After an overnight hotel airport stay, the original plan was to leave early for Firenze by train. But because of our late night, we woke up late and ended up taking an early afternoon train to Firenze. The trip was not off to a promising start, with the first 12 hours spent mostly in airports, hotels, train stations, and trains. And Big Boy O’s comment in the morning was that Italy is boring and ugly. And I said, but you haven’t seen any of real Italy yet – just the airports, and train stations!

Table football (“Baby foot”) in the hotel lobby
Marconi Express to town
Bored at Bologna Centrale, while waiting for train to Firenze
First taste of Italy – pici cacio e pepe
First taste of Italy – Diavola

We had a reasonably productive afternoon sightseeing, hitting many of the main sights by foot in compact Florence historical centre.

Towards the evening, Big Boy O announced: “My conclusion is that Florence is a lot less civilised than London!”

I asked him why he said that, and he replied: “Firstly, Italian smoke a lot. Secondly, for example look at that street – there’s rubbish everywhere, unlike in London!”

Reason #2 why Florence is less civilised than London: rubbish everywhere on the streets
Firenze wrapping up for the night