had three opportunities to have local Tuscan meals with Rosalinda, Stefano, Lilla and Virginia. The meals were made with locally sourced ingredients and made with love using unwritten recipes handed down from generation to generation.

Our first meal consisted of a bread soup Ribollita followed by Osso Bucco. The Ribollita bread soup was just amazing and was similar to a minestrone soup but had been thickened with bread being added. We both had tried Ribollita while out at other places this trip, but none were as good as La Maesta's. Normally I am not a fan of Osso Bucco, but with the local herbs and Lilla's love added it was amazing.

The next evening started with handmade ravioli and then followed with bbq steak cooked over a wood fire, which was sliced and then drizzled with rosemary and peppercorns that had been heated in a pan to release the aromatics. This evening was finished with a giant Tiramisu. So lovely and fresh from the kitchen.

Last night, our final meal, we were presented with Lasagna and then roast chicken and potatoes. The flavours of the food are unbelievable and no matter how much I try, doubt, I could ever replicate.

We loaded our bags into the Pope Mobile and then made the short journey to the closest train station to La Maesta, Castiglione Fiorentino, just 10 minutes away.

As we also found yesterday, purchasing tickets is very easy on the automated machines, we just needed to select English then where we wanted to go and follow the prompts for payment. The machines accept credit cards and cash too.

Just purchasing the ticket is however not the end, each ticket must be validated by putting it into a little machine on the platform where it gets a hole punched in it and the date stamped.  Without this validation, the ticket inspector will issue a fine.

With the train journey over we were in Florence, and it was a little bit of a shock, being in a bustling city for the first time in a while and it is always crazy around the central station too.

After dropping our bags we ventured out and explored the city by foot, this visit to Florence we will be visiting some favourites but also covering some of the places we had missed in the past.  First stop was Mercato Centrale a food market with an upstairs food court where cooked produce can be purchased.  This place always has fresh food and amazes me of the things I have never seen before. 

There are parts of animals that I never thought could be or should be eaten.

Leaving the market we then walked the gauntlet of men selling poor quality leather and scarves.  Passing through one man said "I have nice scarf for you, special price", Katie replied "I'll come back later" where he promptly returned with "I will wait for you". I hope he isn't waiting, we didn't return. 

Another said "I have jacket for you, half price, and in your size, big shoulders," courteously I replied, "No, grazie".

Next stop was the Duomo, we never get sick of this building. It's big, it's impressive and I still can't believe how arduous the construction would have been without today's modern building techniques. It is a world treasure.

Whilst the skies were still blue and the sun shining, we walked over to Basilica of Santa Croce. We had visited the exterior before but with research since that visit, found out about the impressive interior and also the tomb of Michelangelo.

We paid the 8euro entry (each) and were impressed by the interior and very high ceiling. 

I was then met with slight disappointment as Michelangelo's tomb was covered in scaffolding and was in restoration.

Our walk then took us down to the Arno river and then we returned to our room via some 'human Xerox machines'.  This is what I call these artists, they don't create any original works and basically reproduce the same images over and over. You can find them in any tourist place, it could be Venice, Rome or here in Florence.

 

 KFB17827 SFB17052