Thursday: The Slow Train to Florence. We got up a few minutes earlier than the alarm clock. This must surely be proof that we've now on this time zone. We went back to the main building of the hostel, ate breakfast, and checked out by 8:30.
Our Italian Rail passes allow unlimited daily travel for eight days. We are using the first allowance this morning. The train was at the station when we arrived and after a few minutes it was ready for boarding.
The trip lasted from 9:12 to 12:51. It seemed as if a quarter of the trip was through tunnels. They must have some of the most qualified tunnelling engineers in the world! We passed some hill towns along the way.
By 1:20 pm we were all checked into a nice little hotel close to the train station. Twenty minutes later, we were eating kabab plates at a Lebanese restaurant.
We then walked along the tourist filled streets. Heading to the Duomo was easy as one could easily peek at it between the narrow streets. We headed towards it and leisurely around it. Next, we stood in line for a few minutes in order for tickets to climb it. There were 436 steps and a closer view of hell inside the dome. The outside view of the whole valley was fine!
A planned nap at nearly 5 o'clock turned into a three-hour sleep. We got up after that and went out to the well-lit streets. We patted the bronze pig statue in the market and found the building where David is. We passed so many hotels; it's clearly a city set up for tourists.
We picked up a few calzone for a dinner / snack. We went back to bed at 11:00.