Silent All These Years: Morte Sfidata a Firenze!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Morte Sfidata a Firenze!

Didn't think the trip could get any better after Milan and Venice but one thing's for sure, we had not power shopped in Italy yet and we have heard rumours about Florence having some rare finds. Checked into a quaint hotel La Scaletta steps from busy tourist areas and walking distance to one of the famous bridges in Florence known as Pointe Vecchio. Wow! It was packed to the wee hours with tourists, locals selling art, knockoffs. We had 4 fun filled days and made the most of it. The hotel staff was friendly except for the male staff, there was 3 of them and all of them reminded me of some Alfred Hitchcock serial killer. Love Cecil and Giovanna. They accommodated us with a room move from street facing to garden facing. Oh my god, that room change made all the difference. Goodbye street noise, hello birds chirping.

We rented a car for our ~~power shopping trip~~ wine country tour and it almost didn't happen as every car in freakin' Florence was rented. Argh! Finally Bob Marley's son came through for us, rented a Ford Focus station wagon and it turned out to be stick shift which translates into me no drive as don't know how to. Whew as I fear driving in a foreign city. I fear a lot of things. I am quite chicken despite my bold front. Weather was sunny until we started to look for this little place called Prada Outlet, then while on Autostrada A1, hail came, hail stones the size of a baseball, rain poured, wind surrounded us, wiper blades at full speed but we could not see ahead. It was seriously like a scene from Twister. I had to do what Helen Hunt did, I ran out and brave the storm and tried to place Dorothy in place to get a proper reading...nah, I gripped the seat so tight I was making marks in them. I prayed a silent prayer. The car was hard to control and we thought we fried the clutch. We drove the car under a bridge to shelter from the hail stones which we thought by now have made numerous marks on the car. My immediate fear, crap! The deductible is $600, there goes my shopping allowance! Every local was doing the same thing. The roads were hazardous at this time. The ordeal lasted about half an hour. Undefeated, we continued our journey to find this urban myth of a Prada outlet. We drove past Sienna and other gorgeous towns outside of Florence, finally came to a gas station and a kind Italian gentlemen led us to the place. We entered this unimpressive white building and I looked to my left and right, YIKES, this is like 2 blocks of Prada stuff. I took off for the men section without looking back, look at the price tags, what, Prada shoes at 1/3 of the price at home. Some shoes were only EU$50 which = C$75. Prada work pants for $30, Prada wallets for $20, sunglasses for $15, what is this SPO? I mean I like some of her design but at this Pay-Less prices, I am stocking up. Alas, we bought a few items as we wanted to be prudent shoppers. For what we paid, I cannot believe the kind of profit Holt Renfrew is making then, its criminal, I must report to the authorities at once!

Our shopping urge indulged, we left the store reluctantly and ventured back onto Autostrade A1 to find Tuscany wine country. We got slightly lost but being lost in Italy is beautiful, I believe we saw and visited places most tourists never knew. We stumbled across this little town of Cavriglia and found a fine ristorante called Ristorante Il Cenacolo. The hail hours ago kept the locals at home so we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. The wonderful server brought us free appys, champagne and we settled on 3 courses each. It was utter delight and the chef took such pride in his work. I am glad we braved the rain, hail to find this gem of a place, and finding Prada outlet didn't hurt either.

Florence had loads of good eats, museums (we saw the real David statue carved by Michelangelo). I had to run over 2 miles back and forth from a restaurant one night as they took only cash and we had left the hotel with only credit cards. No wonder I lost weight during this trip, the amount of cardio I did. I cannot recall the trattorias we ate in Florence except for Il Santo Bevitore.

I remember chanting during the storm 'if I make it through this hailstorm, dammit I am buying a pair of Prada shoes!' and I did. And thank god, the car was unscathed, no marks, no dents, hopefully the clutch is intact.

This was my near death experience in Italy. And no I am not such a drama queen!

posted by movetothis @ 11:14 am

2 Comments:

At 10:33 am, Brand New W said…

wow that's so scary! i can't believe you wound up caught in a twister on your vacation!! thank goodness you guys are okay! otherwise, we would never have heard the amazing tales of the Prada Outlet store!!! WOW!! it sounds totally amazing!
At 5:53 am, Anonymous said…

LOL you are such a drama queen! Are you competing against me for the Oscars this year, you bitch!

I must find this outlet someday. Sterling actually flies Oslo-Florence directly. But it sounds like this outlet is far from Florence and not easily reachable if there are no twisters to carry me there?

HAIL at this timem of the year?? WTF??