A Final Day in Florence, Florence, Italy

My original travel journals were split across August Phoenix Hats and a few other websites. February 2021 marked the 12th anniversary of the beginning of my travels. To celebrate, I’m reissuing my journals as Director’s Cuts, with the complete text as well as larger and additional photos. My Crossroads Tour series details my travels to Florence (and a few other cities) and Istanbul in May 2011.

I wake up at 6:30 AM, but roll back and try to go back to sleep. Forty-five minutes later, a neighbor starts playing Spanish guitar in the lobby just outside my door. There are worse ways to wake up on a Sunday morning…

Today is ‘everything breaks’ day. I have a cold but my blisters are less severe this morning. Paint chips fall from the bathroom ceiling and shatter on the floor. A light fixture near the bed has pulled away from the wall and the other one no longer works. I pop coins into the vending machine for a bottle of water and something I was expecting to be yogurt, but was actually peach juice in a yogurt shaped container. Sadly, the coffee vending machine is out of order today.

I climb back into bed with my fluids and a protein bar from my stash, and catch up on my journal as Italia news and other programming flash across the TV: a home shopping network selling Iranian carpets, I wish they would show more of the loom sitting in the corner. Spongebob Squarepants dubbed in Italian. Italy’s version(s) of America’s Got Talent. It’s just as bad here as it is at home. Five hours later, my journal is caught up, and my feet are much better after being elevated for the last several hours. It’s time to find some food, and some coffee, and perhaps some flipflops. And maybe a garden… ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).