May 2, 2026- Milan to Florence

We returned to our little breakfast place where the Chinese server introduced me to her dog- furry little critter with a curly tail.

Packed up, checked out, and the lady at the he desk ordered a taxi for us to the Centrale station. We had Fast Track which allowed us to skip the gates- good thing because our car was at the very front of the train. We were still getting settled as the train pulled out. This is Italotreno- comfy high-speed train that gets us from Milan to Florence in about 2 hours.

We tried to sign in to the wifi, but it sent an SMS text for verification code - didn't receive it 🤷‍♀️ so on with the hotspot.

At Santa Maria Novella we caught a taxi to our digs for the month. We were met by Cinzia, Francesca's assistant, who showed us around the apartment. It's compact, but roomy enough and perfect the two of us. We entered a little gate, and went up just a few stairs. We have a living room which goes to the bedroom on one side, and up a couple of steps to the kitchen on the other side. The bathroom is at the end of the bedroom, and there's a little closet room for our stuff.

Francesca left a bottle of wine and a package of cookies for us.

We decided to head out for a walk, to get our bearings and pick up some grocery essentials. We first walked around the San Niccolo neighborhood - omg. I hope this is not what our whole time will be like... thousands of tourists. It was so jammed with people that at times we couldn't move. Checked Google and saw there was a small grocery just past Santa Croce. We crossed the Ponte alla Grazia and headed to Santa Croce, where we saw a market. It was all French products - we picked up some cookies, and W took a seat as I powered on. I saw a pastry booth, and picked up some croissants for tomorrow's breakfast. The grocery had just what I had in mind- some oj, condensed milk for coffee, prosciutto and cheese, butter, and a small baguette. And of course, some Coke Zeros for Himself.

By this time we were getting hungry, and went to the restaurant behind the apartment. (We can see the kitchen from our bathroom). Apparently one needed a reservation, but they gave us a table with the warning that they needed it in an hour. Our table was downstairs and was fascinating - arched brick and stucco ceiling,... I'd love to know the stories of the buildings in this area. When the waiter got to us (he was apparently not in a rush) we ordered some ham (not prosciutto -but can't remember what) served with bread and a soft cheese, followed by penne with tomato and pappardelle with wild boar sauce for me. It was great. We took our leftovers and cleared the place with moments to spare.Read more