ugh… at 6:15 the alarm rang, a rude awakening. No time to linger though, we had to get ready for our excursion into Florence. We had our first breakfast on the ship - for me the old traditional scrambled eggs and heaps of smoked salmon.
The theatre was the meeting place and once everyone was there we loaded onto a bus, with the smallest seats you could imagine. With Sam, our Italian guide, describing what we were seeing we started the 1 ½ hour drive. Sam was a stereotypical Italian with a charming accent. He entertained us for much of the long drive, his lilting accent making even the mundane seem exotic and interesting.
Once we got to Florence, another guide met us and walked us past the highlights, explaining everything.
It rained.
The sun came out.
It rained.
We were given 3 hours ‘on your own’ to have lunch and toodle around. We had lunch at the same place as a few years ago, and then got our tickets for Santa Croce, the burial spot of so many famous people, Michaelangelo being one of them. Unfortunately it is Monday so the Uffizi museam with the original David was closed.
Then we wandered around looking at purses, and once (before huge sticker shock) even some earrings. Florence is known for it’s leather goods, and gosh we saw some pretty nice things, alibet with huge price tags. It is also known for gold - if I was a jewelry person I could have gone crazy (assuming someone handed me a sack of $100 bills…)
At 3:30 we met up with Samuel for the long walk to the bus and then finally, the long drive to the ship. The traffic in Florence was unbelievable so we only made it back to the ship at 6pm. We were beat so decided to forego supper in the dining room, settling for the vast array of choices in the buffet.
Even with the late supper we snagged great seats in the theatre for a comedian (very funny). And here we are, chilling in our room before an early night.
“Oh the places you’ll go.”
~Dr. Seuss
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