Train to Florence and Crowds

High speed trains are the answer to transportation. Our train sped along at around 250 km/hr. and got us to Florence from Rome in an hour and a half.  We had perfect timing to meet the "hosts" of this apartment--a woman whose dad was a doctor and owned what is now 3 apartments on the third floor of a building now surrounded by upscale shops. Gucci is right around the corner. This apartment was once just the living room/dining room of the apartment:

living room

bedroom

Plus, there's a kitchen; a two-room bathroom, laundry and another bathroom in the hallway. There are only 4 keys to get into this place although the key to the wooden doors on the street is difficult to use.

Our hosts, Miki and Franco, spent an hour telling us everything there is to know, like how to use the stove even though we told them we don't cook. They had maps to give us and showed us how to get to the various sites. Neither one was fluent in English so it took a long time, especially since each of them showed us the same things. They are very cute but told us much more than we need to know, like how to fix the electricity if it breaks.

After that, we were starving so we went to a main square and ate an overpriced sandwich at the outdoor tables. Then we walked around as best we could. This city is crowded. There seems to be very few Americans but lots of tour groups. Also, as in Rome, there is no distinguishing a true pedestrian street from one that allows motorcycles. The sidewalks are so narrow, you can't possibly stay on them, especially with the crowds of people. A couple of gigantic trucks drove through the main square outside the Duomo. We're constantly listening for cars and motorcycles so we can get out of the way.

We saw the outside of the Duomo--the lines to get into the various attractions--climbing the 400 steps to the top of the dome, the cathedral itself, and the museum, were too long today. It seems many Italians are vacationing in Florence for Easter week.

Duomo--can't get it all in one picture

From there, we walked to the Ponte Vecchio which was another extremely crowded area. We walked over most of it but didn't want any of the expensive jewelry in the stores on the bridge.

View from Ponte Vecchio

Then, we wandered kind of aimlessly and came across a church, Orsanmichele that we went into. Some kind of church was on that space since the 700s but this rendition was finished in the 1500s. It has stained glass which we haven't seen too much:

Windows in Orsanmichele

After rest time, we went out searching for dinner and we denied entrance to the first two places we tried. We finally found a restaurant that we could get into, La Spada, right down the street. There are very few restaurants with outdoor spaces in this area but the restaurants seem bigger on the inside than the ones we saw in Rome. Lots of meat here so Lola had rabbit and I had ribs. The place was jammed from 7:30 until close to 9:30 when we left.

There are better dogs in Florence than in Rome--more purebreds and well-groomed. There are fewer people speaking fluent English. It seems every city has its version of a 7/11; so far, we've had no luck finding a small store.  There are several places to buy meat, cheese, fruits, and vegetables but nothing close by for staples, like cream for our coffee so you can imagine how we are suffering.