We should have known it was going to be a challenging trip when we got to the airport and found out that our flight was delayed by two hours. We have learned a lot since this trip and the first thing we won't do again, if we have a choice, is plan an evening flight. Our original flight was supposed to leave at 7:55 pm and put us into Florence at 10:55 pm. Late, but not TOO late. So with the two hour delay, we knew we were now getting into the 'kind of more late than we were comfortable with' territory. Despite that, we decided to power through and stick with our original plan. We settled down for a leisurely dinner at the airport and Evie was happy and excited to be someplace as thrilling as Gatwick Airport.
As things tend to go in these situations, our flight was then delayed a further two hours. The only one who actually had fun sitting in Gatwick airport for six hours was Evie. Jim tried to stay upbeat and I just was in a foul mood. I kept thinking that if we pushed Evie around in her stroller, she would go to sleep and then WE could go to sleep in the seats in the airport until our flight finally left. And that was not the case. Evie was full of non-stop, Gatwick-fueled energy. It seemed that was the way with all the babies on our flight. Evie had a little pow wow with them as well.
When we finally got onto the plane, the inevitable meltdown happened. Evie cried and screamed so much that she started to hyperventilate. The man who was sitting next to us just fell asleep anyway (he was traveling with his four kids), so at least there was that. Eventually, Evie slept for about an hour before we landed in Florence.
Obviously, in Florence at 3 in the morning there were not a lot of taxis stopping by. Additionally there was a huge clock next to the taxi stand and we watched as it went from 3am to 3:15, 3:30, 3:40....and yes, Evie was awake. When we finally got a taxi (note to selves: next time RUN to customs and RUN to the taxi line before everyone else on the plane does. No one feels like being nice to the couple with the screaming baby at 4 in the morning)and checked into our hotel, it was 4:30 in the morning. The guy at the front desk actually made us stand there while he wrote down all of our passport information. In the room, I could hardly muster the energy to brush my teeth, but Jim, ever the romantic, was hanging out of our hotel window taking pictures of the river below.
The next day, after some sleep but definitely not enough, we staggered out onto the streets of Florence, determined to make the best of our day there before we headed to Cortona on the train. I think Evie, in this picture, pretty much sums up how we were all feeling. And no, she wasn't asleep. And no, she didn't take a nap that whole day.
Saying hi to the horse.
Jim is a huge fan of Ponte Vecchio, an old bridge that has lots of shops on it. My attitude towards Ponte Vecchio is that it's a tourist trap and once you've been there once, you don't need to go again. It's super crowded and the stores on the bridge are tacky. It's a great place to get your pocket picked and it would be pretty from a distance if said crowds were not all attempting to take the perfect picture from all vantage points around. Anyway, in honor of Jim, here is the bridge:
And here are Jim and a very interested Evie standing on the bridge:
Fortunately, then we went to get some lunch.
Oh, and here's another picture of the bridge from the OTHER side.
Eventually we lugged ourselves and our luggage to the Florence train station and hopped on a busy train to Cortona. Evie is not one, we are finding, to just sit quietly and take in the scenery, so she spent a lot of time trying to get out of the barricaded area we made with our giant suitcase and Jim, good father that he is, spent a lot of time walking around the train with her until it got too crowded. As you can see, I was feeling pretty unmotivated to move by this point.
When we finally got into Cortona (via bus from the train station), we realized we had forgotten to bring the information for the apartment that we were staying in. So, Jim and the giant suitcase went on Mission Find An Internet Cafe, which lead him up four flights of steep stairs (no elevator) to the top of the theater where a bunch of old ladies were playing cards. Meanwhile, Evie and I hung out in the village square, picking up confetti and preventing the picking up of cigarette butts.
The stroller and the streets of Cortona were not really a good mix:
Gleefully(at first), into the Ergobaby Evie went!
The good news is that we really liked our apartment. It was cozy and had its own garden and even though we were all in the same room, it was divided in a way that we felt like we had our space and Evie had hers. In theory, the relaxation was about to begin, but the next day we had plans to go to Jim's Italian architecture program for lunch. And I woke up with what I thought was a cold.
Castiglione Fiorentino is only one town over from Cortona, but, as luck would have it, we couldn't get to the train in time to get to lunch in time, so we had to book a taxi to take us to Castiglione Fiorentino. When we got there we discovered that there had been some misunderstanding and they were expecting us the day before for lunch. So, Jim didn't get to see his old professor/director of the program, but we still enjoyed looking around and had lunch with some of the other people who were there when Jim was there...so all wasn't lost.
I should point out that WE may have been feeling haggard, but Evie was having a BLAST at every point of the trip.
I was a little nervous about this photo op (that's me, blurring through the background). I thought putting Evie the destructress next to someone's model maybe wasn't the best plan, but we got the picture just before she started touching things.
We had to hang around town to wait for the bus back to Cortona, so we decided to go look at the Castiglion Fiorentino ruins...from times BC.
Then we walked around town a little more.
At this point, I would like to say RIP to Evie's pink and green jacket that she has worn in most of the pictures that we have taken since it got cold. On the bus back to Cortona, I started to get car sick and we moved up a few seats. Unfortunately, the jacket somehow did not. And then we unexpectedly had to switch buses and realized, too late, that the jacket was still on the bus that was heading off into the sunset. Fortunately, though, we befriended a really nice American living in Cortona who had a son close to Evie's age and loaned us one of his jackets. Unfortunately we were in such a rush that, although we returned the jacket, we didn't get to say goodbye or thank you for her kindness. So maybe she'll read this and know how appreciative we were!
Here are some pictures that Jim took of Cortona, which really was a beautiful little village. I was feeling pretty bad from my 'cold' and Evie and I stayed home while he was out taking pictures. He also attempted, that night (Good Friday) to catch the elusive Easter procession through the town, but after an hour of hearing the procession, but not ever seeing it (they were going down all the side streets) he gave up and came home.
On Saturday, our first day just to relax and enjoy the town without any other plans or trains or buses to catch, I woke up with the flu. I spent the entire day in bed. I missed the sunshine. I missed going out with Evie and Jim. I was very bitter. Evie and DouDou came to visit me in bed a few times. It was very disappointing to get sick, but it just fit in with the whole disastrous theme of the trip, so, in retrospect, it was kind of funny.
While I was in bed, Jim and Evie had a nice day out. I would say that one of the highlights was definitely gelato:
Another highlight was playing in the garden. Maybe Evie has a green thumb like her Nana! She definitely is interested in pots.
For the record, she didn't pick those flowers. They were already on the ground.
But the best part about the whole trip for Evie was when she got to take a bath in the bidet. She had been slightly obsessed with it the entire time we were in the apartment, so when Jim put her in it, she was so excited. A sharp contrast to the time she had to take a bath in the sink in Venice.
The next day was Easter Sunday. It poured, but before it poured we managed to do a quick Easter egg hunt in the garden. Evie was interested in finding the eggs, but more interested in opening them (they were empty).
Then our camera died. After that we headed back to Florence via train. And it continued to pour. We wandered around in the rain a little and were scolded by a couple of Italian old ladies for not having Evie's feet properly covered. We ate a good meal and called it an early night...which turned into a very late night after we realized that a. we were so hot in our room that we couldn't sleep and b. we couldn't open the windows because there was so much noise and partying on the street below and then c. Evie woke up at 4am and wanted to get in bed with us and d. we had to get up anyway at 5:30 to go to the airport. And basically we got back to London exhausted and so relieved to have that trip behind us! Evie got the flu the next day and we've all been hacking away all week, but this weekend we are just totally relaxing and recovering from our holiday in Italy. Better luck next time!
