The Purple Penguin

Well we made it and for some photos check out Joe’s Panoramio section. Or his Google web album.

First stop St Pancreas which is lovely. I had my first real walk and gawp around the station since it’s been redone and it is quite nice. We also got to see a Harris hawk and it’s handler taking a break from chasing pigeons away. Lovely way to get rid of pigeons.

The train ride to Paris was uneventful and we got the RER to Gare du Lyon and then walked. Had a sandwich in a very nice little sandwich shop and then waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. At least we were in the nice lounge, as our train was about half an hour to an hour late. When they announced the train (well, the attendant in the lounge came in and said ‘it’s there, the only train out there, have fun!’) we joined the throng waiting to get onto the platform. And waited a bit more as a whole horde of children in red baseball caps were ushered onto the train.

When we were finally allowed on and found our carriage it was nice and we had a good dinner on board. As usual however, very little sleep and up early a bit worried we’d miss our stop. Turned out we could have stayed asleep as the train was about 2 hours late into Florence! Still, we were due in so early it didn’t much matter. We found the hotel after a lovely walk (the city is beautiful) and they held our bags as we headed out to explore (as it was too early to check in). (More on the hotel in a bit.)

We walked around the city until about 3pm and saw (as I remember it) the Duomo and Campanile, the Uffizi, the Palazzo Vecchio, Ponto Vecchio, loads of churches and bell towers, loads of lovely houses, loads of little streets, and just loads of everything. The only place we went into was the Cappella Brancacci inside the Basilica di Santa Maria del Camine to see the frescos by Masolino, Masaccio and Lippi.

After all the walking we headed back to the hotel (by way of the hordes of tourists on Ponto Vecchio) stopping on the way for an ice cream (a must have, it was lovely). Got taken to our room which is lovely. The whole hotel is beautiful, but the room is wonderful. We have a little balcony, with table and chairs shielded from the wind, but standing up you can see the river, the Ponto Vecchio, and beautiful views out over southern Florence. Out the other window you can see the tower of Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi. Lovely. So we really do have a room with a view!

So now getting ready to go out for a bite to eat (once Joe has his photo of the sunset and Ponto Vecchio).