Just Keep Walking,..

Today we took the train to Florence. I've never ridden a train before other than the little shuttles take you at some airports. It was interesting to me watch the people who do this every day. There is obviously a routine for many of them that consists of getting to the platform about a minute before the train comes, get on the train, throw your brief bag on the overhead railing, sit down, put in your earbuds, ignore everything around you. Sort of what I do everyday in my vehicle on the way to the office, although I do occasionally pay attention to where I am driving.

Once we made it to Florence we met up with Alexander. He took us on a walking food and wine tour through Florence. This was really interesting. We wandered to many shops including butcher shops, bakeries, sweet shops, the central market, and to the wine shop. We tried various kinds of ham and learned how it was cured and how various kinds of sausages are made. There are a few of us who may not ever be able to smell, much less eat meat again. I would not be one of those people.

Here are a few of the pictures from the walking food and wine tour. We now know what to buy ice cream, our favorite kind of chocolate, pastries, and balsamic vinegar. I would say we now know our favorite wine, but we have yet to try one we do not like.

Once the tour was over Allesandro marked on a map where we needed to walk in order to Fulfill all of our shopping desires, and we definitely did some walking. According to the Fitbit, these short little legs logged about 7.5 miles in Florence.

We finally made our way back to the train station and figured out how to get our tickets. We boarded the train for Siena and a couple of people promptly fell asleep. My little group of 4 were lucky enough to have a Lady from Siena standing next to us. She was excited to practice her Inglese and Cheryl was in heaven as she got to ask as many questions as she wanted. So if you are curious, most Italians do not have a dryer, Which is why you will see most of Their laundry hanging out of Their windows on a line. I will not list all the other questions and answers, but just know That Cheryl is now well informed.

As soon as we made it back to Certaldo, we jumped in the cars and went to COOP to get more wine and water. We got a few restaurant recommendations from the cashiers and went on our quest to find one. Over an hour later we still had not found the restaurant so we called it quits and Decided to head to the villa, and yes, That is When We found an open restaurant. We went in and quickly ordered a bucket of ice and water. The owner of the restaurant Looked at us with a smile and said, "I know, you Americans and your ice." She was shaking her head and smiling as she walked away and then she literally brought us a bucket of ice and yes, we did use it all.

It was an exhausting, but super good day. Tomorrow we are off to Siena.

Ciao for now!