Vivahotel Fleming Florence

... was buzzing with a variety of languages and the overall atmosphere was jubilant and festive. Despite challenges with the "menu", it was a great way to end our visit to Italy. <br><br>We'll retrace our steps through Rome tomorrow and will wind up in London for the night before catching our flight back to San Francisco on Sunday. It was quite fitting to end our journey in Florence, where so much of our current culture emerged centuries ago. <br>

... tons of cars were parked, everyone appreciating the amazing display of architecture in front of us. It was one of those great moments when a mix-up brings great reward.<br><br>The streets to our B&amp;B were tiny and flanked with high stone walls and the flow of traffic was about 20 kph above the limit and it truly felt like our mirror would click with the mirror on the cars we were passing. It was exhilarating. We continued our assent for ...

... was delayed again, this time by an hour and a half. On the plus side, I felt a little sick during the bus trip home, but was not actually sick. Plus I had the pretty fireworks going on outside to distract me. <br><br>I'm planning a trip to visit my freind Lis in Lyon in a few weeks time, but apart from that I think I'll just hit up London for some shopping before term ends and it's time to come home! It's crazy how fast it has gone!<br><br>xox Hannah<br><br><br><br><br>

... traffic. They don't even know how to do the "passegiata" properly, not like how they do it in Sorrento, Lecce and Siracusa - the leisurely evening promenade with family and friends, to see and to be seen.<br><br> And so after the old lady shooed me away, I wandered on a few more steps wandering where the hell was this first street I need to get onto. Luckily, as I walked a few dozen steps, I found it. Relief! From that point, it was easy. In fact, I ended giving another ...

... And the people who run it... The mom doesn't speak English, the daughter speaks more, but could care less, and the dad seems sweet but he's had throat surgery, so even though he speaks more English than his family, you have to be very quiet to hear him. Despite this, we have been having a lot of fun getting to know Florence. <br>We started our adventure with Santa Maria Novella next door to our hotel. There were a few brilliantly restored frescoes, and I ...

... on the next hill. Drove all around the countryside (which I hate to say is much bigger and impressive than Napa). Wine is so cheap and good but unfortunately the majority of grapes had just been picked. Also ventured into Florence for two days of sightseeing. This is one place that is as magnificent as tpublished pictures!

... and muttered, "Santa Maria Novella?" Disaster averted-the conductor directed us to purchase a ticket for a local train to take us to the next stop which WAS only 5 minutes from our hotel's location. Hooray!<br><br>Like our hotels in London, Paris, and Rome, our hotel in Florence was centrally located, just steps away from everything. This is the first city in which we would not need any bus passes or metro cards ...

In order to further Michelle's Italian upbringing, we went to Florence (Firenze in Italian) today... We had a bite to eat and then strolled by the Duomo (Dome), the statue walk (there is probably a real name for it, but I have no clue what it is...it's a street lined with statues of famous citizens of Florence) across the ...

... well-being). Because we are adapting to actually living here and it is still very much crowded tourist season, we haven't done much sight-seeing in Florence. However, since we are living right in the middle of the city, we have daily casual encounters with history and romance. The bus we take to and from school daily passes right by the Baptistry and Duomo. I still stare at the cathedral every time ...