Our train arrived at 6:17 and the first order of business was to reserve seats for the overnight train to Geneva, which turned out to have a supplement charge (on top of our InterRail passes) of 25 euros apiece! Gah! Not a good way to start the day, but we walked around the city and soon felt less shocked, as our surroundings were rather distracting. I'm sure Florence has lovely museums and churches -- Uffizi Gallery, the Duomo... - these are two items that would be first on most visitors' itineraries. I hope I don't unduly appall anyone by saying we weren't particularly interested in entering either (but yes, the Duomo is very... unique looking from the outside).
After wandering around the center a bit, we headed for the river, buying sandwiches and miniature wine bottles on the way. In this manner we had a lovely picnic in the grass by the river, with the sun warm and bright overhead. Afterwards, we strolled along the river, pausing to observe pigeons, an impromptu soccer game, and a crew team practicing on the Arno.
In a rather unhurried search for a new sunny spot or a cafe to sit and read in, we ran across an English-language used bookstore, or rather, the remains of one. The one that had been there had moved in December, but left up a map of how to walk to its new location. We wasted no time in making a confused-ADD-beeline there (lots of turns and little side streets). When we arrived... Wow. Used, cheap English-language books lined shelf upon shelf... we were in heaven. We stayed for over an hour, finally emerging with just under 10 books. Had i not limited myself to books under 3.50 euros, it would have been much worse.
Toting our valuable finds, we made our way to a nice looking cafe (with, surprisingly, no smokers) and sat down. The English-speaking waiter, though very friendly, seemed as though he'd had far too much coffee. We ordered a bit of food (pasta and a salad), and a bottle of water. I also ventured to try a floral tea, which was incredibly good. We stayed there for a few hours, trying a few teas and reading, and finally ordered a piece of chocolate cake to split, which was covered in chili powder! Interesting, but yummy. When the cafe started to fill up, we went back to the train station to wait for our train to Geneva.
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