We arrived in Florence under monsoon conditions. Eerily we made our way through the crowded streets of Florence. Cars were parked in every conceivable space but there wasn't a person to be seen. Strange. Once we checked into the Grand Hotel we did a quick lap around to get oriented. It was dark, wet and seemed sketchy. We retreated to the hotel. These old hotels are interesting and display grandeur of former years but we mostly find that the rooms need severe updating. The hotel features a beautiful lobby and great views of the Arno river and bridges. The next morning, with the weather now pushing high 20s and without a plan for Florence we pulled out a map and headed to Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge spared during the second world war. Gold and silversmiths line the entire bridge to form a makeshift shopping plaza. Hordes of tourist flock here and make their way upto the Uffizi or the Duomo, the world's largest dome. Since the Uffizi was closed we visited the Duomo, and did a bit more shopping. We're hearing a lot of English spoken here and there seems to be lots of young internationals. Florence is ideally situated between mountains with villages scattered throughout the rolling hills. I don't find Florence itself to be particularly beautiful, somewhat the opposite, but if you keep your eyes fixated on the surroundings it truly is captivating.
Side note: After walking around we saw a lady ironing through the back door of a shop. She was likely in her 80s. We asked if she spoke English and she called for, presumably, her daughter whospoke 5 English words; "dryclean" "wash" "iron" "dry" and "hi". After some difficult conversation on our needs we left her a heap of clothes in the hopes that it'll come back in one piece.
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