Waking up in Assisi with a hot breakfast for the first time in days was a blessing before we were onto the bus for another three hour ride, this time to Florence, or “Firenze” in Italian. I’ve spent probably 65% of the day trying to teach Emma how to pronounce it in Italian, but every time she gets it right she forgets again. I’m in Hell… Joking.
On a similar note, we actually did visit literal Hell yesterday. “Il Mercato Centrale,” or the Central Market, had all of these food vendors and tables everywhere and was packed wall to wall. I’ve been to similarly-styled markets in DC and New York City, but at least there was room to breathe in those. This was too packed to enjoy literally anything, so we were in and out as soon as possible.
My first impression of Florence is that most of it is filled with crowds upon crowds of people, but it doesn’t feel as much like the touristy crowds as we saw in Rome. I couldn’t get over how impossibly huge and complex and intricate the Duomo is, and I think that combined with the stores for shopping is what I like most so far about this city.
That being said, given I’m struggling to think of things to write about from our walking tour, I’d say I probably like Rome and Assisi just a tad more as of right now, but we still have a full day ahead of us tomorrow.
We also went to the Accademia to see the Statue of David yesterday, which is way, way bigger than I expected. Another one of those things that you don’t really believe until you see it, and when you do see it, 
it doesn’t feel real.
Pizza for dinner. Of course it was wonderful. See picture.
To end this blog, and keep up with the theme of Hell, I’ll end with saying more than anything I’m especially happy to be in the home city of Dante Alighieri, writer of the Divine Comedy, and the birthplace of standard Italian as we know it today. Our tour guide Matteo compared himself to Virgil leading us around all the time and joked that when the tour is done he’ll return back to Hell, so that’s a metaphor to appreciate.