Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Florence today…. and 16,775 steps (almost 11 km) registered on the pedometer app! Train to Florence early this morning to beat the crowds at the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio bridge, which worked well, then wandered around quite a bit. By the time we got back to both places, it was pretty packed. And it was hot and humid. I gave in and bought a light linen dress (Eu100) and immediately felt more comfortable. More wandering about, trying an Italian gelato (fig and mascarpone for me—delicious!), eating real bruschetta, watching through a restaurant window to see how the pasta dish, cacio e pepe, is finished in the wheel of cheese [memo to myself: MUST try this in Rome!!]. And of course, a visit to see the David.

Things that caught my attention about trains in Italy and Switzerland:

• Northern Italy is well-served by trains. There were at least 30 train journeys per DAY just between Siena (population about 53,000) and Florence (about 360,000), a driving distance of about 80 km. Where I live in Australia, we had 2 trains per day between the city near where I live (80,000 population) and Perth (2.6 million); distance about 160 km. When I say ‘had’, they stopped the trains a few years ago to do major works further up the line near Perth. Rumour has it that they will have 5 trains per day once the service restarts late in 2025 (I wish!), but that’s nowhere near the frequency of the trains between Italian towns and cities.
• High-speed trains are brilliant. They go fast, there are no road crossings where trains or vehicles could possibly meet, and they are relatively cheap compared to hiring a car, using a taxi etc. Not as cheap as buses, but they go much faster than buses and don’t stop everywhere.
• Most smaller train stations have an elevator to go below the lines to reach platforms further away. But these elevators don’t always work (e.g. the elevator for the platform we arrived on in Siena was out of order, and we had no choice but to lug our heavy luggage down the steps—fortunately, the elevator at the other end to go up to the terminal was working, and even more fortunately, one of the staff from the train was also heading down the steps and helped us with our luggage. Don’t expect this—there’s often no staff around at all.)

The Duomo, before the crowds

Pontevecchio Bridge – jewellers’ shops before they opened and the crowds came

David’s hands are HUGE and his bum is very nice!

Twirling the pasta in the pecorino cheese wheel for cacio e pepe