Headed to florence

Today – we are heading to Florence! We slept in a bit this morning, I crashed last night, but mom apparently didnt get good sleep – so she was exhausted. I was up with the sun! We got ready, had some breakfast and then checked out. We ended up taking a taxi to the train station – to save moms shoulders from carrying the bag, but I have to admit it was SO nice not to have to carry them! Especially since it was uphill haha!

Anyway, we made it to the train station and were there about 20 minutes early so sat on the train for a bit and then had about an hour train ride into Naples. Turns out our train was an “express” it skipped many of the local Naples stations, but hit all the ones near Sorrento. We got to Naples with 20 minutes to spare for our train, so we stopped at a grocery store for some candy and water. We ended up making the train, even with a delay in paying (stupid machine was mad at my card for some reason) – but the doors were closed 3 minutes early!! So we missed it – had to go back and switch to the next train which was an hour later. It was fine, we ended up getting a whole table to ourselves on the train. It was a little over 3 hours and we made it! From the station we had a 10 minute walk to our hotel – near the base of the Duomo.

Mom finally realized how amazing Italy can be. Florence really puts Italy on the map – from the food, the art, the churches. It has it all.

Our hotel is so cool – I thought we were getting a tiny room with little twin beds far away from each other with a partial view of the Duomo – instead we got the usual 2 twin beds pushed together – with a partial view of the Duomo – and a BALCONY!! Its so pretty!! Its so awesome!!

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After mom showered we went for dinner! Ate in the shadow (until it was too dark) of the Duomo. It started to get cold, so the heater and the blankets kept us warm! It was so lovely. The food was also yummy! Probably the best we have had!

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Found some gelato after dinner, and mom had her first! She loved it! Across the street there was cannoli place, so we also got a couple of those. We then walked around the Duomo before heading back to the hotel to call it a night. Tomorrow we are taking a golf cart tour around the city and taking a cooking class!