Florence Revisited

Abi & Shannon on THE bridge looking back to Ponte Vecchio.
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Earlier in the week, the girls had left for a few nights stay in the youth hostel in Florence. This was to be a trial run for Greece. We decided to make the train trip in to Florence to meet them and do some sight seeing for the day. There is a direct train from Foligno, (nearest big town) and Florence and we had under estimated the distance and time involved. It is over 200km away and took 2.5 hours. It was great to see the girls safe and sound in the foyer of the really busy Florence station. It was lunch time by this time and we were expecting to pay high prices for bad food, but found a great little café with reasonable prices and good food. We then visited the Duomo, which is an amazing sight yet again. It is an amazing structure and the first of its kind of the Rennaisance. None of my photos came out from the inside, as no flashes or tripods are allowed. We wandered off down to the other main Piazza, (the one with David) and spent some time just sitting in a new area that was not opened last time we were there. Again, an amazing structure, with amazing sculptures. A particularly gruesome one was in front of us, with someone having just cut off someone else’s head.

This is a close up of one of the emblems on THE bridge
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From there, Shannon had noticed a picture she wanted that the illegal street hawkers sell. We had noticed them earlier pick up all their wares and make a run for it when the Caribinieri appeared. Kathy was negotiating with the guy when his colleague suddenly gathered up all his paintings and made a dash. He dithered in negotiation and paid for it as the Caribinieri appeared around a corner and stomped on the paintings he had not been able to retrieve and ripped them up! He did make one sale though, so not all bad for him.

Sign of things to come?? Plug in point for electric vehicles.
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From there it was off to find Stefan’s bridge (where he proposed to Jo). We walked across Ponte Vecchio and took photos looking down to what we think was it, walked across it and similarly celebrated Stefan’s romantic dream… Well done, it is an amazingly beautiful old place. I loved the photo of the emblem on the side of the bridge as well.

On one of the side streets close to this, I noticed a thing of the future maybe. It was a charging point for electric vehicles. Two scooters and one car plugged in.

Don't remember this amazing gate last time we were here.
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It was then a slow wander back to the main Piazza through this incredible arch and then back on the train. It was a good feeling to be escaping the hustle and bustle of another major tourist centre to the beauty and tranquility of Umbria. As we rolled through the countryside it felt good to be returning to the heart of Italy…