We left Rome this morning at 8.00 am and tackled the Italian traffic. Sean was as cool as a cucumber, me, I was clinging onto the roof of the car. Pedestrians, scooters, bicycles, cars and buses all merging into one big mass of controlled chaos. Once we left the city centre, the autostrade and highways were much easier to contend with. There were plenty of speed cameras along the way and much to Sean's disgust, the speed limits changed constantly from 70 to 90 kph. Oh, and no one uses an indicator.
We decided to travel to Florence via Siena on what we thought was a coastal route but no such luck so we headed inland. The landscape was lovely but the towns were the hero for me. A lot of the landscape reminded us of what we have back home, particularly around Dayboro/Maleny. We are hoping the drive to Pisa will deliver what the postcards depict.
Driving into Florence was a whole different story. It oozes with history and true to form is a hodge podge of age old buildings and cathedrals. Coming over the bridge to the older part of Florence, where we are staying, was magnificent. We were so excited to see it we had to take a closer look once we checked in to our hotel.
Speaking of our hotel, I have no words to describe our room except to say we walked into the 18th century. The colour was the first thing that struck me and then there was the smell. It's yellow, has an oil painting hanging over the desk and a canopy over the bed. The smell we worked out is from an air freshener outside our room. It's supposed to be floral but smells like disinfectant. We are street level so our window faces the footpath. Open the curtains and you can wave or have a conversation with passers by. The weirdest thing is that outside our door is a dimly lit foyer with a little seated area and a giant statue behind it. It's quirky to say the least. All the rooms are the styled the same way but the more you pay the more "opulent" the room.
Once we had checked in we headed off to do a little exploring. Our photos will show you what we saw but.I have to say, it may not have the ruins like Rome but it certainly has the history and charm. Another beautiful jewel in Italy's crown. We are here for another two days so tomorrow we are off to Pisa!! then back to Florence for more exploring and hopefully an eyeful of the statue of David.
Ciao for now.
Lorraine and Sean
Photos
Google Compositions
2017-05-13~14 The Journey
2017-05-15 Road Trip, Rome to Firenze
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