The 1st Day: My Apartment
Arriving at my AirBnB apartment via taxi on the first day in Florence was a bit tricky. The apartment was located on Via Lungarno Soderini, a busy street in the area of Santo Spirito and, thankfully, on the first floor. Paola, one of the apartment owners, greeted me graciously and we had a wonderful conversation in the Italian language. She was nice enough to lend me her patience as I am a continual language learner.
The apartment was located in an area of Florence that I had not explored before and farther away from the usually overcrowded areas of tourist attractions in the heart of the city. It was directly across the street from a beautiful view of the Arno river. Next to the apartment there was a lovely and very popular gelateria. As I entered the apartment I felt very secure. There were three doors with locks to pass through: the large heavy door on the street, a lovely glass door, and finally a door that led to a hallway before the main door to the apartment.
Inside the apartment it was perfect! (Please excuse the “lived in” look of each room in my slideshow as I was too exhausted to take photos the first day!) I even posed myself for a selfie one day before taking out the trash. (You can do these crazy things when you are alone!) I said “amen” to the fully functional air conditioning, which included a wall unit above the bedroom window and a smaller unit in the kitchen. It was one of the hottest summers in Italy! The kitchen had a dishwasher, a fully functional stove/oven, a washer, and plenty of pots and pans for cooking. I was ever so grateful for the American coffee maker too!
There was plenty of room for one or two people. The bedroom was spacious with a large closet and television near the doorway. The bathroom was larger than I thought it would be and the shower had pretty sliding doors. Convenience is always important when traveling. Right around the corner there was a mini mart and a pizzeria which I will talk more about in my future blogs.
Thank you Paola for the wonderful accommodations and generous hospitality. You were always helpful and responded quickly when I needed assistance!
Pillows in front of the window explanation: Okay, so for a few days my jet lagged brain did not understand how to close the window shade for privacy. That is why in the bedroom photo you may notice a pillow in front of the window. Eventually, I figured out that there was a long heavy cord on the right side that had to be pulled out instead of up and down to lower a large heavy shade.
ValVentures 