We woke up way too early this morning to make sure we had everything in order before departing for the train station. We grabbed a quick breakfast consisting of cappuccino and a small pastry topped with a slice of peach, kiwi, and strawberry. We then hit a candy store for souvenirs and headed back to the hotel to check out. Our feet have been killing us and our luggage was cumbersome so we opted for a bus to take us to the post office and then the train station although both are easily within walking distance. At the post office we mailed most of our purchases back home so we could continue to travel as light as possible. A 5Kg box and a shipping tube with some rolled up art cost less than 30 Euros to send.

At the train station we got tickets to Florence for 16 Euros each. The Eurostar train would have been about 40 Euros each, and only takes 2 hours to get from Rome to Florence. Our train stopped about a dozen times at various towns so it took about 4 hours to reach Florence. This small inconvenience was definitely worth the cheaper ticket price. I also noticed that the main train station in Rome, Termini Station, is more similar to our airports: tons of shopping, restaurants, and bookstands. The train station has about 24 tracks running electric trains to national and international destinations. It’s probably the biggest train station in Italy. We grabbed some paninis from a café then boarded our train. Along the way we saw beautiful little towns, clouds pouring over mountains, and vineyards as vast as wheat fields. The occasional castle on a hilltop also wasn’t too rare. We looked in our Rome-Florence-Venice travel book and found a few possible hotels to try. When we arrived at the train station we walked towards the tourist information counter but was stopped by a middle aged woman asking us if we are in need of accommodations. We said yes, and she showed us a brochure of her Bed and Breakfast.

The Bed and Breakfast is called “Soggiorno Panerai” (website – http://www.soggiornopanerai.it/enindex.htm), and exceeds our hotel in Rome in almost every way. The view out our window is to a beautiful and quiet courtyard, and the room is enormous! The air conditioner is a bit stronger as well. Plus, there is free – and fast – wifi! Upon checking in we are given a set of keys. One key gets us through the huge main doors from the street, the other opens the door to the B&B, and the last is for our particular room. This ensures no need for curfew like some other B&Bs in this town.

After receiving a crash course on what to see, do, eat, and shop from our English-speaking B&B owner, we went to Zio Gigi (Uncle Gigi) for dinner. I had spaghetti with tomato sauce and Jenny had potato-stuffed tortellini. As the sun was going down we walked around and enjoyed seeing the Duomo and several stores and cafés. We stopped for gelato then returned to our room.

Categories: Travel
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