June 11, 2023
Florence
Besides waking up at 2:30 and feeling like it was morning because of the streetlight above our tent, we all slept pretty well and were in a good mood for heading into Florence to explore this morning. It was about 9km back along the same route we followed yesterday to Ponte Vecchio where the tourist river got too much for bikes and we carried on on foot. We brought the trailer in with us in case we didn't make it back before Tobias needed to nap, but it was mostly just a pain to push around between all the people.
Tobias had a grand time looking in all the windows of the jewelers along the bridge. One store had tiny glass and silver musicians so he stood in the doorway dancing for a bit. At the Piazza della Signoria he was most interested with the horse with a "trailer" and not really in any of the famous and grand statues. It was already really hot, and it felt hotter in the city. It was funny to notice the sea of people fitting perfectly in the shadow of the Arnolfo tower.
To escape the sea of people we headed off in search of a supermarket - one good thing about tourist cities is that supermarkets seem to be open on Sundays again. From there we took our own route back to the bikes through some tiny alleys. We biked back up the hill to the campsite for lunch and Tobias' nap, though he decided he was not going to sleep in the tent. Fair enough really, it was a sauna in there. Though it did mean that James then had to go for a short ride with the trailer on to convince him to sleep.
The afternoon was dedicated to laundry and the pool. Tobias loves the idea of a pool and playing in the water on the steps. He is less keen about actually getting in. You have to wear swim caps here (hygiene reasons, apparently). I was a curious how Tobias would take to this but he loved it and kept asking to wear his hat even when we weren't at the pool.
It's really mosquito weather at the moment. I'm slapping at them even wearing long pants and sleeves and sitting about 5cm from our citronella candle. We had to use the candle on the stove because the heat melted the wax and the wick was swallowed up. They are biting me through my top.
We were considering whether or not we spend another day here and head back into Florence tomorrow, but we are both keen for some smaller towns and Tuscan countryside so we will head off into the hills nearby. It's going to be hot and we have a big climb to start and end the day, so it should be fun.
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Today's ride: 18 km (11 miles)
Total: 1,474 km (915 miles)
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