Back from Florence! We left Sunday late afternoon and arrived around 9:30pm. We missed the train we were originally going to take so the next train was a bit more local - and 3.5 hours long! It was like being on the 1 train from Connecticut! But we eventually got there.

Prior to going, I was in charge of figuring out train times and he handled the hotel. Which was a perfectly fine hotel close to the train station. Note, close to the train station. I realized when we got there he hadn't looked at exactly how to get there from the train station (which I know I should have but makes for a better story) and didn't exactly want to spend time looking at the map when we arrived to find it. So, we get in a taxi. A taxi that takes us around the block!! Had we walked out the other side of the station, we would have probably seen the damn place! So we were taken for a ride in every sense of the word. And as a New Yorker, it killed me!! However, it was only a 10 Euro mistake so things could have been a lot worse. That guy was probably laughing his ass off after he dropped us off. So that was the first 20 minutes of the trip!

After getting settled, we went to a local place for dinner since a lot of places were closing shortly. Then wandered around for a bar which we found and then headed into a place that had silver sparkly walls on the outside. Right up my alley! Needless to say, I needed another beer to get through that one. But I suppose it wasn't terrible! :) We eventually headed home around 2am or so.

The next day was just walking around town. I was reminiscing about the times I'd been there - and with so many different groups of people! I couldn't help but go "Oh, that's where Katie bought her gloves. Oh, this is where I saw that ring I liked. And here are the steps we sat on when Zack had no idea we crossed back over the Arno!" Good times!

That night for dinner we did the unthinkable - we went for Mexican!! Along with every other American in the city. Don't get me wrong, I love Italian food, but when I come from a city where I can get 100 different styles of food whenever I feel like it, sometimes I need to change it up! And it was very good Mexican at that. Can't say the same about the margarita, but that's why there's always beer!

I was hoping for a bit more low-key night after dinner so we headed to an Irish bar close to our hotel. Home by 12:30am - sweet! And then we headed back to Porto San Giorgio around 12:30pm the next day (today) on a less local train. Overall, it was fun. Always nice to have English speaking company and not spend the entire day solo.

This week is relatively quiet. I'm hoping to make plans with the couple from CA I met for Saturday but outside of that, I'll just see what the days bring!