Florence, Italy

We absolutely loved our stay in Switzerland and wish we could have stayed longer than 3 days, but it was time to get out of the rain so we headed to Italy. We got on the tram that took us from the hotel to the train station. About half way there we realized that we left the car seat at the hotel!!! We jumped off the tram and since we didn't know when the next tram would come that was going the opposite direction Marshall sprinted a mile back to the hotel while Shelly stayed with Tyson and all of the luggage. Thank god we left a bit early; otherwise, we would have had to either buy another car seat or rent one as needed the rest of the trip. Thankfully, we were able to get to the train track about 5 minutes early, stowed all of our luggage, and found a seat. Then we realized we were on the wrong carriage!!! Our tickets were actually for a carriage about 10 down from the one we were on. So we grabbed some of our lighter luggage and sprinted all the way down to the other end of the train. Marshall then ran back to the first carriage and grabbed the rest of the luggage. The train was already moving by then so Marshall had to walk inside the train from carriage to carriage to get to the one that we were supposed to be on (lesson learned!). 

The train ride was breathtaking and ended up being a scenic 6 hour train from Zurich to Florence which sounds like a long time but it went by super fast. We rode through beautiful hillside villages, passing tons of waterfalls, rivers, through tunnels and mountains. Tyson was less interested in the view and more interested in walking up and down the isles on the train and flipping through magazines. I think he just liked seeing all the people and getting compliments on how cute he is learning to walk.

Once we got to Florence we loaded up with our bags, put Tyson in the stroller and started to walk towards our Guest House (apparently a 'Guest House' is more like a bed and breakfast but with a mix of different types of rooms). It was a nice day and about 20 degrees warmer than Zurich so we were enjoying every minute of that mile walk, even with the 100 lbs strapped to our backs. Finding the place was a different story. The numbers on the buildings were so random (a block would start at 10, then go to 16, then 60, 48, 34, etc), so backtracked quite a bit before we were able to find the place. Actually, if it wasn't for a nice store owner who saw our puzzled look and pointed at the door (somehow he knew where we were going) we may still be walking. The first thing we did was put down our luggage, talked with the owner over a nice cappuccino, and grabbed all of the dirty clothes we'd accumulated over the last 5 days and headed towards the nearest laundromat which happened to be right across the street. Everyone in the laundromat were Americans who were either vacationing or studying abroad. We chatted with two guys that were doing a 6 month study abroad program and they were telling us all their favorite spots in the area. Tyson started to get antsy so Shelly walked him around to the nearby shops while Marshall stayed and continued chatting with the guys at the laundromat. Once the clothes were done drying we brought it all back to our room and got ready for dinner. We found a really nice authentic Italian restaurant across the street which was surprisingly cheap. We told them how to make a lemon drop and ate a 3 course meal. All of which came to less than $40, a welcome price drop compared to Switzerland. 

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then set out to wander the streets of Florence. We wanted to go see the statue of David and when we got there it was all blocked off because they were filming a Tom Hanks movie. Tons of people were standing around watching and we stood there for a bit while they filmed the scene. We have been to Florence before during a 10 day Mediterranean cruise a few years back and saw a lot of the sites so we decided to just take random side streets  and people watch. We eventually came across a big marry go round and of course we had to stop so Tyson could experience his first ever ride on a marry go round. At first he was not so sure of the horse we chose but then when it started moving up and down he really enjoyed it. We stopped and had lunch at a cafe and then decided to take off to rent a car and get out of the big city. We got this tiny little Fiat Panda which sounds like a toy car when it drives. It really starts to purr when we have the peddle to the metal and top 110 km/hr (~60mph) going up a slight incline... It actually turns off when the car is stopped and then turns back on when you hit the gas--really hope its supposed to do that and this thing lasts us the next two weeks which we paid for in advance. We ended up driving about 2 hours Northwest to a Bed and Breakfast on the Almafi coast that Shelly found online. Turns out to be quite the spot :)

Next stop: Cinque Terre, Italy