As we were departing, it became obvious that our bus driver had made a wrong turn when he started backing up. I was sitting in the front so from my end, everything was fine, but the ladies in the back began to yell out for him to watch out. Apparently there was a car behind him and he was getting close to hitting it. Unfortunately our driver didn't speak much English so he just gestured and said that he had it under control (but not in those exact words). Apparently he didn't have it under control because he did end up hitting the car. As he gets off of the bus to deal with the accident, I thought that it would take an hour or so for the police to come and everything to get all sorted out. Boy was I wrong. 15 minutes later, the driver was back on the bus and we were on our way. No police were called. Both drivers just exchanged insurance and contact information and went on their way. It was amazing!
So we were finally off to Florence. The bus driver finished backing up and we hopped on the expressway (if that's even what they call them in Italy) to Florence or Firenze. It was a very scenic trip so I enjoyed looking out the window until I took a quick nap. Here's a picture of a rest stop that we made on the way.
After we loaded up on snacks and had a bathroom break, we were back on the road. Before we arrived in Florence, we made a stop at this lovely little town in the Tuscan region of Italy called San Gimignano. It was a very cute little town that looked like something out of a Disney movie. I almost expected to see some cartoon birds and animals come out and start playing around. We stopped there for an hour or so and did some shopping. It was really nice. I would love to spend a few days there and just enjoy the scenery.Here is a picture of San Gimignano.
The amazing thing is that a car drove down this street along with the people walking. Can you imagine a car driving down this street? It's crazy, I know. After we enjoyed San Gimignano, we got on the new motor coach (the old one sprang an oil leak when we had our accident) and headed on toward Florence. We had one more stop in the town of Greve in the Chianti region of Italy. Greve was also a very cute little town, but it was a bit bigger than San Gimignano. We stopped there for an hour and some of the ladies enjoyed a wine tasting. We'd gone to a wine shop and they had it set up where you could go around and taste some of the various wines that they sold. I didn't participate because it wasn't a tasting led by a sommelier or anything. Me and my travel buddies decided to walk around and explore the town some. Here's a picture of Greve. 
I would also love to take a few days and enjoy Greve and the rest of the Chianti region of Italy. I really like Chianti wine. We were only there for an hour before we got back in the motor coach and continued on our journey. An hour later or so, we arrived in Florence. We found out that our hotel was right in the city center and we were excited. There were tons of shops, restaurants and other things within walking distance of our hotel. We hopped off the bus, tipped the driver and headed inside to wait for our room assignments. I stopped by Tiffany's (one of my travel buddies) and found out that there was a dinner outing being planned and that we needed to be dressed and ready to go in 20 minutes or so. I headed back up to my room and got ready for a night out on the town in Florence. We had dinner at a nice restaurant. I ate pizza that was good, but not as good as the pizza in Rome. After dinner we headed to this really cool nightclub called YAB (you are beautiful). It was hip hop night so there was a good mix of hip hop, r&b and old school music played. The club was a nice size and had a room playing dance music as well. It was a very diverse crowd and everyone was dancing and enjoying themselves. Take a look at it. Good times!
Well after YAB, we went back to the hotel room to rest for the next day's outings. The next day we had a walking tour of Florence and got to do some shopping afterward. I found this very cute burnt orange purse that I had been looking for. I became slightly obsessed with finding a cute orange purse in Italy after my friend visited and came back with this very cute burnt orange bag. Mine is a lighter burnt orange but I like it and it's unique. We spent the rest of time in Florence walking (some more) and enjoying the city. It's such a cute city and I defintely plan on going back to visit longer. I even rubbed the nose of the lucky Boar that ensures that I will return to Florence. Here's a picture of it.
Florence is one of my definite favorite cities in Italy so far. It's a very cool mix of old Italian culture and history and current culture. If you ever get a chance to visit Italy, I strongly suggest you take some time to visit Florence. Stay tuned for the next leg of my Italian getaway...
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