MY ITALIAN ADVENTURE SAGA 3:

THE ARRIVAL

Riding the train through the Alps was magnificent. They deserve their reputation!  Each view was like a glossy postcard. I arrived in Florence via long train tunnels (one, fourteen miles long). It was very exciting. Pulling into the train station, I could see Brunelleschi’s famed dome on top of Santa Maria del Fiore or the Duomo (the cathedral of Florence). People were hanging out of the train as if it was their first and last glimpse. 

Then, my hotel reservation could NOT be found! Since all of Florence was supposedly already full for the summer season, I had quite a job talking the desk clerk into giving me a simple room without a bath.

I could tell immediately that Florence was as special as I had remembered her, especially while I ate at an outdoor trattoria (Italian café) overlooking the towering Palazzo Vecchio in the delightful Piazza della Signoria. It is in this medieval town square that the Medici held court and Michelangelo placed his David. It’s still a lively, beautiful, awe-inspiring place that I shall always have memorized in my special thoughts.

Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria  

  ---MY FAVORITE SPOT IN FLORENCE!

Next, FINDING A HOME!