Despite the early wakeup call (6:45), I got a really good night’s sleep and was ready for the three-hour bus ride from Assisi to Florence.
I got some of my story done about our dinner with the foreign correspondents on the first leg of the bus and will hopefully have that finished by the end of the trip.
When we arrived in Florence, we stopped at the top of an overlook to get pictures of the city. It reminded me a lot of Mount Washington in Pittsburgh. 
I shouldn’t repeat myself, but pictures don’t do this view justice. When we pulled up, a few of us in the back of the bus let out a collective “wow.”
We then drove down into the city and dropped our luggage off at our hotel before taking a light walk around part of the city. We were given about three hours for lunch, and Allison and I sat down for about two hours of that time for arguably my best meal of the trip so far.
We went to Giannino, just outside the main square in the city. I got one of the daily specials, which was a plate of macaroni pasta with meat sauce and a plate of meatballs and potatoes. The pasta was almost too much to finish and the meatballs were so fresh and fulfilling.
We really enjoyed our time sitting down at the meal and just unwinding for a moment. After eating, we walked around a couple shops before meeting up with our group and a guide for a tour around the city.
Florence is known for producing leather, and there’s a lot of leather. Just not all of it is high-quality leather.
There is a lot to see in Florence, and our tour guide for the city did a great job of showing us as much as possible. We explored part of the city that was rebuilt after getting bombed in World War II, ancient parts of the city that were once controlled by the Romans, and the famous churches that are centuries old, including the famous Duomo that began construction in 1296 and completed in 1436.
We also stopped at Galleria Della Academia, home to many of Michelangelo’s famous works like the David statue.
Our dinner was at a pizzeria and had some of the best pizza in Italy.
When we checked into the hotel, I browsed a few of the Italian TV channels. I was surprised to see a lot of American programming with Italian voices replacing the English ones, including CSI-New York and Scooby Doo. I also found QVC-Italy and their version of Saturday Night Live, titled “Saturday Night Live,” even though it was all in Italian. On the live sports channels, I found handball, indoor rollerblade hockey, and basketball. Those productions were very low quality.
Tomorrow is a completely free day in the city and the weather looks promising.
Happy mother’s day!
Ciao!