June 21, 2022

We said goodbye to Naples with another early morning rushing to the train station. The metro didn’t seem to be running so we ended up taking a taxi to the train station and then enjoying the ride to Florence. Again, our tickets were first class (even though we booked second class), but this time the conductor didn’t let it slide so easily. We showed him our receipt for second class and explained that we tried to change it and he eventually let it slide, but told us he was supposed to charge us the difference in the prices. When we made it to the Florence train station, we decided we didn’t want to risk it anymore so we changed the rest of our Italy tickets to second class.

Once everything was sorted out, we walked to the hostel to see if we could check in early or at least use their washing machine. They wouldn’t let us check in but they did let us use the laundry, so we got that done while we were waiting to check in. After we were done, we brought our bags up to the room and then headed out to find lunch. At that point, we were starving and wandered into a pizza place and shared a margarita pizza before going across the street for gelato.

Our next stop was Piazza di San Lorenzo which was the starting point for our walking tour. We waited on the steps of the church until our guide arrived and began the tour. We learned that the church we were sitting at was originally a Roman temple and most of the materials from the temple were used to build the church when the Romans were conquered in Florence. Also, the castle on the opposite corner was the first home of the Medici family and it’s style was copied in many other castles throughout the city.

After leaving the Medici castle, we walked over to the Duomo and learned about the history and symbolism of the cathedral, the bell tower, the dome, and the baptistery. After leaving Duomo, we walked over to the square that marked the city center and then walked over to Uffizi to hear about Leonardo and more about Michelangelo. Overall, the tour was very interesting but it felt more like a lecture than a walking tour (we only walked about half a mile throughout the 2 hour tour).

It was still a little early for dinner (at least in Europe) so we took our time wandering along the river and into some of the shops as we made our way back toward the less touristy restaurants that were in the direction of the hotel. We heard about a Chinese restaurant that was supposed to be really good and decided that halfway through our time in Italy was a good time to try something other than Italian, so we headed that way. It ended up being a great decision, all the food was amazing and very reasonably priced. We started with spring rolls and steamed dumplings and then had vegetable fried rice and a hot plate with rice noodles and shrimp and then finished with chicken with cashews and chicken with fresh pineapple. We loved it all and left very happy with the decision.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at a cafe for cannolis and ate them in a park near the hostel. When we got back, we took some time to relax and got to know one of the other girls in our room before getting ready for bed. The beds were comfortable, but we didn’t get as much sleep as we hoped because someone started ringing the doorbell (yes there is a doorbell to the dorm room) at about 2:30am. Nevertheless, we still woke up on time and are now on our way to Cinque Terre!