Hotel Raffaello Firenze

　　The title is the name of a hotel in Florence where we had dinner on Nov. 17th. I joined a package tour this time which was arranged by a tour company, so I didn't need to worry about where to eat, stay or visit. That is to say, however, I couldn't choose what I wanted to eat during the trip and the menu had been already decided before leaving Japan. I was wondering about dinner every evening during the trip. This day's dinner was T-bone steak with wine! I heard it was one of the specialties in Florence and was also one of my favorites. Bravo!
　　Let's get back on track. Our bus abruptly stopped in front of a secure fence, which was the gate to our hotel, Nilhotel. It seemed to me like a gate of an Ambassador's building. Was the security around there unstable? Anyway, I unpacked my suitcase in the hotel and went out for dinner at once. We were taken to the restaurant by bus. I recorded the route between our hotel and the restaurant.
　　I didn't prepare enough for Italy, and after returning to Japan, I found that I had missed lots of amusements. Hotel Raffaello Firenze was near the University of Florence and our bus drove in the campus on the way to the hotel. I'd like to have walked around or even just seen the campus, or crossed the Ponte Vecchio and wandered the opposite side of the Arno River.

Route Map: NILHOTEL --- Raffaello
http://kumo.typepad.jp/Euro13/Nilhotel_Raffaello.html
Route Map: Raffaello --- NILHOTEL
http://kumo.typepad.jp/Euro13/Raffaello_Nilhotel.html


(Vocabulary)
drive　〈車などが〉走る
drive into/out of sth  ＜場所＞に入る［から出る］
A strange car drove into the driveway.  見慣れない車が敷地内に入って来た．
drive past 〈車などが〉通り過ぎる
Ponte Vecchio  ヴェッキオ橋