Florence, Italy – 2/15/2015 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

FEBRUARY 15, 2015 (Sunday)

Didn’t sleep very well. For the longest time I thought the ship had turned on a new strobe light near us, but when I opened the curtain we realized it was a very severe thunder and lightening storm that went on for hours. Quite dramatic over the ocean.

When we did get up and get moving, we went up to the Garden Cafe for breakfast and then out to the pier to go into Florence. Once on the pier we were told we had to buy a bus ticket for 12 Euro each to get to the train station. We were also told we were not allowed to walk off the pier as it was way too far. We saw Maria and Allen, who were talking to someone about the fact they don’t advertise that we have to pay to get off the pier and can’t walk out. We agreed that it would be nice to be made aware ahead of time that we had to pay. Anyway, after Maria and Allen talked to someone, another lady came by and Maria, Allen, Michael and I got our stickers for the bus for free. Thank you Maria and Allen. Maybe now they will do something for future travelers not to be caught off guard.

getting into the port authority. — Getting into the port authority.

Pretty woman waiting for the shuttle bus to return. It is at least a 15 minute run to the train station.

Just the type of ad I’d expect outside of Tuscany.

Hurry up and wait. Inevitable in any large movement. If you complain to NCL, they try to do something o make it better.

Passing ship in the harbor. — Passing ship in the harbor as seen from the shuttle bus.

We made it to the train station, got our tickets (38.50 Euro round trip total for both) and got on the train. Maria and Allen also got on the same train, even though they were going to Pisa. The train stopped at all the little towns between Livorno and Florence. It took almost two hours to get into Florence but it was fun seeing the countryside by train.

I guess I just expect good painters as I near Florence.

Pretty woman in our version of the Amazing Race - against time. — Pretty woman in our version of the Amazing Race – against time. Maria and Allen were kind to let us go ahead of them as our train left first – then they got on the same train.

This was so cool. All the letters and numbers were hinged in the center and flipped to create new entries.

It was starting to rain when we arrived in Florence. We had about two hours before we met up with our Norwegian daughter Helga, so we decided to walk around. We walked the different streets and saw some doumos, the Medici chapel, some beautiful churches, some sculptures, some vendors selling different things. Fun. The streets are all cobblestoned and everything is so old and beautiful. Some places had huge doorknobs and some had iron grates over the windows that appeared to be hundreds of years old. Such history. If the walls could talk.

Florence train station. Edie and I have history here.

I just realized that this visit has cleared up that history and I now realized why she looked for me where she did back then. — I just realized that this visit has cleared up that history and I now realize why she looked for me where she did back then. I’ve lost one of my favorite teases for her.

Underground from the train station. — Underground fountain from the train station.

Just a few were open when we were there.

First view of the Dome. Brilliant Brunelleschi, inconceivable cleverness marked the end of the middle ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. We have toured it and only admired it from outside. If you are ever here, this is very worth a long visit.

I made the mistake of stopping to look at one vendor’s artwork. It was so funny because he started out wanting 25 Euro for a picture he said was done in Florence by an art institute. I said I didn’t have any money and walked away. He picked up his little luggage type cart and followed me, opened it back up, and said 20 Euro. I said no again, and again he followed me. He kept following me down the street and finally said okay, okay 10 Euro. I explained to him I liked the pictures but I didn’t have the money, nor did I want the picture. He finally gave up. I think he would have followed me for miles if I had expressed any more interest.

We went to the McDonald’s in the train station. Michael wanted me to go across the street to the other McDonald’s just in case Helga got off the bus there and didn’t realize there was a McDonald’s in the train station. I waited and waited until Michael and Helga showed up. I knew she would go to the one in the train station. It was so good to see Helga. She looks wonderful, hasn’t changed at all. She’s in Florence for two weeks doing a language immersion class. After the two weeks she will travel to Milan for several months for school. (Helga was our foreign exchange daughter for a year in 2008. We haven’t seen her since she last visited the United States in 2010.) We got all caught up on her family (her brother is getting married in August) and were glad to hear all was well with them. She got caught up on Aaron and Lexi. We went to a little cafe and had a little snack and talked and talked. Around 2:30 PM, we headed out to find Helga her bus to her host family and we headed to the train for the ride back to the ship.

High tech looking garbage and recycling containers.

We grabbed some food to justify holding down a seat. — We grabbed some food to justify holding down a seat near McDonald’s (train station).

I walk behind, get good shots of their backs.

The train back to Livorno was an express and only had one stop in Pisa. It was quite nice not stopping every five minutes. We also got to talk to a nice couple from St. Louis who had just gotten on the ship the day before and are doing the 21 day back to back.

Once on the ship we had dinner and went to the 7:30 PM show. The show was a musician named Andy Bunger. He was quite good in that he played many different instruments – but the best were the marimba and pan flute. We really enjoyed him and also enjoyed the people sitting next to us at the show – Helga and Dennis from near Seattle, Washington. We made plans to meet them again as they are so fun.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!