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Florence and on to Varese

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We were a little sad to check out of our nice accomodation in Florence today, however we were quite excited to leave the masses of crowds of tourists behind and head to Varese in the evening to see my friend David.

However we had a whole day left of exploring the compact city of Florence before we got to escape to a much smaller town in the Italian countryside.

After leaving out heavy backpacks at the left luggage again, we headed in search of a coffee and a brioche, and then headed off to find the meeting point for our free walking tour of Florence. Although we had been wandering around the tightly compact city yesterday we felt we needed some more backside info on a lot of what we'd seen. It has also been a wee while since we've followed a guide ant not just done our own thing, so the prospect of following and listening without much thinking or struggling with maps was quite welcoming. 

 

This tour however, despite being the only free walking tour in the city was by far the lowest quality that we've been on so far in this trip. I'm not sure if I was the sheer number of people on the tour or the guides poor quality mic/speaker, or the constant LOUD bustle of this city, but claire and I were in agreement that we could barely hear or make out the majority of what he was saying. This was a shame because the small bits we did hear explaining the Renesance history of the city and its key protagonists through the years was actually very interesting. It wasn't hard to picture this city without so many people and appreciate its beauty, and back in time about 200+ years and you can just imagine how grand this city was! We did find it very difficult to escape the crowds in this city though and like I said we were very much looking forward to getting out the city for a bit.

By lunch time we were really ready for the delicious seafood pasta we ordered at another local restaurant. I had one with calamari fan claire had one with baked octopus! The joys of traveling with someone with similar tastes to yourself? Sharing of course!! We eventually meandered our way back to the train and FINALLY headed to Milan, and then north about an hour to the town of Varese. 

My friend David, who has a house in Varese and who we were going to be staying with for the next couple of nights, met us form the station. His friend from work Heather is also visiting Varese this weekend and so (after claire and I had a quick shower) we headed out to the local pizzeria La Paranza. It was a great laugh chilling out with these guys, drinking beer, eating some of the best pizza I've ever had and checking out the "hot Italian waiters". I know a few folk who would be VERY envious, of one or all of the above 😜! 

Goodnight for now 
F X


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