Florence by Bike

Today Jon and I borrowed the free bikes that our hotel lends out and we rode all over town. While bike riding is the dominant mode of transport in Holland, Florence Italy is ever so slightly more hostile towards cyclists. I think it is because at any given moment in Florence there are at least 375 tourists directly in the way somewhere. Crossing the street on red lights bobbing and weaving through traffic to get to that art vendor...

We rode over to Pontevecchio- a bridge full of jewelry shops and great views of the cityscape. We had gelato (I had the pistachio, it was too yummy) and made our way around the streets and bridges there.



It has been SUPER hot during the day pretty much everywhere we have been and today was no exception, so when we went to the Gallerie de la Accademie the air conditioning was a nice relief. There we saw Michelangelo's statue DAVID which is just massive and more of that foxy vixen the Virgin Mary.

People really haven't been excessively nice to us here- I was having a hard time trying to think of a way to explain it so I asked Jon what he thought of the matter and he said "say so far Italian people are assholes". I might not go quite that far but its true that a large majority of the people that we have had to ask touristy questions of or that have waited on us have been less than cheery.

So we are going to go out to dinner at a place we ate lunch at yesterday called ZaZa because there is a ton of outdoor seating and they had some intensely delicious bruschetta. But before I leave you here is a small window into Jon and I's relationship:

Just before we left the hotel room to ride our bikes Jon was in deep thought as he examined the map of the city. It was one of those moments where I was talking to him- was literally 6 inches away- but knew for CERTAIN that he was not listening at all.

I said, Ok- I have your bike lock key- Here it is. (I gesture to hand it to him, he does not notice)

Jon, (I say) Your key dude, Here. (pause)

Okay, I'm going to put THIS KEY in THIS POCKET on the bag you are WEARING. SEE? Putting the key in now. (He stares intently at the map)

Okay Magellan, (I say) in like 5 minutes you are going to be ready to go and you are going to turn to me and you are going to say "Where is that key?" and I am going to say to you that I fully detailed the whereabouts of your key and you will have no idea what I am talking about.

27 seconds later he says as simply and innocently as he possibly could "Ok, you ready? Where is that key?"