ATW in 45. #24

Up hard. Cuz up late last night. Of course, we are up late most every night and I don’t sleep well. Our hostel, here in Florence, has no AC. Like most Histels. We were spoiled in Rome. Here, I sleep in an oven with no ventilation. I sleep on top of the covers all night and am still over heated. I like the American version where even the cheapest motel has working AC even in winter in North Dakota. God Bless the US.

So, get ready for day. Usual problems, shower works poorly though it does have hot water. The shower doors are a funky tri fold thing. Leak like a sieve. The shower floor is the bathroom floor, no lip or tub. We have to throw a towel down to hold back the flood. Nice. But I manage. No fan so it’s insanely steamy and can’t leave door open cuz e got roommates, it’s a hostel. So I get cooked. Then I shave in a mirror that won’t stay clear. That’s fun.

But I manage to get out and dressed. Feels good to walk into the room after because it feels cool after. Only time of day it does.

Em and I headed down for the petit dejeuner. The morning meal is not anything special or unique. High carb packaged food, at best. The coffee though, is quite good. Automatic espresso type machine with good coffee in it. Coffee in Italy pushes toward excellent at all opportunities. My rest stop cappuccino I had in the drive here is a perfect example. Just excellent. That’s all.

Today’s activity starts in the center of Florence. We are visiting the medieval church and done. He Duomo. Built in the 1400s. Like everything else.

We tried to buy tickets, but the regular tickets were sold out for the next few days. We had to purchase priority tickets from a private vendor. Seems these companies can buy up quite a few of the regular tickets, in advance, and them increase the price 5x and cheat is tourists out of our money. Nice.

Well, we got in and enjoyed the usual hike up a medieval tower staircase to the stars. I don’t need to workout, I just visit old monuments. We climbed thru a very narrow, short and twisty old staircase. About as comfy as a submarine.
At times there was people coming down as well. We got up close and very pe signal with sweaty tourists. And they did too. Marika got claustrophobic and had to start deep breathing exercises to calm down. Her response triggered my response and I got nervous.

The stair came out on a walkway at the base of the dome roof. About 200’ above the floor. Walkway about 20” wide. Unnerving. We wandered around the dome and looked at the painted ceiling. And down at the church. Then back out into the next walkway which goes to the top of the dome. The walkway is between the outside dome and inside dome and has a curved outer and inner walls. One way traffic only. Twice as closed in as lower. Very uncomfortable. If there were any issue in their, you are gonna die. No jaws of life here. So, after ten minutes of unnerving climb in very very tight quarters, we came out to the outside of the dome, 400’ above the square. The floor slopes out too. There is a railing. I found it almost impossible to go to the edge to take pictures. Not scary, I just did not feel comfortable. At least I was out of the “submarine” passages. Marika did better out in the open but did not stand at the edge. The view of Florence was spectacular and the guide we had did tell is a lot of info about Florence and the sights. Of course we had to climb back down the way we came up.

The climb down was a lot easier on my brain. There is no building of suspense you get in a climb up. So it was easy at least getting out.

Out to lunch. And lots of shopping.

We split up for lunch. Em and I found a place that did not serve the usual menu we have come to expect. And it was very inexpensive. And delicious. It was mostly a tartine or crostini with many and varied toppings to start. Along with a drink. Just to take the edge off. They brought a few free items out as well which is really nice since I think the total came to under $20. A nice pleasant lunch. Could just be better because our other three were not there. That’s a treat.

The Kids had pizza which was mediocre. Which makes my meal even better

After lunch, more shopping. I try to stay out of that. I don’t want anything.

The afternoon is not complete unless we sit in a cafe and have drinks. So we did.

And after drinks, more shopping

Dinner at the usual joint. And when I say usual I mean this one was small and intimate. Excellent food. Friendly waiter. Good wine. Nice.

The place did not take credit cards. The waiter solved that by walking me to an ATM to get cash.

Waiter got us a cab. I guess he wanted to be rid of us.

Back to hostel directly by cab. And surprise, kids to bar. Me and Em to bed. I know, it’s a surprise, the kids drink too much and is older folk go to bed. I get the best in that trade.

We are staying in a six bed dorm room of the hostel. We occupy 5. When we returned to our room, our roommate Felix from Quebec was there. We were able to have a nice conversation with him. I have many Canadian relatives so we had some things in common. Nice kid, he is 23. A computer engineer and able to work from the road. Sweet.

I am still not sleeping and this hostel has no AC. I had to take a towel to bed with me tonight to periodically dry off. Yuck. I can’t to leave if only to get out of the heat. Next stop is Pisa, it’s hot there, but only visiting for a day. I guess this is the middle of summer. But I thought the Lors would have made an exception for me.