Fleeing Florence

Basilica of St. Fransesco d'Assisi

After three action packed days in Rome, we hit the road bright and early for Florence. We stopped for lunch in the town of Assisi which quickly topped the charts for cutest small Italian town. The town of Assisi is birthplace to the famous St. Francis of Assisi who is one of the two patron saints of Italy. St. Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. After he took a pilgrimage to Rome, where he begged at St. Peter's Basilica, Francis gave up his love for worldly things and began to lead a life of solitude and poverty. Francis founded the Franciscan Order, a Catholic group of monks who take an oath of poverty and survive by begging and praying. These monks can still be seen wandering the streets of Assisi in rough, homespun brown cloaks, muttering prayers under their breath as their bare feet pace ancient, sun-soaked bricks.

The Italian countryside seen from Assisi

The town of Assisi is built around the large Basilica of St. Fransesco d'Assisi, a beautiful whitewashed Church with a great view of the surrounding Italian countryside. The entire town is built into the side of a mountain and has extremely steep roads. The ancient, brick roads require you to walk like a goat, bouncing on the balls of your feet pretty much everywhere you go. Every block or so a tiny narrow alley would cut through the buildings to expose a view of the expansive Italian countryside. The alleyways were typically so narrow that they were built of stairs rather than the usual roads. We ordered lunch at a small pizzeria with outdoor seating, the food was average but we were disappointed when our waiter tried to rip us off on the bill, assuming American tourists would be either too dumb or too lazy to double-check the bill. Apparently even in the most religious of towns people are out to make a profit by whatever means possible.

The steep roads of Assisi

By dinner time we had pulled into our final destination, Florence. Our bus driver couldn't let us off directly in front of our hotel due to the many one-way streets in Florence so we unloaded our baggage and walked a few blocks to the entrance of our hotel. Once inside, we learned that our hotel was actually located on the 3rd floor of the building, and the tiny 2 person elevator moved so slowly I was almost hypnotized watching the gears slowly churn around and around. Being an impatient person, I grabbed my luggage by the handle, thanked God I hadn't packed nearly as much as many of the other girls, and began the three-story ascent. Florence was hot, at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so by the time I reached the third level of the ancient building (air conditioning? ha!) I had worked up a solid sweat. I got my keys, was told I had to climb one more level, and by the time I swung the door of my room open I was ready to fall into bed....any bed but this one.

Amanda re-packing her bags to
flee our Florence hotel

Our room was utterly disgusting. After 6 hours on the bus, all of us girls were ready to head first thing to the bathroom. Imagine our horror when we learned that the water wasn't working. No going to the bathroom, no splashing our face, no showers, no brushing our teeth. We sat, wilted and sad in our sweltering rooms. We decided to at least plug in our cameras and phones to recharge for an evening of site seeing... but, where were the electrical outlets? There were none to be found, even the box set TV from the 80's had a plug left dangling helplessly on the wall. Soon we were all out in the hallways complaining..."is your room this hot? Do you guys have water? Can we use your bathroom? Is there wifi here?" Of course not....

After nearly 30 minutes of hallway complaining, a large group of us came to a decision....time to relocate. We hit the streets and found a Best Western just one block down. We booked our rooms, basked in the air conditioning and plugged in our cameras. Don't get me wrong, I'm not usually a spoiled traveler who expects every modern commodity. But no water? That's taking it a little far.

Watching the sun set over Florence

That night a few of us went to an Irish pub to drink away the memory of our hot and dirty little corner of hell. We had a little too much fun downing Guinness and joining in on the impromptu soccer games that get played in the streets of Italy, and the next day found us sleeping in well past our guided tour. I set out to find Michelangelo's David and was disappointed to learn that all the museums in Florence are closed on Mondays, the only day we would be in town. Amanda and I ran into Alexa, Beth, Ashley, and Justine who were on their way to a lookout area with a fantastic view of the city. We joined their mission and arrived just in time to watch the sun set over Florence. We ended the night with an amazing seafood dinner, I had seafood tartar and white wine. Our waiters were once again ecstatic over having American girls in their presence and flattered us with complimentary Limoncello, the region's famous lemon liquor.

Michelangelo's David

I guess you can't do it all, and Michelangelo's David remains at the top of my "must-see" art list. If, that is, I can bring myself to give Florence a second chance.