Getting there; First day in Florence


Thursday, December 26, 2019

Once again, the “getting there” was awful.  We rented a car in Rochester and drove to the Toronto airport with almost no traffic and no delay at the border on Christmas eve day.  Our Air France overnight flight to Paris was delayed for more than an hour, with the explanation that a passenger on the incoming flight had been very ill and it took a long time to clean the airplane.  No one wanted more details.  But we missed our 9 AM connection from Paris to Florence.  The next flight, at mid-day was sold out (CDG Paris airport was amazingly busy on Christmas day).  We took a flight in the late afternoon which arrived in Florence at 7:30 PM.

If you have not seen the Air France safety demonstration video, you must.  It is remarkably cute, and very French.  https://vimeo.com/122465434  On previous trips to Florence, we’ve come by surface transportation—road or train.  And  we’ve flown many times but flying into Florence was another first  As we made our approach, the pilot come on the intercom to warn us that the runway in Florence is very short, and when they touch down, they will need to use maximum braking.  So, hold onto everything and brace yourself.  It was as he said.

We slept like rocks, and after a late breakfast this morning we took a long walk around Florence.  The day after Christmas is a holiday here, and the entire population was out and about, with families walking in the streets, in the piazzas and along the river.  The weather is lovely: sunny, cool and crisp with temperatures in the 50s.

Near our hotel, in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella, a small group of musicians was providing entertainment:



You can hear their efforts by clicking the triangle in the middle of the video:



Some shops were open including this pork store:




The Ponte Vecchio over the Arno was bustling with jewelry shoppers:




We had a late, light lunch and wandered a bit more before returning to the hotel, beautifully located just a few steps from everywhere.

Comments

  1. LizDecember 26, 2019 at 11:28 AM

    Hi Victor, As always, thank you for letting me see the world through your eyes. I do hope the rest of the trip is less "exciting" than the flight over! I must say that the brilliance of the sky in your photo of Venice is simply breathtaking. Please tell Joyce that I wish both of you a wonderful and safe rest of your journey. And I look forward to experiencing it vicariously :-). Liz

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  2. Rwa442December 26, 2019 at 12:12 PM

    Glad that you and Joyce arrived safely. Sounds like quite a travel saga. As I was reading I was thinking that maybe you decided to catch a train to Florence. I wonder if that would have been quicker. Probably not. Your first pics of florence do not disappoint. That looks like a beautiful church and a quick lock-up shows that it has some interesting architectural and of course artworks. I can imagine just drinking it all in. The photo of the hog was interesting and gives new meaning to "which cut do you like". Hope the weather stays like it is now. Sounds like you had no difficulty finding a place to eat on the day after Christmas. Enjoy!

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  3. Ralph P. LockeDecember 26, 2019 at 1:01 PM

    Beautiful photos of a beautiful city--I still remember my two visits there, decades ago. I loved wandering in the narrow streets. So much amazing architecture, great art inside them (and in museums), and life on the street and in the piazzas, as you are encountering. Thanks for the audio clip--that's a vocal quality meant to be heard over the noise of traffic, I bet (also the drumming and energetic guitar playing)!

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