Fueled By the Napoli Sandwich, We Press On to Siena

It took us about two days in Florence to realize that if we wanted really good Italian food that we ought to be eating it in Chicago. $14 for about 5 ounces of pasta with a couple of artichoke hearts, 1/10 of a tomato and about a quarter cup of olive oil? That came from a restaurant that was highly recommended, by the way. After a delicious Happy Meal at McDonald's across from the Santa Maria Novella train station that only cost about $7.50 each, you can't blame us for thinking about having it our way.

After a morning of sightseeing we decided to take the train to Siena, stopping at McDonald's to pick something up to eat on the way. Could you seriously turn down an Italian style breaded chicken patty with onion, tomato and a delicate hot sauce on a special bun with herbs at a special introductory price of less than $5?

The best I can say about the Napoli Sandwich is that it is an evil twin to the Filet-O-Fish gone horribly wrong. Not only did it manage to start out dry and tasteless, it emptied its onion salsa all over my purse, ensuring that it stayed dry until the last bite. While it was a pretty bad culinary experience, at least we no longer were hungry. Soon enough, the pretty countryside of Tuscany outside the train window not only made us forget our recent unpleasantness, but it also made us realize that if we run out of money before the recession ends we can be nice and skinny, just like the Italians.