Feelings in Florence

When it came to booking this holiday there were a number of stages, first we outlined the key places we wanted to visit (we did that about 18 months ago when discussing summer holidays while on our Easter break in Nerja). Then we looked at the way to travel, given this was train travel the bookings could only be done 90 days in advance, this is when the man in Seat 61 became so valuable. In previous years when travelling to the States by air, where the flight can be booked a year in advance, or booking accommodation for holidays in the UK, I'd always done the bookings of hotels (in the US) and cottages (in the UK) in the week between Christmas and New Year. Last Christmas however I had to content myself with spending time checking out the Seat 61 website and doing some trial bookings on train website for dates within 90 days, to check if the travel was feasible.

This meant that between then and the Diamond Jubilee weekend (first weekend in June) I could think about the generality of the trip but not get to the specifics (expect the Eurostar booking which is 120 days in advance). So while others were busy at street parties or visiting London or watching the flotilla on TV I was at the PC booking the holiday. I did trains first and then hotels.

As a general rule, where I wanted to be in a specific location (like near the Gare de Lyon or near Milan Central) I used booking.com combined with Trip Advisor (the first for the price, the second for information about the hotels and then booked with booking.com). For the other hotels, where I didn't have a particular part of a town in mind, just somewhere near the central attractions or near enough to the attractions, I used Hotwire.com and looked for the central parts of the City.

I had used Hotwire successfully in the USA on a previous trip - one of the hotels it got us to, at a great rate, was The Westin, Seattle which became one of the highlights of our stay. But this was the first time I had used Hotwire in Europe. The very first placed I booked via them was here in Florence (or should I say Firenze!), Hotwire promise 4 Star rooms for 2 star prices, and they seem to have managed it here:

The hotel is the Montebello Splendid and it looks as good as the images on their webpage. 

The walk from Firenze Santa Maria Novella Station to the Hotel Montebello Splendid is only 700 meters. It took us a little while to orientate ourselves when leaving the station, but before long we had arrived at the hotel.

The reception area was amazing and when we were taken to our room it became clear that we had arrived in a real luxury hotel. Thankfully with very efficient air-conditioning, as coming to Milan (in the early 30s) to Florence - 35 degrees C was a real step up in heat. This explains why we have lights on in the room at 4.00 p.m. - we had to close the shutters to keep the sun out!

After settling in, and waiting until the heat had reduced somewhat, I went out to get familiar with Florence. Drew, who reacts even worse than I to excessive heat decided to stay in the cool of the hotel, but I wanted to see this City of which I had heard and read so much.

The first thing that struck me about Florence is that it is a reasonable size. After Paris with its 2 million plus people and Milan with its 1.3 million, Florence at 370,000 seems compact. Indeed almost all the 'sites' are within a mile or so of the hotel.

The second thing I realised was the ambiguity I felt about being in the City. I mentioned in an earlier post that my mother, who was baptised Florence Jean, though only ever used the Jean, had always wanted to visit this City. When she and my father came here in early 2002 she was unwell and not able to keep down her food. While my father and she loved the visit, the illness she felt was, on her return home, quickly diagnosed as cancer and within five months she was dead. I always remember her telling me, in the days before her death, that on her retirement she had made a list of the things she wanted to do before she died and she had completed all the things she had put on that list. She ruefully concluded "I wish now I'd made a longer list".

So as I walk the streets of Florence memories of Mam pop-up in my mind. I remember many of the good times we had together, and the ways her influence: in faith, in attitude, in commitment to family, friends and work continue to have on me, and I thank God for the blessing of having her as my mother.

It was fitting then that my walk along the Borgo Ognissanti brought me to a lovely little Church dedicated to All the Saints, a place I could spend time with my memories and prayers.

After half an hour there I wandered on through the Piazza Ognissanti with its statue of Hercules and the Lion. It was a surprise to find that the street also has a Evangelical Baptist Church. I would have expected to find them in Wales rather than here in Florence! 

The walk took me to the lovely Piazza Carlo Goldoni (photo on the left) which leads to the River Arno. Looking up the River you can see the Ponte Vecchio somewhere I hope to explore tomorrow. I walked through the Piazza and on to another pretty square which, from its name, must be in front of the train station - the Piazza Santa Maria Novella (seen on the right). From the Piazza it was a short step to another unusual place the Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella this perfumery has been in business for 400 years, and as well as selling perfume allows people inside the store almost as if it were a museum, which in a sense it is. 

From there I walked back to the hotel, spotted a laundrette which will come handy for tomorrow, and got back in time to shower and dress before dinner (of which more in my next post).