Day 5: Travel to Florence

[days_unfolding]

I have my suitcase outside my room, and I have time to kill before breakfast.

We took the high-speed train to Florence. It was a nice ride, very smooth, and they even gave us snacks for free (hear that, Amtrak?) We had a fabulous lunch and then checked into the hotel. I like the hotel room. I went for a short walk around the block. First impressions: lots of small shops, coffeehouses, bakeries, and restaurants. I found a "Firenze" t-shirt. Then I napped.

We went on an orientation walk and then had dinner. Ow, ow, ow, my entire body aches. I’m back at the hotel and took some acetaminophen. Did I say ouch? A lot of my joints are on fire.

The acetaminophen is helping somewhat.

Went to sleep late and, annoyingly, woke up at 4:30 AM. I'll try to go back to sleep in a little while.

A high-speed train

Computer monitor on the train

Scenery from the train. It was hard to take pictures because the train was moving so fast. As soon as you saw something interesting, it was gone.

Florence church

Carousel

Comments

[fbhjr]

Cool stuff!

[shadowkat]

Thanks for the updates and photos.

Joint aches? Ouch. Guessing one too many steps? Although I ached just sitting at my desk today - so could be a weather thing.

Also interesting that the Italian sign has Chinese on it, but not English. I'm seeing that more and more. In NYC, we have everything. But a lot of the instructions for things are often in English and Chinese.

[days_unfolding]

Sorry, just saw this. There are a lot of signs in English. And most of the people whom I talked to know at least a little English. I was going to practice my bad Italian but have gotten lazy and spoken English :)

I think that the aches were one too many steps. I'm not used to walking so much for so long.

[shadowkat]

Steps are hard on the knees and hips. I've a lot of steps during my commute, and it can wear me out at times. I know a lot of old European cities particularly hilly ones - are known for their steps.

Hey, is there gluten free pizza over there? Although I was told by my sister in law that she ate regular pasta and pizza and suffered no symptoms in Italy - she's gluten intolerant. She says the food is cleaner there. Which I thought was interesting.