Welp! Now that we've seen all there is to see in Pisa it's time to go to Florence, and y'all, y'all y'all y'all, I was SOOOOO FECKIN PUMPED for Florence and it did not disappoint. Oh no. It did not. You see folx, in searching the web to find out which churches were used for some scenes in the third season of hit NBC sitcom "Hannibal And His Friends", we stumbled upon the website "fangirlquest" and specifically an article detailing exactly where all of these different scenes in the show take place along with delightful delightful, masterful shots of their excellent screen framing and ah ππ½ My peeps ππ½ This humble website was our guide to Florence ππ½ So we got ready in the morning, had a cheeky breakfast in the hostel cafe again, and went on down to the train station which is just five minutes down the road from it (I'm tellin y'all, I picked a goooooood hostel ππΎππΎ) and we went on over to the platform and in the vending machine on the platform they had a lil snack stick of parmeggiano reggiano??? And you know we already stocked up on snacks yesterday.... But life is for the living and it was β¬1 so you know I bought it! And they had some salty cheese snack fried pieces of cheese 100% cheese snack too??? So you know I bought it! And for Kate we got a chocolate I think? And dangit that was good as well! Kewl! One of the stops on our list was platform 3 at the stazione di santa maria novella which just so happens to be the main train station in Florence, and we pulled in at platform three, so straight away we went around there and ticked that one off ππΎ Now kids, I had once again booked us a sweet pad in Florence: nice looking, friendly air b n b lady, convenient to the city, convenient to public transport. And the friendly air b n b lady had given us helpful instructions for getting to the house via bus. Unfortunately, I knew the bus went from the train station but I could not figure out where at the train station the stop was. So it ended up taking us over two hours to get to the house which was only 25 minutes from the station if you walked because we couldn't figure it out π We were waiting at the wrong stop and we couldn't find the right stop and the ticket machine took my money and gave me no tickets so I had to go to the ticket man and then we finally found and got on the bus and we missed the stop so we had to walk back and it was a whooooole palava but actually it wasn't too bad because Florence is just dang nice and dangit we were at a train station some of our fave television stars have visited and ain't nothin gonna put a damper on that high! π§ π¬π
π»π Hek! So we fiiiiinally made it in and the lady was like still relatively friendly but like obviously annoyed which in a way I understand because yeah we were much later than we were supposed to arrive and for a silly reason but we had also been communicating with her the whole time so I did feel bad for taking up her afternoon and stuff but I dunno she seemed less annoyed that we had wasted her time or something and more just like annoyed because we were stupid for not figuring out the bus or something, which is not something I would ever judge someone or punish for and not something I expect other people I consider nice to do either. So yeah. It was fine it was just a little awkward π¬ But at any rate, we got in, and we got to work with our map she had given us and our websites and we made plans of when to go see which things. I was thinking there was no way we would be able to fit everything in because there was so much to do and we only had one full day and two half days (-3 hours faffing too by this point), but boy was I wrong! :) We set out from the house walking towards the Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte Santa Trinita and we visited those goddamn bridges and I fecking died because kids, mads mother decking mikkelsen walked all over that bridge and holy shit now we have too ππ½ But we left that zone after not too long because damn if there was gonna be a zone for someone to target for something in Florence it's probs that ol bridge π¬π₯ We walked from the Ponte Santa Trinita through a square where a really good string + accordion group was playing outside a church and for some reason a couple in their wedding gad were dancing and a whole crowd of people were either watching them or the band or both?? Weird! But cool! We watched to! Nice! We walked down the street past all these fancy ass shops with terrifying security people in the doorways who didn't move and we thought they were mannequins but they weren't and it was terrifying ππΎ, until we got to the Piazza della Republica which is sooooooo pretty there's a square and a big gate thingy and the merry go round that Gillian Anderson ππ½ walks past and dang ππ½ so good ππ½ We walked around the corner and there was the Catedrale di santa maria novella that Gillian Anderson ππ½ also walks past ππ½ which is ENORMOUS and amazing because it's green and white and pink and stripey which is just not a colour scheme I would have ever expected for a cathedral?? We tried to go in but it was closed for the day inside so we did not. We walked all around and there were lots of artist people doing art but around the back there was one art boy all by himself with these bright orange and purple colours