We are in Florence, folks. The capital of Tuscany and birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence has been dubbed “the Athens of the Middle Ages”. It has art. It has fashion. It has 13 million tourists each year, and six of those are currently hiding in their hotel rooms.
After a typically harrowing drive from Lilliano this morning and thank the Lord finally finding our hotel, we met a fellow Minnesotan in the lobby who gave us the best tip of the day — take the bus downtown. Yes. Avoid driving another block in the city at all costs…so we did.
Saw the duomo. Saw the famous bridge over the Arno river. Saw statues in the piazza.
Rode the bus back and checked in whilst Jim and Dave braved the streets one more time to gas up the van before turning it in to Europcar. (Apparently this was no simple feat, and I am thankful that I got to wait it out in our room. Jim shared a few details about gas troubles and a rude Europcar guy who threatened to charge us an extra 100 Euros plus gas if we brought it back without filling up.)
We’ll find something for dinner in a couple of hours and then try to sleep early. Our flight is at 6:30 a.m. — 9:30 p.m. West Coast time — which means an early start HOME!
See you soon.