Florence: the Birth of the Renaissance & Mary Poppins
During our week in the lustrous hillsides of Umbria, we decided to leave it for a day trip to the bustling metropolis of Florence or Firenze. All 14 women woke up roughly at 6am, packed into the Van Dyke (nickname for our van rental) to catch a 7:30am train from Orvieto to Florence. This was FloJo's first time riding a train in Europe and she was so excited that she fell asleep right away. We disembarked at the Firenze train station after a 2 1/2 hour ride and met up with our tour guide for the day, Antonia. Prior to our meeting with Antonia, our hostess Cecilia (who is also a Rick Steve's tour guide) described her collegue as Mary Poppins and we think by the end of the trip most of us agreed with her type casting. She was an older British woman with her silver hair neatly pulled up in a bun on top of her head. She held an umbrella at the ready and a large satchel that may have had a floor lamp inside it. Overall, her demeanor was pleasant like most British ladies we a