Italy Trip 2004
(Sept 21st - Oct 3rd)
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2004
Checked out of our hostel this morning and took advantage of a free bag check service they offered. We weren't heading to Florence until early afternoon, so we hit the shops.
We went to a large mask store I found while on my late afternoon walk yesterday.
The pictures I took only show a small amount of their selection. It is easily the largest mask selection in all of Venice. I couldn't help myself and purchased two for myself.
At 1:27pm, we were on our way to Florence. The reason we caught a late train was because all the earlier departures were on EuroStar trains. The train we got was an IC train with the separate cabins.
The trip took 3 hours and was uneventful. Both of us are nearing the end of our traveling energy, so we're not as alert as we were previously.
Once arriving in Florence, we went to our hostel and were shocked at the large size of the room.
The hostel is run by a man called Oscar. He's very friendly and had quite a few rooms available for travelers I'd definitely recommend him to anyone going to Florence.
After settling in, we walked in to the main city core.
The cathedral (Duomo) and the Baptistery are the first things you see when arriving in the core.
Both of us were taken back by the size of Duomo. As we've both has our fill of churches for this trip, we decided not to enter either.
We walked down to the Arno river and long the Ponte Vencchio bridge.
As we crossed the bridge, a marching band came through the area. We later learned it was to celebrate (promote?) a wine tasting festival.
We found a nice restaurant on the other side of the Arno river. I had meat lasagne and sausages. Gilato was provided for desert, but wasn't very good. It was like vanilla ice cream which had been left in the freezer too long.
We decided to call it an early night. Tomorrow we're planning to visit two museums and visit Michelangelo Square.
I'm running out of memory for my digital camera. I hope I have enough.
