Our time in Florence ends tomorrow morning when we head for the train station, catch a train to Pisa and fly back to Seville for Easter. We have had a great time in this amazing place.
The big adventure yesterday was to take a bike trip in the country about 30 minutes outside of Florence. The forecast was rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful day! Our group consisted of mostly American students and a few young couples. I was definitely the oldest on this trip. Weird! I am proud to say that I finished at the middle of the pack and did quite well, I might add! We started by touring a castle with a working winery... Very interesting stuff and fun to learn a little about the process. It was a 13 mile trek with a stop for lunch. Kristin and I loved getting out of the city for the day.
Today we did a few really fun things. The Duomo is the monumental centerpiece in the middle of the city. It took almost 600 years to construct and it is MASSIVE!! We can see the cupola from our room. Anyway, there is a viewing area near the top which is closed right now. The good news is that there is a tower right next to it that we were able to visit. The 416 steps are narrow, but the views of the city were spectacular. Lots of fun! We found the food market and a monastery. This evening we finally had some real Italian pizza! Good stuff.
I knew that there would be a lot of people here, but it is REALLY crowded. We have avoided waiting in lines, but it has been pretty hard to avoid the crowds. We think the Italian people are kinder (and a bit gentler!) than Spanish people. Other than one taxi driver who fleeced us, our cab drivers have been great. (The one guy drove us in a big circle before bringing us to our b and b.) I was kind of mad, but of course didnt say a thing...
That is all for now. The Internet has been spotty and it takes forever to load my pics, so some of them will probably have to wait until I get home. Thank, (fam!) for checking up on us. Tomorrow will be an adventure. How much stuff can you stuff in your bag without going over???
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