After a chaotic day, we finally made it to our final destination!
Normally, we would have tried to take the city bus to our Airbnb to save some money, but since it was so late and we were both feeling worn down we got a taxi at the airport.
As we drove we caught sight of the nightlife in the city and some of the beautiful architecture.
A short 20 minutes later we were at our Airbnb and ready to unload our bags! Unfortunately…our struggles did not end there. To get into the Airbnb we needed access to my phone to use an app to unlock the doors. Luckily we had some service to load the app, but it took a while.
The first door worked and we climbed the stairs to find the actual apartment door…and that is where we ran into some major problems. Since the building was made of thick stone I had zero service inside to access the door. It was midnight so I didn’t have any way to contact the hosts and I was about ready to lose it. Luckily Travis stayed calm and if we stood in one corner of the building I got one bar to be able to unlock the door!
Once we were inside we dropped our bags and found the actual keys, so we didn’t have to worry about not having service again.
At this point, we were exhausted, but starving since it had been about 12 hours since we last had any food. Luckily Florence has a great nightlife and we had many options for food. So, we grabbed the keys and walked to a pizza place right by our apartment. We got a pizza to go and went back to the apartment to eat and crash for the night.
6/14 – Day 8
Sleep.
Sleep was calling our names this morning and after a crazy busy travel day, we decided to sleep in a bit.
When we woke up, we were both feeling much better than when we arrived. The sun was shining, the weather was wonderful and we were ready to take on Italy! Our first stop in the morning was the grocery store. Since we had a full kitchen in the apartment we decided to save some money and get breakfast and lunch foods so we didn’t have to eat out for each meal. We found a store right around the corner and got a few things for our time in Florence.
After we shopped and ate some breakfast, we decided to walk around and get a feel for the city before our tour at 1. I could go on and on about the beauty, the tourists, art, and architecture, but pictures will do a lot better job than I ever would be able to.
Around noon we started the walk to our meeting point for our tour. The information said to meet at the train station so after a bit of confusion we were able to find our guide and start our Chianti Winery Tour.
We got to tour two different Tuscan wineries. They were both good, but the first one was amazing. We ended up buying three bottles of wine and one bottle of the most delicious olive oil I have ever tasted! It was so fun to be able to visit wineries and see a bit of the Tuscan countryside.
But, just our luck, on the way back we got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half. Normally this wouldn’t have been so bad considering most of the buses have bathrooms, but ours, of course, was broken. So, by the time we got back, everyone was rushing to find the nearest bathroom! Other than that, it was a great tour.
Once we got back it was about 9 PM and we were both very ready for dinner. Since it has been raining most places didn’t offer outdoor seating, so we found one that had room inside and filled our bellies.
When we were done we decided to walk around for a while, get some Gelato, and turn in for the night.
6/15 – Day 9
Well…if you thought our luck was about to change, guess again. This morning we were supposed to have a hot air balloon ride over Florence and in the short story, we didn’t make it.
Our ride was originally scheduled for yesterday morning, but there were some storms in the area, so it got rescheduled for today. This would have been fine, had they not changed the meeting time to an hour earlier late last night. We had an Uber scheduled for the pickup time we thought was correct, and then we got an email saying our meeting time was actually an hour earlier. So, we got a new Uber scheduled and thought we were good to go. Only the ride never showed and we missed out flight since it was about 20 miles outside the city.
But, nevertheless, we prevail!
We took advantage of the quiet city and wander around some of the main tourist attractions to get some photos and be able to enjoy them during a quiet time. We walked for about an hour and since it was only 6 AM we decided to go back to the apartment and relax for a while and wait for the shops to open up.
After some TV, naps, and breakfast we were ready to out and explore. Since our original plan was a no-go we found an overlook to hike and a garden to visit.
After lots of hiking, we were starving and ready for lunch. We walked back to our AirBnB to make some sandwiches and rest our tired legs.
When we felt rested we decided to check out some of the shops and stands around our apartment. There were so many leather products, scarves, and other little souvenirs. It was fun to wander and see everything.
We ended up buying a few different things which took up most of our afternoon and around 6 we were ready for dinner. We found a place with outdoor seating, by the shops, so we would people-watch. We had the best meal of the whole trip! Plus, we met a couple from South Carolina and ended up talking with them for a few hours. It was a wonderful night, topped off with gelato!
6/16 – Day 10
This morning we got up early, had breakfast at the AirBnB, and walked to an indoor market!
The market had just about anything anyone could need or want. There was fresh meat, fish, veggies, fruit, and baked goods. There were also different restaurants within the market that offered a wide variety of food options. Since we were leaving tomorrow, we didn’t end up buying anything. But, for anyone who has some time in Florence, I would recommend the market!
After the market, we walked to Ponte Vecchio (a famous bridge) and found that it was filled with jewelry shops! And, as much as I love jewelry, these shops were well out of our price range. So, we just window-shopped and daydreamed about what it would be like to afford something here someday.
When we were done on the bridge we headed back to the apartment for lunch and to relax for a bit, since the middle of the day is always crazy busy! While we were in the apartment I found out that a school group from my hometown was also in Florence. I figured it would be a long shot we would actually see them, but I thought I would keep my eyes open regardless. After a bit, we decided to head back out into the crazy, tourist-filled streets, and low and behold, we ran right into the school group!! I got to see three of my past teachers (one of which is my neighbor) and a boy I used to nanny.
It is crazy how we were halfway around the world and just happened to run into them!
After we chatted for a bit, they continued with their tour, and Travis and kept exploring Florence.
Later on in the evening, we found some dinner and walked around more. To cap off our trip we stopped at a cafe right outside the Duomo, got a bottle of wine and dessert to share. It was the perfect ending to an amazingly, chaotic and great trip!
6/17 – Day 11
Our last day of traveling 😦
This morning we decided to get up early to finish packing and leave extra time to get to the airport since we had been having such rough luck with our transportation.
Once we were all packed, we headed to the bus station. Yesterday, we made time to find the right bus, but when I pulled up directions this morning it took us somewhere else which ended up not being the right bus stop (So. Many. Transportation. Issues)! We ended up going to the bus stop we fouund yesterday and took that one to the airport.
When we finally made it we had to get checked in since the app wasn’t working…this was a two-hour process. We finally got checked in and through security and made out way to our gate. The Florence airport is tiny, so we found a place to hunker down until it was our time to board.
When it got closer to our time we made our way to the gate and waited…and waited…and waited. We had an hour’s delay before finally getting on our first flight home.
When we landed in Paris we were an hour behind schedule and still had to change terminals. Unlike Florence airport, Paris airport is humungous. We had to get on a bus after leaving the plane to go to the building, then walk to find our gate on the screen, then walk to the elevators to go to the bus to take us to the terminal. As we were waiting in line for the bus our plane began to board and once again we were running through an airport. Luckily we made it with enough time to make a bathroom stop before the final passengers were loaded.
And just like that, we were on our last flight home.
ROVE 