Nov 8-9: Florence!
I spent a week in Florence 20 years ago, which was slightly too long, and didn’t really feel a need to go back. However, I knew I wanted to stop in Turin, and the distance from Rome to Turin is quite far; an overnight in Florence seemed a good plan. I reserved a room not far from the center of town ($93) and left Sorrento fairly early on Tuesday morning.
It’s pretty thrilling to travel on high-speed trains! At one point the scenery was whooshing by at 300 km/hr - 186 mph!!! Driving from Naples to Florence would take ~5 hours, but the train covered the distance in three. Combined with my early-morning local train from Sorrento to Naples, I spent more than 4 hours on the train, but arrived in Florence by early afternoon.
As every place else in Italy, Florence was bustling with tourists. There was art everywhere, and the gorgeous bridge and river, and of course the massive cathedral.
In fact, Florence is the only place I got remotely hustled/ripped off in the whole of my journeys! I ducked into a gelato shop on the touristy drag (first mistake), and asked for a cone of pistachio. She said something (cone? I thought) and I said yes without really understanding the question (second mistake). She handed over the cone, I went to the register to pay, and the kid asked for fifteen euros. Fifteen!!!! My previous gelato experiences had ranged from 2 to 5 euros. I gaped at him, he pointed to the prices, I could see she’d given me the largest/most expensive option. I tried to hand the cone back; he wouldn’t take it. I pulled out all my change, and we counted out 6 euros. I said that’s all I had/was willing to pay, so he took it, and I stumbled out with my cone. I was too surprised by the whole thing - the price, my unusual polite assertiveness - to take a picture or really even enjoy the gelato! Another tourist saw my cone and asked where I got it - I pointed him to the shop and warned him about the prices. And of course I assiduously avoided walking past the shop for the rest of my stay!
Aside from the gelato, my 24 hours in Florence were fine. I wasn’t quite as lost as I’d been in Venice, and I found a very delicious dinner in a neighborhood across the river. I was stunned when I exited the restaurant in the moonlight to recognize the plaza from my visit in 2001 - there had been a free movie showing in the square, under the moonlight. How funny that I’d totally forgotten, but am certain I was in the right place.
I booked first-thing tickets to the Uffizi the next morning (totally unnecessary, there were only a few stalwarts at that hour) and enjoyed poking around for a couple of hours. After I left I stumbled on a modern art showing and enjoyed the contrast to the Renaissance-era art I’d been wallowing in previously.
All in all, 24 hours seemed like plenty to me, and I hopped on the train to my last destination in Italy: Turin/Torino.
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