Posso accarezzare il tuo cane?- Venice to Florence Day 3

Jess and I got up early - around 7:15 to start getting ready to leave.  We had to catch the train to Florence at 9:30 am.  People were not moving so well - more to the point, it was Neil - Neil didn't want to get up.  That's the usual for him.  For most teenagers, I guess.

We made our way over to the train station and in relatively good speed.  Yes, they were fighting.  Not much to report other than the city is very different when there are a bunch of less people.  We grabbed some pastries and coffee and got on the train.  

It was a fairly quick and uneventful ride, except for the two overly affection gay guys two seats away.  11 year old never get over that.

I started getting everyone's stuff down and ready about five minutes before our stop.  I got off with Neil, Malcolm and Isla and Jess was still getting Duncan organized and ready.  We waited on the platform for them and only Jess came off the train, from the opposite side of the car we did.  No Duncan.  She starts to flip out - not sure why, she left him.  She jumped back on and I went to the other end of the car to make sure he didn't go any further.  Duncan doesn't pay attention.  Duncan likes to look around and space out.  

Don't be like Duncan.

Jess came off with Duncan, who was crying - and apparently none of the fucking animals getting on the train even noticed or cared.  And they are like animals, natives and tourists alike.  You have assigned seats so I am not sure what the problem is.  Good thing he wasn't on fire.

Met the host to get the keys and thankfully we were able to leave our stuff so we didn't have to carry it around with us.  Neil is very particular and didn't like the smell of the apartment.  He also currently does not like the city - it's way more dirty and crowded when compared with Venice.

Posso accarezzare il tuo cane?

Since they want to pet every dog they pass, Jess thought it would be a good idea to teach them how to say it in Italian - fortunately, most people speak English because cane is too close to carne.

Eating at the Central Mercato - Isla's burger, Malcolm and Duncan shared some steak - said it was better than mine - but really, they were just hungry.

Me and Neil got the Iberico sandwiches.

Walked through the market in and out and then went to get food at the supermarket for dinner.  I'll spare you the details because there are a lot of fucks, what the fuck and are you fucking kidding mes that narrate that little stop.  We headed back to the apartment to gather ourselves and drop off the groceries.  Our apartment is on one side of Santa Maria Novella - if you zoom in closely, you might see the dead pigeon - a favorite around here.

We got back and chilled out for a bit - apparently Jess didn't hear me say that I was going to take a nap. But I did, then so did she.  Then there was the fighting and that woke everyone up.  So when we got up, Jess made dinner and I played a card game with Isla and I'm pretty sure that we did not play by the rules but so what,  I won every round.  

After dinner - which none of us were sure exactly what it was - and that included the chef who was on a motion sickness hangover...

...we headed out to get the bus to the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michelanngelo - one of my two favorite spots in Florence.  Now we are cooking - we headed over to grab the bus - which at some point became so packed, I almost lost Malcolm in the throng of people, however, I knew he was there because he kept squeezing my asscheeks.  One transfer and a few short minutes later and we were there walking up to the church.  

We walked through the church - which was closing in 15 minutes and much of it was under construction.  The views were possibly better than Michelangelo if that's possible since it is a little further up.  We grabbed a few family shots and then sat in the shade for a few before beginning our descent to Michelangelo.

She was being mom and scolding her brothers...

The Piazzale did not disappoint, as always...I could have used a beer.

Jess and I recreated our shot from the last time we were here in 2011.

Of course, there was the evening gelato...Florence is way better than Venice...

 

We made our way down to Santa Croche - which we will definitely be visiting at some point so they can see the tombs of some of the famous people that are there.  Out in front of the church is a statue of Dante.  I do believe that Malcolm said his ass was on fire after yesterday's visit, so, Malcolm's Inferno it is.

Isla and Malcolm needed to use the bathroom - so the rest of us descended into a cold sweat wondering who was going to be a mess in the bathroom and throwing up, forcing us to end our expedition early.  Fortunately, there were no further incidents this evening.  They were, however, fighting.

When this was over we headed to the Piazza della Signoria - my other favorite spot.  It has the Uffitzi (which we are not going to this trip) and tons of other statues in the square.  They are awesome, especially at night, so I am glad we got to see them.  I am not glad that we had to deal with the people trying to sell us the fucking light up flying things.  They are so annoying. 

We walked down to the water and then back through the Uffizi - finding my man Machiavelli.  We then headed up to the Duomo before we headed home for the night.  Neil wanted to see it at night and lit up, so we went.

Posso accarezzare il tuo cane?