Its the last day in Florence - the bus picks us up at noon, so there is still time for some exploration. Florence is a wonderful city to just wander about - its not that large and it seems every street holds wonderful views, wonderful stores, wonderful cafes or all of the above. We head to Scuola del Cuoio (the leather school of Florence, http://www.leatherschool.com/) which is in the monestary of Santa Croce. As you enter, there are a row of desks where a number of people are actively making leather goods by hand - quite interesting to watch. Given the pictures on the wall, many stars and politicians have also watched in the past. They sell what they make on site, but the prices are quite high - it was difficult to find a few items of reasonable cost to bring home.
We were close to the food market I tried to visit yesterday, so we stopped in. This was definitely a local market - clothing was being sold in bins for as low as 1 or 2 euro and there were plenty of fruits, vegetables, meat and fish. Its said this is where the restaurant owners shop in the morning prior to setting the menus for the night. As time was getting short, we had to rush a bit - I still needed to stop at the other market (needed to buy some more Amedi chocolate) prior to catching the bus at the hotel.
We pack our bags, head down to the rather small lobby and along with about 13 others, we wait. About half the people had arrived the day before (not taking advantage of the extra days in Florence), with one couple having their luggage lost by Air France along the way. It seems that all those that did arrive early for the extra days were all given the wrong information about which day to meet for the bus - with one couple trying to actually checkout. Noon approaches with no sign of the guides. Given the general confusion of the prior days, suspicion is growing on how well organized VBT really is.
A bit before noon the guides (Franco, Claudio and Luigi) arrive, though at the time it wasn't clear whether they were the guides or just drivers hired to take us to the next location. They quickly come in, give us luggage tags, take the tagged luggage out to a van and get us loaded on a bus. It seems that all of this happens in about 5 minutes. Claudio and Luigi (a guide in training, this being his very first tour) leave in the van with the luggage and Franco joins us as we drive a short distance to the train station to pick-up 4 others that are doing "land only" meaning they arranged there own travel. 2 of the 4 were quickly located. After about 15 minutes, Franco finds out the others will meet us at the hotel, so we are on our way again. Its about a 2 hour drive to the hotel, but Franco has brought along all kinds of fruit, water, cookies and chocolate. We were all quite content and Franco proved to be very easy going and humerous with some minor commentary along the journey.
The hotel is an agritourismo which means its a working farm that also has a hotel. Its quite nice - the rooms are in a few different buildings with olive trees and vineyards only a few yards away. We settle in quickly as we need to change into our bike gear for a general orientation and our first ride. This ride is only about 9 miles - primarly used to make sure everyone's comfortable with the bikes and how to use the cue sheets that tell us when / where to turn. Ted & I ride together and he proves to be a very able rider - we both ride at a fairly good pace and circle the route twice before returning to the hotel.
After the ride, there's some time to shower and change for a welcome reception and dinner. During the mingling I chat with two sisters and their husbands - it turns out there's a slight chance of a relation going back to Duffy's in Ireland (will check if the names surface in any of Mathilde's notes when I return). We were also treated to the salted fried dough and a few other appetizers along with one of the wines made by the owner of the hotel.
Dinner followed. Wow! It started with an anti-pasta buffet that was absolutely amazing. Lots of mushroom dishes, pepper dishers, tomato & mozerella, sliced meats and cheeses, breads and many other choices including a whole octopus (you slice off how much you want). All was very good and there was plenty available for second helpings (no - I didn't try the octopus). Dinner itself was a pasta dish followed by a breaded veal, both enjoyable.
Then there was desert. WOW! Another huge buffet with many, many choices (and no octopus!). The tiramisu was my favorite (though the strawberries were very good as well) and again, plenty available for seconds.
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