free wireless internet!!

Wireless internet over here is a commodity worth more than gold...to me at least. It's hard to come by. But I've finally found a great little cafe that gives unlimited, free access to wireless internet, and it's even a good speed. I'm loving it and I'm going to waste as much time here as possible. It's full of other travellers doing the same thing...ordering an espresso and staying for hours, checking facebook and booking flights.

So, the last few days.... Again, following in Beth's footsteps we went from Siena one day, to Florence the next day. It's been really nice having a base out of the cities, and doing day trips in. Our trip to Florence was a battle with Ken (the little man inside the GPS) who kept wanting us to take tiny, swervy back roads. We over-ruled his decisions and decided to follow the Firenze signs instead, and he got cranky with us, in his own polite little way..."turn around when possible". We didn't, and we still got there successfully.

We stumbled across some all-day free parking in a piazza that overlooked Florence from the south side of the river...meaning our first views of the city were spectacular. Expecting to be a little overwhelmed by Florence, we'd made a bit of a plan about where we wanted to go in the day. Turns out we'd made some great decisions...we covered a lot of ground, saw heaps of the city and did some really interesting things like visit the Bargello Museum, which specialises in Rennaisance sculpture from artists from the region of Tuscany. I don't know much about Rennaisance art, but I learnt as I went along and I found it very interesting. Donotello's 2 Davids, some early works by Michelangelo, and Danti were all spectacular, and I appreciated them far more than I expected. I also learnt a lot about Florence as an artisan community.

The Duomo in the centre of the city was breath-taking...figuratively because of it's sheer enormity and beauty, and literally because she climbed 400+ stairs to get to the top of the dome for a view over what must be one of the prettiest cities in the world.

Naturally I dragged my parents to yet another University...again abandoned and less than striking. It backed on to the military academy, which was far more interesting, from what I could tell from the front gates, which was as far as I could go without a security pass. The region of the city near the uni had a really different feel...more multi-cultural, cheaper shops and food, and lots of bars. I guess students are the same everywhere!

We finished off the day with apertivi, which is cocktails with a free buffet, right on the river as the sun set. Lots of places put this on for "happy hour" (about 7 - 9pm). Makes for a cheap dinner, and a great atmosphere. I think we were the only tourists brave enough to try and figure out what the etiquette was, everyone else seemed to be locals in the know, doing the rounds saying hi to all their friends.

I can't remember if I blogged about this before, but I've noticed that when they're out, the Italian man's choice of drink is usually some kind of colourful and facy cocktail. Fil says it's a way of showing people how much money you have/are prepared to spend. La bella figura strikes again...

I really loved Florence...it's size, the vibe, the history, the beauty. I'd love to go back one day and stay for ahwile.

Today has been a lazier, recouperating day. Lazing about the pool, surveying the Tuscan hills, lunch + internet in town, and some wine-tasting with our farm family tonight in their cellar. Tomorrow I part ways with the (ever-generous) 'rents to to meet Leila and her friend Tina in Berlin, where Tina is generously playing host to both of us for awhile. I'm excited to go, but once again a little sad to move on.