Italy 2009 Trip Day 2 - Thursday October 15

4:30pm CET: Sitting in the neat, tidy, peaceful Zurich airport. I can't believe how quiet this place is at 4pm on a weekday. I was going to buy some chocolate, but it's outrageous even at the Duty-Free shop. I don't understand the whole Duty-Free concept - yeah maybe there is "no tax" but the stuff has to be a good 50%+ more expensive than other shops. So big freaking whoop.

My flight takes off at 5:45, but when I headed toward that gate, this guy said we were early and there were no toilets at the gate so we should just stay and shop and eat.

I got probably 5 hours of not very sound sleep. Flight was fairly smooth save for some bumpy parts. Landed a bit early, excellent. Going to take a picture of the one view of Zurich I will have during my 2 hours here :p I am tired.

Almost at Firenze!!!

4:50pm: made it through security. Had to open my suitcase and show them my Fiskars for kids scissors - she laughed as soon as she saw how small and plastic they were. I asked the guy if I had to take off my shoes and he said no, and I said I asked because we have to take all shoes off in the US and he laughed and said "the hysteria in America" but yet they question my plastic scissors, which they didn't do in LA :)

I still cannot get over how freaking quiet and empty and orderly this airport is.

6:25pm: currently flying over the Alps (I presume?) as the sun sets. I kinda wish I had my camera readily accessible and was in a window seat! Because I know you were wondering with baited breath, Mel, this plane does have individual A/C units and I did immediately check to make sure they worked ;) And the good news is that I also made it onto this plane with carry-on only, which was a nice surprise since it's a small plane and I thought I was maybe going to have to gate check it. But no, the bins were big enough! That's a relief and one less thing to worry about and waste time on when I arrive. I can run straight to the taxi and get to town ASAP.

This flight's only 55 min long air-wise. Nice. But they still brought around drinks and a snack of a soft pretzel SMEARED with butter. And here comes mini Toblerones! By the way, I should mention how odd it is that there is more legroom and more under-chair room than on my transatlantic flight. The chair's also more comfortable.

Met an American couple who are going to Florence for the first time, for a week. I gave them some pointers that they seemed to appreciate.

Sunset in the air is quite pretty.

10:15pm: Landed right on time. Caught a taxi easily (once I found the right place) and clutched tightly as my kind taxi driver weaved around the rotaries and in and out of lanes of traffic. I have no idea how I made it to Piazza della Repubblica safely, but here I am writing the rest of this blog! I buzzed and the lovely Claudio who owns the B&B I'm staying tonight and tomorrow night, greeted me warmly… actually, I thought I was going to get a hug, that's how friendly he was. Anyway, he showed me around and the place is exactly how it looked on the website, so that's a relief. My room is the less expensive of the three, because it has no Duomo view, but that also means it has no view of the square, which means no noise at night. All pros for me.

After I chatted with Claudio for a while and asked him some questions, I set out to find some food, aka gelato, from the wonderful Perche No which I'd had 2 years ago and loved. I had a delicious combo of Chocolate Mousse gelato (the texture is impossible to describe) and Bacio (chocolate and hazelnut). It was chilly, but who cares :) As an aside, walking around this city again, I felt the familiarity and it felt like coming home, in a way. This city is simply magical.

Then I basically just wandered all around. Took some pictures in Piazza della Signoria, Piazza della Repubblica, from the Ponte Vecchio and of the Ponte Vecchio, then over to the Duomo and Baptistery.

So, now I am here updating this and soon I will be making myself try to get some sleep so I get on a normal schedule! Pictures coming soon, if not later today then tomorrow! :)