It was definitely an adventure getting to Florence. I took a train which wasn't too bad at all. But, let's just say that those trains are more ideal for those traveling with a backpack, as opposed to the giant suitcase that I had with all of my belongings from the past month.
The train ride went by super fast! I sat in my booth, if you will, with two Aussies that were traveling throughout Europe. They definitely had the backpacking situation down to an art. It was not uncommon to run into these fellow Aussie folks throughout our travels. Apparently it is really cheap for them to travel in Europe! Anyways, back to it! I napped for a little bit, only because we spent a majority of the trip chatting.
Once we got into Florence I was nervous, excited, and so tired all at the same time! It was the beginning of the next part of my trip and I was ready to see what it was going to involve.
Pretty sure that I have never felt so lost or confused than I did the moment I walked out of that train station. I thought I had things all planned out, but no. At that point, I just figured it would be best to get myself a taxi and call it good. Well, that was a whole adventure in itself!
The cab took me through all these winding streets and he explained to me that the law had just been changed so that 30+ streets were now pedestrian only, so he had to change his route. I came to find out later that was only partly true. Andrea, the hotel manager informed me of this. Anyways, we wound our way to the small street of cobblestones. He stopped at the end of the block unloaded my suitcase and pointed me to where I needed to go. I wheeled my way down the street. For the future, once again, cobblestones are not very conducive to wheels on a large suitcase.
I soon found the address to my hotel. Buzzed in, and the door opened. Only to find a flight of stairs. That was the last thing that I had wanted to see! Please believe me! I figured it would only be one flight up to the hotel because the directions said it started was on the second floor. Well, in Italy, the floors start at 0, then 1, then 2. So, it was indeed on the second floor, just the third level.
The elevator, which barely fit me and my suitcase was at the top of the first flight of stairs. That helped some. Once I finally made it, they were very helpful and Andrea was so great about get me all checked in. I read online that the hotel had great views of the Duomo. So when I got sort of settled in my room, I opened my window to yes, a brick wall. Not what I was expecting but it certainly made me get out and do some more things.
When I was checking in Andrea informed me of the events of the weekend. It was the celebration of St. John the Baptist. I will definitely be going back to Italy for this in the future! It was such a great experience to be a part of.
It's time for me to get some sleep so I will hopefully get some writing time in again soon! Enjoy the hotel pictures!
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| This was my cute little room! |
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| View into the bathroom and the armoire! |
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| This key was the greatest invention! In order for the lights to work the key had to be in the wall! And you never forgot your key, or shutting of the lights because when it got pulled out, off the lights went! |
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| See that lovely little word "secondo"...so deceiving! |
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| Those were the stairs that were almost to the elevator. Not quite a full flight shown here, those ones are behind me! The elevator is to the right in the picture and its definitely not much wider than that! |
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