Thursday, February 11, 2010

Firenze (aka Florence), last port of call...bathroom fiasco(s)

I am going to try and be brief, quick, etc...we have so much going on now that blogging our honeymoon seems like old news and frankly, who cares anymore?! Actually, I know there a couple of you Kadlec blog readers that do read it (hello sister!).

Oh where do I start...we had a 7am to 7pm day in Livorno, a port city about an hour outside of Florence. We did the "Florence on your own" tour through Carnival. Based on readings before the trip this seemed like the most logical choice and most economical. Oye, it was...but with plenty of entertainment!

Not kidding...we get on the bus and someone says "can we stop for a bathroom before we get there?" Excuse my abbreviation, WTF! I was angry, but Debbie was furious...I mean, we are one of the youngest people on the cruise, and youngest on the bus. We knew well enough to go before we got off the ship 10 minutes earlier! Oye. So, 1/2 way to Florence we stopped at a gas station to let off the whining guests...95% of the bus got off. The fiasco of getting everyone situated, back on the bus, etc...yeah, fun stuff.


But we got there and holy crap, what an amazing city. I think Florence could be my favorite...we went to the Duomo and neighboring Gioto's Bell Tower. We climbed the bell tower as the line was shorter. We got up to the first platform and I think we both said "that wasn't so bad." Ha, that was the first of four! By the top we were a little pooped and tired. Luckily for us we prepared and our Nalgene full of water again was a Godsend. The view was amazing!!

Then we of course went to get some gelato. I mean, "why not?" We took the advice of our guide that gave us recommendations on the bus ride over. She was not wrong! We went there TWICE, once again before we headed back towards the bus!


We explored and went down to the Accademia to see where the "David" was. "WAS" because it was a Monday and in Italy the majority of all museums are closed on Mondays. Boo. We missed out a lot but made up for it elsewhere. That is a recreated version of the statue, to scale, etc.

Next we walked over to the Pontevecchio, which is a famous store-lined bridge. Debbie continued her shopping...window shopping, at least. We really didn't buy much... One thing we joked about throughout the honeymoon was "trusting" another couple, person, or whoever with our camera. Another couple was as reluctant as us, we all laughed about the topic, and they were gracious and snapped a beautiful shot of us on the bridge.

We wondered back through Florence searching for leather, a staple of the city. Eventually we did find some...I got myself a new briefcase (which I finally broke in this week, actually!!) and Debbie got herself an Italian handbag (it's red and I haven't seen another one even resembling it back in the states, which is pretty sweet! Ditto to my briefcase, it's embossed with TDK and all!)

We also hit St Croce chuch...so beautiful outside and in...we toured the inside, too!

It was around here when we ran into Bob and Lisa and got to pull out the "EH! EH!" in the streets of Florence. They were caught off guard, but it was hilarious. So much fun.

After we got the gelato, best in Italy, again...we had to meet back up with our group. Let's see...one guy lost his wife en route back to the bus...his comment "she has her passport and knows how to get back" and we LEFT! Not kidding!! Then, like clockwork, someone asked for a pit stop. This time Debbie yelled "come on, this is not included in the tour!" No need to say what happened but I swear we were going to have a rebellion against us "kids."

(Deb snapped a shot of the cranky, bathroom-loving folks!)

Oh well, Florence was a blast all the way around!!

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