Geo: 51.2094, 3.22523Ring ring. Ouch, it's 5:00 in the morning. Time to start our day. The staff at Travelodge were kind enough to have a hot breakfast ready for us at 5:30 so we could depart for Ashford International Station (the Chunnel) at 6am. We pulled out of the lot in our trusty people mover and were off through a series of roundabouts and tree covered sections of road on our way. There was some confusion about what to do with the people mover as the rental car return sign had been stripped from the pole. With a little help, we figured it out, and managed to board our Eurostar train ahead of schedule for our 7:28am departure. The little help was pretty necessary, since it turned out the car had to be returned to the ... read more

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236After waking up today, Jake checked the internet to learn that there was a tube strike. (Not a tube steak, this means that the underground subway workers unions' were shutting down service from tonight at 6:30pm for a 24 hour period in protest of expanded 24-hour services.) During the 24 hour period involved, we planned on using the tube both for today's London adventure as well as transport tomorrow morning to our rental car. Uh oh. After a cooked British breakfast (beans on toast plus sausages, British bacon, and fried ripe tomatoes), we checked in with reception and they didn't seem to think it would be a problem for us to book a taxi early tomorrow morning. Hopefully it shows up at 8am.We departed the Travelodge around 10am bound for Westminster and ended up ... read more

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236... read more

Geo: 43.7687, 11.2569This morning, we woke up to cold showers. Apparently there was some problem with the water heater. As of tonight, it hasn't been fixed. So, same story tomorrow. Quick showers.We got up early to get in line for the climb to the top of Brunelleschi's Duomo, a 470+ step trip to the top of Florence's most well known cathedral. At the beginning, the stairs were "normal" stairs, but as we got higher, they turned narrower, spiral, and weaved in and out of some very cramped spaces. From the ring at the bottom of the dome all the way to the top, it was often two-way traffic, which meant hiding in crevices and standing up against the wall like a pancake to let people pass. At one point Jake looked like the hunchback of the ... read more

Geo: 43.7687, 11.2569Today it was 33.We went on 3 tours.The first one was 3 hours.The second two were 3 hours.We ate 3 meals.We walked 33 miles.A 12 oz can of Coke in Europe 33 cL.Threes aside, we dodged a tour group with our planned breakfast time only to find the place wiped out of coffee, dishes, etc. thanks to a Rick Steves' organized tour. We prefer to be disorganized. Within a few minutes, though, we had the place to ourselves and breakfast items were refreshed.We had a walking tour called "Original Florence" that began at 9:15 and ended at 12:30. Our favorite highlights of the three hour tour were:1. Rich: I enjoyed the side streets which gave us a peak of what Florence looked like during the Medieval years. Some of the buildings had supports that ... read more