Florence, Part I

Leaving Venice was kind of funny. After the mishap with the train in Paris, Dad was anxious. We arrived at the Venezia Mestre train station a full 50 minutes before our train was scheduled to arrive. So we sat... And waited... Once on the train, I was shocked by first class. I've only traveled Europe by Eurail before, and second class is a lot different than the sweet seats in first. They recline. But we couldn't sit down. Our seats were taken, and there was a lot of weird confusion. We felt like we were on stage as the train left the station, and finally found seats elsewhere in the car. Mom got a little green riding backwards, and I politely but assertively informed a guy sitting in one of our seats that he needed to switch with her. Finally the conductor came and moved everybody. They were supposed to be back in car 11. Freeloaders. We settled in and enjoyed the rest of the 2 hour ride to Firenze--Florence.

I think I am destined to get us lost at least once each city. We got a terrific map from the Tourist Information office near the train station. I made the wrong second turn, and our walk to the hotel took twice as long as it should have. It wouldn't have been so bad, but our party included 7 suitcases and one sprained ankle.

We left the hotel in search of the Pitti Palace and its Boboli Gardens. We arrived too late to see the interior of the Palace with its Modern Art Museum, so we toured Boboli. There were quintessential Italian photo ops, fountains, sculptures, and lots of people enjoying a little nookie. Mom loved the views, hated the hills.

We had a lot of fun with this one sculpture.

We headed back over the Arno River via Florence's original and oldest bridge, Ponte Vecchio. It's a weird, huge thing that is beautiful accidently. It's filled with jewelry shops and tourists. We ate dinner off the beaten path and then headed back to the tourist zone for gelatto. I forget how to say, that's stinkin good, in Italian. Yum-mizzi?

Ponte Vecchio in the distance