Florence - Day 1

 Well I’ve tried 3 times and the pics keep coming in backwards. No idea why that happens on this platform sometimes! 😭 also the capitals and periods aren’t working right and it takes way too long to fix all of them  

The play for today was to take a train to Lucca and Pisa  we had heard there was a train strike on tofay but the sign at the train station yesterday didn’t list Trebitalia as one of the affected carriers so we thought we were ok  this morning we got up and ready and got to the train station at 8:50am  train was at 9:09am  we got tickets at a ticket machine to Lucca, checked the board for the platform and hopper on the train  just before the train was supposed to leave we heard someone taking about a train strike and they said that this train was terminating its service partway through the route  so it was going about halfway to Lucca  Trev and I started talking about what to do and the Italian lady beside us said, if you want to go to Lucca, just get off in Pestoia, and from there you should be able to catch another train to Lucca and Pisa so that’s what we did  got off 45 minutes later in Pestoia.  I went up to the counter and said, we are trying to get to Lucca. And the guy said, today is not a good day to travel. There is a train strike on and I said, ok well then we need to get back to Florence. And he said, I just told you there is a train strike. And I said, ok are there no trains running at all?  He said I can’t tell you that. There is a strike and trains are being cancelled without notice. So I said, how would you suggest I get back to Florence from here then. And he said, it is not going to be possible to tell you that. I said, is there a taxi?  He said, a taxi will be too expensive and all of you will not fit. And I said, well somehow I need to get back to Florence today. Are there buses?  And he said, you can check with the bus station across the street.  

So we walked over to the bus station  we talked to a guy whose English wasn’t great  he said there was a bus coming in one hour  it would be 25 euros for all of us  I asked him how long it would take and he said an hour.  We got the tickets and went and got some groceries to eat on the bus.  

While we were waiting for the bus Trev looked up the schedule for the tickets we bought  turns out it was not a 1 hour bus  It was a 3 hour bus  And it didn’t stop at the bus station near our hotel, it went to the airport.  It was going to take us most of the day to get back to Florence.  what a waste. We were trying to stay positive but it was discouraging. 

We were waiting for the bus when I said, Let’s go into the train station  and try to find a sign that says there’s a strike and we will get a pic of us sad in front of it  when we went in we saw the board for the departures and it had a bunch of trains that said cancelled, including several for Florence.  But there was one train showing for Florence that left in 10 minutes!  So I ran up to the ticket booth and there was the same guy there.  I said, is the Train to Florence that leaves in 10 minutes going?  He shrugged and said it’s hard to know with this strike  and I said, so it might go?  And he said, I could sell you a ticket and you could try  if it doesn’t go come back and I will give you your money back.  Doh!  Why didn’t he tell as that before!?!  We bought the tickets and bolted for the train and got on  we were the only ones on the train in our carriage  I asked the conductor if it was going and he said yes!  And so 45 minutes later we were back in Florence!

So all in all we spent about $150’in tickets, including bus tickets we never used, to take the train to a random town, have a stressful time, and then turn around and come back.  Sigh

Thankfully we were just so thankful at being in that train after we thought it would take all day to get to Florence that we were back in good moods again  

So an extra day in Florence!  When we were looking at the art at Doge’s Palace, Owen was very interested. O told him we had skipped the Ufizzi gallery because I didn’t think anyone would be interested and Owen was disappointed. Normally you need to book a time way in advance but it’s low season here and so  we decided to head over and seen.  We waited about 15 minites and then we were in!

Anna found it boring and gave it a 2/10 but Owen gave it 7/10 and Joel gave it 7.5  

After that we were hungry so we walked over to an amazing square  the sun was out and Trev and I really wanted to get a drink and drink it on this square  we ended up having a Very expensive snack/lunch.  Basically if we walk in a restaurant it’s $150.  One tricky part is that pop is very expensive in restaurants.  Like usually between 4 and 5.50 euros  so $6 to $8  bit Tre and I really want to get a drink or a glass of wine when we stop and we are always tired and thirsty and it feels like we can’t have a drink and say no to the kids  so we end up spending like $40 on drinks for every meal  it’s a bit ridiculous. 

Anyways it was great ambience but when we left, in addition to the crazy drink prices there as a 4.50’euro per person cover charge we hadn’t noticed on the menu. So it was a crazy expensive lunch.   

After that we just wandered around Venice. We saw the famous warthog statue. And we walked around the outside of the amazing Duomo!

The sun was shining and it was about 20C  it was glorious!  Finally around 4pm we decided to go back to the hotel for a rest before dinner  but on the way there Trev and I saw an amazing place right close to our Airbnb that was selling Limoncello Spritz’s.  Italians are drinking Aperol Sprit’s everywhere by the way!  So we dropped the kids off at the Airbnb and then went on a little Florentine date!  We had a drink with the best view in the sunshine and it was amazing!

Then we all had a little rest and then went for dinner.  This post is all screwed up now so I’ll post about the dinner in a part 2 post  For now, here’s the backwards pictures!

Limmoncello
Spritz’s with a view!

Warthog statue

Street art - this guy did this in chalk in about an hour. We walked by when he was starting!

Buskers

The Duomo

Kids are staying entertained by catching Pokémon

Our favourite statue

The expensive lunch with a lot of ambience

Stretchiest cheese pizza!

This bread was sooo good. Almost made it worth the price

Spritz’s

Views of Venice from the Ufizzi Gallery

Random peace we saw. We have been to Venice 3 times and I’m pretty sure seen random parades all 3 times

Our silly train rides tofay

The cashier at the grocery store gave me these today for international women’s day!

This is the Christmas decoration we bought in Venice on Murano

Here are our finished pendants. I didn’t get a pic of Anna’s because she was wearing it. 

Owen

Joel

Carly

Trev

Breakfast at our Airbnb

Kids room is a loft so this is the main bedroom from the loft

Crazy toaster

These are from we got into our Airbnb last night. Trev and I walked to a grocery store and got some supper if buns and lunch meat. 

Stairway to kids loft

The walk to the Airbnb was a bit sketchy. The ‘sidewalks’ were about 12” wife and cars were zooming past us in the dark. Eek. 

Ufizzi gallery pics above came in out of order!  Mess of a post tonight!