and he was of course my favourite and I wanted to buy a picture from him but I thought maybe it was silly and Kato knew I just wanted to buy things from him because I felt bad for him all alone there and that was a fairly accurate assessment and so I didn't buy anything and we kept on our way. This had all been incredibly fun and extraordinarily pleasant and chill and that was in no small way due to the fact that Kate was navigating and found a very good seamless job of it and I wasn't worried about or concerned with where we were going in the slightest, which was a nice feeling :) We walked along and ended up where the Palazzo Medici Ricardi should have been and had the exact same problem as the people who wrote the guide to "Hannibal's Florence" in that Google maps took us to the wrong side of it so we wandered up and down the street for some time and even went into some shops seeing if they led into it and couldn't figure it out before we walked around the other side of it and eventually found the entrance :P It was. Amazing. Holy shit. We went in there and just it's places from the show and it's places my boy ππ½ππΎ has been and it's just holy shit dog they went there and then we went there too. Holy shit. *dies* Also the building and the gardens were amazing and there was a really cool art instillation in the middle of the courtyard and a cool art exhibition on loan from Hong Kong there and it was awesome in the house because there was just like no one else there??? We just basically walked around and had a chill ass time and no one else got in our way or bothered us?! Sick ππΎ We had walked past an Asian fusion restaurant on the way to the palazzo so we walked up the road a bit more and looked at a square that was up there and checked out a few of the Italian food restaurants that were there but none of them were calling out to us and we were feeling p sick of pizza and pasta by that point so we went back to the Asian fusion restaurant and it was INSAAAAANNNEEEE we had 'to stay' bubble tea that was just in mason jars and not sealed on top and we had amaaaazing fried rice and fried cauliflower with egg and dumplings and some other shit I dunno but it was all baller and hell yeah Kate chose so well and and it was excellent ππ½ So we started walking back and we went via the piazza della Republica because we hadn't gone on the merry go round in the day because Kate said it would be prettier at night and I agreed so then I made her go on it with me and in protest she sat on a silly carriage one right on the ground that didn't even move π It was weird though it just sort of started and then stopped and some more people got on but there was no announcement to get off so we just... Stayed on for a second turn!!!! Shhhhhhhhhhhh ππππ And then it was even weirder because the marriage people from earlier in the square were there by the merry go round posing for more photos with their photographer? Surely those clothes stink by now?! Go back home to rest you busy bees!!!!!!! And we did that and then we kept walking and it was sort of drizzling and starting to rain and Kate started to see these flashes in the distance which she was getting increasingly excited about and I couldn't see them but then I did and then we were walking over the Ponte Vecchio and it was properly raining and we had absolutely no jackets or coats or umbrellas of any kind despite the fact that I had two yellow rain coats and a yellow umbrella in my suitcase at the house and in fact the air b n b lady had told us when we arrived that they were having a drought and hadn't had rain in months, so just overall we were underprepared mentally and physically but it was very cool and it was Italy and Kate loves storms so Kate wanted to go to the Piazalle Michaelangelo which is up the top of a hill in a park and somewhere Jack goes on the show, so we set off in the rain and the Lightning to go there and watch the storm. It was quite a way and it was pouring with rain and we had to go up a hill and then we got to the park and had to go up allllll these stone stairs in the rain and there were like a few people coming down the stairs but hardly any people and then we finally made it to the top and it was incredible. There was no one else there, there were two people left in the cafe and the waiters were bringing the outdoor tables back inside, and the man at the drink cart was still there but there was absolutely no one else in the plaza and you could see the whole city spread out in the rain and it was just the most excellent thing and yeah ππ½ Feck it was glorious ππ½ And it was absolutely freezing so we left pretty promptly and started the long walk back to the house π± People kept looking at us from food establishment doorsteps like 'don't you wanna come inside' and we were like nope and a few street-selling-stuff dudes tried to sell us umbrellas but our skin was already soaked through to the skin so we were like nope we're being dramatic and we finally finally made it there and walked up the big steep hill to the house and it was so exhausting that walk back and so so cold but hey neither of us got sick and it was a hella rad and dramatic time and I think it was well worth it and once again Kate's determination to enjoy storms paid off prayhands prayhands ππ½ππ½ππ½
