It was time to say goodbye to the nice people at the Pensione Guerrato in Venice, our home for the past week, and head on to Florence. We had an early breakfast and met up in the marketplace at 8:30 to do the very short walk to the canal where we would catch our boat taxi to the train station.
Here’s a last look down our alleyway.
I hadn’t noticed the small restaurant at the one end but it was open for business nice and early.
It’s interesting to watch all the morning activities and how much the canals are relied upon for everything. All goods arrive by boat and all trash is taken out the same way. Here’s a crane lifting a cart full of trash that was pushed through the city to this point. After positioning the cart over the boat, the bottom opens, dropping the trash.
Here’s a water taxi like the one we will be on in a few minutes.
The water taxis run very frequently and go all over the city, just like a bus system does in other places.
The boat was pretty full and many of us had to stand in the open section in the middle of the vessel. That’s not a problem though but there really isn’t anything to grab onto, however, the drivers (or is it the captain) are really adept at docking at each of the stations without bouncing the passengers around much.
We then rolled our way out to the trains.
We got to the gate area and waited again.
I’m sure it will be here soon.
By the way, here is where we are are and where we are going.
Hey, the one on the left was our train after all. We headed down to Car 7 on the 8-car train.
We settled in for a very smooth and comfortable ride that would take a few hours.
We went past beautiful countryside vistas.
We kept ourselves busy.
We went through a surprising number of long tunnels and my ears popped repeatedly. As we came in closer to the city we saw lots of urban art.
Eventually the train slowed down to our station and it was time to get moving.
We went outside and immediately felt the difference between here and Venice. There were street cars, busses, cars, and scooters. We headed out on the short walk to the hotel.
Since it was too early to check in, they let us leave our bags and we headed out to find something for lunch. We walked past many interesting sights.
We ended up at the Mercato Centrale Firenze, the Central Market of Florence. It’s huge. The first floor features shops full of fruits and vegetables, meats, pasta, wines, etc. like a big grocery store except they are in numerous individual booths. The second floor is like a giant food court with all kinds of eating options.
It was fun cruising around and looking at the variety of items available. Mark and I spotted the beer establishment and picked up a couple pints to quench our thirst while we decided what to eat. Mark decided on a trippa sandwich which he said was really good.
I opted for the vegetarian poke, the Magnifico, at vegandveg. You’ll have to admit, the pink sauce really does make it. It’s was excellent.
Mark went to get a snack and I met up with Heather and Morgan and we toured around the first floor.
We met back up with the group and shared some lunch stories. It sounds like everyone was satisfied with their selections. Elizabeth sent me a photo of hers.
We met up with Mark and Aiden at the bottom of the stairs and Mark had made a purchase of biscotti that he was willing to share.
He got them here and it looks like they have lots of flavors to choose from.
Here it is. It was closed but we might be going in later while we are here.
Across from the Duomo is the Baptistery with doors made by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the early 1400s, taking him over 20 years to complete. One doesn’t take an art history class, especially one focusing on the Renaissance, without studying these doors. They are magnificent to see in person.
You can see that Mark and I were pretty excited about being here.
We continued on our walk around the side of the Duomo.
We headed up a side street to get a look back at the dome.
Standing around getting ready for the next move.
That next move was to visit this art supply store.
Next, we wandered past Dante’s house and church.
We wandered some more.
It was getting to be Happy Hour and our dinner reservation wasn’t until 8pm so we stopped for snacks. Mine, the nearest in the photo, was a most excellent IPA.
We came into a large piazza that had a carousel and there was a crowd around a man busking on an accordion.
Not surprisingly, there are artists selling their work here.
We stopped back by the hotel before going to dinner here:
The bruschetta was very good.
The entrees were delicious and interesting. A pasta dish was served with a cheese grater as a lid.
A mighty fine first day in Florence.
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