Mood:
happyWe signed up for the trip with the ITR people (ITR stands for Information, Tours, and Recreation). They sponsor several trips in and around Italy for fairly low cost, since all they really provide is the round trip charter bus and a tour guide. We heard about several upcoming trips including Christmas in Rome, Cheese tasting in Asiago, and a trip to the Christmas markets in Florence. We signed up for Florence “to get our feet wet.”
We left fairly early in the morning (for a Sunday) having to meet the bus at 6:45a for a 7:00a departure. We drove for 3 hours and change, stopping once on the way there and back for a snacks and a leg-stretch. While in Florence, we walked to three of the major weekly markets and down to the Christmas markets. With the little bit of extra time, we had a late lunch and then did some of the walking tour stuff that we remembered from the last time we were here.
Florence is 3 hours away, making it roughly “Sydney distance” for the Aussies, “D.C. distance” for those in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and I guess “Pennsylvania Distance” for those in D.C. Everyone else, just think of something 3 hours away, and boom, you’ve got your reference.
We didn’t really get too wrapped up on seeing everything we could, since it’s so close. We know we’ll be back at least a few times, so it was a relaxing market-filled sort of day.
Hope you enjoy the pictures! These are perhaps some strange shots, chosen from the several dozen that we took. We posted pictures of Florence up on the main site under PLACES WE’VE BEEN from the last time we were there, so I didn’t want to repeat too much...This last picture is for Jamey (my sister, for those that don’t know.
Take care!
