First Afternoon in Florence
We got off the train at the Florence station and went hunting for a taxi. Good thing our apartment was only 1 km from the station because none of the bigger taxis wanted us with all our bags. One nice taxi driver squeezed all our bags into his trunk and we found our home for the next 4 days. The apartment is HUGE and is about one block from the back of the Duomo. It is an old Italian building with tall flights of stairs and the apartment is on the third floor, so two long flights of stairs to climb. We have 3 really heavy bags so that we a decent workout for me.
We got into the apartment and the kids were excited that we now have some space to move around in. We got connected to the wifi, Drew started on her next section of geometry and Noah started connecting with his friends at home. Ilise and I decided to leave the kids at the apartment so we could walk around the city. I had found a potential rental car for Monday to drive to Pisa to see the leaning tower and enjoy the country side of Tuscany. We walked through Florence, which is quite small, and saw many of the landmarks the city has to offer, including the Duomo, The Uffizi Museum, all the statues in the square next to the museum, Ponte Vecchio (the amazing bridge with the shops across it) as well as locating some of the best gelato shops in Florence. Oh yeah, we need to get that fix before we leave Italy! We did find the rental car office and reserved a car for our trip to the country on Monday.
We walked for a few miles passing many street activities, including a pig feast less than 1/2 mile from the apartment. I told Ilise that Noah would love that place for dinner. So, after walking around the city for the afternoon we arrived back to the apartment and Noah and I went for some pig and we scored a stinco, which is the lower portion of a pigs leg. We had a little feast of our own on that hunk of meat. I really enjoy pork and so does Noah. Good thing Ilise wasn’t there, she would have been mortified. We finished up our dinner and headed back to the apartment to make some dinner for Drew and Ilise and then relaxed watching Gladiator. We had just been to the Colosseum and we thought it appropriate to show them how the Colosseum worked for real during the years of Caesar. All in all another fulfilling day in Italy.
Sunday we have a walking tour in the morning, Monday we will rent a car and head to the countryside and Tuesday we will spend at the Uffizi Museum. Looking forward to a nice few days in Florence.
To a life well lived!
Larry Kesslin 