DAY 43: NAVIGATING THE MOST CROWDED CITY I’VE EVER SEEN

Thursday, May 29 (Florence) – After hiking through Cinque Terre, my mom and I found out that there would be a train strike the following day and that we wouldn’t be able to make it to Florence where we were headed.  We didn’t want to risk not getting there, so we made the decision to forfeit that night’s hotel deposit in Cinque Terre and race over to Florence to beat the strike.  Our hotel in Florence was completely booked for the night before our scheduled reservation, but Lorenzo – the owner of our little hotel – was able to find us a great accommodation nearby!  So we had an extra day in Florence and everything seemed to be working out for the best.

Then we started walking.

I am a New Yorker.  I have seen my fair share of tourist stampedes and crowds, but I have never seen anything like the crowd in the center of Florence.  When our walking tour began, I don’t know what was more difficult:  being able to find our tour guide as he walked through the crowds (think: the hardest level of Frogger) or being able to hear him speak!  It was complete madness, particularly by the Duomo, and it made it difficult to connect with the city or get a proper introduction to its history, art and importance.

Regardless, we enjoyed our 5 Euro walking tour with MyTours which gave us a better perspective of the layout of the city as well as which museum was which.  We also had a chance to snap obligatory photos of the Duomo and the (reproductions) of the statue of David and Lorenzo Ghiberti's golden doors.

I’ve learned that many tour guides can be a bit stiff and are used to just going through their script, but as soon as you ask a question and show real interest, they open up and show character.  This is what happened in Florence.  As soon as we started asking questions about the city and what we were seeing, our guide became a person instead of a recording and was very helpful and insightful.