Today we left the cute little walled-in town of Lucca and headed out to Florence, about a 1.5 hour train ride away. I think we must have finally figured out the train system because we managed to get the right train on the first try!
Once at our destination, we made the longish trek across town with our carry-on luggage bags, navigating the streets & sidewalks avoiding cars, scooter and other pedestrians. Since we were ahead of schedule we decided to kill some time sitting on one of the picturesque bridges crossing the Arno River.
We finally got checked into our room which is in a great location! It's relatively close to just about all the major landmarks here in Florence, and unlike our room in cute little Lucca, this room is quiet! There's a couple nice resaurants a couple doors down, and an internet cafe, pizzaria, gelatoria, and hamberger joint (with veggie burgers) just around the corner!
After getting settled in we headed off across town with no real goal in mind. We ended up at the Santa Maria del Fiore Duomo (the largest cathedral in Florence). The clouds decided to sprinkle on us so we went inside the cathedral to look around. It isn't nearly as impressive as St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but nearly as Big. We then decided to make the climb up the dome to the very top for a view of the city. Again, this climb is nearly as tall as the dome at St. Peter's at 463 steps.
The climb took us up inside the two shells of the concrete dome which was quite an interesting experience. Finally reaching the top the rain had stopped and the views were fantastic!
Although a number of people have told us that Florence was their favorite city in Italy, we are not yet convinced... At the moment Lucca still holds the title as our favorite!
