The Hochmuth Adventures 2019 - Discovering New Places, Rediscovering Old Ones: Trip to Italy - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - Day 5

Got to sleep in this morning since our train didn't leave until 10:45. We had a leisurely breakfast and then walked to the station with our luggage. This is why I had to travel light. Train left on time and we arrived in Florence (Firenze) on time at 12:17. Quickly we got a taxi and were the second group at the hotel. Our Gate 1 Representative Ursula greeted us and answered questions about how to get to our tour tomorrow and how to get to the city center the easiest way. Since we couldn't get into our room we decided to walk to tomorrow's meeting place and scope things out. We walked along the river down to the Ponte Vecchio. Then we went over it since we failed to have time to do that last time we were here. We backtracked a little and then went to Piazza Della Signoria and found the statue of Perseus - the designated meeting spot. From there we wandered through the city a bit until we found a restaurant where we had some Prosecco and spaghetti pomodoro and Ron had Gorgonzola and pear gnocchi. For dessert we found a gelateria and had some gelato. We stopped along the way at a few churches. One the Oratorio di San Martino Dei Buonomni was where they started the idea of giving alms to the poor. The people would put a candle on their door if they were in need. Then we went by the Art Museum but didn't go in and went onto Santa Croce. The church is impressive in parts and very ordinary in other sections. It has an interesting history though and is the burial place of

Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante and a slew of famous Italian painters. At 5:30 we came back to the hotel to get our room and rest our feet. Off again to get dinner. We went to a local restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. I had a pizza with black olives, artichoke hearts and prosciutto while Ron had black pasta with tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, bread crumbs and a little spice. They were both very good.