FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: From Bologna To Florence

My working table for my blog tonight with a cup of tea at hand...Bliss

Today was a low key day as we travelled from Bologna to Florence. We strolled and shopped around Bologna at a leisurely place before having...Indian for lunch! The food was actually quite nice. We had time to browse a bit more and visit the markets before we had to make our way to the station for our 3:18pm fast train to Florence. The train journey only took 35min with the train travelling at speeds of over 300km/hour.

Our first stop for the day at Bologna, the scavi archeologici in the Salaborsa which we didn't get a chance to visit yesterday

Underneath the city library are sections of the old town which you can see. The foundations have been built over the top of over the times.

Various sections dating from as far back as 2nd Century BC to medieval times!

Brick drainage system from 2nd Century BC

Path from 1st century AD

The brickwell on the right is from 14th century

A well further back is from 1st century BC

And above all that...the very funky public library in another beautiful building

Young Jonah looking at EVERY single photo on display much to the delight of the Italian grandpas and grandmas who thought he was bello!

Chairs where you can sit with your laptop accommodated for

Just in case you forgot Neptune and his private...

...I went back and finally found the angle! It was a pity that the sun was right behind him which made taking a good photo difficult. But you get the idea...

Now that I look closely, the whole fountain is rather erotic...

Always time for gelato in Italy

Their way of sharing the gelato fairly

Waiting for our train took longer than the journey itself!

Another nice and clean train

When we arrived at our apartment in Santa Croce, the first words I heard were "There's a problem" which sent me into a panic! As it turned out though, all was ok. The family who were meant to be leaving today had to stay longer because their child was unwell with high fevers. The owner let them stay and offered us 2 interconnecting apartments instead which were on the same floor in the same building all for the same price. The apartments were beautiful and we now had 2 kitchens, 2 washing machines, 2 lounges and beds for 10 instead of 7. We were not complaining! It was more than generous compensation from the owner and it gave us comfort knowing that she was able to show kindness to the poor family who had a sick child.

We ventured out for the basics and dinner. Unfortunately Nana's back has had enough for the day and Jonah was so tired that he was sad. We headed home with our loot and abandoned our plans to eat out. Malcolm bought some sushi and ready made lasagne instead to be consumed back at the apartment. So far, we really like what little that we have seen of Florence and we can't wait to see more of this famous city. I shall let the photos tell the story of the rest of our day...

One of our apartments in Florence

The bedroom

The loft

...with another queen...

...and two twins in the room behind Jonah as well as another bathroom to the left

The second apartment which had a common hallway with the first. Both then share a common front door so the children could move between apartments safely and without disturbing any neighbours