Eurotrip 2011 – Florence

Rome > Siena > Florence > Venice > Munich > Brussels > Amsterdam

Still March 19. Our hotel in Florence was the Katti House B&B. We checked in easily enough, though the owner didn’t speak much English – just enough to get by – but it gave me a good chance to work on my Italian a little bit, so I didn’t mind! We were brought to our very spacious room (with shower/toilet), and wandered off to find dinner. We ended up at Regginella, a small place near the hotel (which was also near the train/bus stations). The food was excellent, and we were even served some Limoncello on the house to end dinner. Back to the hotel, and to bed – the street was a little noisy, but it wasn’t peak tourist season, and it was chilly enough to need the window shut at night, so it wasn’t that bad.March 20. We end up having to catch the earlier train to Venice, so we only have until 2:30pm. It was also Sunday, and a bunch of things were closed or running limited hours, and really, Florence wasn’t appealing to either of us that much – it’s a very americanized and tourist filled city. If you’re going to visit for the art, that’s wonderful, but the city itself is kinda dirty and leaves a lot to be desired. After Siena, Florence was a huge disappointment. We got up and I got a chance to chat with our hotel owner in Italian which was great fun. She thought Doug was German (his family is near 99% Dutch) They allowed us to leave our bags in the hotel check-in area and again, we PacSafed them just in case. (Photo to the right is of the Duomo (cathedral) of Florence, a view from halfway up the bell tower)

After finding some good espresso for breakfast, we found that the Campanile (bell tower to the Duomo) was open for business. Made it all the way up the 414 steps with the bells clanging in our ears every 15 minutes (photo to the right is the view looking up). At the top, it was REALLY windy, but crystal clear and made for a great view. Here, we’re going to suspend the stair counter since this was the last tower we climbed – 1496 stairs in four days. I’d tell you how hard it was to get out of bed in the morning, but that number speaks for itself.

We spent a little time wandering around Florence. Crossed the Ponte Vecchio and oogled the gold, walked past the Uffizzi, and through the markets at San Lorenzo. Near the Ponte Vecchio, there’s a chain set up to separate the pedestrians from the street. The entire chain was FILLED with padlocks stuck to the chain. We got home and found out they were Love Locks (photo to the right) – couples in love lock a padlock to a bridge, chain, fence, etc and then throw the key in a nearby river symbolizing how they’re locked together in love. AWWW. Anyway, short entry for Florence, but we made our train on time and were off to Venice!