Duomo Origato, Mr. Roboto

Today I arranged to meet Kim G, a good friend of mine from Cincinnati, in Florence. The difficulty of getting to Florence, as with most famous landlocked European cities, is the various chains of transportation required. At this port (Livorno), you need a shuttle bus from the ship to the town (5E, though I got on before the ticket person was there, so I saved that), then you take a public bus from the town to the train station (1E), then you take an hour and 20 minute train ride into Florence.

I made it to the train exactly 1 minute before it departed at 9:11am, getting me into Florence at 10:50, an hour before I was to meet Kim. I figured I'd find our meeting sport and then walk around a bit. I had very DaVinci Code-like instructions about our meeting spot: We'll meet across from the golden doors of the Baptistry. She didn't say anything about a murderous albino or anything, but still kind of cool. I wandered about the streets of Florence around the Duomo for a while, stumbling across a duet of a guitar and clarinet. They provided a wonderful soundtrack for my walk through Florence. That is, until they started playing Girl From Ipanema. Not so Florence.

Kim spotted me very easily as soon as I walked into the Piazza, making my trip 2/2 in finding Cincinnati friends in strange cities with no trouble. Since it was Sunday, it was difficult to figure out when/if you could go inside. So. instead we walked to the Ponti Vecchio Bridge, took some pictures, and then enjoyed some pizza and wine. Two things there are an abundance of in Florence. After a very enjoyable lunch, I had a decision to make. There was a 2:30 and a 3:30 train back to Livorno. In theory, the 3:30 train would get back at 4:50, giving me over an hour to get from the station to the ship. But, if that train got cancelled, I would not only be late for the crew's on-board time, but could potentially miss the ship altogether. So, I made the responsible decision to get on the 2:30 train.

This was hard for multiple reasons. Mostly, because Kim is moving to Florida so this is the last time I'll see her for a while. Kim and I got some gelatto (my #1 goal while visiting Italy this time around), and I got on the train. It turns out I made the right decision. After taking the 2:30 train, I walked on the ship at 4:30. This means that if I took the 3:30 and all things went the same, I'd have gotten on the ship at 5:30. This means that if there was a half hour delay anywhere in the return trip I would have been late.

Sadly, I didn't get to see the state of David while I was there. If I go anywhere next time I'm at this port it'd be to Pisa (which is only a 20 minute train ride or so). Though, chances are I won't bother spending the 13E round-trip just to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We'll see how much money I've spent by then I guess.