two backpacks and a diaper bag

Sunday, April 29th. Rome-Florence. After our adventure yesterday, today was much calmer and more enjoyable. We left the apartment at 11am and took a taxi to the train station.

The platform had not yet been posted, so we got some quick bites to take onto the train. Sean had an unpleasant experience getting a cappuccino. The lady at the counter thought he said “tea” instead of “take-away” and asked him to go back to her colleague to amend his order. He went back to the cashier and the guy at the cashier was confused. They talked to each other, and she finally understood that the order was for take-away.

Finally, we got on the train. I fed Arthur and he fell asleep. He slept for more than an hour, and woke up right before we got off the train.

We arrived in Florence at 1:10pm, but our Airbnb owner said that he was still cleaning the apartment. We could drop off our bags around 2pm but the apartment wouldn’t be ready until 3pm.

So at Florence Santa Maria Novella, we looked for a place to sit to kill time. There were not a lot of options. We ended up at McDonald’s instead. We got a meal and sat there for the next 30 minutes. We also fed and changed Arthur. Then we took a taxi to the Airbnb.

It cost 14euro to get to Via del Leone. There was no uber or taxify or mytaxi or hopin. We could only get the taxi at the taxi line. There is apptaxi in Florence, but it’s lousy. It’s only a calling app. You can’t pay through the app.

We got to the Airbnb around 2:15. We dropped off our bag and headed down to the grocery store. We came back to the apartment at 3pm.

We then put Arthur to sleep and waited til he wake up.

Thankfully, he woke up at 4pm. I fed him and we left the apartment at 4:15pm.

Back in Singapore, I bought us a ticket to the Galleria dell’Accademia for a 4:30-4:44 entry. Even though we were staying in Florence for 3 nights, the Accademia is closed on Mondays and on Labor Day (May 1st) so we could only visit it on the day we arrive.

When we left the apartment, we thought it would be easy to get a taxi. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a taxi with the app. So we decided to walk to the Accademia. It took us 35 minutes. We took pictures along the way.

We got to the Galleria at 4:50pm. There was a separate entry line for those who have tickets. We joined that line, but a second later, we were let in. We went through security, got our proper tickets, and went inside. All within 5 minutes.

First, the Rape of the Sabine Women welcomed you after you scan your tickets.

And then you turn left into another room. But when you look to the right, at the end of the corridor is the main attraction: David.

After admiring David, we went through the Museum of Instruments inside the Accademia, which was pretty cool, and then we walked past David again to the room with various sculptures. And that was it. We exited the museum.

Oh, there was this teenager (maybe 15 it 16 years old?) who was smitten with Arthur. We bumped into her again at the exit, and she was so excited to see Arthur again.

We decided to walk home. But of course, we stopped by for gelato. We bumped into the same girl from the Accademia at the gelato place and she was still so smitten.

On the way home, I thought we should cross the Ponte Vecchio this time.

Past the Duomo, Arthur fell asleep by himself on the car seat. (We only brought the car seat. We left the bassinet at home.) We didn’t do anything. It was a miracle! He was just looking around, people-watching, and then… he fell asleep!

Past the Mercato Nuovo, he was still asleep. We decided to head straight home instead of stopping at the market.

As we got close to Ponte Vecchio, we saw how many people there were. It was like a huge crowd out there. We decided to take a right instead and save the bridge for tomorrow morning.

The walk home was straight forward. Unfortunately, Arthur woke up just right before we entered the apartment building. I thought he would have slept longer, but the sound of the really loud motorcycles (multiple times) stirred him from his sleep. He was in and out of sleep after the first motorcycle sound.

Nevertheless, we were so glad he was able to fall asleep by himself while sucking on his fingers. I wonder if that would happen again in the future.