Today was a travel day.  These days are always busy and usually start off early packing everything up efficiently so that we can move around as easily as possible.  Doing that with James is a little more challenging.  As soon as I would pack up some things, he would take them out again and I would have to start over.  Our apartment in Rome was really big (about 1200 sq. ft).  This is good and bad.  Space is always a good thing, but there were alot of little corners for James to hide his things.  Especially his beloved wubbanubs.  All morning I kept an eye on those things. Frog, check, tiger, check, giraffe, check, puppy, wait, where is puppy?  Then picture me running all over to find puppy and the process starts again.

We were taking the train from Rome to Florence.  We had to be out of the apartment by 10:00, but we didn’t have to be at the train station until about 12:30.  So, we killed some time walking around and got a cappuccino.  Justin used uber to bring us to the train station.  It was awesome! No issues at all.

The train station was very busy and we have a lot of luggage…..2 big suitcases, 2 soft duffle bags, my giant purse with all of James’s stuff, a stroller, Justin’s camera/computer bag, , a 1 baby.  It was a bit crazy navigating everything, especially since there were stairs involved, but we all got there in 1 piece.  I wore James in the carrier and Justin carried the suitcase. The train ride was about an hour and a half.  James was as well behaved as a 15 month old could be.  We were very proud of him.  I was also proud of myself because I was able to change his diaper in the bathroom (without a changing table) without him touching the floor.  And he was wearing jeans and tennis shoes.  Boom. Point for mom.

When we got off the train we planned to take a taxi to the apartment in Florence.  It was raining when we got there. W set out to find the taxi line and we could not believe our eyes it was literally the longest line I have ever seen.  Wait, are we getting ready to ride Tower or Terror at Disney World?  Please tell me that a dancing bear will be jumping out at any minute to entertain my child.  No, the reality was that we were going to have to tough it out in the long line in the cold and rain.  I forgot to mention that it is much cooler in Florence than Rome.  Plus, it was extra chilly due to the rain.  Luckily, James held it together and I pulled out every trick in the book to keep him happy. 1 hour later, we, made it to the front of the line and were in our way to our apartment.

The apartment in Florence is great.  Much smaller than than one in Rome, but I almost prefer it.  Much easier to keep an eye on James.  Did I mention the very steep staircase leading to our bedroom in Rome.  Yeah, that was fun.

This place has everything that we need and the owners were super nice.  They were very accommodating to everything that we needed for James.

After we got somewhat settled in, we walked around a bit and got something to eat.  I could immediately tell that I was going to prefer it to Rome.  It is absolutely beautiful.  I still found it very crowded but at least there aren’t cars and scooters coming through every minute.  The only cars allowed to drive in the city’s center are those with a special permit.

We ate at the Mercato Centrale food market.  We had pizza and gnocchi.  James fell asleep in the stroller, but I woke him up for dinner, and he ate really well (Yay).  He even had some cannoli.

Tomorrow we have a tour of Florence

Alyce