Day Thirty
August 7th
Another quick train ride today, luckily because people had stolen the seats that we had paid for and we could only find one seat free and Rhys stood or sat on the floor. Tried to get them out of the seat, but even showing them a ticket in their own language didn’t get the message through and they played dumb.
We got to Florence by the afternoon, and as soon as you get off the train you feel like you are in a movie set, its very picturesque. We are only a short walk from the station and as we get closer we realize we are right in the center of the main tourist area and it is beautiful! We are just in front of the Piazzo Duomo – which attracts so many people and there are lines around the block everyday!!
Our hotel room is nice and the people at the reception are lovely! The lift up is ancient and a little scary haha but all part of the experience. In our room they left us a bottle of champagne which is very sweet!
We headed into town to explore and we ended up walking for hours, we got some lunch at a little pasta place and their menus were fantastic!! They had photos of ALL their dishes in full colour gloss paper. So you know exactly what you are eating! Very cool! I have never seen that before in a proper restaurat but it was done so well! I got the lasagne Rhys got the Gnocchi and although the 3 cheese sauce on the Gnocchi wasnt so good for us, it was a really decent feed and only 26 euro with wine. Afterwards Rhys found a Gelato wonderland on our travels, haha that kid loves his icecream!
There are lots of dodgy market men, with copies of famous art works for sale and then there are some authentic beautiful artworks that you can buy around the place. This place is buzzing with tourists! Everyone speaks English it must be a ghost town outside of peak season!
I loved all the shop front displays, clothes, shoes, food. So tempting!
We did some more walking and I took loads of photos! We walked to Piazza della Repubblica, which is a large square with restaurants and markets and an amazing archway. As we walked up there was an opera singer singing “Time to say goodbye” … Umm probably one of the most epic moments of the trip, apart from seeing Africa off the coast of Spain and listening to Toto. But imagine … stepping into a beautiful square in Italy and hearing that! haha it was too much! This city is beautiful! Another must visit place! Wow!
At 3:30 Rhys was very insistent that we got to a pub that played the charity shield match between Man U and Man City. Our hotel reception showed us an Irish pub on the mp and we headed there for a few beers to watch the game. Half time we walked to the bridge got a few photos and then headed back to see the rest of the game
Second half was a good result for Rhys with Man U scoring the winning goal in the last minute of injury time. The place went off when the goal was scored. I almost cried because I was so happy it wouldnt go to extra time! I am in the beautiful city of Florence sitting in a stinky bar watching soccer! hahaha it really wasnt all that bad! It was good to see Rhys enjoy his soccer cos I know he misses it!
After the soccer we explored the shops and got freshened up for dinner.
As it got dark in Florence I felt like I was in a romantic movie! All the lights and the music through the streets! It was very lovely! There was a stage set up in one of the squares we walked through and they were playing really great music! and there were people everywhere dancing around the stage! Such a great vibe!
Our favourite Opera singer was still singing in the Piazza so we decided for once we would eat in the square to just listen to her and people watch. Plus the menu was one of the only ones that interested us on our stroll.
I again got the carpaccio because I had such a big lunch and I wanted something light. Rhys got the spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil! mmmm my meal was average, but thats what you get for eating in the square haha and Rhys’ was great! For dessert? A panna cotta with strawberries and Rhubarb, yummy! We walked around for a while afterwards looking for a horse and cart because Rhys thought that would be pretty great! But it looks like they only do that during the day. It got pretty late so we headed back to our hotel, ready for another day of Florence exploration tomorrow.
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