Bill and I left Torrechiara this morning and decided to take the scenic route to Florence. I had told him many times about visiting the beach town of Viareggio when I was in my 20s, on my way home from the Peace Corps in Armenia. The year was 1997, and I was traveling with a couple of my friends from summer camp, where we all worked during the summer of 1994. Those two friends, Dawn and Chris, are now married and have six kids. Chris is Irish, so they live in Northern Ireland. Dawn was pretty happy when I sent her a couple of pics and a shout out from Viareggio, which was one of my favorite stops on that monthlong tour.

We also visited Pisa today. That was my first time there, and all we did was check out the leaning tower. We didn’t even try to climb it, or explore the Duomo or Baptistery. However, I think I would like to go back to Pisa at some point and explore it more. I hope we’ll have a chance. Today, it was just very crowded, and I didn’t feel like dealing with the COVID crapola. One of the nicest things about that visit, besides finally seeing the famous tower, was the toilet at the parking lot. Yes, it was one euro to use it, but it was sparkling clean and there was no line. It was a euro to pee at the tower, too, and a lot of people were doing it. I’m glad we went at the parking lot.

We got to Firenze/Florence in the mid afternoon. Bill went nuts trying to figure out parking. I ended up checking in by myself, which was a real nutroll. This hotel we’re in has a very old style elevator. But, the rooms here– just seven in all– have frescoes on the ceilings.

We walked to the main plaza… I had forgotten how huge the cathedral is. I don’t know if we’ll tour it, since we did that during our visit in 2013 and I still have photos. 😉 But we do plan to visit the Uffizi tomorrow. Bill will probably go into shock. He loves Florence, and he loves looking at art. This city is huge and bustling, especially compared to where we’ve been. Lots of Americans are here, too. This big American guy sitting near us at the restaurant where we had dinner advised us three times to get the Florentine steak. it was 800 grams… I think we’re having that on Friday, and I won’t be able to get close to finishing it, anyway. I barely finished the filet mignon I had two days ago. Bill had to help.

Anyway, so far this is a wild trip, but we’re having fun. I look forward to writing the whole story when we get home next week. I have a feeling, this will be one of my more entertaining series.