The morning started off a little rough. Traveling is always a little hectic, especially when you do not speak the language and everyone is in a hurry. After a little confusion we were able to find out seats aboard the first class car to say arrivederci to Roma and ciao to Florence. The train ride was smooth, with the exception of a misunderstanding with our tickets. It only took about an hour and half to get to the city.
Our hotel is located on a main strip, which was great when we were towing around our luggage. We checked into the hotel and dropped off our bags to our room and were pleasantly surprised at the size of our accommodations. Everything I read prior to arriving in Florence had me anticipating a glorified closet for our room. Instead we have a queen-sized bed that is twice as soft as our bed in Roma. Our shower is much larger and the furniture is all very traditional with an antique feel. This is what I imagined a hotel in an ancient city to look like.
We dropped our bags off and wandered to find some lunch. We found a little sandwich café and grabbed a few Panini’s to go and brought them to a little park by our hotel. Florence has a lot of similarities to Rome except that the roads and sidewalks are much narrower. When you are on a busy street, it is uncomfortably obvious. But when we stepped onto the park, only steps away from a main street, it was amazing how quiet things became.
The later afternoon was spent relaxing and recovering from our morning’s travels. We got cleaned up and headed out for a long walk through side roads making our way across the river. Instantly I saw I was going to like Florence much more then Rome. There were a lot more boutiques and little cafes. I see shopping in my future. We cross the river and find ourselves in a great little artsy section of town. Lots of galleries and little shops and cafes that have more of an authentic feel. We pop down in a little café for an early dinner. We were blown away by the experience. Immediately when we sit down, our waitress greets us with a glass of prosecco and bread with an olive dip. Sparkling wine without asking? Yes please. We order a wild boar sausage and cheese appetizer and ravioli with a walnut cream sauce. Both were amazing. The wild boar appetizer came with sun dried tomatoes unlike any I’ve ever tried. We finished it off with a nice cup of espresso before continuing our journey.
We made our way to St. Mark’s church for the opera. Along the way we see a courtyard swarmed with local people. We pop into one of the bars with a crowd for a little after dinner limonchello. We see people eating what looked like a buffet and asked the bartender about it. She said they do it every night for only 1.50 euro. All you can eat buffet for only $2? We know where we are eating tomorrow night.
We walk through the massive wooden doors that lead to St. Mark’s church. The auditorium boast beautifully painted arched walls with iron chandeliers hanging low from the ceiling. The room only holds 70 people at most so we take our seats in the intimate setting centered around a grand piano. The performance was better then I could have hoped. The program consisted of classic love duets from the biggest composures including Puccini, Verdi and Lehar. We heard favorites such as Verdi’s ,Libiam, libiam nei lieti calici’ from La Traviata. My favorite from the evening had to be E. di Capua’s ‘Non ti scordar di me.’ The surprisingly exquisite meal followed by the stunning performance was a beautiful way to start our experience in Florence. 
Funny random thing of the day: Check out the best spray on hair you’ve ever seen. We got to stare at this during the opera. It made appreciating the beauty, that much more challenging.
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