Here Comes A New Shelmet

We only had one full day in Florence, so we wanted to make the most of it. Getting up at a reasonable hour, we made our way down to the market for some breakfast. There were lots of baked goods, a truffle omelette sandwich, and plenty of fruit for Zoe, all of it fresh and delicious. Fueled up and good to go, we made our way to the first stop on our list, Giotto's Bell Tower. On the way we saw some street art, bought Zoe a new hat, and Zoe mailed out one of her first postcards. Arriving in the square, there were hundreds of people packed around the bell tower. No matter how far away I stood, I couldn't get the entire structure in frame, but it was awesome to see up close. We continued our trek south past the carousel towards the bronze boar. People were lined up to take pictures, rub it's snout and drop some money into the fountain for luck. Once our pictures were taken and our luck secured, we made our way through the leather vendors to check out some more bui

We had tickets for the 12:20pm train to Florence, but it was Republic Day, and traffic in Rome seems crazy on a regular day, so we got up early to make sure we were on time. Taking all of our stuff downstairs, we waited for our Uber to the station. The ride wasn't nearly as long as we thought it would take, but we did go through some tight, winding roads to get there. It was a long walk down the platform to get to our car, but we made it aboard without issue and, after swapping seats for a mother and son to sit together, we were on our way (at 250+ kmph!) to Florence. Arriving in Florence we opted to walk to our apartment, because on the map it did look that far. It was true that the distance was not great, but man were those streets and sidewalks bumpy! While the contents of our bags may have shifted, we made it to the apartment without incident and our incredibly attractive host helped us up the stairs with our bags. The place was amazing, with lots of room to relax and s