Today we are moving on to Florence. The train journey was about 3 hours but was straightforward. We arrived at the hotel, a short walk from the station and right in the shopping district. We are a stones throw away from il Duomo, the cathedral in Florence.
The hotel is a very bizarre layout. To get to our room we have to go up one and a half flights of stairs, through a 'wifi zone', through the breakfast room, up another flight of stairs and then down a long corridor. The walk from reception to our room easily takes 5 minutes! There is.no wifi in our room at all, so we have both bought books to read. Paul is reading a book about the Borgias family, and I am reading Orange is the New Black in Spanish. It's a famous TV show about a woman's prison based on this book. I have it in English at home but when you read in another language you get a different perspective of the story.
The hotel room is definitely haunted. It has two steel single beds pushed together, and we each have one very flat pillow. Other than that the decor is very dated, and our adapters don't fit the plugs so we have bought a European USB plug. When you turn the lights off the room is pitch black, so we have been sleeping with the bathroom light on and the door a bit open!
Tonight we went to a cave-like restaurant. We had a complimentary glass of prosecco and I was sold on it. As it was like a cave, it was very dark and there were lots of candles. For a starter I had tomato soup, it was literally chopped up tomatoes with spices etc and it was absolutely delicious. Then for a main I had chicken Caesar salad of course. On the way home we had authentic Italian gelato, it was delicious!
At this point I should mention that I have given myself a haircut due to the hot weather, my long hair was just sticking to me and it was very uncomfortable. I cut it down to just below my shoulders and it's much more manageable now.