Another travel day.
Sleeping a little later, we had breakfast in the hotel and packed up up the room. We will be spending the next two nights in Florence at the Hermitage Hotel.
We got a cab to the train station and bought a ticket to Florence. On two of the five legs by train, we didn't buy the tickets ahead of time. It was an easy train ride, albeit with a number of stops, to Florence. Rick Steves actually recommends taking the bus?!?
After checking into the hotel about 1:30, we took off to explore the city. The hotel is literally on top of the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge with the shops across the River Arno. The hotel sent us to a nice restaurant on the other side of the bridge for lunch. At some point, I will figure out the name when I dig through the credit card receipts. The place was full of Italians and I would definitely recommend it.
After checking the doors on the Baptistry, we did audio tours of the the Duomo. Afterwards, we picked up our Florence Cards from the Tourist Information near the Baptistry. More on the Florence Card tomorrow. From there, we toured the Duomo Museum. Sharon wanted to go to a nearby scruplture museum, but it was already closed.
Instead, Sharon, Jack and Morgan decided to got to the top of the Duomo. I am not fond of heights so I found a nice spot in the shade to have a cold drink. They really enjoyed the experience. Morgan actually said that it was one of the best things that they had done so far on the trip. During the climb, they got a chance to get very close to the frescos on the dome.
Afterwards we headed back to the room to cool down and get cleaned up for dinner. We had dinner at the Frescobaldi Ristorante and Wine Bar. Sharon and Jack split steak, while I had risotto and pork loin.
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