We woke up for the hour drive to Pisa. It was a relatively easy morning. We were waiting for Ugo to come and get the keys and return our licenses and get paid. When all that was done we headed down to the train station and on the way saw some guy with his backpack on upside-down.
We cried for a good five minutes. We got on the train to head back to La Spezia. The ride was quick but the anti cation of getting to the car was something else. At this point I figured if it's gone, screw it. We made it quickly up to where the car was, I think because everyone wanted to know at this point. The car was there and there were no bodies in the trunk. Amazingly, it started, so we can assume they didn't take anything from the inside.
The ride to Pisa was about an hour and really had nothing of major interest. There was some old shit up in the hills, OAS and very little just plain shitty stuff. Petey!!!
We arrived in the city and had to find parking as we missed the turn to go to park at the train station. While driving, Jess saw a bunch of cars parked next to the river and decided that that was where we would park too. I wasn't as worried about the car here as I was in La Spezia. We headed in to the town and were all kind of surprised. We expected the tower to be sitting there by itself, I guess somewhere in a field or something.
But it wasn't. There was an entire square with a church and a few other buildings. We decided to walk around and hang out and take some funny pictures until the cops came and kicked us and everyone else off the grass.
We grabbed some lunch which was quite tasty and uneventful until Glenn walked away to go smoke. Petey!!! "While he was standing there a pigeon shit right in front of his face. Literally, just like three inches in front of his face. The massive dump splattered on to the ground and on to Uncle Walter's shoes.
We got to the car and headed out. Jess decided that she would rather follow the sign than the GPS. So she heads out on to the farther route to the highway. We needed gas so we decided to stop. We really weren't sure which gas to put in or how to use the pump. I went to find the guy who was working at the shop and there was none. The old man tells us what to do but the pump that we're at, number five is not on the machine. The old guy tells us it is number four. He pulls around and his wife is trying to give me directions in at least four different languages. It's getting hot and I am getting directions from 3 different women in at least five different languages. I've had enough and I thank the man for his help and tell them let's move on to the next one.
We get to the next one and there is no one there. The machine looks like an ATM and it doesn't make any sense. There's no fucking guy to ask. There's no way to put the fucking money in, there's no one to ask because they're all fucking sleeping on their siesta. There were about six hundred more fucks in my ramblings at the gas station and we have no gas.
We get to the next gas station and there is no one there but I'm saying fuck it, we're getting gas. We get to the machine and I'm able to work this one pretty easily, we get gas and got on our way. The ride to Florence wasn't bad - an hour to an hour and a half. I learned that my wife likes explicit directions not pointing in front of her face and saying go that way. She prefers, "sweetheart, can you make a left at the light?" and "darling, there is a sharp right turn coming up, please be prepared". After she went down instead of up, I informed her of the upcoming S turns and sharp right that was there. We made it to the apartment, which is beautiful, two beds, one and a half baths, two floors and very nice inside. They went to get food for dinner and I took a nap and then took a shower in a normal, nice shower.
We had a good dinner which consisted of steak and some veggies and bread. We headed in to the city to the Plaza della Signoria and got some vegan gelato for Jess and Chris, the sometimes vegan and hung out. We saw the Palazzo Vecchio and the statues in the square but not the Rape of the Sabines, which was covered.
I found the secret meaning behind one of the statues. When the light hits it just right...
Our last stop for the evening was to take a peek at the Ponte Vecchio, one of the most famous bridges in the world and where the merchants were in the old days.
We headed back to the apartment to figure out the next day and to get some sleep.
The next morning Jess was pretty beat so we slept in and the plan was to send Glenn and Chris on the bus to Academia to see David. When they were done we took the bus in and met them at Mercato Centrale. We met them outside the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
We decided to walk around the market to see what was for sale and to find Peteys!!! That done (this is the third time I am writing this section) we headed inside the market to look at the food they had for sale.
After seeing the spot where Jess and I had the original bummy lunch, we were inspired to have another.
We found a booth where we could all get food. Glenn and I got some bread, prosciutto and provolone and the girls got some eggplant and stuffed tomatoes. That is after the Asian tourists picked up 2000 euro worth of prosciutto for their entire friggin' cruise. We headed outside to find a seat and everyone wanted to sit somewhere shady. After a few mi urea, Glenn found us a spot in a quaint little alley next to a table saw.
My father-in-law knows all the classy spots.
When lunch was done, we headed over to the Duomo and the square there to take a look inside. It's really pretty on the outside and nice on the inside, not overdone.
Afterwards we headed to the Palazzo di Medici, the leading banking family during Florence's most influential period. The place was really nice and their private chapel has a very famous fresco painted on it, the procession of the Magi. It was cool however, the Galleria alone was worth the price of admission.
We then relaxed and got some drinks and hung out before taking the bus back and taking a rather large nap. We had dinner filled with fagiole for some and then headed out for gelato, Piazza Michelangelo tomorrow night and a few other things during the day.
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