Florence - Day 8

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Sorry for the late post, we didn't have any internet! We are still alive!!! Anyway this morning we got up really early to catch the train to Florence. The hotel staff said it would take about 10-15mins to get from the hotel to the train..... but we found out you would have to be sprinting with no luggage to actually make it in that time! So we almost missed the train this morning based on that info, we just made it but we were covered in sweat and were out of breath. The bridges are beautiful and easy to use in Venice, except when you have large amounts of luggage to carry/lift up over multiple bridges, then they turn into you're worst nightmare! Anyway we managed to get on the train and made it to Florence. We didn't get lost getting to our hotel this time (a first!). Our hotel is right next to the famous Santa Maria Cathedral and the Duomo (you can see it from the hotel window). We couldn't check in until later so we dropped off our bags and headed up the bell tower which is over 400 steps and has very narrow passage ways. The view at the top is beautiful, it looks all over Florence and right up at the Duomo. We then kept walking and caught a hop on/hop off bus which took us around the outskirts of Florence. We then walked around and saw the fake statue of David (and a few others), looked at a few leather shops (Florence is famous for its leather) and then walked to Piazzle Michelangelo which has a beautiful view over Florence. While we were walking around we saw some kind of protest. Blair wanted to get up really close but I wasn't so keen! There were lots of military people around with automatic weapons and we saw a few armoured cars just sitting next to a museum as well. From memory they were here last time I went to Florence so I wasn't too concerned. Today has been another big day so we are having an early night so we are ready for another full day tomorrow. Ciao for now!

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