March 29, 2023 - Final 2 days

We had an amazing vacation in Florence. We did almost everything on our Florence bucket list and the things we didn’t do was our choice not to do. As much as we enjoy being in Europe it also makes us realize how lucky we are to live in a country like Canada, where you don’t have to wait 10 minutes for hot water and we can have all the privacy we want when we go outside. We don’t worry about stumbling on uneven sidewalks (I saw 3 women stumble and fall) or that the trucks coming down the street won’t hit you with their mirror because the sidewalk is not wide enough for you and the truck mirrors.

We have the luxury of walking in any store, garage or even most restaurants and coffee shops to use their washroom without having to pay.

Yesterday, we discovered that even after 6 weeks of walking the streets of Florence there are still places to discover. On a street not 5 minutes from our apartment we discovered another beautiful church in what seems to be a posh neighborhood with the Westin hotel and facing it the St. Regis. We went again today to widen our circle.

Since we have not much planned for the last 2 days, this is possibly the last blog for this trip, unless we hear about a strike that might affect us. So far everything is looking good. The only worrisome part is in Montreal with only 1:30 hr. to do customs and connection. We will see what happens. It was the airlines decision to change our flight.

We saw a lot of huge wooden doors that do not show much, but once they are open, you see beautiful large courtyards.

Friday will be a relaxing day to finish our packing and also going to bed early since will be taking a taxi to the airport at 4 am Saturday morning.

We will however, find time during the day to go out for one last gelato.

 

Garden across from our appartement. The door was open so we got to peak inside.

An odd place to put a rocket inside the Strozzi Palace.

Amazing how much the pollution dirties the buildings. You can really see the difference between the clean section and the part yet to be cleaned.

 

Last pizza's before leaving Florence. In Rollande's pizza, the speck was supposed to be under the cheese but they messed up the order, They added it after Rollande told them that it was not what she ordered.

 

 Final gelato in Florence.

The following are general observations that we saw in Florence.

- The number of people that smoke is far greater than back home. We also saw a lot of people hand rolling their cigarettes, something we have not seen back home for many years.

- We found the food to be not as spicy as we expected, especially anything with tomato sauce. It was very good, but different to what we are used to.

- Crosswalks are taken as a suggestion by the drivers. Cross at your own risk.

- People back home use their cell phone a lot, but nothing like Italians use them. In the streets, restaurants, everywhere.

- When you meet other people on the sidewalk, very few move aside. In a game of chicken, we would loose every time.

- Italians, especially men, speak very loudly and are also very animated when they talk. Sometimes, you can't tell if they are arguing or just having a normal conversation. They also use their hands a lot while talking. They strangest time was when we took a bus ride to San Gimignano. The driver talked on his cell phone the whole way with one hand on the wheel and the other hand making gestures while talking (as if the person on the other end could see that).

Given all of this, there were a lot of positives and we had a great time. In particular, we went to the same vendor at the market for our cheese and prosciutto about twice a week. At our final visit this week, we told them that is was our last time because we were returning home. When we gave him money to pay for our order, he gave it back and thanked us for the business.

We also made a number of day trips around Florence and got to experience many wonderful sites.