The next leg of our journey took us to Florence, Italy.

The sites we visited in and around Florence are listed in yellow at left.

Click on them for more information and pictures.

We flew directly from Dublin to Pisa, which is actually about an hour west of Florence.  We were met by a bus that took us and all our very heavy luggage to our hotel in Florence.  Hang on to your hats here, the driving can seem a bit maniacal by our standards.  Mopeds zip in and out of traffic wherever they want and hardly anyone seems to use their brakes until the last possible minute.  It was actually really fun and got our adrenaline pumping if nothing else!  Our flight over was fairly short, and we had some great views of the Alps on the way.  If you are lucky enough to have a window seat try and snap a few pictures!

Florence is the capital of Tuscany, a region on the western coast of Italy that includes the cities of Pisa, Siena, Arezzo, Lucca, etc.  We were there the end of May, beginning of June and it was HOT.  It was about 80 degrees each day, and it never rained.  It wasn't an overwhelming heat though, so you can manage walking around in it all day just fine.  Pack some t-shirts and summer clothes for Italy, and some sunscreen.  Keep in mind, that your shoulders must be covered when you go into any churches or galleries.  Italy was completely different in nearly every way than Ireland.  Italy is also a member of the European Union and uses the Euro as currency.  Florence is definitely a city for shopping, so make sure you have saved some money and also be careful of your packing situation!

A few tips about Florence...

Get a small Italian language guide and study a few words before you come.  Italians love it when you at least attempt to use their language, and actually most of them speak pretty decent English, so give it a try.  A guide will be especially helpful for translating items on a menu- you can buy a very small Italian/English flip book at Barnes and Noble for like $3.  I found it helpful.

Italian men love women, especially those visiting from other countries.  Expect looks, whistles, and conversation.  Don't be too friendly, they might take it as an invitation.  Don't tell anyone where you are staying, or detailed travel plans, etc.  Just common sense stuff.  We had a waiter that for a reason unknown to me just bent down and kissed me on the cheek!  I still don't know why!

In Italy you will pay a small amount for sitting in a restaurant, which is not the tip, it's a fee for your wonderful surroundings.  And it is very expensive to get a soda as your drink, I mean like € 5 for a regular size Coke, no refills and probably no ice (you won't see ice in drinks much here).  Get water or wine. OH- and please, don't go to Italy and order spaghetti...Italians really don't eat Spaghetti, they provide it for American tourists...try some gnocchi or pesto instead.

Check out the open air markets for neat souvenirs.  These include Italian leather purses, belts, pashmina, silk ties, linen skirts, etc.  These stalls only take cash, so remember to have some on you if you go shopping here.  Some places bargain on prices, some are set.  Just ask for a lower price and they will tell you no or give you another offer.  Especially the leather purse stands, they always drop the prices, and sometimes drastically! 

If you want to go to the Uffizi or the Galleria (where David is) buy tickets in advance.  I bought mine online before I left the U.S. and all I had to do was show up and go to the advanced tickets line and show my email confirmation.  I waited maybe 5 minutes to get into the Uffizi, which you may wait up to 3 hours if you don't have a ticket. 

Internet cafe's weren't as abound as they were in Ireland.  I think I saw one but it was rather expensive.  Also, your phone cards will use way more minutes to call from Italy than it did to call from Ireland.  On a 250 minute card I got only 17 minutes from Italy.  Also, the phones in our hotel didn't dial out using our cards (the * button didn't work) so we had to use the pay phones outside.  And, keep in mind it is now a 6 hour time difference.

Oh, and last but not least, you MUST have Gelati - it's everywhere - and it comes in such amazing flavors, Mango, Boysenberry, Mocha, Lemon, anything you could imagine, plan on € 2 to € 5 per serving depending on how many scoops you get.