I've seen Florence once before:
Uffizi
This time rather than the tail end of the year, it's approaching spring... So hopefully I'll see a slightly different perspective on the city.
Florence airport is closed, so I have to fly to Bologna and then get the train down...
I arrive in the airport early in the hope of getting a Shiatsu, but lady luck has put m at the other end of the airport, and clock watching followed by a sprint seems to defeat the purpose of Shiatsu slightly..
I arrive in Bologna after an air trip reading this....
...while listening to...
I need to get a bus to Bologna station and then a train to Firenze, so there's lots of humphing around bags. Once I'm on the train, the views of Tuscany I had looked forward to were shrouded in mist, I'm completely chilled and unprepared for this trip - I have no idea how far Bologna is from Florence... no phrase book.... no map, just an iPod and a book. I blame the gym.....
I get out at Florence station and I manage to find my hotel, its on the dodgy side of the station. Only one block dodgy, but I still feel like less of a tourist. It's a nice hotel, and the first thing I do is head to the gym to chill out a bit..
30 minutes jog later, I'm swearing at the cheap weight machine..... The fitness rooms in hotels are just an encouragement to do something, there little advantage over a few press-ups in your room, but I head down anyway and do some of the free weights.... afterwards its into the pokey one man sauna.... then sleep like a baby...
....The conference turns out to be in a department of the University which is in a Villa at the top of a hill. It's really quite nice, and as the spring haze hangs on the lush green hills of tuscany it looks pretty marvelous....
I had assumed that Aula di Superiori Fisica translated as Hall of Advanced Physics, turns out its nothing so grand, its a little classroom with fold down wooden chairs and slanted desks, and reminds me of the scene with the nun in the Blues Brothers.
Day one passes without incident, and I get back to my hotel about 9.30pm, its then off out tot he supermarket for a picnic style dinner after I've been for a jog on the treadmill. Touristing round florence will have to wait, cos all I'm interested in is bed....
.....Day two off meetings is similar, except this time I risk getting the bus up the hill rather than a taxi, at a Euro for the 20 minute trip its pretty good value for money, and I feel more like I'm integrating as I bop away to the Beastie boys on my ipOd with all the other commuters(Although granted they are probably listening to something a little more cultured and refined than Hello Nasty):
At night I manage to sneak off early for a quick gym session before we meet up for dinner.
It's a touristy but quite quaint traditional Florentine fair:
antipasti
Wild Rabbit Pasta
Florentine Steak
Escalope
Mushroom Risotto
Tiramisu
....washed down with...
Chianti
Its a good filling meal and after the jog, and the slow eating of 7 meals, I feel vbery chilled, we head off for a walk through the centre:
After friday, I'm pretty knackered, so rather than another night walk round Firenze, I opt for a quick run, a sauna and then a relaxing night in bed with some DVD's and a book.....
That puts and end to the trip to Florence this time.. I didn't see much, but I'm now an old hat at booking into Hotels with Gyms and keeping fit while I stay... It makes for a much more relaxed me during the boring meetings, but maybe I see slightly less of cities..... Will I ever make it to outdoor jogging???? Hmmmm I'm not sure.
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