We settled in to our apartment (we’re getting really good at this now) and we have a trip coming up in a few days for Bologna.

We bought our tickets the day before, and what an amazing train station! It reminds me of the train stations we’ve seen around Europe, the Baltics and the Balkans – a row of long concourses, one after the other, trains coming in and out in rapid succession, and people too.

I took a quick snap of the station main area, and it turned out ok!

More about this in a future post, but Alice and I scheduled tattoo appointments while we were in Kotor, Montenegro, and conveniently they are just over the Arno across from us, they are called Sweaty Betty’s. We stopped into Artigianale coffee afterward for an espresso and some cake. Beautiful place, in true Italian style:

Here’s a view of the river Arno from the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Moody, and just how I thought Florence might look:

We promised Alpha a second Christmas because we couldn’t do much shopping in Kotor for her, so 6 Jan she got her gifts wrapped in bath towels and string:

And Lennox got some too:

I didn’t get any good shots of the steam-punks who disembarked from this train, but apparently there was a convention in Florence on this day; they arrived in style!

We got our tickets for Bologna and our tattoists Brian and Paul were hard at work on designs for us. We are nervous and excited, and can’t wait to see what they do for us! We’ll approve the designs next week and then get them done.