On our way to Florence

The sun peeked out a bit today before we left Cinque Terre. Phil and I checked out at 10 a.m., and our host kept our bags while we went for a coffee and roll.

It was a long train ride. Phil likened it to the old Grand Canyon Express, which he remembered, stopped at every station between Kansas City and where his uncle lived in California. He remembered it took 2 days in hard wooden benches. His mother packed a hamper of food and picked out seats that faced each other so he and his 2 bothers could not escape her watchful eye.

Anyway, it didn't take 2 days to get to Florence, only about 4 hours, but we did stop at every little town. One was Carrara, where Italian Carrera marble counter tops come from. We passed the quarries and some processing plants on the trip.

We met 3 women from England out on a 4-day getaway. They each had suitcases that could have held both our backpacks plus two more! Nice ladies, though.

In Florence, we had to walk in a light rain to find our apartment. It was about 5 pm when we arrived. We are on the 4th floor. Phil counted 74 steps. Tomorrow , we have tickets to see the Michelangelo statue of David at 10 am. We will see what comes next.
We are only here 2 nights, so we will make the most of tomorrow.Läs mer