Final fling in Florence

 Wednesday  

14 August 

Day 45

51 to go

I was in no mood to get out of bed this morning, my eyes wanted to remain shut, but at 9am, I figured I should probably make myself get out regardless. We ate breakfast slowly and then thought about our morning ahead. 

When we were ready, we headed out into the furnace of heat in search of a bus stop for bus 13. When we found the stop we needed, it was not in action and there were instructions to move on 400m, so we did. We timed our run well, meeting the bus as it pulled into the stop. The driver was very helpful and explained the bus system. We paid with our bank card, 1 Euro 70 for a 90min trip on which we could hop on and off as much as we liked and use the tram system as well. If we had paid cash it would have been 3 Euro each. 

We then sat back and enjoyed the 30min journey around the streets until we were finally deposited at the last stop, Piazza Michelangelo. Last night, we could see the masses of people gathered here to take in the view of Florence. It didn’t disappoint. We have both been to this viewing square before, me 25 years ago and Paul 36! It was a lovely sunny day, so the views were very clear. 

After checking out every angle, we then began the 1.5km walk to the Boboli Gardens. It started off well enough, with a downhill run, but we were soon left breathless, as we needed to climb a very steep hill. When we finally reached the flat land, we were exhausted. 

We made to pass a free entry building, but the guide at the gate said it had the best views in town, so we climbed more stairs and had a wander around the Fortezza de Belvedere. The views were indeed spectacular and the cafe piazza was even more impressive. We ordered drinks and sat, soaking it all in, enjoying the chance to rest. 

We did a wander of the boundary, before we continued on to the Boboli Gardens. It was only a short walk to the entrance gate, we paid the fee and then wandered the footpaths under the shade of the trees. We were stopped by one eager Aussie, calling out go Wildcats. We had a brief chat to the young couple and then continued until we reached the Statue dell’Abbondanza.

We took in the view sprawling away below us, with manicured gardens, fountains, ponds and at the very end the Palazzo Patti. 

We made our way down the hill, before exiting via the Palace square and then meandered through the streets to the river and then back towards home. We stopped to pick up lunch pieces at the shop and were back in the cool of the aircon by 2pm. 

We did our usual middle of the day rest, eating lunch and going through the photos. It was almost 530pm by the time we made the decision to go out for the evening. We wandered through the underground shopping mall attached to the train station looking for a pharmacy, but there wasn’t one to be found. When we finally reached ground level and crossed over the street, we saw a blazing green cross indicating a chemist. Paul picked up some more pain relief for his neck and then we were back on the street to continue our aimless wander. We skirted around the main attractions, missing the large crowds, but still had the dawdlers to deal with. 

We cruised down streets housing the high end of town labels, eventually walking into the square housing the Palazzo Vecchio. We did a search for craft beer and continued on a further 500m, down streets we hadn’t seen, eventually arriving at beerstopxxxxxxx. This was a very small, dark crowded bar with plenty of beer choices. We had one drink and then went next door to the pizza bar for dinner. 

New bridge pizza was a groovy little restaurant with its own house DJ. He was busy spinning tunes, while we enjoyed our capricosa pizza in the melting heat of the room. I was a puddle on the seat, by the time we left. 

We made our way back towards the hotel, stopping to try out a vending machine and then it was down to the river to take in the orange sunset glow. We were back in the cool of the room by 8pm and it was time to start the great pack once again. There wasn’t much to do, as we had kept things pretty tidy. 

At 9pm, Paul suggested we have one last drink in the Joshua Tree Bar next door, so we made our way through the wooden red door and into writhing mess of loud, young patrons. Paul’s Wildcats shirt again attracted attention from another Perth local and that was it for the night. Kyle, a 25 year old sparky from Baldivis was our drinking buddy for the next couple of hours. His girlfriend was being entertained, lead astray, by a couple of Canadian girls and was well on the way to a long headache tomorrow. I think Kyle just wanted to sit have a quiet drink and a chat, so was happy to latch on to us. 

We laughed at the various antics of the patrons and the level of inebriation that came with it. All the while, we happily chatted to Kyle, trading travel stories and tales from home. It was a great way to finish off our time here, but when 1115pm rolled around, it was time to call an end. I think if we had invited Kyle back to our apartment, he would have gladly jumped at it and left the girlfriend to her own devices. 

Back in the comfort of our room, we readied for bed, packed a few other bits and then crawled into bed, ready for the next adventure.