 |
| Florence Station |
The day dawned early and so did our foursome. We were going to Florence! We dawned so early that we arrived at the Venice train station a full two hours before our train time. Actually, Travel Master Dan has done an amazing job of coordinating our transportation between cities, train stations, water taxis, and road taxis. As mentioned earlier, our first train trip had a few bug-a-boos, but this time we went from being the helped to the helper -- or at least Dan did. He very gallantly help a young lady hoist her bag into and out of the overhead bin on the train. He was somewhat amazed to find any person who had a suitcase heavier than Peggys. Our taxi driver was skilled and strong, SHE easily hoisted all four of our suitcases into her car without any help from Danno! Off we flew through the streets of Florence -- emphasis on the flew!
Our hotel, The Plaza Lucchesi, is right on the banks of the Arno River and within walking distance of the Uffizi Galleria! Since the restaurant had closed at 2:30 and we arrived at 3:30, we set out in search of food! Another slightly less exciting taxi ride followed to the nearby market. After a quick lunch at a local tourist establishment, ccwe headed off to find leather -- lots and lots of leather! We had been referred to a local establishment at the recommendation of a friend of Dan and Peggy's. There we encountered Massimo and his friendly crew. We departed a couple of hours later and severa (and I do mean several) Euros lighter than anyone expected!
Then we wandered through the market area in search of a watch for Dan. His watch seems to have suddenly died. Near the Uffizi Galleria we finally found a Fossil shop which meant Dan had escaped buying an overpriced neon colored Swatch watch for the remainder of his stay in Europe. We found the Arno River and used it to guide us back to the Hotel Lucchesi. We capped off the evening we our first "gormet" dinner in the hotel restaraunt. While the food was excellent the courtesy of the Maitre'd was clearly lacking! I tried to post last night but as has been the case the Tech Gods were not smiling. Seems my phone had died and I could not access the net. Today we head to the Accademia in the morning and the Uffizi in the afternoon. We have purchased "Jump the Line" Tour Tickets to speed up our entry to these two fine art extravaganzas.
 |
| Hotel Lucchesi |
