july 18th- Anders

Florentine days, adjusting to this citys ways.

we came in on a train after waking up on a ship floating in from Croatia, a 2km walk from the ship to the stazzione and a 2 hour wait for our passenger train. it took two trains to get from Ancona to Firenze (Florence), the first train was crowded with narrow halls giving access to 6 seater rooms, we didnt read our tickets thoroughly enough so we tried to find seats as if in a melee, confusion and bag obtrusions, bumping and clumping down halls and through box car divider doors, we finally found two seats and throwing our bags above, left slumping, we sit, mistakingly, comfortably. for several stops we sat till 2 people speaking italian gibberish garbled at our room, we looked confused, shelby puppy-eyed, then someone translates for us, "look at your ticket, go find your seat number," we do more bumping and clumping till seats 43 and 44 are found, we sit, comfortably, unmistakingly.

i read for the rest of the 2 hour train ride, shelby reads too and then takes a nap, stiff necked, drooped lip, i watched as she kept waking up to close her mouth but her little pursed lip kept dropping and i kept watching: oh-so-cute.

our stop arrives, the trains is 15 minutes late to our 20 minute lay-over, down to the tunnel we run, find the electronic info board and rush to our train on platform one, the hustle of travel is fun. we board to find general seating and a sparse crowd, we take our place next to a window to watch the countryside, soon to be Tuscany.

The train travels through small towns, farms, hills, rivers, and the legacy of land logged for past societies, no building is new and all are well used, infrastructure built on old infrastructure. We get a view of it all, but just for moments, passing at moderate speeds catching glimpses of Italian rural life; quiet, slow, few cars and no bars.

Arriving in Firenze (Florence) the graffiti greets us, tags are present, but more art and specialty fonts are seen revealing a vibrant street art scene.

Firenze- Santa Maria Novella (SMN) is the last stop, we get off and walk with bags clasped to our soon sweating backs, taking a left at the McDonalds (Im resenting it) we trudge up Largo Fratelli Alinari which turns into Via Nazionale, past Piazza Independence and up Via di Santa Caterina d Alessandria, crossing Viala Spartacus Lavagini we find our hostel, first we tried to walk into the wrong hostel but an employee directed us across the street to an affiliated but different hostel, Emerald Palace not Emerald Fields.

After making this walk once it was simple to repeat, without gridded streets (which started with NY city) walking on a single course is a curvy affair and as i explained before this one path took 4 different streets all connected to one another. that first walk took place at 3pm, the heat of the day, oppressive and impressive, i didnt know italy could get this hot with such unreleaving wind.

After cheking into our 2nd story hostel and dropping off our backpacks we try to find food. "Try" is the focal word, nearby we try to walk into a chinese, japanese and italian restaurant, all closed, opening only for a late dinner. Pained and dehydrated, wet and overheated we walk back down the conglomeration of streets put together like crooked legos and finally find a cafe that is open, we humbly walk in, thankful, grateful, and i am wondering if they are serving food or just drinks, but a man comes over to take our order and without taking long we order a veggie salad, asparagus soup and plain tomato pasta, a minute later we got a big red beer to sip while we people watch. Italians have style, it pours from them like sweat and they wear their cloths like they were born with them.

It took us two days to adjust to the Florentine pace, but the adjustment was made: wake up early, sight see or get in a museum line before it gets too long, have lunch, return to the hostel to nap and relax till the sun the falls far enough away to not burn, get a late dinner and walk around town drinking on street corners and eating gelato, lots of gelato- mango, lemon, yogurt, rice, berries; ahhhh...my sweet cold, light and creamy friend: Gelato.