Florence

It's time to post about what we did get to do on our ill-fated vacation.

Our flight to Florence was not terribly long but we did not get very much sleep. It was a noisy flight with people opening and closing the overhead compartments all night long and a toddler who simply could not be pacified. I had a middle seat and presume it was the lady to my left who shared her Covid with me.

Landing was very smooth and we were able to get through customs amazingly quickly. Next up was getting to the railway station in Venice to catch our train to Florence. We had allowed plenty of time when we booked the train and it turned out that it was too much time. We had to hole up in a McDonald’s for a little more than two hours while we waited for our train. The train was very very crowded but efficient and we tried to nap on the train but it was one of those situations of tiny little 5-10 minute naps. We arrived in Florence on schedule and had a wonderful cab driver who pointed out all kinds of things as he brought us to our hotel. The Pitti Palace Hotel is nice; it is right at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio. Our first order of business was to get out of our travel clothes and get a nap. Once we begin to feel human again we got ourselves together and headed out on foot to meet Tom and his family for dinner.

It wasn’t a really long walk to the restaurant but it took a long time because my mobility was a problem. I have been having a weird problem with one of my calves and excessive walking makes it act up. The restaurant was terrific it is a famous place the name of which escapes me at the moment but Tom had researched it on the Internet. He was determined to have a certain presentation of steak that that he found was irresistible. We were greeted with a complementary glass of Prosecco for each of the adults and then there were some complementary appetizers brought out that were absolutely delicious. We had ordered first course before these complementary apps came out and the first course was a selection of cheeses and a selection of meats and they were very, very nice. The kids were terrific and excited; they were enjoying being there. Aberdeen was very funny: she had ordered the pasta with wild boar and she liked it very much. Joe and I are very surprised at how adventurous Nate (12)  and Aberdeen (10) are as far as eating. We were all too full for dessert.

When we got back to the Pitti Palace, Joe plugged me in the lobby and went across the way and came back with a mango gelato. It was good. We went to bed at about 10:30 I think, but I’m not even sure about that; we slept very, very soundly. Too soundly, it turned out.

We had booked a tour for Sunday. We were scheduled to visit Sienna, San Gimignano, and Pisa. We were supposed to be at the pick up place at 7:45. I had set the alarm for 6 o’clock but forgot to hit save and we woke up at seven. We knew we couldn’t get to the starting place that quickly, so we missed our tour. 

We had a very good day nonetheless. Breakfast at the hotel was lovely; it was the usual kind of European breakfast and was served in a place where you could eat either inside or outside on the terrace. The terrace had a roof over it and it was shady and pleasant. Because it was open air, our breakfast companions were some sparrows and some pigeons. They were very bold birds and if someone got up and left their table they would hop right up on the table to help themselves to whatever was on the plate!  After breakfast we walked up towards El Duomo in the hope of visiting, but there was something special going on inside and visitors were not to be admitted until 1 o’clock. 

Joe went off to look at a church he had wanted to see and I stayed in the area of the Duomo and just rested and watched the people. I was astonished at some of the clothing that people are wearing and I also was amazed at the number and variety of tattoos. I felt old! Where I was sitting was near a place where horse-drawn carriages were set up and I watched as many people got in carriages and went off for rides. I was thinking seriously about doing it myself and before I had the opportunity all at once Joe was there again back from his little junket. So we sat and watched the people for a while and then we got in the carriage and took a ride and it was very pleasant. The carriage driver pointed out a few things, most of which we already knew but it was still fun. 

After lunch we came back to the hotel for a nap and after the nap we walked in the other direction away from the hotel and away from the Ponte Vecchio and looked at some shops. We got as far as the real Pitti Palace. Then we got a message that Tom was not too far away so we came back to the hotel and waited for them to arrive and when they came we sat in the lounge area which is up a half a flight and was very, very comfortable and pretty. It was fun to just relax with them and the kids played checkers on a board that was already set up. All too soon the kids were tired and needed to go home and so they did. Joe still was hoping to get into the Duomo so he went back up to that area and I stayed in the lounge and read. The hotel has its own restaurant and we decided that that might be a good thing to do for dinner rather than what we usually do which is walk around until we find some thing that we like the looks of. We had already done enough walking and the area where we are is very very touristy.

Florence was very, very hot; in fact, the high that day was 103.

The real Pitti Palace.

The horse-and-carriage stand at El Duomo.

Breakfast area at our hotel.

Tom and Aberdeen.

This guy tried to join us for breakfast!

The doors to the rooms at the hotel provided a preview of what we would see from our windows.

The river from the middle of the Ponte Vecchio.

Nate and Anastasia.

We seem to have a knack for running into weddings when on vacation.