Train days

After the late arrival to my Rome accommodation, I didn't bother to give myself too much to do as I had to check out at ten and make my way to Florence. So I just had a sleep in. The public transport system isn't as straightforward as in Singapore, and as such, I found myself getting lost trying to get to my long-distance train. Never the less, after a couple hours of fucking around I made it to the correct station for the train to Florence. Unfortunately, to save some dollars, I took the 4 hour train ride rather than the 1.5 hour train. This wasn't a big deal as I couldn't check into my room until 3 anyway. I don't have any regrets about it as it was nice to see the Italian countryside but, it highlighted the biggest issue of Italy- everywhere is so beautiful and unique, but trying to capture it with a photo is always so difficult to do. It was made harder by the moving train in this regard, but it was nice enough to just enjoy the view. I don't have many pictures because they would either be shit or not accurate to the actual state of the view. So today doesn't look like much in terms of photos, but I still enjoyed rural Italy and the train ride.

Upon arriving in Florence, I knew I was in for a good few days, as even the walk through the town to get to my accommodation was breathtaking. I had my backpack on for the good 30-minute walk, thinking it would be all my walking for the day. But it was so nice of a city to walk through, I just had to give it another crack after dropping my bag off. So, after checking in, I took a walk around my accommodation- I was careful not to stray too far as I knew I had a lot to get through over the next 5 days and I didn't want to spoil it by trying to do too much on the first day, wearing myself out and not getting a proper chance to see everything in the area. As a result, I just walked through the local plaza, and it was awesome. The buildings are so close together and often overhanging the road in such an interesting display of architecture. Small restaurants and bars crammed into little spaces, it is fascinating. I wanted to keep going but knew if I spread myself too thin, I would miss things and have to go back tomorrow. So after taking a slightly longer route home, past the Pitti Palace, I started to make my way back to the accommodation. Watching people play football and basketball in the park really solidified the perspective of being in Italy, and it was so cool to see. Stopping by to get some dinner at about 6 pm is quite hard in Italy as most places don't open until 7. As such, I had to pick a bar that I normally probably wouldn't have gone to. I didn't have data on my phone and so I couldn't google the meaning of their menu. This made me do one of the most despicable things in my entire life. The man came around for a second time to ask me what I wanted, and I just ordered the cheeseburger... in Italy, I ordered a cheeseburger. I panicked and just picked something. It was a shit burger, too.

My accommodation looks awesome, the bar area is fantastic. I went down there for a quick drink before realising it only serves cocktails. Although I was mostly keen for a beer, I figured I'd get a cocktail to prepare me for bed. It is an open restaurant, so there were mostly people that weren't staying in my accommodation, which is disappointing, but i didn't plan to stay for too long either way. After that, I headed to bed for a relatively early night to get a good sleep and get a bunch done tomorrow.Read more