Becoming a Renaissance man [Flornence; 8/05-8/07]

Two days in Rome is hardly enough to see everything, but I'd made good use of my time and was jonesing to keep moving along. It's been crazy hot here- nearly 100 degrees even in the shade, and the mountains of northern Italy are calling me. First, though, I wanted to stop in Florence as I'd been told it's a "can't miss" city. Now that I'm getting lazy and civilized (ah-hem... "wise") I didn't even bother to ride any further than the half mile from my hostel back to the train station. 20euros and 4 hours later I was in central Florence- saving me 2-3 hot days sweating through the meandering hills of Tuscany. I'm quite OK with this.

An impressive city indeed, Florence is. Endless narrow streets packed with shops and the tourists that give them life, the whole place had an incredible old world vibe.

I'd found a nifty hostel to stay at for two nights, and unlike most hostels that are more of a dormitory style layout, this one was simply an old 2nd floor apartment flat with beds crammed into each of the old rooms and still had the kitchen open for the guests to use. Right around the corner I discovered a huge stage installation where Roberto Benigni would be performing that night. At first I was completely thrilled; later I realized that I was confusing him (the actor/director/poet) with fellow Italian Andrea Bocelli (the famous tenor singer.) So no Bellagio fountain theme song serenading through the streets. Sadly.

I did a lot of wandering on foot through the center and outskirts of the city, sweating the entire time. In true Italian fashion, there are some amazing old bikes parked around town. Brands that are now associated with high-end, ungodly expensive racing machines were once your average townie transportation.... or maybe this is what 'race bikes' used to be like?

the nicest Colnago that I've ever seen!