Florence

On Saturday Morning we took the train to the airport to pick up Shyla and the car. We managed it without too much hassle (although the French car dealer had far too much fun imitating the Haka when he found out we were from NZ) and then headed off towards Florence. Driving on the wrong side of the road is a somewhat terrifying experience, especially with the impatience of Italian drivers.

We had a few road waverings but so far nothing major. Florence took about 4 hours to get to and we arrived in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm. Yanking our bags up the stairs in the pouring rain was not a fun experience but the crackling sound of the thunder almost made up for it, it was so epic.

The Hostel Liz had booked for us was a private four person room which was fun. The room was large although very old and run down, initially all the windows were closed and it was very dark, approaching the room from the dingy corridor where an old fashioned portrait glared sternly down at us made me feel like we were in the beginning of a horror movie. The storm, and the loud thunder claps didn't help any.

However it passed after a few hours and off we went to explore Florence.

The Duomo was the central feature of Florence and it was so huge, detailed and beautiful. The architecture was stunning, the only shame was that it was closed meaning we couldn't go up to get the view of the city. 

We wandered for a few hours before finding a cute little restaurant for dinner. Pizza and wine of course.

The next morning we headed back to the city central to see more piazzas, churchs, the Duomo, leather shops, amazing looking olive oil, and a shop entirely devoted to lindt. It was heaven.
They even had lindt icecream!

After spending the better part of a morning wandering Florence, we made our way to the Piazza Michelangelo from which we had fantastic views.

The only thing I regret is not having time to go to the Uffizi gallery.

We then had a farewell dinner the four of us together which was great fun. The waiters were the nicest I have come across so far.

We tried 'cream of truffle' pasta which was fantastic.  I came to the conclusion I do indeed like truffles. Porcini mushrooms on the other hand reminded me of decomposing toads macerated in slime.