Florence

Ahhhh, Florence.

Sorry for the lack of posting.  My mom and I arrived in Florence on Saturday morning after a less than pleasant 11 hour train ride from Vienna.  Once we arrived though, things were good.

We stayed at an airbnb.com apartment just outside of Florence.  Mario was our host and was kind enough to meet us at the airport at 6:30 in the morning to take us back to the apartment.  The apartment is small, but nice and in a quiet area.

Our first day (after a nap), we went to the Galileo Museum and the the Duomo Museum.  The Galileo Museum was very interesting.  It had a lot of interesting information on the evolution of science during Galileo's time. That evening we went on a bike tour around Florence and saw all of the major sites.

On Sunday, Mario offered to take us to Siena, a town in Tuscany outside of Florence.  We also stopped at two other small towns in the Tuscan area.  It was great to see these small renaissance towns.  In the evening, Mario invited us to his home and he cooked a traditional Italian meal of pasta and meat.  It was a lot of food, but it was great.  It was also very interesting to see his home, which is located north of Florence in the hills.  

Today we went to a mosaic museum and saw the central market.  We then took a walk around old Florence.  

Its been a great visit to Florence.  Tomorrow my mom and I are taking a cooking class and then we part ways.  She is going to Rome before heading home and I will continue up the coast of Italy and then to the Swiss Alps.

Hope you liked the longer installment.  I actually have a computer to use here, so it is easier to type on. :)