Florence...birthplace of the Renaissance

We took the train from Siena to Florence this morning, enjoying a relaxing ride through the countryside with a view of the beautiful scenery.  A little freaky trying to figure out the ticket machine, but it was fairly simple. Why I was even considering renting a car is beyond me. Rome and even Siena had a lot of pedestrians, bikes, cycles etc. and it would've been very stressful. In addition there are a lot of areas where you're not allowed to drive. Every time you cross one of these zones you receive a fine. Arriving in Florence about one and a half hours later, Santa Maria Novella station was huge and chaotic, but we managed to find the exit, albeit on the wrong side.   Beautiful view of the Duomo and the bell tower awaited us on the correct side. We walked 10 minutes through what seemed to be a summertime crowd of tourists and found our B & B right in the center of everything. Thankfully, we have only two carry on rolling bags. We took an old fashioned elevator up four stories and were greeted by a lovely lady who showed us around and brought us to our room.

We found a highly recommended Panini shop called 'Ino (short for panino, the singular of panini) and ordered two different specials of the day. I'm not much into anchovies, but after one bite, I realized what it was and just gave in to the new taste and ate it. The sandwich was delicious and the second sandwich with prosciutto and cheese was even better. I'm trying really hard  to avoid being an ugly American. More on that later.  Pat and I met our tour guide who for the next three hours strolled us through  many famous piazzas and  La Accademia--where we stood in awe at the statue of David and heard all about the history of the Medici family. We strolled across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and windowshopped.

We were pretty worn out but really wanted to try a very highly recommended restaurant for dinner called La Giostra. Thanks to Bob and Janice. What a find.  As we were enjoying complementary liver pate on crostini and a range of other appetizers, the 20 something girls next to us to asked if they had chicken Parmesan. Really? Then they asked if they had meatballs. Then the other girl said she doesn't eat cheese. I rolled my eyes  as mom and I asked the waitress to bring us one course of each of her favorites. We enjoyed a glass of Prosecco on the house and at the end were given a shot of limoncello. What a day.