Buongiorno, Firenze!

As the title of this post implies, I have left my beloved Venice and moved to the second destination of my trip, Florence. After spending Saturday on a day trip to (overcast) Padua, I packed my bags (and all the sudden, I have a lot more stuff than I did 5 days ago, how did that happen?!), hopped my last vaporetto to the train station, and climbed aboard a Frecciarossa train to Florence. Frecciarossa are the fast trains in Italy, similar to the Eurostar in England, and they’re really nice. Comfy seats, free wifi, a food car and/or a food cart, and they move. They get up to 190mph! I don’t think my trip reached that speed, as we had a few stops along the way, but the 160 mile trip went quick – 2 hours and 6 minutes after we pulled out of Venice’s train station, I was dragging my bags through Florence.

Taking the train is such a foreign concept for Americans, and the unknown of it was really unnerving the first time I took one, in Sweden. But once you get the hang of it, it’s the best way to travel through Europe, particularly if your trip is 5 hours or less – more than that, and it’s likely more efficient and cost effective to fly. Free wifi, no security lines, cheap fares – what more could you ask for?! It’s so nice, I relaxed and napped for half the trip.

In Florence, I’m staying at an AirBnB about a 5 minute walk from the train station and 5 minutes from the city center in the other direction. When I do a normal 10-14 day trip, I prefer to stay close to the center for ease of sightseeing and saving time, and that habit carried over to this trip, even though I’m under much less of a time constraint. While this area is still touristy, it feels slightly less-so than most of the rest of the city I’ve been in so far. I plan to visit the Oltrarno neighborhood on Wednesday, which is mostly all locals and hopefully will help me like Florence a bit more.

Yeah. After my great love affair with Venice, Florence has slightly underwhelmed me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty, is home to some beautiful and historic art, and the weather has been better than in Venice, but it just hasn’t grabbed me the way Venice did. I’m hoping I’ll get past this funk I’m feeling about the city over the next 2 days of sight seeing, but today’s sights didn’t do much to help in that regard.

I’m here for 8 nights, though, and part of that was to try “living like a local” more than I ever have before (even though it’s only a week). That part has been great – my AirBnB host is great, the apartment is huge and well-located and priced well, and I have made friends with the old guy who owns the gelateria NEXT DOOR!! Yep, I’m spending a week next door to a gelateria; by next Monday, my ass is going to be twice the size it was when it arrived here. Gelato update below.

As part of my attempt to live like a local, I went to a yoga class tonight. I had researched the hell out of this place before I left so I knew a little about what to expect with regard to the type of yoga, but it was still really nerve-wracking. I hate doing things that draw attention to myself or make me stand out in any way, and there’s so much opportunity for that to happen when you interact with people in a non-tourist setting in a foreign country. For example: I could not figure out how to open the door to the yoga studio. And no, smartasses, it’s not as simple as turning the knob, thank you. So I’m dawdling outside trying to figure this out when a woman comes along and opens it no problem. Great, problem solved, and hopefully she lives in the building so I won’t have to face her knowing she knows I’m a complete idiot. Oh hey, nope, she’s taking my yoga class. Fortunately, the owner of the studio is an American ex-pat and it was really easy to get set up for a drop in class. The studio also felt similar to my own studio so that helped. I had hoped the class would have some English since the studio was owned by an American, but alas, it was pretty much all in Italian. I muddled through by following the person in front of me, but it did make things slightly less relaxing than a yoga class normally is for me. The class was really excellent, though, and I was glad I got out of my comfort zone to take it, door incident and all. I might try to get back again before I leave, now that I know how to open the door!

Gelato Update: 12 scoops
lemon – 5, mango – 1, strawberry – 1, caramel cream – 2, dark chocolate – 1, chocolate – 1, chocolate chip – 1

I’ve gotten a couple of 2-scoop cones in Florence, which I have to say has much better gelato than Venice. It’s so creamy, whereas Venice’s was a bit icy. My gelato neighbor had me “marry” dark chocolate with lemon, which was amazing. I have a standing invite to come by and watch him make his gelato, so hopefully I can make that work while I’m here. Free samples??