Arrivederci Venezia, Buongiorno Firenze

"I just got back from Venice, and boy, are my arms tired (rim shot)." Comicus (played by Mel Brooks), History of the World Part I

We left Venice after 3 nights and got on a train to Florence. We splurged and got the Euorostar first class ticket which was totally worth the extra 40 Euro. Here is a shot of the Tuscan country side and of Cary enjoying some wine I got from the bar car.

We met another couple from LA/Ohio via Houston and Canada who were on their 25th anniversary trip. The two of them together had less luggage for 3 weeks of travel than either Cary or I alone. The wife let us know its because she minimized what she packed and brought only 2 pairs of underwear and washes in between wears. Yeah, a little TMI.

Venice and Florence are totally different cities, you notice this the second you get there. Here's a shot of the Duomo from outside the taxi window. So we got into the Florence train station and took a cab to the Plaza Lucchesi Hotel. Again, we were really happy with our hotel. Nice location across from the Arno River, clean, view of Santa Croce (which we could see from our hotel window), and in walking distance of everything (Florence is small). People here have been really, really nice.

I felt totally at home when I noticed the posters all over town showing that there was a Little Jon concert on Tuesday. Sweet. I mean, YeaYah. What?Since we didn't have too many recommendations for dinner that night, we started wandering around the city. We quickly found Santa Croce behind our hotel and stopped for a Bierre Moretti. Then we continued wandering around till we were so hungry, we pulled into a restuarant called La Mucca Sul Tetto (the cow on the roof). I will dedicate a separate post on La Mucca and Mario our gracious host.
So for now, ciao. I'm going to bed. I thought I would do one post for each day, but we see and do so much each day that the posts would be super long. So I will be splitting them up.

Lots more to come from Firenze including La Mucca Sul Tetto and its connection to O'Brother Where Art Thou, Mary from Sicily who's related to the Logiudices, American students in Florence, over tipping, the Tweedle Twins with heads wrapped in gauz, and rowdy English speaking people who are not Americans.