Florence

From Rome it was off to Florence via TrainItalia - one thing that we're greatful for is how cheap the trains are in Italy. We arrived late afternoon in the city and headed off to our hostel. The place was fabulous - when we got there Clara, the owner, gave us a quick run down of all the things to do and gave us a free map. We wandered around the city for a while, but headed back to the hostel were Clara was cooking dinner. As we sat down at a table and introduced ourselves, we realized this was a table of the Commonwealth - to our left was a family from Victoria, across from us some girls from Australia, and to our right some guys from Montreal. It was a lot of fun chatting with them all and enjoying the unlimited wine. Afterwards, we headed out to the pub with the group and had a nice night out.

In the morning we got our much anticipated breakfast - delivered to our dorm room door! Scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice, milk, toast, tons of condements, and brownies. We were in absolute heaven, I don't think we eat that well at home!

We quickly discovered we were not the only tourists in Florence.

After, we were ready to do some serious rush sightseeing, as we only had this full day to go, tomorrow it would be off to the Cinque Terre. We quickly discovered we were not the only tourists in Florence. The line up to get into the Museum was about a five to six hour wait, and to see the famous David it was a two to three hour wait. We only had, as mentioned, one day in Florence, and in the end we chose to bypass these attractions - after all, who wants to spend all day in a lineup. Instead we headed to a park beside the city on a big hill that had marvelous views. There were three brides and grooms there at the time getting their photos taken, which was funny to watch. All of them had proffesional photographers and filmers directing their every move - Gaze into eachothers eyes and then look off to the distance, Kiss the ring and then put it on her finger, etc. We spent a good half an hour laughing and picking our favourite dresses.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent wandering around the city, going to the back street markets, and grabing a bite to eat - our first italian lasagne. It was really, really good, but nothing beats Antons back home. Christy picked up some sandles from one of the markets - Hand Made Italian.

Our day in Florence quickly came to a close, so we bid goodbye and then headed off the next morning (after another wonderful breakfast) to the Cinque Terre. Pictures to come when we find a computer that will allow it!