I'm sitting in a warmly-heated apartment in the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik — it’s 2 degrees outside, and there is snow on the nearby hills — reflecting on our last two weeks of warmth on this trip, in the picture-perfect countryside of Tuscany.
Our time there included runs amongst the vineyards and olive groves, dips in the pool, and day trips to the historic and amazing cities of Florence and Siena. Unfortunately, the trip into Florence was far from ideal: two wrongly-taken routes that put us on motorways going in the wrong direction; a toll booth that wouldn’t give us a ticket; and an "interesting" tram ride into the city centre. First, a man (whom we wrongly assumed worked on the tram) offered to validate our tickets and then demanded money for the service, getting angry when we didn’t give him what he’d hoped. He got off at the first stop gesticulating wildly and giving us dirty looks, only to be replaced by two English women (possibly a mother and daughter, though it was hard to tell with all the botox), that had working class accents so thick I was sure they were being filmed for an episode of The Only Way is Essex, who started an expletive-laden conversation about their relationships all the way into Florence (I now know that “Terry was never f**king good enough” for Sheryl, however Sheryl’s new boyfriend Danny just “gets me, innit?”). On alighting the tram Sienna commented that “they swore even more than you, Dad!” and it really felt like the authentic Italian vibe was in danger of being ruined. Fortunately, we found a little Trattoria that appeared to be frequented by more locals than tourists, and had an amazing lunch, which Anna pronounced “the best meal I’ve ever eaten.” (It was so good that even Sienna ate some of the vegetables). Our day in Florence steadily improved from that point.
The outing to Siena was far less eventful, but no less lovely for all that, and provided us the opportunity to take our youngest daughter to the place she was named for (and possibly the only reason she deigned to accompany us on this entire trip). That novelty quickly wore off, but with regular helpings of cake, pizza, and gelato (plus a t-shirt with almost her name on it), we managed a full day of sightseeing in another beautiful city.
We headed north from Tuscany to Modena, ostensibly because it is regarded as one of the food capitals of Italy, but really because my Favourite TV Show Of All Time, Master of None, based two episodes there. (Helpfully, one of these was filmed in black and white, and as Modena was cold and grey during our stay and the photos looked average at best, I was able to publish them all in greyscale in some sort of arty homage.)
Our last two nights in Italy were spent in the beautiful surroundings of Lake Como, which very much reminded us of Wanaka or Queenstown — right down to the crisp and frosty mornings that gave way to stunningly clear and sunny days — before heading through the Swiss Alps to Germany and a temperature drop of 20 degrees.
Oh how lucky you are!! Florence is one of my fave places on the planet!! It all looks so beautiful and you all look so happy. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your adventure!!
Ha! Your bus scam attempt is an exact replica of the one we had in 2016 taking a bus from Fiesole into Florence with Isla then 18yrs and Conla 15yrs. Fortunately, Mike is an upper Hutt boy and relished the aggression fully embracing his bogan youth as he stood up to the 'ticket validators'. No such luck with interesting fellow travelers to listen too though😉