Back to "reality" (Days 13 & 14)

On our last day in Tuscany, we asked our hotel if we could stay until about 5:30 PM, as our train back to Paris didn't leave from Florence until 10:00 PM. We were moved to a different room, which was fine. Pauline used the time to walk down the Promenade to the harbor and walk out to the end of the mole.

At just after 6:00 PM, we got a train to Florence and spent a couple of hours in the train station until the Palatino arrived (on time!) from Rome. We had dinner from McDonalds, and it was delicious! Several beggars about though, but also a small brass band surrounded by a large group of men singing German(or Austrian?)songs. We never found out who they were, but they certainly entertained us during our wait.

We boarded the train and our beds were already prepared for us. I slept better on this trip than the previous one, so I felt pretty good when we arrived in Paris at 10:48 the next morning. A taxi ride took us to the Gare du Nord and the eurostar back to London arriving at 2:30 PM. Pauline called our local cab company to pick us up, so we didn't have to deal with our very heavy and bulky bags on public transport.

It was a wonderful trip, and we're so glad we did it. I highly recommend a similar trip to anyone who loves art and the joys of Italian culture.