Europe 2016 Sept 25th Day 28 Florence

This morning with all good intentions that did not materialise; possibly due to an excellent night before, we decided to catch a bus to Fiesole, a small town on the hills above Florence. A quick look out our bedroom window revealed masses of people in blue teeshirts; it was the annual Florence fun run /marathon in support of breast cancer and we later found out 39,500 runners.
Walked to the bus stop near the Accademia, past all the hordes, to the temporary stop and when the bs arrived tried to buy tickets, as per the company's website instructions. No, go back and buy them from the grumpy young driver. Hopped off and walked quickly back to the square and one of those all in one huts and bought a couple of return tickets. As we returned to the stop, I noticed as we turned the corner that the bus was still there so we ran the 200m and got on just as he was pulling out, yeah.
A beautiful little town with a market square that had a small number of producers and artists there. We walked to the panorama view point of the city of Florence below and on this day was lovely. Walked the town for the next 2 hours before hopping back on the bus and returning to Florence. Guess what, this bus driver was selling tickets, on buses it all depends on the mood of the driver.
Had a small walk before returning to our room for some lunch of meat, cheese and bread we had purchased from the market, before Jane had a quick nap. We then went out walking again, including a healthy gelatti stop before heading to the Walkabout Florence office for our Fiat 500 drive tour afternoon.
This was a spur of the moment decision yesterday when we rocked up for our Tuscan dinner. You could either drive an old early 60's Fiat 500 or Vespa. No Vespa for Jane so we chose the Fiat, which I was still really looking forward to.
What fun, a great 4 hours of 6 Vespa's and 4 Fiat's up the mountain, and through the countryside stopping at a couple of places including a church /monastery and an olive grove before eventually ending up at the same estate as last night but totally different feel as outside service of beautiful pasta dish followed by shared platters with a glass of Chianti and coffee before returning to Florence on dusk. So glad we did this as one of the highlights so far of the trip, absolute fun. Had the same guide as last night, Fabio who is just brilliant. Highly recommended.
By now after 7pm so a little evening walk before returning to the room with some desserts to accompany the last of the vino and a well deserved cold beer. A bit of blogging and then bed, ready for our trip to Manarola in Cinque Terra on the coast in the morning.