11.4.8 FIRENZE IN THE RAIN

“No signore, no ho.”
“Ma signora, se compro una capello, come questa, piu Vicino, en questa mercato, en 2001.”
“2001?!?! Stylo cambiare en 7 annos!”

Yeah... we’re in Mercato San Loranzo and Chuckie is getting’ nowhere with the Great Hat Search. He swears he went through this 7 years ago, going from stall to stall and finally found the one vendor with the right hat… who of course is nowhere to be found on this miserable rainy day in our favorite Italian city. Now they all swear that styles change and there is no leather hat such as he seeks, just wool or brims with snaps. He finally capitulates and buys one with snaps…
“Not the same thing,” he grouses.
And so it goes.

After ditching the growing crowd of lost cruise tourists at the Stazione W.C. we took the pedestrian tunnel under the Piazza Santa Maria Novella [S.M.N.] and came out past the short cut to San Lorenzo, so we hiked a couple extra blocks, in the rain she reminds me, to the Mercato. All to no avail as noted above.

Then it was time to march over to “I Fratellini” for a Panini and Wine, which we found easily since Chuckie must have a built in GPS [or memorized the map of Firenze]. The Prosciutto and Mozzarella Panini was as great as he remembered, the bread as fresh and the wine as smooth, even if we had to eat it in the rain… well not really, it was too early for the usual rush and we were able to eat it inside the tiny place.

All along the way, we are harassed by the Nigerian “Ombrello” hustlers. And after constantly waving them off, Dragon Chic, who is convinced she is getting soaked makes him break down and buy a €5 “Ombrello” Now we have 2 Italian “ombrellos”… one of which is still back in the cabin.
Next stop, Il Porcelino, another leather Market with the bronze Pig [really a wild boar] whose snout you rub for luck before sliding a coin off his tongue, hoping it will fall through the grate below to insure your speedy return to Firenze. Once again, Chuckie’s coin slides in on the first try… the Dragon Lady on the other hand… took 3 tries as she did in 2001 so we may not be back for awhile.

Now it’s time to haggle for Grandbaby T-shirts. Chuckie gets the price he wants, but decides rather than lug them around they’ll pick them up on the way back to the Stazione S.M.N. Bad move…
After cruising the Ponte Vecchio Jewelry Bandits, and a quick trip to ensure that the Palazo Pitti [former home of the Medici clan] had not moved, we decide to go see the stores recommended by the ship. Of course this is on the other side of town near Santa Croce

On the way we stumbled on an elderly couple from another ship that were lost and about to miss their bus… which was waaayyyy back past Ponte Vecchio. Illy intervened when she overheard the panic in the old mans voice, Chuckie flagged a cab giving the driver instructions on where to drop them off. And we continued to Santa Croce which was a bust. We found… no great bargains, no leather hats to his liking... only more rain.

Wet, Cold and Grumpy, she decides we must take the next train to Livorno and we proceed to hot foot it back to the Stazione S.M.N.… waaaaayyyyy across town.

Remember the t-shirts we were supposed to stop back for…NOT!!!

That would have taken us out of the way and she was determined to get the 3:27 express train so we took the shortest route, bypassed Porcelino and t-shirts, but did make a quick stop to collect some dirt for Randy [don’t ask…] and we still missed the train. But… the regional was leaving 5 minutes later so we took that one, 20 minutes longer with more stops and a different route.

So now we have a Wet, Cold, Grumpy and tchotchke-less DL.

Some days… ya just ...can’t. ..win.
More to come.

Ciao 4 Now

Chuck and the seriously upset, wet cold and VERRRYYY grumpy, Dragon Lady.